Copyright, continuums and freedom of speech

‘A book may be good for nothing; or there may be onlyone thing in it worth knowing; are we to read it all through?’(Samuel Johnson) This section is dedicated to the review ofideas, articles, books, films and other media. It will includereplies (and rejoinders) to articles, the evaluation of newideas or proposals, and reviews of books and articles both directlyand indirectly related to intellectual property law.

Copyright and Free Speech Comparative and International Analyses ByJonathan Griffiths and Uma Suthersanen, Eds, 2005, Oxford: OxfordUniversity Press Price: £80.00, Hardback, ISBN: 0199276048.pp. 426   If one were to summarize this     

Administrative aspects of the Uganda election—December 1980: A comparison with Zimbabwe

Since international observers were used to give legitimacy both to the Uganda and Zimbabwe elections in 1980 there is an obvious point of comparison between them. Despite this initial similarity comparing the administration of the elections in the two emphasizes the differences and draws attention to the administrative problems in Uganda resulting from the use of a law and procedures which derived from different circumstances in the country and which assumed an experience in operating elections which was largely lacking. This article explains problems encountered and points to lessons to be learnt.     

The fear of reprisal and the failure of victims to report a personal crime

Most people who fail to report their victimizations to the police state either that the incident was not serious enough to warrant official attention or that nothing could be done. However, a small proportion of victims states that they did not report because of their fear of reprisal. Based on National Crime Panel victimization data, the offense and personal characteristics of these victims are contrasted with the total victim and nonreporting victim populations. Contrary to the general reasons for not reporting a crime, several personal and offense characteristics are related to reprisal. For instance, reprisal is more often a factor in personal victimizations where victims are female and acquainted with their offenders. The more dangerous the incident, the more often reprisal is the stated reason for not calling the police. The results of the analysis strongly suggest that in certain social environments the fear of reprisal is a major factor in the reporting of crime.     

The autodegradation of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) in human rib bone and its relationship to the time interval since death

This research explored the feasibility of using the degradation rate of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) in human rib bone to determine the time interval since death. Postmortem human rib samples were surface sterilized and incubated under sterile conditions in either high or low humidity conditions at room temperature for a period of weeks. At selected times, portions of the bone were cut away, and the DNA from these samples was extracted and subjected to strand separating gel electrophoresis. The DNAs in the gels were transferred to a nylon membrane, preserving their relative positions as in the gel, and probed with radioactive total genomic human DNA. Autoradiograms produced were scanned and digitized. When the samples were incubated under identical conditions, the degradation rate of DNA in samples from different individuals appeared very similar. The DNA degradation rate may vary with temperature and humidity more than it varies between individuals.