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Full-Text Articles in Law
How Wide Should The Gate Of "Technology" Be? Patentability Of Business Methods In China, Joy Y. Xiang
How Wide Should The Gate Of "Technology" Be? Patentability Of Business Methods In China, Joy Y. Xiang
Washington International Law Journal
China regards business methods to be a form of mental activity, and consequently excludes them from patent protection. In recent years, along with the proliferation of computer, telecommunication, and Internet technologies, the line between business methods and technology has blurred. As a result, other patent systems, such as U.S. patent law, have modified or are re-evaluating their patent treatment of business methods. The Chinese patent system is designed to promote the progress of science and technology. Business methods having no technical characters are not technological art. It would thus be overly inclusive to regard every business method as "technology" and …
Ethical And Legal Issues In Singapore Biomedical Research, Taiwo A. Oriola
Ethical And Legal Issues In Singapore Biomedical Research, Taiwo A. Oriola
Washington International Law Journal
In 2000, Singapore established the national "Bioethics Advisory Committee" to examine the ethical, moral, social, and legal implications of life sciences and biotechnology. The Committee will examine numerous topics, including genetic discrimination, cloning, and stem cell research. The Committee is expected to release its frast set of recommendations concerning stem cell research in the first half of 2002. This paper proposes that leveraging Singapore into a world-class biomedical research center will entail synchronizing the relevant areas of its legal ethics infrastructure and culture with that of the major players in the global biotechnology industry. Conversely, adhering to prevailing local ethical …
The Legal Development Of Taiwan In The 20th Century: Toward A Liberal And Democratic Country, Tay-Sheng Wang
The Legal Development Of Taiwan In The 20th Century: Toward A Liberal And Democratic Country, Tay-Sheng Wang
Washington International Law Journal
This article was originally presented as The Development of Taiwan's Legal Systems: Towards a Western-style Law, CONFERENCE ON TAIWAN IN THE 20TH CENTURY: A RETROSPECTIVE VIEW, in THE CHINA QUARTERLY AND THE GOVERNMENT INFORMATION OFFICE, R.O.C., (Taipei, Dec. 14-15, 1999). When I wrote that piece, no one could imagine that the Council of Grand Justices would find the newly-amended constitutional provisions unconstitutional, that the National Assembly would be virtually abolished, and that the opposition party would win the presidential election for the first time in Taiwan's history. This revised version of course has taken these crucial events into account. …
Indonesia's 1999 Political Laws: The Right Of Association In Aceh And Papua, Amber Dufseth
Indonesia's 1999 Political Laws: The Right Of Association In Aceh And Papua, Amber Dufseth
Washington International Law Journal
Post-Suharto Indonesia has taken steps to liberalize and codify the right of political association through a package of political laws passed by the House of Representatives (Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat or "DPR") in 1999. International pressure and Indonesian mass demonstrations calling for political reform provided the impetus for the passage of the laws. Since this legal reform, the number of registered political parties in Indonesia has jumped from three to over one hundred. Moreover, the laws provided a legal framework for the 1999 general elections, which were widely recognized as free and fair. The initiatives, however, have had limited effect …
The Future Of Municipal Fisheries In The Philippines: Does The Philippine Fisheries Code Do Enough?, Devon Shannon
The Future Of Municipal Fisheries In The Philippines: Does The Philippine Fisheries Code Do Enough?, Devon Shannon
Washington International Law Journal
The allocation of fishery resources is a critical concern for the Philippines municipal fishing sector where the global problem of overfishing has taken its toll on near-shore aquatic life. The dependency of coastal Filipino communities on fishery resources for nutrition and livelihood necessitates an analysis of the 1998 Philippine Fisheries Code's ("PFC's") ability to facilitate effective marine resource allocation at the municipal level. A comparison of international instruments addressing fishery resource management with the PFC reflects a clear intent on the part of the Code's drafters to emulate accepted international standards. In some areas, however, the PFC's ambiguous language hinders …
Durable Consent And A Strong Transitional Peacekeeping Plan: The Successes Of Untaet In Light Of The Lessons Learned In Cambodia, Dianne M. Criswell
Durable Consent And A Strong Transitional Peacekeeping Plan: The Successes Of Untaet In Light Of The Lessons Learned In Cambodia, Dianne M. Criswell
Washington International Law Journal
