The David-And-Goliath-esque Problematic of “Unfair Advantage” in Trade Mark Law: Is the EU Moving Towards a Categorical Protection of Famous Brands?

The extended protection of trade marks with a reputation is losing its “exceptional” character, making way for an almost categorical bar to the registration of any competing sign; indeed, the “unfair advantage” requirement appears to have been confounded with that of similarity. Certainly, trade marks are recognized as a legitimate restriction of the freedom of commerce and, arguably, in principle, competitors can and should invest their own efforts into conceiving and promoting an original sign under which they can market their goods and services. Nevertheless, trade mark law, insofar as it protects the investment function of a reputed mark, does not for as much shield the proprietor from all competition, even if this means that he must work harder in order to preserve this reputation. Indeed, the use of a similar sign is sometimes deemed to be ineluctable, where the applicant demonstrates that he cannot reasonably be required to abstain from using such a sign as, for example, it would be made necessary for the marketing of his products. This is especially true where the sign makes use of descriptive terms or elements in order to indicate the type of goods or services offered by the applicant under the mark applied for. This paper aims to critically discuss the most recent EU and UK jurisprudence on “unfair advantage” in the context of trade mark registration and infringement, focussing primarily on the components of this EU creation and how they are interpreted by courts on both a national and EU level.

The Third Attempt. A New Chance for an Idealist Philosophy

The message of total non-universality (both sensible content and concept as such are evalued as non-universal) is incompatible with human nature. From this, the exceptional character of my philosophical venture is derived. Essentially, it is a problem of communication. Hence, it is a didactical construction which is central to my paper. The crucial importance of two simple assertions must be emphasized:1) A finite extension is not divisible infinitely (proposed by Berkeley and Hume)2) The line does not consist of points (proposed by Hegel)The above two assertions may be called the hard core of idealist philosophy. Both are instrumental in the conception of original environment. Being tied to the original environment is the outstanding fact that explains why the sensible content should be qualified as non-universal.

Secularism at the Turn of the Millennium in the Context of its Adversaries

This chapter continues some themes started in the previous chapter and examines the attrition of secularism socially, politically and culturally, towards the end of the millennium. It discusses the turn taken by erstwhile left-wing and nationalist members of the intelligentsia, to pander to what was considered to be popular sentiment, and their acceptance of claims to represent society made by Islamist forces, now coming into their own. This period saw an increased prominence of sentimentalist, identitarian attachment to the Muslim past, and a common insistence on the exceptional character of Islam, often in hostile or at least disparaging contradistinction to previous claims to universalism. The chapter discusses the attrition of the state’s secular credentials, and its patronage of conservative forms of religiosity, first against the Left, later as a form of social control.

From Vernacular to World Heritage

This publication brings together the results of the project 3DPAST: Living and virtual visiting European World Heritage, co-funded by the Creative Europe EU programme. The research highlighted the exceptional character and quality of living in vernacular dwellings found in World Heritage sites. This was possible by seizing the cultural space of European vernacular heritage, located in Pico island (Portugal), Cuenca town (Spain), Pienza (Italy), Old Rauma (Finland), Transylvania (Romania), Berat & Gjirokastra (Albania), Pátmos (Greece), and Upper Svaneti (Georgia). New digital realities grant the possibility to visit and to appreciate those places, to non-travelling audiences, who lack the opportunity to experience this unique heritage in situ. Creative potential is highlighted in 3D models and digital visualisations, which associate outstanding local knowledge with the vernacular expression of World Heritage.

THE POLITICAL ASPECTS FOUND IN WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE’S KING LEAR

King Lear explores classical elements like the striking peculiarities of an individual, or the violence of some exceptional character, disregarding the fundamental feelings common to mankind, and ignorant love of humanity. We find Lear, a central character with a particular tragic flaw or hamartia, that is, a character who is led into despair or misery through some sort of error either in himself or in his action; and to hubris which means excessive, self-destructive pride. Lear is led into suffering after which he has a greater understanding of both himself and the world. Lear is an attractive personality with many virtues who has a fairly normal balance of good and evil within him. He is proud and does not know himself and it is a “normal” fault but after it is acted on by events in the play, it brings him down. Evil is let loose in the society of tragedy, and destroys both good and evil characters. Evil unavoidably pollutes and infects the tragic hero himself-Lear. The nature of evil is reflected from the characters of Lear and his first two daughters, Goneril and Regan. Lear undergoes range of tragic life because of his blunder-divides his kingdom and wealth based on parameter of love- which triggers many conflicts and causes many sufferings. His first two daughters, Goneril and Regan, make maneuver to get the inheritance by flattery but Cordelia, Lear’s third daughter, represents the struggle of human soul to defend truth and responsibility. To get the kingdom and wealth, she does not want to lie herself and her father by flattery. She just keeps silent or realizes that to love, obey and devote herself to her father is a must. The main ingredient of the play is about human beings and their life. Human life and their problems become subject matter and their basic natures which activate their action and speeches become the object of the play. Human beings and their basic natures are presented by all the characters who act and say based on their roles. Their life and their problems are represented by their life in the kingdom and their social problem happening in it. Since the play tells us the life of the king and the problem of the kingdom, so it exposes all aspects and problems of life in which one of them is the political aspect consisting of dividing kingdom, ruling authoritarian monarchy, doing conspiracy, existing of rivalry, emerging of conflict of interest and treachery.

