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The increasingly prominent issue of unfair competition on Internet platforms (IPUC) severely restricts the healthy and sustainable development of the platform economy. Based on the IPUC "multi-agent co-governance" scenario, this paper introduces stochastic disturbances and continuous strategy set to improve the classical binary deterministic evolutionary game system. The results show that after considering stochastic disturbances, the positive state corresponding to the equilibrium point (1,1) is no longer stable, and the required parameter conditions are more stringent. The IPUC "multi-agent co-governance" system under stochastic disturbances exhibits specific vulnerability. In the continuous strategy set evolutionary game system, government departments and Internet platforms can flexibly make optimal decisions based on maximizing expected returns, and strategy selection has better elasticity. Regardless of the evolutionary game scenario, maintaining the participation level of NGOs and the public above a certain threshold while increasing the penalty intensity is conducive to the evolution of the game system toward the positive state. The analysis process and conclusions provide insights and guidance for the governments to design the IPUC regulatory system and frameworks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unfair competition on internet platforms (UCIP) has become a critical issue restricting the platform economy's healthy development. This paper applies evolutionary game theory to study how to utilize multiple subjects' synergy to supervise UCIP effectively. First, the "multi-agent co-governance" mode of UCIP is constructed based on the traditional "unitary supervision" mode. Second, the government and internet platform evolutionary game models are built under two supervision modes. Finally, MATLAB is used to simulate and analyze the evolutionary stage and parameter sensitivity. In addition, we match the model's evolutionary stage with China's supervisory process. The results show that (1) the Chinese government's supervision of UCIP is in the transitional stage from "campaign-style" to "normalization." (2) Moderate government supervision intensity is essential to guide the game system to evolve toward the ideal state. If the supervision intensity is too high, it will inhibit the enthusiasm for supervision. If the supervision intensity is too low, it cannot form an effective deterrent to the internet platforms. (3) When the participation of industry associations and platform users is low, it can only slow down the evolutionary speed of the game system's convergence to the unfavorable state. Nevertheless, it cannot reverse the evolutionary result. (4) Maintaining the participation level of industry associations and platform users above a specific threshold value while increasing punishment intensity will promote the transition of government supervision from the "campaign-style" to the "normalization" stage. This paper provides ideas and references for the Chinese government to design a supervision mechanism for UCIP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article provides an overview of the mechanisms for obtaining attorney fees in franchise disputes. It explains that, generally, each party is responsible for their own attorney fees unless a statute or contract states otherwise. The article explores different approaches to recovering attorney fees, including contractual provisions, state statutes, fee-shifting reciprocity statutes, and arbitration rules. It also offers practical advice for litigators and transactional attorneys when faced with these issues. Additionally, the article highlights specific state laws and arbitration rules that allow for the recovery of attorney fees in franchise disputes. [Extracted from the article]

Competition law enforcement is one of the cornerstones of sound business regulation; yet it faces a problem in the transnational context. Whereas transnational commerce seamlessly transcends borders, competition law has jurisdictional roots, lacking a true transnational response. Global frictions due to the enforcement of divergent domestic laws and policies seem inevitable yet are surprisingly rare. We argue this phenomenon cannot be fully explained by a doctrinal analysis of the global efforts towards policy or legal convergence. Instead, the focus should be on the competition law officials who operationalise the law in a transnational context. This ‘human element’ of the inquiry must embrace qualitative research methods, such as ethnographic studies commonly used in legal anthropology, to develop a comprehensive legal analysis in this context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Competition for working positions at the workplace constitutes one of the real problems frequently encountered in business and management ethics. Despite its frequent occurrence at the workplace, as literature research shows, theoretical reflection on the issue within applied ethics is relatively rare. The present paper aims to provide a scholarly reflection on the unfair competition for positions, which is not in compliance with the ethical rules of competition. Furthermore, significance will also be placed on providing a definition of unethical job competition, identifying the features of this pattern of behavior, as well as describing the impact of this undesirable phenomenon. The present paper contributes to the underlying reflection on the issue from the point of view of applied ethics as applied in Economics. The main task of the study is to delineate the various features of unfair competition for higher work positions and the terminology related to this issue, possible ethical theoretical apologetics, and to describe the negative consequences of such conduct and practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Trademark Modernization Act of 2020 established a rebuttable presumption of irreparable harm for trademark owners seeking injunctive relief in cases of infringement and unfair competition. However, courts have struggled with how to apply this presumption consistently. The level of success required to trigger the presumption is unclear, and it is uncertain whether the burden of proof or production shifts. The article explores the application and implications of the presumption, including the weight given to it by courts and the evidence defendants can use to rebut it. It also discusses factors that affect the analysis of irreparable harm in trademark infringement cases, such as default or counterfeiting by the defendant, and provides recommendations for trademark owners to improve their chances of securing injunctive relief. [Extracted from the article]

