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This thesis seeks to answer the question: to what extent can introducing an intersectional ethical framework to global animal law help to reconceptualise legal research on international trade and animal law. This thesis provides an ethics-based, critical, intersectional and posthumanist analysis of emerging global animal law (scholarship) and the disproportionately large impact of international trade law on its normative growth. This thesis provides five novel contributions to global animal law literature. First, this thesis builds an ethical toolbox from posthumanism, feminist ethics, intersectionality theory and Earth Jurisprudence. On this basis, this thesis delineates, for the first time, a second wave of animal ethics which is utilised as an ethics-based methodology for this research. Second, this thesis crafts a new critical narrative of animal law by putting various forms of (global) animal law into dialogue with global law metatheory and second wave animal ethics, critiquing global animal law (scholarship) for ethnocentrism and coloniality. Third, this thesis problematises trade policy's impact on animals by introducing new, critical analysis of its neoliberal underpinnings. This requires filling critical research gaps in the trade linkage debate by using complex trade data and qualitative analyses of law to assess the impact of trade on animal welfare. Fourth, this thesis critiques the unacknowledged dominance of unilateralism in trade law responses to the animal question. This critique identifies coloniality in trade law responses to the animal question which entrenches harmful norms within global animal law. Finally, this thesis utilises second wave animal ethics to reach a new set of proposals to improve global animal law's response to trade and animal welfare issues. The recommendations are for: more diverse scholarship and critical academic spaces; multilateral and multi-level global animal law solutions to problems caused by international trade; and an incorporation of animal welfare into WTO multilateral committee work.

Introduction: A study of the APA Property Services Ltd data identified growing conflicting interpretations of the party wall legislation, for example, in 2015 40% of the 126 cases resulted in conflict. Independent data indicated that the conflict was not unique to the APA data and identified 17 areas of conflict. A common link identified between the two sets of data was the interpretation of special foundations and the section 7(4) veto, unique to the Act when building below ground. This common issue was selected as the research focus and a strategy was developed which included a three-stage data obtained from stakeholders which comprised surveyors, solicitors, barristers, and the judiciary. The collection process included questionnaires and structured interviews, to investigate why the conflict arose and what was required to eliminate it. Literature review and proposed gap in knowledge: Understanding the origins and passage of the legislation identified accepted construction techniques for building below ground level, which either included or avoid special foundations. The literature review addressed five of the six objectives to achieve a holistic understanding of this unique legislation that impacts virtually every construction project. Examination and analysis of the legislations structure, the rules of interpretation, and case law specific to the research focus, identified a gap in knowledge on what does or does not constitute a special foundation. Understanding how/why the conflict arises, gaps in knowledge, and contributing new knowledge seeks to clarify and reduce the adversarial stance adopted by those practising within this field. Method and Findings: The three-stage data collection strategy began with a deductive analysis of the APA data, later using an inductive methodology utilising both quantitative and qualitative data collection and NVivo qualitative statistical analysis techniques. The research established that the limited case law available is not generally accepted by the stakeholders, although they feel compelled not to challenge the judgment. Accordingly, they authorise works which they consider in their professional opinion trespasses on the statutory rights of adjoining owners. This has created adversarial approaches and interpretations based on a gap in knowledge. This research seeks to rectify the flawed knowledge and influence that the case law presents by contributing to that knowledge, assisting both academic and professional understanding of the issues created by the special foundation definition and the section 7(4) veto. Conclusion and Recommendations: This thesis contributes to the extant knowledge through a rigorous analysis of the data, construction technology and surveyors' interpretations to resolve the conflict by proposing new knowledge. In addition, the thesis provides recommendations for further research and the need for either an amendment to the Act or external guidance such as the development of a British standard.

