Secured Financing of Intellectual Property Assets and the Reform of English Personal Property Security Law

The past three decades have seen a decline in traditional industriesin the United Kingdom and there has been a relative declinein the value of physical assets to the UK economy. At the sametime, the value of intangible assets seen in intellectual propertyrights have increased considerably. As such, IP rights representimportant assets for companies and often comprise the foundationfor market dominance and continued profitability. There is astructural uncertainty in the law relating to the use of IPas collateral for the purpose of raising debt finance and thismay impact upon the survival of firms with high ratios of intangibleto tangible assets. This article considers the proper goalsfor an effective credit and security regime in IP. It examinesthe significance of the availability of collateral to the lendingdecision and also considers whether the reluctance to maximisethe use of IP as security reflects inherent difficulties whicharise out of the nature of IP as economic assets. This has implicationsfor the reform of English personal property security law andthe development of bright line priority rules associated withArticle 9 of the US Uniform Commercial Code which is often citedas a model for reform of English law.     

我国国有资产管理体制改革之我见

国有资产管理的基本原则是国家所有与分级所有相结合。国有资产管理的切入点是理顺政府和企业的产权关系。政府出资人制度应以现代企业制度为基础,以资本为纽带,以促进社会经济资源的优化配置为最终目标。     

从立法论看物权行为与中国民法

奉行物权行为制度有利有弊,不采用物权行为理论同样如此.笔者尊从实用主义,不赞同我国民法确立物权行为制度.     

Information Wants to be Property: Legal Commodification of E-commerce Assets

In the global information age, information per se is becoming one of the most valuable assets of many businesses. Because of this, the laws of many jurisdictions have started evolving to extend the protections for such information against unauthorised access, use and/or interference. These legal moves tend to have the direct or indirect effect of 'propertizing' aspects of the information in question. Recent moves in the area of copyright law in particular have shown a marked trend towards increased legal support for the commodification of commercially valuable information. Examples of this trend can be seen in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act in the United States and the Database Directive in the European Union. The following discussion examines this phenomenon and raises some questions about the desirable limits of legal commodification of information in this context.     

夫妻财产制的修改:法政策之检讨

建立完善的夫妻财产制是我国婚姻法修改的目的之一。本文首先阐明夫妻财产制的内容结构体系,依据夫妻共同财产制原理和夫妻财产契约理论分析现行法及专家建议稿的缺失,并从夫妻财产制的内容结构、法定财产制和约定财产制三个方面提出完善的建议。     

Section 47 of the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013: A Flawed Reform of the UK Cartel Offence

On 1 April 2014, section 47 of the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013 (ERRA) entered into force, ensuring significant changes to the UK cartel offence. The criminal offence, contained in section 188 of the Enterprise Act 2002, was enacted to secure the deterrence of cartel activity affecting the UK. Following almost ten years of enforcement, the cartel offence had failed to live up to expectations. Consequently, following a public consultation, it was reformed in substance. Section 47 ERRA, removed the (controversial) definitional element of ‘dishonesty’ from the offence, created a number of ‘carve outs’ from the offence, and created three additional defences. This article examines in detail the specific reforms of the cartel offence and argues that, although considerable improvement has been made, the UK offence is fundamentally flawed and unworkable in practice. Further reform is therefore advised.     

The Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act: Federal Leadership in State Reform

The policies advanced by the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act, while generally viewed as a success, are seen by some as a failure that may even abet juveniles in the commission of crime. After tracing the evolution of federal juvenile justice legislation and examining arrest and treatment data, the authors confront the criticisms aimed at the Act, and find reason for considerable optimism. Nationwide, the number, proportion, and rate of juvenile arrests have fallen more than the juvenile population, and many states appear to have made substantial progress in improving the processing and treatment of juveniles. The authors conclude that the Act is a continuing source of federal leadership for state innovation.     

论教师教育改革的院校支持系统

面对近年来我国各级各类教师教育改革中发生的不同程度的阻抗现象,作为集体行动的教师教育改革迫切需要师范院校和中小学校提供必要的支持、信任、理解、宽容,规避标签效应、克服刻板印象、扭转污名化倾向以及减少利益算计心理等,确保教师教育改革取得预期成效,真正提高教师教育质量,推进整个教育事业的良性运行与和谐发展.     

