Linguistic justice in IP policies: evaluating the fairness of the language regime of the European Patent Office

Alternative intellectual property laws relating to the use of languages in IP organisations can result in an asymmetric distribution of costs of patenting between innovators. We present a framework for the characterisation and evaluation of the fairness of the language regime of the European Patent Office (EPO), which is currently based on three official languages: English, French and German. We estimate that the costs of access to patenting procedures borne by English-, French- or German-speaking applicants are at least 30 % lower than those borne by European applicants whose first language is not one of the current official languages of the EPO. In order to correct language-related cost asymmetries, we explore two possible alternative language regimes. In both cases, we introduce a centralised system of financial compensation that covers translation costs borne by European applicants whose first language is not one of the official languages of the EPO. In the first alternative, financial compensation is covered by savings on current translation costs at the granting stage. In the second alternative, the number of official languages is increased to five and financial compensation is funded by an increase in filing fee and by partial savings on translation costs at the granting stage. We show that both alternatives could substantially reduce language-related costs asymmetries among European applicants. In addition, we show that the five-language alternative would reduce the global costs of access to patenting procedures borne by all European applicants. Thus, more multilingualism can be cheaper than less multilingualism, provided that “implicit costs” are taken into account. We conclude discussing under which conditions the alternative language regimes proposed could have a positive impact on the effectiveness and the cost-effectiveness of the EPO language regime.     

Correction to: When Women Run,Voters Will Follow (Sometimes): Examining the Mobilizing Effect of Female Candidates in the 2014 and 2018 Midterm Elections

Political Behavior -     

Harry Hopkins and Soviet Espionage

One of the intriguing unidentified cover names in the Venona decryptions released in the mid-1990s was ‘19’, a Soviet source senior enough to report taking part in a conversation with President Roosevelt, Prime Minister Churchill, and Vice-President Wallace at the 1943 Trident conference. While some historians thought the evidence too ambiguous to identify the real name behind ‘19’, others built a case that it was presidential adviser Harry Hopkins. Alexander Vassiliev's notebooks, made public in 2009, resolved the issue by firmly identifying ‘19’ as State Department official Laurence Duggan. There remain, however, writers who refuse to accept the evidence that ‘19’ was Duggan and insist that Hopkins was a Soviet agent on the basis of insubstantial evidence.     

Transnational religious actors and international politics

This article generally examines the phenomenon of transnational religious actors and seeks to assess the claim that their activities can undermine state sovereignty. It starts from the premise that globalisation facilitates the growth of transnational networks of religious actors. Feeding off each other's ideas and perhaps aiding each other with funds, they are bodies whose main priority is the well-being and advance of their transnational religious community. The article focuses upon two specific transnational religious actors: the Roman Catholic Church and the Organisation of the Islamic Conference. It concludes by noting that, like Islamic radicals, the Catholic Church has been influential in some national contexts in helping undermine the hegemony of authoritarian governments, but that this should not be seen as a more general threat to state sovereignty.     

ADVOCATING FOR SRI LANKAN MIGRANT WORKERS

Nearly a million Sri Lankan women labor overseas as migrant workers, the vast majority in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries in West Asia. They are poorly paid and vulnerable to a wide variety of exploitative labor practices at home and abroad. Despite the importance of worker remittances to Sri Lanka's national economy, and in spite of the nation's history of organized labor and active political participation, migrants have received only anemic support from the state, labor unions, feminist organizations, and migrant-oriented nongovernmental organizations. The article contextualizes Sri Lankan migration within larger-scale economic dynamics (such as global capitalist policies and processes) and local-level ideological formations (such as local political histories and culturally shaped gender norms). The author argues that political freedoms in destination countries have a significant effect on organizing activities in both host and sending nations. Comparing the Sri Lankan and Philippine situations, the author contends that the vibrant activism in the Philippines correlates with the liberal organizing climates in the European Union and in East and Southeast Asia, while the paucity of organizing in Sri Lanka correlates with the strict repression of guest workers in the GCC. Compared to other destinations, the GCC countries give workers (particularly women) less chance for autonomous activities, are less open to labor organizing, and are less responsive to political protest.     

Religion and Foreign Policy Making in the USA,India and Iran: towards a research agenda

This article is concerned with religious soft power in foreign policy making through a focus on the foreign policies of the USA, India and Iran. It suggests that, if religious actors ‘get the ear’ of key foreign policy makers because of their shared religious beliefs, the former may become able to influence foreign policy outcomes through the exercise of religious soft power. In relation to the above-mentioned countries, the article proposes that several named religious actors do significantly influence foreign policy through such a strategy. It also notes that such influence is apparent not only when key policy makers share religious values, norms and beliefs but also when policy makers accept that foreign policy should be informed by them.     

Book reviews

Transnational Citizenship: Membership and Rights in International Migration by Rainer Bauböck. Aldershot: Edward Elgar, 1994. Pp. x + 348; references, index. £39.95. ISBN 1 85278 942 5

Postmetaphysical Thinking (translated from Nachmetaphysiche Denken: Philosophische Aufsatze by M.W. Hohengarten) by J. Habermas. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1992; Oxford: Polity Press (paperback), 1995. Pp.xx + 241. £12.95 (paperback). ISBN 0 7456 0734 9 and 1412 4

Economic Democracy: The Politics of Feasible Socialism by Robin Archer. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1995. Pp. xii + 264. £30 (hardback). ISBN 0 19 827 891 8

Global Society and International Relations: Sociological Concepts and Political Perspectives by Martin Shaw. Cambridge: Polity Press, 1995. Pp.197: index. £12.95 (paperback). ISBN 0 7456 1212 1

Great Revolutions Compared: The Outline of a Theory by Jaroslav Krej?í. London and New York: Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1994. Pp. x + 302. £13.95 (paperback). ISBN 0 7450 1408 9

From Chaos to Order: The Politics of Constitution‐Making in Uganda edited by Holger Bernt Hansen and Michael Twaddle. Kampala: Fountain Publishers and London: James Currey, 1995. Pp.194; index. £9.95 (paperback). ISBN 9970 02 044 7 (Fountain); 0 85255 393 5 (James Currey)

Political Parties and the State: The American Historical Experience by Martin Shefter. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1994. Pp. xiii + 292; index. £40 (hardback); £14.95 (paperback). ISBN 0 691 03284 X and 00041 1