The laws of copyright can be slower to adapt and evolve than the industries they regulate. As the landscape of how protected works are made and how the public views how those works should be treated changes, the law does not seamlessly follow in course. Rather, it typically slowly grows obsolete and then undergoes periodic points of drastic redefinition in order to adapt. Since the Statute of Anne, the foundation for modern copyright law across the globe, many nations have implemented subsequent reforms to their copyright acts to adapt both to the modern world and to previous failures of the law. The British Copyright Act of 1956 adapted the law to a world connected in trade by expanding protection for works whose initial publication was outside of Britain.1 In 1998, the United States enacted one of the most important pieces of copyright legislation as a reaction to the effects of the internet and technology on the enforceability of copyright law. This law is known as the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). The DMCA,among its many alterations and additions to the law, created a safe-harbour provision so that online service providers could avoid vicarious liability for the actions of their members- moulding the law to the digital space.2 In 2012, Canada passed its groundbreaking Copyright Modernization Act which sought to address the rise of user-generated content by legitimising transformative works made for non-commercial purposes.3 Thus, the overarching trend in copyright law is for it to gradually grow obsolete or ineffective within the scope of the industrial or technological power of the market until a great force of legislation brings the law back in line. This thesis will argue that we have reached such a turning point. It asserts that an inability to adequately apply current law, seen through impotent enforcement mechanisms online, coupled with vague legal boundaries has brought about a need for redefinition within copyright law. Further, it hypothesises that the that the property-law model used as a basis for copyright law today is the root of issues with balancing user's rights against creators' rights and is no longer the ideal means to protect creative works online. It will demonstrate how technology and global communication have changed the culture of creativity and creative dissemination in such a way that copyright law is no longer a competent tool in protecting and fostering the development of a large body of creative works. It will examine current would-be solutions to the problem of online infringements and analyse their inadequacies. In analysing the current relevant legal mechanisms, their failures and successes, as well as how the notion of property-like rules influence these failures and successes, it comes to the conclusion that stepping away from this property model and towards a system of liability rules online will not only help to foster new works, but will benefit those who own the rights to existing works as well. It concludes with a suggestion for a newly constructed system of liability rules, targeting areas previously discussed where the law is failing, to be applied in lieu of property rules for certain aspects of copyright protection. The overarching research question this thesis serves to answer is how can we appropriately balance author's rights with the dissemination of information in a digital world in a way that leads to a system of copyright law that is practical, fair, and enforceable? It is intended to highlight and address the growing inefficacy of copyright law in the digital world, analyse the weaknesses of modern attempts to adapt the law to the digital space, and offer unique solutions to the problems it addresses. It analyses copyright law from a global perspective through the lens of online infringements. I adopt this global perspective for two reasons. First, while copyright law is strictly territorial, it serves at the behest of a global economy and has been largely unified through treaties with respect to minimum requirements for protection and framework standards.4 Second, a global perspective is important for the comparative analyses I employ. The comparisons target the successes and failures resulting from enacted solutions to online infringement in an attempt to offer a workable solution that may be applied anywhere. Thus, this thesis sets out to be a policy analysis that dissects copyright law and online infringement as a whole. 1 Copyright Act 1956 (UK) 2 Digital Millennium Copyright Act 1998 (USA) 3 Copyright Modernisation Act 2012 (CA) 29.21 4 Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works (Paris Text 1971).

The complex interaction of politics, power, economics and 'subjectivisation' of the human in natural resource exploration and production has demonstrated their impacts on the environment and ecosystem in anthropogenic and Anthropocenic dimensions. In Nigeria's Niger Delta, these impacts have constantly materialised in the conflicts in the oil communities. This reality underscores the basis for this research's narrative/analytical approach: the need to find a different way of narrating and dealing with the decades-long cataclysmic effects of oil and gas exploration on the people, environment, and ecosystem. The methodological approach adopted, autoethnography, will be justified through the view that within the gamut of qualitative methodology, autoethnography presents the most veritable avenue to reflexively create a forum for sharing with the world, the untold stories, and narratives of the people of the Niger Delta who exist in zones I refer to as zones of 'exclusion'. From these zones, I engage with the voice of an imagined character, 'O', whose journey's narratives as first order observer, rouse my own memory of a difference between system and environment. The narrative's reality, viewed from systems theory, is a fluctuation between the immersion in, and distance from, the observed, observing, and self-observation, yet with the increasing realisation of the interconnectedness and interaction between man and his natural environment. This folds into an affect that is immanent on the human psyche, particularly in ecological terms. It also results in the search of transcendent justice that will achieve relational and social interaction mechanisms among all stakeholders to minimise and manage environmental incidents that may imply degradation and severe damage to the ecosystem, the socio-economic linkages to the environment, and human health and life.

