Bubbles! The indispensability of the Comparative Advertising Directive to trade mark law

The use by H3G of bubbles in a television advertisement comparingmobile telephone prices complied with the Comparative AdvertisingDirective and thus did not infringe O2's trade mark registrationsfor bubbles. Supplementary data in the form of a clip of theadvertisement discussed in this article is available at www.jiplp.oxfordjournals.org.     

Dispute Settlement under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court: Article 119 and the Possible Role of the International Court of Justice

This paper examines the dispute settlement procedure establishedby Article 119 of the Rome Statute of the International CriminalCourt, with particular attention paid to whether that provisioncreates any relationship between the International CriminalCourt and the International Court of Justice. The paper firstdiscusses the jurisdictional reach of Article 119, detailingthe types of disputes addressed in its two subsections and themanner in which such disputes are to be handled. Secondly, itfocuses on the possibility of referral of disputes covered inArticle 119(2) to the International Court of Justice. Althoughthe provision expressly contemplates such a referral, it remainsunclear whether the provision adequately supports the jurisdictionof the International Court of Justice in accordance with theStatute of that Court. The paper goes on to suggest ways inwhich the International Criminal Court Assembly of States Partiescan take steps to improve the likelihood that such referralwould be deemed proper in order to enhance the possible andfinal settlement of disputes.     

The politics of rebellion and intervention in Ituri:the emergence of a new political complex?

This article offers an interpretation of the present conflictin Ituri based on social analysis. Other than the conventionalaccounts which depart from the presence of foreign troops onCongolese soil, reduce the war to a struggle for natural resourcesor see it as the result of age-old ethnichatreds, the authorstry to place this conflict into its social setting. The centralargument of this article is that the outbreak of violence inIturi has been the result of the exploitation, by local andregional actors, of a deeply rooted local political conflictfor access to land, economic opportunity and political power.Firstly, it is assumed that the destruction of the local socioeconomicfabric and the emergence of ethnicity as the main basis forpolitical mobilization has been the result of a long historicalprocess in which access to land, education, political positionsand economic dominance have played a crucial role. Secondly,it is asserted that, although foreign elements (i.e. the UPDFand RDF, formerly RPA) have contributed significantly to theescalation of the political crisis in Ituri, the war has alsoprovided a perfect platform for local political and economicactors to redefine their position in this new political andeconomic landscape. Eventually, this emerging political complexhas led to the development of a new political economy whichis characterized by a shift from traditional to military rule,to privatized, non-territorial networks of economic control,and to the consolidation of ethnic bonds in the economic andpolitical sphere.