Attheraces v British Horseracing Board: What price abuse of dominance?

Legal context: This article concerns the interplay between the competitionrules (abuse of dominance) and intellectual property; the extentto which dominant companies are free to set the price for accessto their IP; and excessive and discriminatory pricing. Key points: The Court of Appeal of England and Wales held that the BritishHorseracing Board (BHB) had not breached the competition rules.It overturned the High Court's decision that the BHB had chargedexcessive prices for access to its database of information.The Court of Appeal found that in determining whether a priceis excessive (and therefore a breach of competition law), itis not sufficient to look only at the level of the dominantcompany's return on its costs. This ‘cost +’ assessmentis only one element of the analysis which must be carried out. Practical significance: This case is apparently good news for IP owners, as it suggeststhat the legal test for showing excessive pricing is very high.However, the case also suggests that bringing a private actionto enforce the competition rules will remain extremely difficult.This may have a chilling effect on the development of the lawand in some cases may be to the public's detriment.     

Mediation within the French Industrial Relations Context: The SFR Cegetel Case

This article examines the introduction of mediation in the French industrial relations context, as illustrated by the case of the SFR Cegetel collective agreement on social dialogue, which was signed in June 2002. This article provides an overview of relevant French legislation and explores why mediation is used so infrequently in France to settle labor conflicts, examines the growing interest in mediation in France as exemplified in the implementation of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) programs in several firms, and analyzes the barriers and incentives to mediation as well as the impact of internal mediation on the relations between management and employees.
We conclude that while inherited customs and lack of information curtail the use of mediation, disputants increasingly favor mediation as an option when they wish to gain time or when the situation is filled with especially acute open conflict. In addition, we conclude that the introduction of mediation favors a more participatory style of management, improves relationships between management and employees, and induces a better social dialogue within the firm.     

Consumer education: why the market doesn’t work

A growing literature studies the interactions between fully rational profit maximizing firms, on one side, and biased consumers, on the other side. Along these lines, this paper focuses on the consequences of quality misperception on the market equilibrium, by raising the following question: when quality bias affects consumer choice, do firms have incentives to educate their competitor’s customers in order to attract them? To tackle this issue, I incorporate consumer misperception in a Cournot-type duopoly model and consider the consequences on the market outcome. I focus on the two polar cases, when both firms either exploit consumer misperception, or educate completely their rival’s customers. I show that the market exerts conflicting forces on the firms’ incentives, such as a curse of debiasing might occur even in the presence of substitute goods. Consequently, the opportunity of a legal intervention to trigger consumer education is a key issue.     

Introducing Computed Tomography Standards for Age Estimation of Modern Australian Subadults Using Postnatal Ossification Timings of Select Cranial and Cervical Sites,

Contemporary, population‐specific ossification timings of the cranium are lacking in current literature due to challenges in obtaining large repositories of documented subadult material, forcing Australian practitioners to rely on North American, arguably antiquated reference standards for age estimation. This study assessed the temporal pattern of ossification of the cranium and provides recalibrated probabilistic information for age estimation of modern Australian children. Fusion status of the occipital and frontal bones, atlas, and axis was scored using a modified two‐ to four‐tier system from cranial/cervical DICOM datasets of 585 children aged birth to 10 years. Transition analysis was applied to elucidate maximum‐likelihood estimates between consecutive fusion stages, in conjunction with Bayesian statistics to calculate credible intervals for age estimation. Results demonstrate significant sex differences in skeletal maturation (p < 0.05) and earlier timings in comparison with major literary sources, underscoring the requisite of updated standards for age estimation of modern individuals.     

‘Hotspot policing’: a comparative analysis of sanctioned acts of policing versus media representations of policing in a stigmatized community in Trinidad

The ‘Partial State of Emergency’ implemented in Trinidad and Tobago in August 2011, as well as media broadcasts on the crime situation, has brought to the forefront the high degree of interface between police officers and civilians within the identified ‘hotspot communities’. The assumed realities of these individuals were communicated in such a manner which led to the stereotyping of citizens as marginalized victims and police officers as ‘disrespectful bullies’. The media broadcasts reflected the act of policing as unitary, as opposed to encompassing a wide range of roles for interaction with civilians. These broadcasts revealed a high degree of violent physical displays by police officers, which were perceived as irrational, and in some instances inhumane. Despite community policing initiatives, there seem to be continued instances of problematic relations between police officers and civilians from ‘hotspot communities’. The research examined the sanctioned responses of police officer governing interaction with civilians from one of these communities. It highlighted the extent to which these endorsed reactions are contextually portrayed in media footage. The study described the determinants governing police use of force as evidenced in the media with the aim of providing a direction for redress during interaction.     

Gender Disparity in Civic Engagement among Former Offenders in the U.S. Population

The study examines gender disparities in civic engagement: volunteering, religious affiliation, and other group membership (such as social clubs, recreational groups, trade unions, commercial groups, professional organizations, or groups concerned with children like the PTA or boy scouts) as reflected in the National Epidemiologic Survey of Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC) - Waves 1 and 2 datasets collected in years 2001–2002 and 2004–2005. This comparison was conducted with special focus on female former offenders. After controlling for socio-demographic and mental health variables, adjusted odds ratios indicated that female former offenders were at increased likelihood to be civically disengaged than their male counterparts. Policy implications of study findings involving females offenders are discussed.