Art. 8 of the EU Copyright in the Digital Single Market Directive 2019 addresses the issue of out-of-commerce works, enabling cultural heritage institutions ("CHIs") to provide public access to these copyright works in certain circumstances. Art. 8 enables CHIs to obtain licences from collective management organisations ("CMOs"), avoiding the need to negotiate with each individual rightholder. Art. 8(2) expands this and enables CHIs to make out-of-commerce works available for non- commercial purposes without seeking the rightholder's permission where there is no representative CMO. This thesis addresses to what extent Art. 8 can successfully benefit film archives and the existing practices of film archivists in widening public access to film heritage. This research has been conducted using an interdisciplinary mixed-methods approach, utilising doctrinal, comparative and ethnographic methodologies. A doctrinal and comparative legal analysis has been conducted to explore whether the new provisions are compatible with the existing EU copyright acquis and international copyright obligations. An ethnographic study of the national film archives of the UK and the Netherlands, as well as a regional film archive in the UK, was conducted to explore existing film archival practices and how Art. 8 might best be incorporated into these practices. This research makes an original contribution to knowledge through the doctrinal and comparative holistic legal analysis of Art. 8 of the DSM Directive, including proposing a sampling mechanism for use by CHIs in determining if works are out-of-commerce. New empirical data is generated from the ethnographic studies concerning film archives and their copyright archival practices, and how likely they are to make use of Art. 8 within these existing practices. A copyright regime of archival practices is formulated in this thesis, which can be utilised in future research within film archives and CHIs more widely. This thesis makes a conceptual contribution to the existing literature through reframing making out-of-commerce works available as a mechanism to address the historic exclusion of certain communities from the archive, as well as the distortion of the digital skew. In addition, this thesis offers a methodological contribution through the application of a mixed-methodology and practice theory to the field of copyright scholarship and out-of-commerce works. It was found that there are a number of legal and practical issues to incorporation into archival practice. This stems from the meanings, competences and materials present within the film archives, using a practice theory lens. Overall, the doctrinal and comparative legal analysis found that there are issues of ambiguity within Art. 8 that will need to be addressed in the national implementations in order to be successful. The rightholder opt-out presents a fundamental departure from copyright doctrine; and is also incompatible with the desire from film archives to uphold rightholder relationships and avoid reputational harm. However, it was also found that there are many films within the collections of the studied film archives that are likely to be out-of-commerce. If concerns relating to the incorporation of Art. 8 into archival practice can be addressed, this could be a significant step forward in widening public access to cultural heritage.

It may be presumed that the UK’s compensation code fairly compensates those subject to compulsory purchase given its awarding of home loss payments, payments which recognise the sentimental value of one’s home. However, despite providing just awards at face value, this perception is only valid to an extent since UK compensation fails to consistently recompense this recognised sentimental aspect of property ownership today. This consequently impacts the awarding of full and justified compensation for all whose homes are compulsorily acquired since such awards are ‘additional’, and not a core component of compensation’s assessment. In light of the UK’s failure to endorse sentiment as a guaranteed compensatory value, and the subsequent failure of contemporary theories of property to recognise the importance of sentimental attachments in this context, this thesis aims to consider the necessity for the law’s reform, and the consequential development of contemporary theories to explain and justify such changes. To do so, this thesis will examine: the uniform recognition of a sentimental attachment to property across discourses; the implications of such recognition on UK legislation and theoretical understandings of property; and whether legal reform, through means of incorporating sentiment within the compensation code as an obligatory value to be recompensed when homes are acquired, is necessary to address such issues. As will be demonstrated, the failure of the compensation code to recognise sentiment as a guaranteed compensable value hinders the awarding of full and fair compensation for all compulsory purchases of the home, leading the thesis to urge such legislative reforms to ensure the UK secures compensation of equivalence to the losses suffered in practice. Thus, the thesis aims to highlight the current gaps within UK compensatory provisions and the need for their reform in light of the uniform recognition of the importance of sentimental attachments to property.

