Understanding IP enforcement in the United States and beyond

An often neglected topic in the field of IP law is IP borderenforcement. To a large extent, the protection and enforcementof IP rights is the burden of right holders and most discussionsinvolving the protection of these rights centre on (or at leastbegin with) obtaining patent, copyright, and trade mark protection.Additionally, much attention is paid to bringing and defendinginfringement suits. As a result, the importance of border enforcementis usually not given the attention     

Professionalism and accountability. Controlling health services in the United States and West Germany

This paper examines the new Professional Standards Review Organizations (PSROs) program in light of a similar program ("Economic Monitoring") that has been used in West Germany for over forty years. In the first section the PSRO program is described as government-mandated peer review by professional organizations, and is compared with that of the West Germany system. The second section argues that the PSROs are likely to strengthen the organization of established medicine, to increase the bargaining power of professional organizations, and to further insulate professional behavior from public scrutiny. The third section describes some of the effects of bureaucratic rigidities in peer review on the practice of medicine: the preservation of old technologies, the development of fixed patterns of practice, and the strengthening of the technical and interventionist biases in medical care. The final section evaluates the PSRO program as a complete delegation of congressional authority and a failure of Congress to set any rules for the development and application of norms and standards. The lack of any mechanism for accountability of the PSROs to public and choices is emphasized.     

Dilution in the United States and European Union (and beyond) Part II: testing for blurring

Legal context. Dilution by blurring has often been accused ofbeing a vague concept which is difficult to understand and whichhas no sensible limits. Mindful of the need for certainty inthis area, the US Senate and House of Representatives have passedthe Trademark Dilution Revision Act 2006. This Bill (which isdiscussed more generally in Part I) includes a definition ofblurring and a six-point test for blurring. Meanwhile, the EuropeanUnion has been steadily building up jurisprudence in this area. Key points. This part of the article focuses on dilution byblurring, considering how blurring is defined, how it is testedfor and whether US and EU blurring protection is in compliancewith the jurisdictions’ international obligations in thisarea (discussed in Part I). In particular, it considers thenew definition of, and test for, blurring under the US TrademarkDilution Revision Act 2006, and compares the position underthat Bill to the situation in the EU. Practical significance. Assuming that it enters into law, theRevision Act 2006 has serious implications for the proprietorsof famous marks doing business in the US. This article willinform the owners of such marks what protection they will benefitfrom and how this will differ from the protection they willget in the EU.     

Physicians' conflicts of interest in Japan and the United States: lessons for the United States

Japanese health policy shows that even with physician ownership and the absence of for-profit, investor-owned health care, physicians' conflicts of interest thrive. Physician dispensing of drugs and ownership of hospitals and clinics were justified in Japan as ways to avoid commercialization of medicine. Instead, they create physicians' conflicts and fuel patient overuse of services. Japan's Ministry of Health and Welfare (MHW) has responded by introducing per-diem payment, thereby creating incentives to decrease services in ways similar to those of American managed care organizations, but with none of their benefits, such as coordination of care, oversight of physicians practices, and quality assurance. Although the United States and Japanese health care systems are organized and financed differently there is convergence in the source of their physicians' conflicts and the way they are addressed. The United States is starting to integrate institutional and physician payment and align their incentives, in a traditional Japanese way. In so doing, the United States creates new physicians' conflicts and reduces the role of countervailing incentives and power, an advantage of previous policy. Japan, in turn, has combined incentives to increase and decrease services, thus moving closer to the U.S. policy.     

Fugitives in the United States

Little is known, empirically, about fugitives in the U.S. There is no research describing basic facts such as the prevalence of warrants or how features of warrants vary across geography or demographics of fugitives.PurposeTo (A) describe the prevalence of warrants in the U.S., including variation in warrant features across geography as well as demographics of fugitives (age, race, and gender). In addition, the paper (B) models a key feature of warrants (extradition limits) as a function of legal and extra-legal factors.MethodsThis study draws on the Wanted Persons file—the central operational database maintained by the National Criminal Information Center (NCIC) for tracking warrants from all jurisdictions in the United States. Warrant factors are described across demographic groups via bivariate comparisons. Extradition is modeled via a multivariate fixed effects logistic regression framework (i.e., within state comparisons)ResultsThe data show approximately 2 million warrants are active on any given day. Warrant features vary significantly across states (per capita), and fugitive demographics. Extradition varies as a function of legal (e.g., crime seriousness) and extra-legal factors (e.g., race of fugitive).ConclusionsWarrants may provide an important new avenue for scholarship on disparity, criminal carreers, and the administration of justice.     

破产法:美国的经验与启示

美国破产法经过长期的发展,于1978年确立了现行的制度架构。美国《破产法》关于公司破产的内容,主要体现在第7章和第11章中,也就是其中有关清算程序和重组程序的规定中。分析的结果显示,破产法面临内在的矛盾或冲突,不能同时消除"存伪"和"去真"两种错误,也不能同时实现事前效率和正确的投资与申请破产决策。从破产法的实际操作来看,无论清算还是重组,都会造成一定的价值损失。中国还处在从计划经济向市场经济转轨的过程中,为了解决预算软约束问题,需要严格的破产法。这样的破产法将是债权人导向的或者说对债权人友好的,将更多地运用清算程序。     

Privatization in the United Kingdom and economic regulation in the United States: Lessons in administrative law

The author would like to recognise Prof. Laksham Guruswamy, Faculty of Law, University of Durham, currently Visiting Professor of Law, University of Iowa, for the suggestions he contributed to this article.     

Gun control in the United States

A.B., University of California, Berkeley, 1964; Ph.D., University of California, Irvine, 1970.     

Community Penalties in the United States

The author discusses some background matters concerning the US criminal justice systems that may provide useful context for non-US readers, and summarises the main general conclusions about the operation of community penalties from two decades' research. He also briefly summarises research concerning each of the major penalties that have been attempted. Why American jurisdictions have been comparatively unsuccessful at use of community penalties as alternatives to incarceration and whether that lack of receptivity can be changed is discussed in the conclusion.     

美国律师管理工作简况

一、美国的律师制度 美国律师业是一个相对比较古老的行业,已有近200年的发展历史。目前,美国律师现有从业人员将近200多万人,近1000人中就有1名律师。美国律师几乎参与到国家政治、经济、文化和公民社会生活的各个方面。参议员、众议员大多数都是律师出身,     

美国司法中死刑的适用及其问题

死刑的保留和适用,不但在美国本上引起颇多争议,而且也受到了欧美国家和"世界人权观察”、"大赦国际”等国际组织的密切关注和尖锐的批评.本文将简要介绍美国适用死刑的基本情况及严重违反人权的问题,或许有助于我们认识美国"司法公正”的真相.