Erzählungen von Leben und Tod

While a narratological reading of the Gospels is relatively well accepted, their characterisation as parts of the genre of ancient biography was much antagonised in former times. Although things have changed thanks to seminal monographs on the problem from the second half of the 20th century and to continuing work, some questions remain open. Therefore, a narratological comparison of Gospels with concrete representatives of the ancient bios could possibly help to clarify the relations between both. In what follows, the oldest Gospel is read simultaneously with Plutarch’s Biography of the Younger Cato. Three observations are made: a) The structures of the narratives of Cato and of Jesus match to a high degree. Both protagonists carry out certain duties while operating in public. In most instances, they achieve great successes. From a certain point on, however, they irrevocably approach failure and ruin. This structure of story seems to form the basis both of the Gospel and of the biography of Cato, written ca. three decades later. b) Obviously, both works narrate the life of a man, his exceptional character, his extraordinary operations in public and his non-natural violent dead. In Plutarch’s version, the Younger Cato fails in the end. At first sight, also Mark’s Jesus fails to accomplish his mission. By God’s action he is turned into the saviour of the faithful however. This claimed unsurpassed relevance of the story is contrasted with the laconism of the narration. c) Both narrations are composed out of both factual and fictional elements. Thus, readers cannot separate both elements precisely in every instance. Both stories are imagined worlds designed for the in narratology so called game of fiction. As can be learned in Plutarch, authors of stories like the Life of Cato or the Gospel of Mark guarantee a certain sense of responsibility in their work. Summed up, the narratological comparison has illustrated both the close affinity and the individual specifications of both narratives. It thus helps to clarify the position- fixing of the Early Christian literature within its Graeco-Roman context.

W kwestii stosunków zachodzących w sferze zewnętrznej i wewnątrzorganizacyjnej stowarzyszeń jednostek samorządu terytorialnego

ON EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL RELATIONS OF ASSOCIATIONS OF SELF-GOVERNMENT UNITSFor determining the legal character of norms regulating internal relations within the associations of self-government units, the important provision is article 29 paragraph 2 item 2 Act on associations. This provision limits the possibility of repealing the resolution of an association’s organ also concerning the members of that organ, which is not in compliance with the law or the statute: repealing can be done by the court only, in non-litigation proceedings, on application of the supervisory organ or the prosecutor. This means the court’s interference with the association’s activity should have an exceptional character and take into account the autonomous and self-governmental nature of the association in question.

Littleferry, Sutherland

The paper considers the significance of one of the largest collections of earlier prehistoric artefacts associated with a Scottish dune system. It came from a narrow spit, formerly an offshore island, at the mouth of Loch Fleet and was dominated by large numbers of arrowheads dating from the Early Neolithic period and the Beaker phase. They seem to have been made there, and many were unfinished. The original findspots are inaccessible today, but a programme of field walking in the surrounding area confirmed their exceptional character. Perhaps this remote location was chosen as a production site because of the specialised roles played by the artefacts made there. The results of this project are compared with similar evidence from the Culbin and Luce Sands.

Grammatical change in Paris French: in situ question words in embedded contexts

ABSTRACTThis article will review the parameters of a grammatical variable within the putative variety ‘Multicultural Paris French’, i.e. its distribution and use within a group of young banlieue speakers. The structure in question stands out as it has rarely been found in previous corpora in France: indirect questions following verbs like savoir, where the question word is post-verb (je sais pas il a dit quoi). We discuss which groups use the new forms in Paris, referring briefly to some comparable changes in London. This structure appears to be an instance of ‘change from below’ (Labov, 2007), which seems to have emerged in the speech of young people of immigrant background. It might also, on the other hand, be a long-standing vernacular variant, which has re-emerged, with specific identity-related significance, in this particular group of speakers. Its exceptional character in the Paris context highlights a lack of evidence for the emergence of a more wide-ranging, distinct multiethnolect, as found in London and other European capitals.

Political Theology between Reason and Will

Contemporary practitioners of political theology make use of Carl Schmitt’s account of sovereignty to criticize liberal political theory. But whereas Schmitt focused on “states of exception,” the new decisionism holds that decision-making is a quotidian feature of jurisprudence: the interpretation of law depends upon judicial decisions that serve to impose meaning on otherwise semantically indeterminate norms. Ironically, it is possible to detect in the contemporary decisionist critique of liberal theory, with its focus on law’s meaning, a liberalizing tendency: by insisting on the ubiquity of decision-making, the exception is made to seem unexceptional. In this way, Schmitt is tamed, and sovereignty is diffused into the mundane world of administrative governance. I want to resist this normalizing account on philosophical grounds: if one is to appreciate the exceptional character of the decision, it is important to retain some background of regularity with which it can be contrasted.