Fanfiction is a type of user-generated content (UGC) produced mostly online for free on websites such as Fanfiction.Net. Amateur writers reuse characters, locations and plotlines from commercially successful works ('textual poaching') to bring alternative viewpoints and storylines to life. This raises issues in relation to copyright in a digital market. This thesis analyses (i) what in the underlying work attracts copyright, (ii) whether fanfiction writers benefit from any of the fair dealing exceptions available within the Copyright Designs and Patents Act (CDPA) 1988, and (iii) how the Copyright in a Digital Single Market (CDSM) Directive will apply these context-heavy exceptions to websites that host this material. Most existing literature on the subject has been ethnographic in nature and focused on the media implications of fan activities. While legal research exists, most is doctrinal and based within the US legal system. This thesis adopts a distinctive approach, applying doctrinal and quantitative methods together to test the economic biases within copyright law as applied to certain unauthorised derivative works. It makes several important contributions to knowledge - it suggests that some characters and locations attract individual copyright post-Infopaq; analyses the fair dealing exceptions as they stand in UK law after the recent Pelham/Funke Median cases; suggests a potential test for the as-yet undefined s30A CDPA 1988 pastiche fair dealing exception; and analyses how the CDSM Directive may apply to websites that host fanfiction. Finally, by using a dataset of user posts from the world's largest online fanfiction archive (Fanfiction.Net) and sales data (Nielsen), this thesis further suggests that Article 17 of the CDSM Directive contains serious misapprehensions regarding culture in the digital age. This research suggests that existing theories of copyright harm are incomplete, and there may be important social incentives and welfare benefits to permitting this type of use.

The Arctic is changing faster than any other region on earth. Climate change is leading to warming within the Arctic at least twice the rate of the rest of the planet. Climate change, combined with the impact of pollution, plastics in the ocean, natural resource extraction, and many other harmful anthropogenic activities, is threatening the survival of many Arctic species. Reliant on sea ice habitats or adapted to bitterly cold conditions, animals and plants in the Arctic are facing extinction if they cannot be protected. Endangered species protection in the Arctic is primarily the responsibility of the nation states with territory north of the Arctic Circle. Each country has their own laws and regulations aimed at protecting species. This project uses a comparative legal method to assess the effectiveness of the endangered species protection systems within the domestic legal systems of the Arctic nations of Europe and North America. The study considers the legislation, regulations and other written laws of each country as well as using a number of case studies to demonstrate how the law is used in practice. Selection of the case studies is made possible through the collation of reported endangered species court cases from north of the Arctic Circle over the past two decades. By conducting a comparison of domestic endangered species protection laws within the Arctic, this project identifies strengths and weaknesses in the systems of the various jurisdictions, draws on examples of good practice which could be used to influence changes in the approach of other Arctic countries and makes recommendations of improvements which need to be made to help Arctic species to survive the threats which they will face in the coming years.

Patent owners increasingly employ strategies called patent pledges. This strategy involves the owner offering a broad availability of their active patents for free or at a reasonable fee. Patent pledges span across multiple industries from automotive over information and communication technology to biotechnology. This research investigates patent pledges through an exploratory stance and by utilising a mixed-methods approach. The existing literature is inconsistent and lacks academic rigour. Most patent pledge studies are conceptual and lack the sufficient evidence to offer authoritative results. The first problem is although there exist several preliminary definitions of patent pledges, none are sufficiently derived from empirical data. A second problem is that that existing literature is inconclusive on the reasons why patent owners employ patent pledges. Previous scholars have predominantly relied on findings from studies of other sharing mechanisms, as well as the broad literature on open innovation and patent law. A third point is that research on the effect of patent pledges on technology diffusion remains unclear, because existing studies have utilised research methods with significant limitations and deliver contradictory results. This research addressed each problem in three distinct studies. Study 1 focused on the definition and taxonomy of patent pledges and derived its results from 60 patent pledge statements of patent owners. This secondary data was analysed by an abductive approach through multiple coding cycles. The result was a three-dimensional taxonomy of patent pledges. The patent pledge taxonomy was then extended to a patent licensing taxonomy which compromised every common type of patent licensing approach. Study 2 explored the motivation behind patent pledges and utilised case study research with two data sets: primary data from 22 semi-structured interviews and secondary data from 50 patent pledge statements. The study was able to access renowned experts directly involved in designing and executing patent pledges. Experts included presidents of patent departments from global firms and a former president of a national patent office. Study 3 developed an abstract agent-based model to examine the effects of patent pledges on technology diffusion. The simulation model enabled the investigation of inter-firm technology diffusion of two competing technologies, where only one was subject to a patent pledge. Two cases were considered: in case I both technologies were similar, but in case II the pledged technology was inferior. Study 1 revealed that • eight patent pledge types exist; • the most frequent patent pledge type is subject to certain conditions but can be accessed by the unrestricted public free of charge and that • the majority of patent pledges occur in the are of information and communication technologies. Study 2 revealed that • thirteen patent pledge motives in three categories exist; • the main goal of patent pledges is to drive technology diffusion and that • most other motives for patent pledges also relate to the goal of fostering technology diffusion. Study 3 revealed that • the relationship between the strength of patent pledges and their effect on technology adoption rates is not linear; • patent pledges can lead to a market share 'win' of an inferior technology that competes with a superior alternative and that • the time period in which the adopter category 'Early Majority' adopts is, in most cases, the crucial phase that determines the success of patent pledges. The three studies provide a substantial intervention in several ways. The empirical development of a patent pledge definition and two taxonomies facilitate the distinction to other licensing approaches and set a common ground for future research. The taxonomies constitute managerial tools that can be used to visualise patent licensing landscapes for specific units of interest. Insights about motives enable a better understanding of patent pledges and help practitioners as well as policymakers making informed decisions. Finally, the investigation of patent pledge effects on technology diffusion adds to the diffusion literature and supports (i) firms that need to evaluate whether or not to conduct a patent pledge; (ii) firms that need to react to patent pledges of competitors; and (iii) firms that face the decision whether to adopt a pledged technology.