This article looks at several legislative and regulatory developments, primarily from April 2022 to March 2023, that may be of interest to energy lawyers, providing a high-level overview on topics including: (1) policy, legislation, and regulations aimed at continuing federal and provincial decarbonization efforts; (2) regulatory developments impacting power, hydrogen, and oil and gas pipelines; (3) consideration of cumulative impacts in duty to consult cases; (4) expansion of Indigenous-owned energy projects alongside progression in the implementation of UNDRIP across Canada; (5) jurisdictional disputes between the federal and provincial governments (for example, considerations regarding the Impact Assessment Act and Alberta Sovereignty Act); and (6) clarification of the application of the post-Vavilov standard of review. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article summarizes recent judicial decisions of interest to energy lawyers. The authors review and comment on case law from the past year in several areas including: arbitration, bankruptcy and insolvency, class actions, competition law, contractual interpretation, cybersecurity, employment and labour, environment, Indigenous law, insurance law, securities litigation, and tax. The authors discuss the practical implications of the decisions and risk management strategies that may be of benefit to participants in the energy industry. The authors also highlight cases to watch in 2023. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the recent attempts to address the Hubble and S 8 tensions is to consider that the Universe started out not as a de Sitter-like spacetime, but rather anti-de Sitter-like. That is, the Universe underwent an "AdS-to-dS" transition at some point. We study the possibility that there are two dark energy fluids, one of which gave rise to the anti-de Sitter-like early Universe. The interaction is modeled by the Lotka–Volterra equations commonly used in population biology. We consider "competition" models that are further classified as "unfair competition" and "fair competition". The former involves a quintessence in competition with a phantom, and the second involves two phantom fluids. Surprisingly, even in the latter scenario it is possible for the overall dark energy to cross the phantom divide. The latter model also allows a constant w "AdS-to-dS" transition, thus evading the theorem that such a dark energy must possess a singular equation of state. We also consider a "conversion" model in which a phantom fluid still manages to achieve "AdS-to-dS" transition even if it is being converted into a negative energy density quintessence. In these models, the energy density of the late time effective dark energy is related to the coefficient of the quadratic self-interaction term of the fluids, which is analogous to the resource capacity in population biology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the antitrust enforcement debates surrounding vertical mergers, which involve combining firms or assets at different stages of the same supply chain. Topics include examining the role of agencies in U.S. merger enforcement, unique considerations for analyzing vertical mergers, tracing the history of vertical merger enforcement, critiquing current merger policy changes, analyzing potential process-based antitrust reform approaches.

New Zealand's retail grocery sector is dominated by a duopoly that impedes opportunities for new entry by lodging restrictive covenants on strategic sites and exclusive covenants in lease agreements. This enables the duopoly to limit competition and artificially raise grocery prices, harming consumers and society as a whole. In response, the Government has recently passed legislation prohibiting the duopoly's covenants. This article applauds action against anti-competitive grocery covenants. However, it argues that enforcement action, rather than legislation, would have been the more appropriate avenue for four reasons. First, under the new legislation, grocery retailers can apply for an exemption so that certain covenants remain in force, the outcome of which can be appealed. This means cases concerning grocery covenants will likely appear before the courts anyway. Secondly, enforcement action under existing legislation would have captured a key distinction that the new legislation overlooks. That is, while the duopoly's restrictive covenants are overwhelmingly anti-competitive and should all be unenforceable, in limited circumstances exclusive covenants are arguably net pro-competitive and should remain in force. Thirdly, and flowing from this, establishing via the courts that grocery covenants are in fact anti-competitive would have provided a more legitimate basis for prohibiting them. Finally, the Government's position that litigation is inefficient as each covenant must be individually analysed overlooks both the ANZCO Foods Waitara Ltd v AFFCO New Zealand Ltd collective covenants approach under s 28 and the s 30 cartel provisions in the existing Commerce Act 1986. To this end, this article argues that all of the duopoly's restrictive covenants and the great majority of their exclusive covenants breach existing competition laws, namely ss 28 and 30 of the Commerce Act. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Before the case of In re Elster, everyone in the United States had the right to place offensive phrases on t-shirts regarding former President Trump and sell them if they chose to do so. After the Federal Circuit's holding in Elster, no one in the nation may ever be able to put "TRUMP TOO SMALL" on clothing or else they might get sued for trademark infringement. Over the past few years, trademarks have become the subject of Supreme Court redlining: first through the elimination of the disparagement clause in § 1052(a) in Matal v. Tam and next through the immoral or scandalous clause of § 1052(a) in Iancu v. Brunetti. Denial of federal trademarks under the Lanham Act because of viewpoint has come under immense scrutiny and judicial review as a violation of the free speech clause of the First Amendment. However, this line of cases speaks to proper viewpoint discrimination jurisprudence, and the Federal Circuit's opinion in Elster--overturning the denial of the proposed word mark "TRUMP TOO SMALL" on t-shirts as a violation of § 1052(c)--misapplies the law and stretches the policy of Matal and Brunetti incorrectly against content-based restrictions. Under the Federal Circuit's logic, the proposed mark could not be denied by the USPTO because that would constitute impermissible content-based restrictions on speech that served no compelling governmental interest. Under the court's logic, the First Amendment concerns about criticizing the government outweighed the government's concerns in limiting the speech. However, the court missed a critical fact: no speech was ever silenced. The salient question in a trademark application is whether to confer federal monopoly rights to one person. In this case, the salient question is whether the entire country should have the right to put "TRUMP TOO SMALL" on t-shirts, or whether only one trademark holder should have that right. Before the Federal Circuit's holding, Trump himself could have put that phrase on a t-shirt and placed it into the stream of commerce, along with everyone else. Now, both Trump and the rest of the country might be barred from using that phrase on t-shirts--else they will create a likelihood of confusion--even though Trump owns the rights to his name, image, and likeness, and the point of the Federal Circuit's opinion was to encourage more speech, not silence the rest of the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the protection of public health amidst data theft and ways to overcome constitutional barriers to health information regulation. Topics include components and vulnerabilities to the health infosystem, individual autonomy in health care and health information, role of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in policing unfair and deceptive trade practices, health care information reform limitations and regulation of user experience to protect against false information.

