Trade law Part 12

 

Three-Dimensional Trade Marks: The Mars and Lindt Cases
LAURA DONNELLAN
European Intellectual Property Review
Volume 32, Issue 3, 2010 p.132

Three-dimensional shapes have proved to be problematic for both the Court of Justice and the Court of First Instance. Regulation 40/94 on Community trade marks outlines the law relating to trade marks. Of particular importance is art.4, which provides that trade mark protection may be sought for signs, wording and shapes. Article 7 (1)(a-k) provides absolute grounds for refusal, including lack of distinctiveness. The distinctiveness of the Lindt chocolate bunny and the Bounty bar were subject to recent judicial scrutiny. Both courts held against the confectionary companies, as the discussion below demonstrates.

Erich Vranes, Trade and the Environment: Fundamental Issues in International Law, WTO Law, and Legal Theory
Thomas Cottier
Yearbook of International Environmental Law
Volume 19, 2008 p.769

INTERNATIONAL TRADE AND COMPETITION LAW
International Business Law Journal
Number 3, 2009

Chronicle on International trade law
Vincent BOUHIER
International Business Law Journal
Number 3, 2009 p.353

INTERNATIONAL TRADE AND COMPETITION LAW
International Business Law Journal
Number 2, 2009

Holding onto Humanity: Animals, Dignity, and Anxiety in Canada’s Assisted Human Reproduction Act
Maneesha Deckha
Unbound: Harvard Journal of the Legal Left
Volume 5, Number 1, 2009

The Assisted Human Reproduction Act is an anxious statute. As far as statutes go, this is not too unusual. Many statutes are enacted to address an actual or looming problem of social disorder. Law is often invoked at these moments to cabin real and imagined effects, and the AHRA is no exception. As a single piece of legislation, it establishes Canada’s position on a range of controversies surrounding the human body and the manipulation of its different stages and parts in the name of science. Such controversies include human cloning, embryo research, trade in reproductive parts, germline genetic alteration, pre-conception sex selection, and pre-implantation sex diagnosis. For the most part, the AHRA is a prohibitive statute, enacted to restrict researchers from practicing certain technologies and procedures and for-profit transactors from creating a market out of these technologies and procedures.

The arbitrality of TPA claims: To stay or not to stay?
Leanne Rich
Trade Practices Law Journal
Volume 18, Number 1, March 2010 p.7

Whether an Australian court will stay domestic proceedings involving a claim under an Australian statute, such as the Trade Practices Act 1974 (Cth), in favour of a foreign arbitration or foreign exclusive jurisdiction clause has been the subject of conflicting authorities. These decisions reflect the difficulty in balancing the competing public interests in promoting freedom of contract and alternative dispute resolution against the enforcement of a public benefit statute. Recent case law has shed light on these matters. While the trend is to favour the grant of a stay, and to interpret such contractual clauses broadly, whether a stay will be granted in any particular case will depend on the nature of the statutory claim being brought.

Don’t bank on bank competition: The case for effective laws against anti-competitive mergers and creeping acquisitions
Frank Zumbo
Trade Practices Law Journal
Volume 18, Number 1, March 2010 p.26

With the fast growing dominance of the four major Australian banks, there are serious concerns regarding the rapidly diminishing level of competition in the Australian banking sector. From a competition law perspective, this raises important issues regarding the potential ineffectiveness of Australia’s anti-merger laws in dealing with the relentless merger and acquisition strategies of the four major banks. With the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission approving around 97% of the mergers and acquisitions it considers, there is a real and present danger that the current s 50(1) of the Trade Practices Act 1974 (Cth) is allowing far too many mergers and acquisition to proceed, especially in the banking sector. This is detrimental to competition and consumers because it allows the remaining large and powerful firms in those markets to exercise pricing power to push up prices at will. Another challenge is dealing effectively with creeping acquisitions, which are particularly dangerous because they involve the piecemeal destruction of competition through stealth. This article will consider the operation of Australia’s current anti-merger laws within the context of the Australian banking sector and discuss possible legislative and other reforms.

Online trade in the EU: Recent developments in the area of competition law
Tom S Pick and Jochen P Beck
Trade Practices Law Journal
Volume 18, Number 1, March 2010 p.59

Trade Mark Law and Geographical Indications and Designations of Origin
International Review of Intellectual Property and Competition Law
Volume 40, Number 8, 2009

The Climate Security Act of 2008 and Other Carbon-Based Trade Restrictions: Are They Legal Under International Law?
Jasper L. Ozbirn
Loyola University Chicago International Law Review
Volume 7, Issue 1, Fall/Winter 2009 p.53

Author: international

Mentioned in these Entries

International trade law, Trade law.