In the worldwide knowledge-based economy, intellectual property (IP) is recognised as a key business asset. In the digital economy, whether for large corporates, SMEs or start-ups, it is not uncommon that innovative technologies, devices (products) and services are built from a complex set of IP. As organisations increasingly employ open innovation processes, IP is likely to not only result from internal R&D, but also from external sources, such as R&D partners, complementors and even competitors. Building and maintaining IP-based competitive advantage then rests on the effective acquisition (internal and external), exploitation and enforcement of IP. When having to manage complex IP portfolios and actor relations, an IP strategy is useful to provide guidance to decision makers. While business executives often express the need for better IP management tools and IP strategy formulation approaches, the corresponding literature is surprisingly scarce. In this thesis, a roadmapping-based approach is proposed for IP strategy formulation. While roadmapping is a widely adopted approach for strategy formulation at all firm levels, it has hardly been discussed in the IP management literature. Therefore, based on the strategic roadmapping approach, the IP roadmapping framework and the practical process model were developed for especially IP strategy formulation. The proposed IP strategy formulation approach integrates different strategy levels, provides clear visibility and facilitates communication and consensus among stakeholders in order to increase the prospects for better decision-making. The IP strategy formulation process is business centric, starting with an identification of business strategy objectives that can be supported by the means of IP, for instance, the creating of entry barriers and minimisation of the threats from substitutes. Throughout the process, these IP objectives are gradually translated into specific IP actions. The roadmapping approach then allows to align the timing and sequencing of these IP actions in support of the organisation's business objectives. The sequence of the IP actions can then be synthesised into a coherent IP strategy. The roadmapping-based IP strategy formulation approach was developed using a procedural action research approach. The prototype has been developed based on literature review and 20 interviews in total with IP or roadmapping experts, and then the approach has been tested and refined through three action research cycles based on 12 interviews with 17 IP practitioners and roadmapping experts, and 14 roadmapping workshops involving IP managers, innovation experts and business executives of large international companies, SMEs and start-ups. Accordingly, this research contributes to both practice and theory. It not only provides a novel roadmapping approach which enables and facilitates structured conversations among executives, innovation, technology and IP experts, who often find it difficult to engage in conversations about IP decision making, but also contributes to the IP management literature in which there is a paucity of studies on IP strategy formulation in practice. It also contributes to the roadmapping literature proposing a novel use case for this widely adopted strategy formulation approach. Additionally, this research also contributes to the strategic management literature with elaborations on the concepts of IP strategy and strategic alignment. The next stage for this research will be disseminating the tool widely and evaluating its commercialisation value for different purposes. This is going to be completed through close collaboration with IfM ECS and one independent technical consulting firm specialising in matters relating to IP. In addition, to help equip entrepreneurs with the tools they need for IP strategy formulation, the materials developed through this research will be made available online for downloading. The hope is that the materials can enable companies to conduct IP strategy formulation exercises by themselves, but also that this openly accessible material will be picked up by entrepreneurship teaching programmes. By spreading good practice on IP strategy formulation, it is expected that the toolkit can help companies to overcome some of the obstacles and maximise value from their IP.