In 1999, East Timor voted for independence from Indonesia. That same year the United Nations Security Council created the United Nations Transitional Authority in East Timor ("UNTAET") to help East Timor transition to democracy, self-governance, and sustainable development. Seven years earlier, the United Nations launched a similar mission in Cambodia called the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia ("UNTAC"). There are many similarities between East Timor and Cambodia, and both UNTAET and UNTAC are second-generation United Nations peacekeeping missions. UNTAC and UNTAET had similar mandates, including security, civil administration, and elections. UNTAC encountered opposition from the Cambodian parties, and consent …
Evolution Of Land Reform In Russia: The 2001 Land Code And Its Impact On The Commercial Real Estate Market And Direct Foreign Investment, Dana Tumenova
Washington International Law Journal
Russia unambiguously established private land ownership when it adopted the 2001 Land Code, which, although limited to urban and commercial land, clarifies the concept of land ownership in general and allows foreign ownership of those lands. The Land Code permits security interests in commercial and industrial land, which should further stimulate Russia's commercial real estate market, an important component of a functioning market economy. Perhaps the greatest strength of the new Land Code is its provision for foreign ownership, which allows foreign investors to conduct business according to the Western standards without being forced to engage in bribery or other …
Returnees From South America: Japan's Model For Legal Multiculturalism?, Claire J. Hur
Returnees From South America: Japan's Model For Legal Multiculturalism?, Claire J. Hur
Washington International Law Journal
In response to Japan's increasing labor shortage, the Japanese government in 1990 enacted an extensive set of amendments to its restrictive Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act to allow for a controlled but broader method of regulating legal entry of foreign workers into Japan. Significant among those amendments are the provisions granting long-term resident status to persons of Japanese descent entering from abroad and the provisions offering additional rights to foreign-born spouses and children of Japanese nationals. These provisions are mainly targeted at descendants of Japanese who emigrated to South America ("Nikkeijin"). While most of the existing literature …
Chinese Regulation Of Traditional Chinese Medicine In The Modern World: Can The Chinese Effectively Profit From One Of Their Most Valuable Cultural Resources?, Teresa Schroeder
Chinese Regulation Of Traditional Chinese Medicine In The Modern World: Can The Chinese Effectively Profit From One Of Their Most Valuable Cultural Resources?, Teresa Schroeder
Washington International Law Journal
The global demand for traditional Chinese medicine ("TCM") has exploded in the last thirty years. Demand for TCM products increased both domestically in the People's Republic of China ("PRC") and internationally. However, the stigma of "witch doctoring" associated with TCM remains. Several developed nations have established national and local regulation of TCM practitioners to protect their citizens from dangerous treatments. After almost forty years of virtually unregulated endorsement of TCM, China recently began its own standardization of TCM products and practice. The question must be asked, what inspired such a dramatic and rapid change in Chinese policy? The geyser of …
A Call For Co-Management: Treaty Fishing Allocation In New Zealand And Western Washington, Kristi Stanton
A Call For Co-Management: Treaty Fishing Allocation In New Zealand And Western Washington, Kristi Stanton
Washington International Law Journal
The Maori tribe of New Zealand and the tribes of western Washington are both subject to quota systems as a result of their treaty rights to fish. While New Zealand's quota system was legislatively imposed, western Washington's was judicially imposed. Nevertheless, the two quota systems are quite similar in that both permit approximately half the allowable catch of fish each year to go to the tribes. However, that amount does not adequately represent what the tribes are entitled to based on their treaty rights. Colonization, over-fishing, and resource deterioration have decreased the amount of fish available to the fishing population …
Constitutionalism As A Political Culture, Annen Junji, Lee H. Rousso
Constitutionalism As A Political Culture, Annen Junji, Lee H. Rousso
Washington International Law Journal
Translator's Forward: These are not happy times in Japan. Its economy, at one time the most dynamic on the planet, has been in the dumps for over a decade. The population is both aging and declining. A "lost generation" of young Japanese has come of age amid diminished, and diminishing, expectations. The government, controlled as always by the Liberal Democratic Party ("LDP"), is rigid, bloated, corrupt, and deeply in debt. And there is no real reason to believe that the next decade will bring improvement in any of these areas. Not surprisingly, as Japan's economic juggernaut has faltered, the tone …
What's Yours Is Mine: Reform Of The Property Division Regime For Unmarried Couples In New Zealand, Virginia Grainer
What's Yours Is Mine: Reform Of The Property Division Regime For Unmarried Couples In New Zealand, Virginia Grainer
Washington International Law Journal