Identification of specific protein phosphatase-1 (PP1) inhibitors is of special importance regarding the study of its cellular functions and may have therapeutic values in diseases coupled to signaling processes. In this study, we prove that a phosphorylated peptide of the inhibitory region of myosin phosphatase (MP) target subunit (MYPT1), R690QSRRS(pT696)QGVTL701 (P-Thr696-MYPT1690−701), interacts with and inhibits the PP1 catalytic subunit (PP1c, IC50 = 3.84 µM) and the MP holoenzyme (Flag-MYPT1-PP1c, IC50 = 3.84 µM). Saturation transfer difference NMR measurements established binding of hydrophobic and basic regions of P-Thr696-MYPT1690−701 to PP1c, suggesting interactions with the hydrophobic and acidic substrate binding grooves. P-Thr696-MYPT1690−701 was dephosphorylated by PP1c slowly (t1/2 = 81.6–87.9 min), which was further impeded (t1/2 = 103 min) in the presence of the phosphorylated 20 kDa myosin light chain (P-MLC20). In contrast, P-Thr696-MYPT1690−701 (10–500 µM) slowed down the dephosphorylation of P-MLC20 (t1/2 = 1.69 min) significantly (t1/2 = 2.49–10.06 min). These data are compatible with an unfair competition mechanism between the inhibitory phosphopeptide and the phosphosubstrate. Docking simulations of the PP1c-P-MYPT1690−701 complexes with phosphothreonine (PP1c-P-Thr696-MYPT1690−701) or phosphoserine (PP1c-P-Ser696-MYPT1690−701) suggested their distinct poses on the surface of PP1c. In addition, the arrangements and distances of the surrounding coordinating residues of PP1c around the phosphothreonine or phosphoserine at the active site were distinct, which may account for their different hydrolysis rate. It is presumed that P-Thr696-MYPT1690−701 binds tightly at the active center but the phosphoester hydrolysis is less preferable compared to P-Ser696-MYPT1690−701 or phosphoserine substrates. Moreover, the inhibitory phosphopeptide may serve as a template to synthesize cell permeable PP1-specific peptide inhibitors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In an effort to push for low-carbon transition, national governments and regulatory authorities are working to define market structures and legislative frameworks able to effectively support the spreading of electricity production from renewables. To this purpose, the opening of national Ancillary Services Markets (ASMs) to Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) plays a key role. However, pricing schemes and rules in place (e.g., incentives) can act as a barrier to the supply of regulation services by small-sized and renewable-based power plants. In this context, the present work evaluates the economic opportunities for DERs provided by the provision of tertiary reserve and balancing control in the Italian ASM. The research is carried out through the collection and processing of price data from the Italian electricity and gas markets over 4 years (2019–2022). Considering a reference architecture where DER units bid on the market through a Balancing Service Provider, the potential revenues on the ASM of a non-programmable or partially programmable DER unit are compared to the earnings expected of a conventional power plant in order to highlight whether unfair competition can represent a barrier. Then, possible evolutions in the current remuneration schemes are analyzed, to evaluate whether they can be able to support a better DER integration. From the analysis, it emerges that, even if negative prices could be useful to increase the competitiveness of RES-based power plants for downward regulation, the loss of the incentives can act as a deterrent to the offering of services on the market by DERs. Therefore, other regulatory options, such as the incentives retention in case of downward regulation, could also be needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article contains the results of research on the problems of optimization of state regulation in the retail trade in Ukraine. The trends in the development of retail trade in our country, the most important problems existing in this sector have been determined. The causes and consequences of the existence of unfair trading practices in the relationship between domestic retail chains and their suppliers have been clarified. The changes in the regulatory system in the EU associated with the adoption of Directive 2011/7 of 16 February 2011 on combating late payment in commercial transactions and Directive 2019/633 of 17April 2019 on unfair trading practices in n business-to-business relationships in the agricultural and food supply chain have been researched. Based on the analysis of the EU experience and the situation in our country, the necessity has been substantiated and the ways of transition to selective regulation of retail trade in Ukraine have been determined. Selective regulation provides for the purposeful influence of the state on the points of growth or gaps in commodity-financial flows in systems of vertically adjacent commodity markets. It has been proposed to limit administrative interference in the work of retail outlets, as well as to gradually reduce the scope of price regulation. At the same time, it is expedient to introduce regulation in certain areas where it has not yet been carried out. In particular, it has been proposed to establish a deadline for settlements under commercial agreements and prohibit unfair trading practices by implementing the norms of EU Directives 2011/7 and 2019/633 into domestic legislation. The necessity has been substantiated and the ways of improving the system of control over the activities of markets have been proposed. Measures have been proposed to make the rates for market services transparent and to force market owners to use registrars of settlement transactions and pay taxes. In order to accelerate the development of retail trade, it has been proposed to actively use economic mechanisms: supporting clusters, stimulating the expansion of branded trade, as well as facilitating the creation of self-regulatory organizations of entrepreneurs in the sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The right of publicity enables people to control the commercial use of their identities. This control implicates the First Amendment by dictating when and how the public may use a person's name, image, or likeness in speech. Iowa belongs to a minority of states that do not possess a right of publicity statute or common law. This lack of guidance regarding when the public may use a person's identity threatens to chill free speech, creates inefficient judicial outcomes, and upsets the balance that Congress has already struck between other intellectual property rights and the First Amendment. This Note argues that Iowa should adopt a right of publicity statute that incorporates copyright law's fair use doctrine to avoid these undesirable outcomes. This Note also outlines the history of the right of publicity and states' current approaches to resolving tension between the right of publicity and the First Amendment, identifies three reasons why Iowa needs a right of publicity statute that incorporates copyright law's fair use doctrine, and proposes statutory language for the Iowa legislature to adopt. