EU Directive on unfair commercial practices--a UK perspective

Legal context. Lack of any catch-all law of unfair competitionin the UK – difficulty for brand owners in protectingtheir IP rights with regard to look-alike products. UK remediessuch as passing-off and trade mark infringement have provedtoo narrow. EU Directive will add to the remedies availableand may assist brand owners in their battle against look-a-likeproducts. Key points. Legal position on look-a-likes in the UK –objectives of the new Directive. Analysis of the two main waysto establish a commercial practice is unfair in the look-a-likecontext. The likely effect of the Directive in the UK on copycatsyndrome and looking to the future. Practical significance. Brand owners may use the new law alongwith the old to stamp out look-a-like activities. Practicalapplication of the test under the Directive. Remedies includecourt orders to stop and prevent unfair commercial practiceto optional possibility of court-imposed requirement to publisha corrective statement or fine – if latter is introducedinto the UK would be an additional deterrent factor of practicalvalue.     

Rethinking UK Parliamentary Adaptation in EU Affairs: Devolution and Europeanisation

How national parliaments adapt to the European Union is an important debate. However, scholars often overlook the regional aspect. This is particularly so for the UK where, despite devolution since 1999, scholarship remains largely devolution-blind. It is assumed that evaluating UK parliamentary adaptation only requires assessing the work of Westminster committees. This article takes a first step towards rectifying this oversight through reconceptualising UK–EU parliamentary engagement as multi-territory, not state-centric. This is demonstrated by comparing the social construction of practices in Scotland, Wales and at Westminster since 1999. Acknowledging devolution, however, does not just require comparing practices. Additionally, the paper asks how the ideas of devolution have been taken up by actors, potentially transforming the meaning of UK engagement for them. This necessitates new approaches drawn from interpretivist and constructivist institutionalist theories. Ultimately, therefore, the paper goes further than arguing for devolution-aware research to promoting change more generally in how parliamentary adaptation is theorised.     

Constitutional and Conceptual Complexities in UK Implementation of the EU Harassment Provisions

This essay evaluates implementation in the UK in recent yearsof EU provisions on discriminatory harassment. From a technicalpoint of view, aspects of the new law are vulnerable to judicialreview challenges of various kinds. The correct interpretationof important elements is also unclear. From a principled perspective,these doctrinal complexities are liable to obscure the mostimportant underlying issues.     

论欧盟及英法两国对消费者合同不公平条款的认定

消费者合同双方缔约地位不平等,易导致合同权利义务失衡,损害消费者利益。英国先后对不公平合同条件及消费者合同不公平条件立法,法国通过认定附合合同及禁止权利滥用达到保护消费者目的。欧盟就消费者保护颁布了四个指令,其中1993年指令附件列举了17种不公平条款,为欧盟绝大多数成员国移植。欧盟2008年法案附件作了调整,且分类为“黑名单”与“灰名单”。即便在清单之外,合同条款若违反诚实信用,导致权利义务明显失衡,也会被认定为不公平。格式合同广泛存在于消费者合同中,而不公平条款的最主要形态为格式条款。考虑我国保护消费者与发展经济需求,建议对格式条款进入消费者合同设置程序与实体双重门槛,仿照欧盟规定两类名单,初期可扩展“灰名单”,尔后再予调整。     

欧共体专利与商标司法管辖制度之比较

知识产权国际保护的发展历程表明,在权利申请国际化方面商标法的步伐要远远快于专利法.大幅度简化商标国际注册手续的《马德里协定》早在1891年就得以缔结,可是简化专利国际申请手续的《专利合作条约》却迟到了80多年,直到1978年6月才正式生效.     

Regulating Complex Contracting: A Socio‐legal Study of Decision‐Making Under EU and UK law

The article evaluates interview data on decision‐making under public procurement law using Halliday's analytical model on compliance with administrative law. In this study, unlike other studies on administrative compliance, the decisions faced by public bodies are not routine; they relate to the award of complex, high‐value contracts. Two contrasting decisions in the procurement process are discussed: the decision over the choice of procedure at the outset of the process, and the decision over the extent to which the public body should negotiate with the winning bidder towards the end of the process. The article considers the rationales behind decisions, and finds that, although public bodies are generally predisposed to comply, legal uncertainty means the relevance of commercial pressures and challenge risk impact heavily on approaches to compliance, even shaping understanding of what compliant behaviour actually is.     

EU Law and Semiotics

The European Union is one of the ‘big ideas’ of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries and has been built on the idea of the European Community, which it supersedes. Seen in this light the emergent law of the European Union is becoming omnipresent in so many ways and yet it does not appear to have been the subject of as much semiotic study as it deserves. This paper takes a multilingual stance and explores emerging EC and EU law from a perspective of a lawyer-linguist practitioner in the field. The purpose is to describe a range of practitioner ‘realities’ and to explore how semiotics provides a tool for analysis and insights for a better understanding and awareness of EU law, with particular emphasis on the legislative, or law-making aspects.     

EU update

This is the latest edition of Baker & McKenzie's column on developments in EU law relating to IP, IT and telecommunications. This article summarises recent developments that are considered important for practitioners, students and academics in a wide range of information technology, e-commerce, telecommunications and intellectual property areas. It cannot be exhaustive but intends to address the important points. This is a hard copy reference guide, but links to outside web sites are included where possible. No responsibility is assumed for the accuracy of information contained in these links.     

EU update

This is the latest edition of Baker & McKenzie's column on developments in EU law relating to IP, IT and telecommunications. This article summarises recent developments that are considered important for practitioners, students and academics in a wide range of information technology, e-commerce, telecommunications and intellectual property areas. It cannot be exhaustive but intends to address the important points. This is a hard copy reference guide, but links to outside websites are included where possible. No responsibility is assumed for the accuracy of information contained in these links     

EU update

This is the latest edition of the DLA Piper column on developments in EU law relating to IP, IT and telecommunications. This news article summarises recent developments that are considered important for practitioners, students and academics in a wide range of information technology, e-commerce, telecommunications and intellectual property areas. It cannot be exhaustive but intends to address the important points. This is a hard copy reference guide, but links to outside websites are included where possible. No responsibility is assumed for the accuracy of information contained in these links.     

EU update

This is the latest edition of the DLA Piper column on developments in EU law relating to IP, IT and telecommunications. This news article summarises recent developments that are considered important for practitioners, students and academics in a wide range of information technology, e-commerce, telecommunications and intellectual property areas. It cannot be exhaustive but intends to address the important points. This is a hard copy reference guide, but links to outside web sites are included where possible. No responsibility is assumed for the accuracy of information contained in these links.