In February 2002, when the Property (Relationships) Act came into force, unmarried couples in New Zealand became subject to the same legislative regime for division of property that has applied to married couples since the 1970s. The statutory regime is based on a deferred community property principle. Both partners are free to deal with their own property during the relationship, but at the end of the relationship all property is classified as either relationship property or separate property. Relationship property usually includes all property acquired by either party during the relationship. There is a presumption that this property must be …
A Comparative Analysis Of Selected Aspects Of Patent Law In China And The United States, Louis S. Sorell
A Comparative Analysis Of Selected Aspects Of Patent Law In China And The United States, Louis S. Sorell
Washington International Law Journal
China's recent admission to the World Trade Organization will bring increased attention to China's patent law, especially as foreign companies expand their technology-based presence in China. This Article summarizes the development of patent law in the United States and China, and compares various aspects of Chinese and American patent law. These aspects include the administrative and judicial hierarchy of the American and Chinese patent systems, patentability requirements, infringement and validity issues, the availability of injunctive relief, and the determination of monetary damages. The Article also discusses the compulsory licensing provisions of China's patent law. Similarities and differences of each patent …
Translation And Analysis Of The Doctrine Of Information Security Of The Russian Federation: Mass Media And The Politics Of Identity, Douglas Carman
Translation And Analysis Of The Doctrine Of Information Security Of The Russian Federation: Mass Media And The Politics Of Identity, Douglas Carman
Washington International Law Journal
The Doctrine of Information Security of the Russian Federation was one of the first policy documents issued by President Vladimir Putin's Security Council. The Doctrine, ostensibly drafted as a security policy document, was severely criticized by the Russian press and civil libertarians for its undue attention to the mass media and the prominence of politicized symbols of identity. The document extends the conventions of security policy discourse into the domain of information, thus legitimizing state intervention in the production of social knowledge. The Doctrine's textual representation of threat, or "discourse of danger," delimits the boundaries of national identity and legitimizes …
Awakening Hong Kong's Sleeping Lion: A Case For Increased Use Of O 62 R 8, Gregor A. Hensrude
Awakening Hong Kong's Sleeping Lion: A Case For Increased Use Of O 62 R 8, Gregor A. Hensrude
Washington International Law Journal
Hong Kong, like much of the world, is facing public criticism about the operation and accessibility of its civil litigation system. One judge and scholar has suggested increased use of a litigation rule requiring solicitors to pay any costs wasted by their misconduct. By comparing this rule to its counterparts in the United Kingdom and the United States, it becomes apparent that such a solution could work to improve litigation in Hong Kong. Increased use of the rule would compensate parties injured by abusive litigation tactics and deter solicitors from engaging in misconduct to line their pockets or win for …
"Pacific Solution"? The Sinking Right To Seek Asylum In Australia, Emily C. Peyser
"Pacific Solution"? The Sinking Right To Seek Asylum In Australia, Emily C. Peyser
Washington International Law Journal
On August 26, 2001, Australia attracted worldwide media attention by refusing entry to over 430 Afghan and Iraqi asylum seekers who were rescued at sea by a Norwegian freighter. Australia's Parliament subsequently passed legislation to heighten already strict migration laws pertaining to boat migrants. Even though Australia is party to the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, recent developments in national asylum policies retreat from the legal obligations, as well as the spirit, of these international treaties. Australia, however, is not the only country acting to deter boat migrants; the United States, for example, …
The Criminal Law Of The People's Republic Of China (1997): Real Change Or Rhetoric?, Ian Dobinson
The Criminal Law Of The People's Republic Of China (1997): Real Change Or Rhetoric?, Ian Dobinson
Washington International Law Journal
The 1997 Criminal Law supposedly heralds the beginning of a new era in Chinese jurisprudence and criminal justice. There are doubts, however, over the degree to which the revisions are substantial or symbolic. On the one hand, it can be argued that by making the criminal justice system more rational and predictable, China is moving much closer to the "rule of law" as that term is understood in the West. On the other, it can be argued that the changes are mainly illusory and that, underneath the veneer of rhetoric, China's criminal justice system remains a crude and arbitrary tool …
Japan's Implementation Of The Oecd Anti-Bribery Convention: Weaker And Less Effective Than The U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, David L. Heifetz
Japan's Implementation Of The Oecd Anti-Bribery Convention: Weaker And Less Effective Than The U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, David L. Heifetz
Washington International Law Journal