Welfare Reform and the Shifting Threshold of Support for Disabled People

Among the highly significant changes to the benefits system made by the Welfare Reform Act 2012 is provision for a new disability benefit, personal independence payment (PIP). PIP is replacing disability living allowance (DLA), received by three million people, as the principal form of state financial support towards disability‐related care and mobility costs for those of working age. The legislation, including regulations prescribing a new disability assessment framework, plays its traditional role in this field of rationing access to benefit and directing front‐line policy implementation. This article examines how, in the context of the Coalition government's welfare reforms, PIP shifts the threshold of entitlement for people with disabilities and it assesses PIP's potential impact on equality and the right to independent living, to whose realisation disability benefits may be expected to contribute significantly. It also considers the impact on disabled people of other relevant reforms, including the controversial ‘bedroom tax’.     

Toward a Better Understanding of Peripheral Nation-Building Strategies: A Critical Comparison of the Austro-Hungarian Ausgleich and the Canadian British North America Act (1867)

International Journal for the Semiotics of Law - Revue internationale de Sémiotique juridique - This paper addresses questions about the socio-legal context and mainstream political theories...     

Recasting Competition Concurrency under the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013

The concurrent enforcement power granted to certain sector economic regulators is one of the more remarkable features of UK competition law. In practice, regulators have tended to under‐enforce their competition powers, preferring to resolve market difficulties through regulatory interventions. Recent amendments to the concurrency framework, introduced by sections 51 to 53 of the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013, seek both to strengthen the priority of competition enforcement and to provide plausible sanctions – including, ultimately, the removal of competition jurisdiction from regulators – for continued underuse. This article assesses these reforms in light of the history and (limited) application of the concurrent competition powers of regulators to date. It argues that the absence of an overarching policy rationale for this curious example of UK antitrust ‘exceptionalism’ complicates the determination of whether the reforms, which ostensibly seek to reinforce but potentially also undermine concurrency, are likely to have a positive market impact in practice.     

美国专利改革法案中的授权后异议程序及对我国的启迪

2005年6月8日美国国会议员史密斯(LamarSmith)在第109届国会上提出了《2005年专利改革法案》(H．R．2795)。随后在7月26日史密斯又提出具有替代H．R．2795性质的正式修正案(AmendmentintheNatureofaSubstitutetoH．R．2795)。拟修改的主要内容包括:将先发明制改为先申请制;设立授权后异议程序;取消最佳实施例的要求及对故意专利侵权行为的三倍赔偿进行限制等。本文将介绍评述改革法案中已得到广泛认同的授权后异议程序及对我国的启示。     

Moral Rights in the Digital Age: New Possibilities for the Democratization of Culture

This paper is concerned with the impact of digital technology on the moral rights of authors. The ability to reproduce, modify and redistribute artworks through information technology has made it extremely difficult for authors to monitor the use of their works and, where problems arise, to assert their moral rights. In spite of these difficulties, however, this paper argues that moral rights are actually growing in importance because of new technologies. It is precisely when the capacity to manipulate works is greatest that concerns about artistic integrity and the preservation of cultural heritage become most pressing. This paper suggests that technological change calls for a new approach to moral rights: the focus in the future should be on cooperative efforts between authors and their public to protect culture. Technology has the effect of 'democratizing' the relationship between author and audience by allowing the audience to participate more directly in the creative process with the author. Despite the potential threat to artistic integrity, this transformation should nevertheless be embraced by authors and artists for its positive implications for cultural vitality in the longterm.     

《汇率改革促进公平贸易法案》评析

2010年9月29日,美国国会众议院通过了《汇率改革促进公平贸易法案》,试图通过修改其1930年《关税法》,授权主管机关对所谓低估本币汇率的国家征收特别关税。本文分析了该法案出台的背景,简述了其主要内容,并剖析了其立法动向,指出人民币汇率问题对美中经贸关系十分重要,以立法干预贸易是非常危险的动向。     

美国知识产权资产评估方法选择及其启示——以我国上市公司的知识产权资产评估为视角

在评估方法上,美国已在市场法、牧益法、成本法的基础上发展出适用于专利、商标、版权的新的评估方法.在评估方法的选择上,美国在综合运用评估方法的基础上还十分关注背景因素.作为我国经济主力军的上市公司却对知识产权资产评估关注甚少,即使有所关注,也存在评估方法单一、方法选择随意性大等问题.因此,综合运用各种评估方法,重视评估背景,制定单独的知识产权资产评估规范已成为促进我国上市公司可持续发展的关键因素.