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This Note explores how antitrust law, through FTC rulemaking, can address issues created by technology firms engaging in self-preferencing. This Note specifically examines how these firms harm competition by leveraging their position as a major platform, while also using that platform to compete in downstream markets. For example, Apple content can be watched on an Apple TV through a subscription to Apple TV+. An Amazon Echo speaker can be purchased on Amazon.com and shipped using Fulfillment by Amazon. There are competitors to Apple content (like Hulu) or Amazon products (like Sonos speakers), but those competitors must list on Apple or Amazon's platform. Similarly, app developers and publishers rely on Meta, and websites like Yelp rely on Google, for these platforms have unparalleled reach. Big technology firms can entrench their power through unfair, anticompetitive, and exploitative practices when downstream competitors have limited realistic alternatives. There have been increasing calls to 'regulate big tech.' In this era, Apple, Alphabet (Google), Amazon, and Meta (Facebook) are facing scrutiny for their data privacy policies, content moderation decisions, and anticompetitive behaviors. These issues overlap, but crucially, are also distinct. While cultural norms, government consent decrees, and private lawsuits primarily shape how these platforms operate in the United States, 'antitrust law' is increasingly being turned to for a legal remedy to these issues. However, because the types of problems presented are categorically distinct, regulators need to clearly establish what is and what is not unlawful. For example, legal proposals aimed at enhancing competition must navigate the implications of liability associated with content moderation. This Note takes a practical approach on where current antitrust law could be most effective at banning self-preferencing, and therefore protecting competition and innovation when big technology platforms have exceptional access to third-party data and 'decisions' are made by a combination of software, user behavior, and algorithms. The growth-over-profits mindset of many technology firms also makes imagining 'breaking-up' big digital tech platforms difficult, when business segments behaving anticompetitively could be operating at a loss. Structural separation may be relied on one day, but an immediate and broadly applicable framework through rulemaking is needed today. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has authority to enforce the existing ban on unfair methods of competition. As technology, business, and the internet innovate and evolve, so have anticompetitive practices and their impacts. This Note argues that FTC rulemaking is the most efficient and targeted method to regulate digital platforms behaving anticompetitively through selfpreferencing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reveals the problems and prospects of combating dishonest advertising of medicinal products in the conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic. Using the example of the USA and Ukraine, the criteria for banning the advertising of medicinal products by researching scientific sources, international and domestic legal acts, prescriptions and instructions of state bodies, etc. were analyzed. The differences and specifics of the regulatory requirements for the advertising of medicinal products in Ukraine and the USA have been determined. It has been established that in the USA it is allowed to advertise prescription drugs, and in Ukraine a ban has been introduced to advertise "antiviral drugs of direct action". Attention was drawn to the qualification of the division of advertising slogans in the USA, which made it possible to draw an analogy with Ukrainian advertising of medicinal products. It has been proven that individual pharmaceutical manufacturers, by providing advertisers with incomplete information about the drug, can mislead consumers about its effectiveness. The Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine has demonstrated cases of countering the spread of false information about the properties of medicinal products, which became more frequent in connection with the emergence of the strain (SARS-CoV-2) in 2019. The advantages and disadvantages of a complete ban on medicines on television and radio, as well as other mass media are indicated in connection with the entry into force of the decision of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine "On the state of the national health care system and urgent measures to ensure the protection of citizens of Ukraine with medical assistance" dated July 30, 2021. As an alternative to the complete rejection of drug advertising it is proposed, the introduction of the mechanism of "corrective advertising", which is actively used in the USA and consists in correcting or making amendments to already published drug advertising and eliminating statements that mislead consumers, contain incomplete, inaccurate, false information about the medicinal product. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The intrinsic importance and value of geographical indications and their special characteristics, which, if protected, would have far-reaching economic, cultural and even political benefits, would justify the need to protect them. The present study descriptively-analytically examined the legal protection of geographical indications nationally and internationally and identified gaps in the protection of signs in Iranian law. The results showed that recognizing a geographical indication, whether through registration, court, administrative decision or other means, is not sufficient to realize the potential benefits of protecting a geographical indication. Also, although protecting a geographical indication is essential, it is not the only condition for its success. Also, although there are several ways to protect a geographical indication in theory, even ancillary laws such as the "Fight against Unfair Competition" and the "Consumer Protection Act" and other similar rules and regulations are among these valuable intellectual assets. They protect. However, there are limitations to their protection in practice, largely due to the wide variety of protection systems associated with these symptoms. It was also observed that despite special rules in some countries and territories with geographical indications, including Iran, there is still no global consensus and a single legal authority to support these indications at the international level fully. Therefore, it is necessary to create a comprehensive geographical indication design for a geographical indication to effectively create brand equity for a product or positively impact rural development or the preservation of traditional knowledge, traditional cultural expressions, or biodiversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Fair