The art of the unsettlement

The best litigation lawyer, it is often said, is not the onewhose rapier-like wit demolishes the foe in court but the onewho knows how to negotiate. Having demonstrated that your clienthas the upper hand, why grind remorselessly through the mechanismsof the court when you can press your advantage home by sellingthe losing party a settlement agreement? There is so much to be said in favour of settlement. The losing     

Strong trade marks and the likelihood of confusion in European law

Legal context. One of the fundamental assumptions of trade marklaw is that provision should be made to prevent the registrationor commercial exploitation of trade marks that are likely tobe confused with earlier marks. The justification for this assumptionis however unclear. Is it to protect the expectation of itsowner that a trade mark will provide a comfort zone, an areawithin which other traders simply may not enter? Is it to encourageinvestment in the development of a relationship between thetrade mark owner and his prospective customers by offering interference-freemarketing opportunities? Is it to protect the efficiency ofthe market by facilitating the making of decisions by consumersas to which product or process they wish to purchase? Or isit to protect the vulnerable consumer against the personal consequencesof his inattention or inability to discern the differences betweenproducts or services? Key points. This article examines the development of Europeanlaw relating to the protection of strong trade marks, thosewhich are highly distinctive or well known, against similarmarks that may or may not be likely to cause consumer confusion.It demonstrates the manner in which the European Court of Justiceseeks to address the likelihood of confusion in terms whichappear to draw more from legal abstractions than from marketrealities. After giving a favourable review of the controversialdecision of that court in the PICARO/PICASSO case, the articlelists further issues which European trade mark litigation hasso far failed to address. Practical significance. Armed with an understanding of the principlesemployed by the European Court of Justice, trade mark proprietorsin Europe will obtain a better appreciation of the strategiesto be used in either challenging competitors' marks in courtor adopting commercial measures to combat them.     

Disproportionate and Discriminatory: Reviewing the Evidence on Police Stop and Search

Eight years after the Lawrence Inquiry, the question of police powers to stop and search people in public places remains at the forefront of debate about police community relations. Police are empowered to stop and search citizens under a wide range of legislative acts and the power is employed daily across Britain. Far from laying the debate to rest, the Lawrence Inquiry prompted new research studies and fresh theories to explain the official statistics. We argue that the statistics show that the use of the powers against black people is disproportionate and that this is an indication of unlawful racial discrimination. If stop and search powers cannot be effectively regulated – and it seems that they cannot – then their continued use is unjustified and should be curtailed.     

Networks of Global Interaction

Although the correlation between the Internet and globalisation is well recognised, we know relatively little about the social impact of the networked world order. Based on research on Internet growth in developing countries, this article seeks to identify some of its most salient features and how these influence, and in turn are influenced by, the broader processes of modernisation and globalisation. Through a closer examination of the social and cultural embeddedness of the Internet, the article will discuss how the organisational principle of networks is becoming more prominent in contemporary society, leading to the rise of the networked society. Rather than representing a post-modern social form, the networked society reaffirms some of the most fundamental, and rather contradictory, aspects of modernity, especially the dual processes of globalisation and individualisation. Representing a new medium for communication and interaction, the Internet allows users to establish and maintain social relations on a global scale. Rather than erasing local identities, these 'glocal' interactions have a tendency to enforce a localised sense of belonging. Nonetheless, the boundary-crossing nature of networks also has a tendency to make existing boundaries rather fuzzy and subject to mediated redefinition and re-imagining. This article builds on some of the findings of my recently completed research on the social dynamics of Internet development in developing countries (Uimonen 2000).     

Fatal intoxication with tianeptine (Stablon)

Tianeptine (Stablon^®), although structurally similar to tricyclic antidepressants, acts by enhancing the reuptake of serotonin. A fatal case is presented involving a 26-year-old man, found lying in bed with a “mushroom of foam” around his mouth. Empty blister packs of Stablon^® and a suicide note were found next to the body. A liquid–liquid extraction procedure with n-hexane: ethyl acetate and n-hexane: 2-propanol, followed by LC-DAD-MS analysis, using positive mode electrospray ionization was performed. The detection limit was 0.001 μg/mL. The toxicological results revealed the following tianeptine concentrations in the post-mortem samples: blood 5.1 μg/mL; urine 2.0 μg/mL; liver 23 μg/g; stomach contents 22 mg. Femoral blood analyses also revealed an ethanol concentration of 0.53 g/L. The present method was also developed and validated for the other post-mortem specimens, since no previous published data had confirmed the post-mortem distribution of tianeptine. The absence of other suitable direct causes of death (macroscopic or histological) and the positive results achieved with the toxicological analysis led the pathologist to rule that death was due to an intoxication caused by the suicidal ingestion of tianeptine in combination with alcohol.