What's mine is mine and what's yours is mine too: Converging U.S. intellectual property exhaustion doctrines

With the increasing dispersion of intellectual property comes the intellectual property rights owner's continued desire to retain that part of the equation for which the bargain was struck. In terms of patents, the patentee strikes a deal to disclose the invention to the public in exchange for a monopoly over its use for a limited term. Copyright holders contribute their works to the intellectual pool receiving value by sale, lease or license. In 2012–13, the U.S. Supreme Court was tasked with delineating the realms of two intellectual property exhaustion doctrines and answering the question of where to draw the line with regard to an IP owner's ability to control the protected invention or work via patent or copyright, respectively. In one case, the Court permitted the intellectual property owner to restrict a subsequent purchaser's use of the product subject to protection, while in the other case the Court rejected the intellectual property owner's attempt to control the downstream use or resale of the product. This article discusses the relevant intellectual property exhaustion doctrines, analyzes and reconciles the Court's decisions in these cases, and provides guidance for navigating restrictions on use of U.S. protected products and works around the globe.     

陪审制的分权机制与证据法的发展

针对我国人民陪审员制目前面临的“陪而不审”、“审而不议”之晋遍困境,本文探讨了西方国家陪审制产生和发展的过程,认识到“分权是陪审制成长的基本条件”;详细探讨了我国“陪而不审”、“审而不议”现象的主要形态,指出没有实行分权是造成这种困窘局面的根源;讨论了正在兴起的河南人民陪审圆制度的进步意义与局限性;主张我国应当建立以分权为首要特征的人民陪审员制度,为此需要立法机关制定有关陪审团如何与法官分享裁判权的制度,其中最关键的是制定证据法和陪审团法。     

论我国担保法中的先诉抗辩权制度

我国现行<担保法>承大陆法传统,设定了先诉抗辩权制度,规定了保证人先诉抗辩权适格条件、法律效果及适用限制等,具有一定的可操作性;对于平衡保证合同当事各方权利义务、稳定我国社会经济生活关系,具有重要意义.     

‘That splendid body of women’: nursing,professional registration,and suffragette militancy

ABSTRACT

In the decades before World War One, a group of women fought for their right to control their own futures, claiming that their governance was in the hands of men whose interests lay in keeping women subservient. Initially articulated by an educated, middle-class few, the women's demands were embraced by widening numbers of both women and men. They saw their hopes dashed on several occasions by political manoeuvring, and only after WWI did their demands begin to be met. This is not an account of the women’s suffrage movement, but rather of the fight for the registration of trained nurses. Both movements claimed the right of women to be actors in their public lives and both faced public condemnation for transgressing social boundaries. The two movements interacted, with nurses connecting their struggle to the wider call for women's rights, and with the suffrage movement foregrounding nurses as disenfranchised women professionals.     

最高人民法院在合宪性审查中的现状、困境与出路——兼对我国《立法法》第99条第1款解释

我国《立法法》预设了最高人民法院提请全国人大常委会进行合宪性审查的路径。从现有裁判文书来看,最高人民法院在实践中并未遵循我国《立法法》所预设的路径,而是在绝大多数案件中回避了合宪性审查诉求,同时又在个别案件中进行了合宪性审查,陷入了完全回避与直接审查的两难困境。造成这种困境的原因在于,我国《立法法》对最高人民法院在合宪性审查中的权力基础、权力行使程序缺乏清晰的规定。对此,亟待通过法律解释进行明确和细化,否则最高人民法院将无章可循,无法贸然提请全国人大常委会进行合宪性审查。为了化解最高人民法院面对的这一困境,有必要对我国《立法法》第99条第1款进行解释,推导出该条款在授予最高人民法院提请审查权时,还隐含着另一项未被释明的权力即预审权,其共同构成最高人民法院在合宪性审查中的权力基础;同时,为了使预审权与提请审查权的行使制度化,有必要对其行使程序进行细化,建立起预审-提请审查机制。     

“法律监督机关”的立法内涵、演进逻辑及内在机理

“法律监督机关”是我国宪法对人民检察院的性质定位。1979年《人民检察院组织法》首次将“法律监督机关”法定化,立法内涵为注重法律监督下重建法制权威,是在中国检察理论和实践中形成的机关,侧重刑事诉讼监督和打击犯罪。1982年宪法使“法律监督机关”成为了宪法规范上的国家机关,基于宪法职能和诉讼制度改革而侧重于加强诉讼监督,并在监察体制改革下进行了自我更新,成为与监察委相互配合行使法律监督职能的机关。“法律监督机关”内涵演进的内在机理是人大体制下权力分工模式的必然要求,落实宪法规定的法律监督职能的重要选择,以及参与宪制层面政治体制改革的要求。“法律监督机关”概念内涵具有延展性,会随着立法修订和制度变迁衍生出新的内涵和解释,不断凸显中国特色社会主义检察理论的特性。     

Conceptualising Party-State Governance and Rule in Laos

ABSTRACT

This article develops a framework for conceptualising authoritarian governance and rule in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic. After introducing the national and academic context, which go a significant way towards understanding the paucity of comparative political work on Laos, we propose an approach to studying post-socialist authoritarian and single-party rule that highlights the key political-institutional, cultural-historical and spatial-environmental sources of party-state power and authority. In adopting this approach, we seek to redirect attention to the centralising structures of rule under the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party, illustrating how authoritarian institutions of the “party-state” operate in and through multiple scales, from the central to the local level. At a time when the country is garnering greater attention than at any time since the Vietnam War, we argue that this examination of critical transitions in Laos under conditions of resource-intensive development, intensifying regional and global integration, and durable one-party authoritarian rule, establishes a framework for future research on the party-state system in Laos, and for understanding and contextualising the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party regime in regional comparative perspective.     

当前国内群体性事件及其发展趋势研究

对群体性事件进行深入的研究应立足于对群体性事件概念的归纳梳理。当前我国群体性事件存在着“非直接利益者”参与愈来愈多、组织化倾向日益明显、“行动群众”日益增多和“怨恨变量”日益增长等趋势,而“下层知识分子”现象的出现标志着国内社会冲突已进入一个新的阶段。未来一个时期是国内群体性事件的多发期,应加强对群体性事件发展的分析和预测。     

我国政府价值取向面临的三大转变

政府价值取向决定了政府追求的价值目标,进而决定了政府能做什么和不能做什么。目前,随着经济的不断发展和改革的不断深入,政府价值取向也要进行新的转变。具体表现在三个方面：从注重经济向关注民生转变;从与民争利向让利于民转变;从锦上添花向雪中送炭转变。只有完成以上三大转变,“建设服务型政府”的目标才能实现。     

新加坡集选区制度初探

集选区制度是新加坡国会大选的独创。1988年新加坡国会大选实行集选区制度与单选区制度并行,这对新加坡整个政治生态产生了重大影响。国内新加坡研究涉及集选区制度的著述甚少,基本未对集选区制度予以系统阐述与分析。本文比较全面地介绍新加坡集选区制度的产生与实践的过程,并围绕新加坡集选区制度的核心争议,即代表性问题和程序公正性问题进行分析。本文认为反对党虽有突破,但选举程序设计对反对党仍然是极大的障碍,由于目前反对党积极性迅速提高,使人民行动党面临极大挑战,因此自主革新的可能性是存在的。