Trading Amendment Act 2021 introduced a New Zealand prohibition on "unconscionable conduct" in trade. Previously, the law on unconscionable conduct was found in the equitable doctrine of unconscionable bargain. This article describes how New Zealand law has moved away from equitable unconscionability with this new prohibition. This article critically analyses some of the legal, social and economic justifications for introducing the prohibition, finding that some of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment's justifications are not persuasive. The s 7 prohibition is based strongly on an equivalent section in the Australian Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth). It is argued that long-standing doctrinal issues with Australia's prohibition provided a strong basis for New Zealand to pursue a different standard. Finally, this article explores the "unfair commercial practices" doctrines in the United States and European Union through the lens of anticonsumer practices in digital marketplaces. The conclusion is that the unfair commercial practices doctrine captures a wider range of anti-consumer conduct than does unconscionable conduct. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A public healthcare system is one in which the government governs and controls all healthcare services. It offers high-quality medical care to all citizens, regardless of their ability to pay. The benefits of public healthcare against the private healthcare system showed that the former reduces overall healthcare and administrative costs. It helps in standardising the services and creates a healthier workforce, prevents future costs, and guides the population to make better choices. In contrast, private healthcare maintains a business-driven culture and creates unfair competition for non-profit organizations. It considers healthcare as a commodity rather than a right of every citizen and may use its considerable economic power to exert undue influence on healthcare policies. Countries with the best healthcare in the world provide free or universal healthcare. These countries regard healthcare as a social good rather than an economic good and provide universal care, which means that healthcare must be affordable and accessible to all the citizens. Considering the ethical issues in the for-profit healthcare system, as well as the drawback of private health insurers, it is advocated that health insurance must be administered by non-profit healthcare providers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is aimed to identify the implicit ethics in marketing in Colombia according to many expert professors' perspectives from the best Colombian universities. The methodological design used was the hermeneutic analysis of the information gathered through semi- directed interviews. The results show that the ethics taught in Colombian undergraduate programs has a hegemonic moral position based on utilitarian ethics, which is important for the professionals of marketing and comes from religious morality. It is also taught through ethical codes and tends to be a cross subject in curricula. Although several universities try to incorporate the ethical issues throughout their curricula, other universities have eliminated this component or have left the learning of this component as a student's choice. The ethics approach taught in undergraduate marketing programs in Colombia should be reviewed to avoid phenomena in the national context that are considered inappropriate, such as unfair competition or misleading advertising. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the jurisprudence of Supreme Court, which once enacted strict restrictions on exclusive deals and tyings, and details public harms caused by both practices as they relate to the right of consumers. It mentions rule could be enacted by an act of the U.S. Congress amending the antitrust laws or through the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) using its unfair methods of competition rulemaking power. It also mentions substantial share of the relevant market should be per se illegal.

The European Union (EU) is regularly criticized for using its trade policies to arm-twist other countries into agreeing to supply European factories with raw materials. One area of its trade policy, however, has thus far escaped attention in this regard: trade defence. This should change as the EU increasingly uses trade defence instruments not only to address unfair trade practices but also to seek access to raw materials from other countries. It does so by imposing higher trade defence tariffs on countries that employ policies that ensure raw materials extracted within their territories are processed domestically. This approach is worrisome since, due to the EU's market size, it may discourage resource-rich countries from developing downstream industries of their own. Furthermore, these countries' policies are often in line with their international obligations so that the EU is unilaterally infringing on these countries' sovereignty over their natural resources when targeting these policies. These countries and their exporting producers should thus seize the means at their disposal to put a stop to the EU's practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An endorsement is an act of giving one's public support to a person, product, service, or cause; accordingly, it might seem impossible for someone to make an endorsement after they have died. Nevertheless, posthumous endorsements have become commonplace in social media marketing and have been increasingly embraced by trademark and unfair competition laws. Entities representing Marilyn Monroe, for example, have successfully brought trademark claims for the unauthorized use of Monroe's name, have successfully brought false endorsement claims under section 43(a) of the Lanham Act, and regularly have promoted products through the Instagram-verified "@marilynmonroe" page. Marilyn Monroe survives today as a highly paid celebrity endorser even though she died almost sixty years ago and her "estate" is controlled by individuals without any personal connection to her. This Article closely examines the growing body of posthumous endorsement law and sets forth a new framework that better respects both the agency of the deceased as well as the continuing bonds between the deceased, their fans, and their families. Intellectual property (IP) scholars have critiqued other forms of postmortem IP, such as copyright and publicity rights, but this Article shows that posthumous endorsement rights pose unique and largely unaddressed concerns. First, these rights frequently pose a continuity problem: courts have allowed endorsement rights to shift from the decedent, to their heirs, to unrelated third parties without acknowledging just how differently situated each of these entities is with respect to the communicated endorsement. Second, these rights pose discursive problems: they allow rightsholders to speak in the "official" voice of