In November 1997, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development ("OECD") adopted the Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions ("OECD Convention"). The preamble of the OECD Convention states that "bribery is a widespread phenomenon in international business transactions, ... which raises serious moral and political concerns, undermines good governance and economic development, and distorts international competitive conditions." All member countries signed the OECD Convention and thus were committed to implement it via the passage of domestic legislation by December 31, 1999. The Japanese promulgated new anti-bribery provisions to satisfy the mandates of the OECD …
Judicial Reform And The State Of Japan's Attorney System: A Discussion Of Attorney Reform Issues And The Future Of The Judiciary, Part Ii, Kohei Nakabō, Yohei Suda
Judicial Reform And The State Of Japan's Attorney System: A Discussion Of Attorney Reform Issues And The Future Of The Judiciary, Part Ii, Kohei Nakabō, Yohei Suda
Washington International Law Journal
Based on the Judicial Reform Council's article, "Points at Issue in Judicial Reform," this paper analyzes basic issues regarding the current status of the Japanese attorney system and areas to be addressed in judicial reform. [This Article formed the basis of Mr. Nakabō's report at the thirteenth meeting of the Judicial Reform Council on February 22, 2000. It was originally published as the second part of a two part paper in SERIES JUDICIAL REFORM I: [LEGAL PROFESSIONAL TRAINING: THE LAW SCHOOL CONCEPT] (2000). The first part of the paper was translated in Kohei Nakabō, Judicial Reform and the State of …
Land Policy And Adat Law In Indonesia's Forests, Kallie Szczepanski
Land Policy And Adat Law In Indonesia's Forests, Kallie Szczepanski
Washington International Law Journal
The Indonesian government's land laws and policies lead to displacement of and hardship for the indigenous peoples of the archipelago. The Basic Agrarian Law, Basic Forestry Law, and Spatial Planning Law all allow for expropriation of indigenous lands formerly governed under the adat legal system. In addition, the central government's policy of transmigration—the shifting of people from the populous Inner Islands of Java, Bali, and Madura to the Outer Islands—only increases the economic and cultural pressure on indigenous peoples of the Outer Islands. The hopelessness and anger that result from the marginalization of traditional adat societies fuel violent ethnic conflicts, …
Patent Protection For Pharmaceuticals: A Comparative Study Of The Law In The United States And Canada, Mary Atkinson
Patent Protection For Pharmaceuticals: A Comparative Study Of The Law In The United States And Canada, Mary Atkinson
Washington International Law Journal
A fundamental purpose of patent law is to encourage the development of new inventions by granting to the inventor exclusivity in the marketplace for a limited period of time. Patent law in the area of pharmaceuticals is complicated by the responsibility of governments not only to encourage research and development of new drugs, but also to assure that new drugs are widely available and affordable, as well as safe and effective. Governments, influenced by market and political philosophies, design patent laws and drug regulatory schemes to meet these responsibilities. The United States has a well-developed pharmaceutical industry and private-payer health …
China's Direct Marketing Ban: A Case Study Of China's Response To Capital-Based Social Networks, Michele A. Wong
China's Direct Marketing Ban: A Case Study Of China's Response To Capital-Based Social Networks, Michele A. Wong
Washington International Law Journal
China's State Administration for Industry and Commerce issued a circular on April 18, 1998 banning all forms of multi-level direct marketing, citing concerns with social stability and economic order. While the direct marketing ban was ultimately implemented in such a way as to allow those who engaged in network marketing to transition to retail sales, alleviating some of the violence of the protest to the ban, opposition to the ban has continued both domestically and abroad. Direct marketing organizations create tight-knit, extensive networks of individuals with similar economic interests. By assembling around a common economic interest, the group may also …
Rethinking The United States First-To-Invent Principle From A Comparative Law Perspective: A Proposal To Restructure § 102 Novelty And Priority Provisions, Toshiko Takenaka
Rethinking The United States First-To-Invent Principle From A Comparative Law Perspective: A Proposal To Restructure § 102 Novelty And Priority Provisions, Toshiko Takenaka
Articles
This Article first examines the novelty and priority provisions of first-to-file countries, and then compares them with U.S. counterparts to identify major differences and determine why these differences result. The Article discusses the origins of the complex structure adopted by § 102 to define prior art and the difficult interpretation given to terms used in the novelty definition. This Article then reviews the USPTO's practice of the novelty examination and the priority determination in interference proceedings. This review confirms the first-to-file patent professional's perception that the United States, in fact, follows the first-to-file principle, although it also provides an exception …