the decedent, leveraging the individual's continuing cultural influence into commercial and political endeavors that emerge long after their death. Third, these rights pose dignitary concerns: individuals are often symbolically brought back from the dead without their consent and forced to speak on behalf of entities that have purchased their goodwill on the open market. Nonetheless, there are some important reasons for IP laws to recognize at least some form of posthumous endorsement rights. Marketing scholarship has shown that posthumous endorsements are often material to consumers, and there is a shared interest among the decedent, their fans, and their families in shutting down false suggestions that a good or service received the decedent's blessing. Accordingly, this Article proposes that courts only recognize posthumous endorsement rights where there is both "privity and power." An entity can only meaningfully endorse goods or services on behalf of a decedent--or affirmatively disclaim their approval--when they (1) own the image, word, or symbol that is signaling endorsement and (2) are empowered to make legal decisions on the decedent's behalf. Only when an individual is empowered to step into the shoes of a decedent, and required to act in the decedent's best interests, can the individual fairly and accurately speak for the dead. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the case of Ndambi v. CoreCivic, Inc.,topics include where the Fourth Circuit upheld that detained immigrant workers are not considered "employees" under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The court's decision ignored the changing landscape of immigration detention, which has become largely privatized and for-profit, and conflicted with the FLSA's goals of protecting worker welfare and industries from unfair competition. .

Both trademark and unfair competition laws and state right of publicity laws protect against unauthorized uses of a person’s identity. Increasingly, however, these rights are working at odds with one another and can point in different directions with regard to who controls a person’s name, likeness, and broader indicia of identity. This creates what I call an “identity thicket” of overlapping and conflicting rights over a person’s identity. Current jurisprudence provides little to no guidance on the most basic questions surrounding this thicket, such as what right to use a person’s identity, if any, flows from the transfer of marks that incorporate indicia of a person’s identity, and whether such transfers can empower a successor company to bar a person from using their own identity, and, if so, when. Part of the challenge for mediating these disputes is that both right of publicity and trademark laws are commonly thought of as concerned solely with market-based interests. But this is not the case. As I have documented elsewhere, the right of publicity has long been directed at protecting both the economic and the noneconomic interests of identity- holders. And, as I demonstrate here, it turns out that the same is true for trademark and unfair competition laws, which have long protected a person’s autonomy and dignity interests as well as their market-based ones. After documenting and developing this overlooked aspect of trademark law, I suggest a number of broader insights of this more robust account of trademark law both for addressing the identity thicket and for trademark law more generally. First, I suggest that recognizing a personality-based facet of trademark law suggests a basis to limit the alienation of personal marks in some contexts. Second, this understanding shores up trademark’s negative spaces, especially when truthful information is at issue. Third, recognizing trademark’s personality-based interests provides a partial explanation (and limiting principle) for some of its expansionist impulses. Finally, I contend that recognizing this broader vision of trademark law provides significant guidance as to how to navigate the identity thicket. I employ trademark preemption analysis to mediate disputes between trademark and right of publicity laws. Trademark preemption provides an avenue out of the thicket, but only if trademark law’s robust theory of personality is recognized. A failure to do so risks leaving us with one of two bad options: a right of publicity that acts as a “mutant” trademark law, swallowing up and obstructing legitimate rights to use trademarks, or, alternatively, with a shallow husk of trademark law (rooted solely in commercial interests) that swallows up publicity claims at the expense of personal autonomy and dignity. Trademark law already provides us with the tools to avoid both of these unsavory paths — if only we reclaim its lost personality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a crisis in international human rights law. In a series of cases, the Supreme Court has drastically reduced the Alien Tort Statute's ("ATS") utility as a vehicle for transnational justice, effectively ending a remarkable four-decade string of human rights litigation under the statute. Since 1980, private plaintiffs have filed hundreds of ATS suits in federal courts seeking to hold a rogue's gallery of international despots, torturers, mass murderers, and their corporate accomplices accountable for violations of international law. But ATS suits proved controversial. The Court's hamstringing of the ATS was driven largely by concerns over assertions of extraterritorial jurisdiction by private parties that might embroil the United States in sensitive foreign policy disputes. As internationally minded social justice activists and scholars mourn the ATS's demise, they are avidly seeking a replacement. Many increasingly look to state law and state courts as a vehicle for transnational redress. Yet, state law is even more problematic than the ATS as a vehicle for asserting extraterritorial jurisdiction. There is a better option, at least for corporate misconduct, which accounts for the vast majority of the ATS suits. Long overlooked as a remedial tool for extraterritorial violations, section 337 unfair competition actions in the International Trade Commission ("ITC") are well-suited to hold corporations accountable for supply chain abuses. Under section 337 the ITC has the power to block the importation of goods produced abroad using a broad range of unfair methods and practices. Section 337 is also better positioned than state law remedies to withstand the criticisms that felled the ATS. Its use of in rem jurisdiction and focus on imports avoids the extraterritorial concerns raised by the ATS and other judicial remedies. In addition, the ITC offers an underappreciated hybrid model of private and public enforcement, which mitigates concerns that its decisions will undermine U.S. foreign policy. Expanded use of section 337 to address misconduct abroad may be particularly attractive to American policymakers in our current circumstances. A new presidential administration is struggling to address unfair trade practices that harm domestic industries and workers while avoiding the damaging economic fall-out from the Trump trade wars. The ITC presents a ready-made tool to level the playing field for American industries, helping our economy recover from the current economic crisis while advancing human rights and environmental justice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As U.S. competition authorities ponder whether age-old antitrust laws should be modernized to apply to tech giants, a first-order question is: What existing antitrust laws apply to their conduct? A formerly formidable tool that has been defanged through lax enforcement is the Robinson--Patman Act (RPA). Passed by Congress in 1936, the RPA was drafted in response to a growing public concern that large chain stores were squeezing out small businesses. The RPA strengthened the Clayton Act's prohibition of "secondary-line" price discrimination--that is, price discrimination by a wholesaler that favors some retailers over others. The FTC and DOJ, however, have been unwilling to enforce the RPA since the 1980s, as they have increasingly perceived the RPA's protectionist bent as orthogonal to the consumer-welfare standard espoused by other federal antitrust laws. But enforcers could revive the RPA if there is political will. The Supreme Court, in its most recent RPA case, Volvo Trucks North America, Inc. v. Reeder-Simco GMC, Inc., reaffirmed some of the most important aspects of the RPA, which arguably goes much further to protect small businesses than any other existing antitrust law. This Comment examines how the RPA could potentially be applied to the modern-day giant retailer Amazon. While such a case would depend on the fact-specific allegations, this Comment explores arguments in support of a claim that Amazon, as a buyer, has induced wholesalers to price discriminate against smaller retailers. In doing so, this Comment also highlights some of the limitations of trying to apply antitrust laws to America's largest online retailer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Trade secrecy, a form of intellectual property protection, serves the important societal function of promoting innovation. But as police departments across the country increasingly rely on proprietary technologies like facial recognition and predictive policing tools, an uneasy tension between due process and trade secrecy has developed: to fulfill Brady’s constitutional promise of a fair trial, defendants must have access to the technologies accusing them, access that trade secrecy inhibits. Thus far, this tension is being resolved too far in favor of the trade secret holder—and at too great an expense to the defendant. The wrong balance has been struck. This Note offers three contributions. First, it explains the use of algorithms in law enforcement and the intertwined role of trade secrecy protections. Second, it shows how trade secrecy clashes with the Due Process Clause—the Constitution’s mechanism for correcting the power asymmetry between the state and the defendant—and argues that due process should not waver simply because a source of evidence is digital, not human. Third, it proposes a solution that better balances a defendant’s due process rights with intellectual property protections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the Supreme Court's decision in Romag Fasteners versus Fossil and the Lanham Act. It mentions that courts should adopt the Consumer Approach and use trademark remedies to end the modern overprotection of trademarks. It proposes the Consumer Approach to identifying unfair competition and applies it to trademark law. The Consumer Approach empowers courts to preserve a zone of legitimate competition by permitting business activities that benefit consumers.

There is a growing concern over competitiveness everywhere, especially among farmers'. The research focuses on the competitiveness or ability to compete of small farmers' apple-producers in the Dibra region, in Albania. Its purpose is to assess the level of competitiveness of farmers' and to identify major factors that determine this level. Primary data obtained through direct observation of farmers' and statistical methods such as groupings, descriptive statistics, graphs, and statistical methods such as non-parametric correlation were used to conduct the research. To analyze the competitiveness, we use the data on the difficulties and problems that farmers' face while selling their produce. The study reveals a very low ability to compete, and major reasons for this are unfair competition and the functioning of the market, high costs of production and marketing, lack of state support, especially for the use of quality inputs and price subsidies, very limited resources to obtain loans for capital investment and working capital, but to some extent also because of the reduced the negotiating power due to lack of information and lack of collective action. Finally, some political implications along the lines of results provided by the study have been outlined, in order to enhance the farmers' ability to compete. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information and data have always been valuable to businesses, but in the Information Age, as businesses have figured out more ways to commoditize the information and data they possess, there has been a corresponding increase in expressed concerns about the unauthorized "disclosure" of information. Often, these concerns are expressed in absolute terms, as if any unauthorized disclosure of information constitutes an act of unfair competition or theft. The problem is that the common understanding of disclosure, particularly among information owners that seek to restrict access to the information they possess, belies the legal meaning of the term as used in various contexts. Sometimes, but not as often as information owners/possessors assert, the disclosure of information will result in the loss of associated rights in the information, but other times it will not. This can happen, for instance, when no legal rights attach to a specified body of information, or when any rights that do attach (like copyrights) continue to exist even if there is a disclosure of the information. Because different areas of information law have developed different meanings of the term disclosure (and related terms, like "publication"), it is important for scholars, courts, and litigants to understand those meanings and use them properly. Otherwise, there is a risk that claims of wrongful disclosure of information will unduly influence policymakers and judges to favor the claims of information owners/possessors over those who are entitled to access and use the subject information. In other words, the limitations that exist on the scope of various information rights should not be overshadowed by the rhetoric of loss and theft when no such loss or theft is possible. This article begins by first illustrating the different ways that the term "disclosure" is used in law, using trade secret law, patent law, and copyright law as case studies. It concludes by setting forth a typology of disclosure that should be used to explain the legal consequences of acts of disclosure for various types of information. Only Type-L disclosures (those that result in the loss of associated information rights) fit the rhetoric of information owners/possessors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The notion of 'markets' occupies a prominent yet ambiguous position in copyright discourse. When the term is raised, the copyright owner's market tends to be taken as its implicit meaning, perpetuating an assumption that the market needs to be protected solely to preserve incentives to create. This dominant narrative overshadows an important dimension of copyright markets - disseminative competition, which is characterised by rival disseminators competing for inputs (copyright content) and audiences (copyright consumers). With the aid of competition law principles, this article distinguishes competition for dissemination of content from competition for the creation of content. It underscores the importance of dissemination markets to a well-functioning copyright system and shows how certain copyright doctrines substantively impact on disseminative competition. In reframing contemporary understandings of copyright markets, this article highlights the biases in copyright infringement analysis that may favour incumbent content disseminators to the detriment of a vibrant and innovative digital economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is among several national competition regulators that have recently expressed concerns about the inability of existing merger law to address competition issues that arise from acquisitions of digital start-ups. The unique characteristics of rapidly evolving digital markets present unprecedented challenges for traditional merger regimes that rely on predictions of future market conditions to justify intervention. This article argues that Australian merger law is unable to adequately address the uncertain risks presented by acquisitions of nascent competitors in digital markets. It further argues that traditional rule-based merger regimes are unable to properly navigate conditions of extreme uncertainty. An alternative regulatory model that is explored in detail is experimentalist governance, which promises to allow regulators and firms to respond to radical uncertainty by recursively crafting solutions to problems that emerge in dynamic digital markets over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Federal courts have largely permitted "tacit collusion," the process by which companies use public announcements, investments, and algorithms to raise prices or depress wages without ever coming to an explicit agreement with one another. This decision has had an enormous impact on consumers, on workers, and on democracy as a whole. But barring an unexpected reinterpretation of the Sherman Act at the Supreme Court, those who hope to prevent tacit collusion mustfind new tools to cio so. This Article proposes one such tool: ntlemaking at the Federal Trade Commission. A "No Collusion" Rule would prevent a firm from raisingits prices solely because a competitor has done so. Under the rule, the FTC would be empowered to bring enforcement actions against those who engage in such unfair methods of competition. Defendants could dekat these actions by showing that their price increases were not solely motivated by their competitors' parallel behavior. In proposing the rule, this Article Jils an important gap in the academic literature. A long line of scholarship beginning with Richard Posner has examined the problems and forms of tacit collusion, but to date, no one has deeply considered FTC rulemaking as a means to address it. More recently. advocates of the "Neo-Brandeisian" or "hipster" school of antitrust have revived interest in FTC rulemaking, but solar no one has offered aspecific proposal like the one here. This Article connects and extends these disparate lines of scholarship. As such, it will be of keen interest to both academics and policymakers as antitrust law continues to gain renewed national attention. This Article proceeds in three parts. Part I describes the twinned problems of increasing industry concentration and tacit collusion, and howfederal courts have largely declined to address them. Part II proposes the "-No Collusion Rule." and both describes the rule itselfand how it would be implemented. Part Ill addresses jive key objections, namely that the FTC lacks authority to promulgate the rule, that the rule is unnecessary, that it is too broad (or too narrow), that it is impossible to administer, and that tacit collusion is good. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to functionality doctrine, trademark protection cannot be granted for any feature that is essential to a product's use or purpose, or that affects the product's cost or quality. But because of the placebo effect, even seemingly inert names and symbols are imbued with precisely this kind of power. In fact, a wide variety of realworld phenomena challenge the prevailing understanding of trademark functionality, from the social uses of high-fashion marks to the cost reductions enabled by certification marks. More fundamentally, a valuable trademark of any kind should act to reduce search costs for consumers and improve quality through reputation. And yet, rather than leading to invalidation, all of these well-documented functionalities are apparently tolerated by trademark law--sometimes merely ignored, but often celebrated explicitly. This Article proposes a more unified theory of functionality: fragility. Some product features affect cost, quality, use, and purpose in ways that are non-fragile-- the effects would persist even if every producer were to copy the same feature. But some features affect the product in ways that are fragile--the effects would be degraded or broken through unchecked copying. In reality, only non-fragile functionalities are actually prohibited, whereas fragile functionalities are permitted and even encouraged. In a manner surprisingly similar to patent or copyright law, trademark law appears to carefully distinguish between improvements that require its protection in order to manifest, and those that do not. This fragility theory not only better explains real-world case outcomes and the functionality doctrine's full history, but also offers a conceptual improvement that can be applied to all types of trademarks. A generic term, for example, exhibits non-fragile linguistic functionality. Moreover, fragility theory provides consistent answers to divisive boundary issues in trademark law, such as overlapping protection under copyright, anti-dilution rights, and post-sale confusion doctrine. At the same time, recognizing this fragility pattern calls attention to potentially adverse consequences in terms of distributive justice and market competition--consequences that trademark law itself may not be able to remedy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]