Hosting information society service providers (hosting ISSPs) have facilitated the exchange of content between users and the purchase of goods online, enabling copyright holders and brand owners to attract a greater audience for their works and goods. However, those services have attracted a high number of copyright and trade mark violations. Seeing their rights to be infringed, copyright holders and brand owners seek redress against hosting ISSPs requesting either monetary damages or injunctive relief. The main legislative tools that regulate hosting ISSPs’ liability towards copyright and trade mark infringements that accrue within their networks are the E-Commerce Directive (EC) 2000/31/EC (ECD) and the Copyright in the Digital Single Market Directive (EU) 2019/790 (DSMD). Yet, both legislative tools fail to accommodate the interests of the parties involved. In particular, Article 14 of the ECD addresses the liability of hosting ISSPs for infringements that are committed by their users. However, it provides defences for hosting ISSPs to escape from liability and thus refrains from defining hosting ISSPs’ liability. For this reason, the national courts within the EU use their national tortious secondary doctrines in order to ascribe liability to hosting ISSPs for infringements within their networks. Yet, given that secondary liability is not harmonized at European level, secondary tortious law doctrines are heterogenous and therefore fail to offer a uniform and solid response to the hosting ISSPs’ liability conundrum. As a corollary, the fundamental rights of intellectual property holders, hosting ISSPs and internet users are subordinated. On the other hand, Article 17 of DSMD is relatively new but a number of problematic aspects have already been identified. Article 17 of the DSMD addresses the liability of a new type of hosting ISSPs, the online content sharing service providers (OCSSPs). It introduces a primary liability regime which conflicts with the rationale of a secondary liability regime as set forth in Article 14 of the ECD. It endorses a licensing system for the OCSSPs and a notice and stay down mechanism. As corollary, Article 17 of the DSMD might give rise to tantamount concerns with regard to protection of different interests at stake, namely the rights of internet users and hosting ISSPs. In the midst of the uncertainty that is created by the existing legislative tools that address hosting ISSPs’ liability and OCSSPs’ liability, this thesis offers an array of novel suggestions with regard to the EU regulatory framework of hosting ISSPs with regard to copyright and trade mark infringements within their networks. Based on a thorough examination of normative and theoretical considerations along with a bedrock of court rulings and policies across the EU borders, this thesis recommends the ascription of a number of responsibilities to hosting ISSPs through which they should be accountable to a hosting ISSP supervisory authority. The proposed regulatory framework takes into consideration to a great extent the different interests at stake and thus safeguard fundamental rights, as they are explicitly included in the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, namely the right of hosting ISSPs to operate their business, the right of internet users to freedom of information and expression and the right of intellectual property holders to achieve protection for their rights.

This thesis aims to contribute in shaping the future of access to medicines. The present research adds to the body of existing academic literature while addressing existing knowledge gaps. In doing so, it will identify the extent to which Jordan and Bahrain have been disadvantaged by Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS)-plus policies, as well as their own national policies. This thesis aims to improve access to medicines in Jordan and Bahrain by encouraging these countries to utilise the available, but limited, policy space through implementing workable solutions. Accordingly, this thesis will also be of interest to other developing countries and least developed countries (LDCs), such as Sudan, that wish to accede to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and TRIPS, as well as sign free trade agreements (FTAs). More specifically, this thesis explores the roots of TRIPS and discusses the ways in which the influences of the US, the EU and pharmaceutical companies are evident in the drafting of TRIPS. Moreover, this thesis shows that TRIPS’s flexibilities are limited by FTAs and that the existence of the Doha Declaration and FTAs are clear evidence that the interests of developing and LDCs, with regards with access to medicines, are being disregarded. This thesis further investigates the extent to which TRIPS-plus agreements have disadvantaged Jordan’s access to medicines. As this will be a comparative study between Jordan and Bahrain, the present research will compare and contrast the experiences of these two countries. Moreover, this thesis argues that there is existing policy space that could be realistically utilised by the Jordanian and Bahraini governments. It also goes on to make recommendations that could be incorporated within Jordan’s and Bahrain’s national laws in order to increase their access to medicine. In addition, this thesis suggests steps that the Sudanese government could implement before acceding to the WTO and TRIPS. Based on the experiences of Jordan, Bahrain, and other least developed countries that have acceded to WTO and increased their policy space, these suggestions will increase access to medicine in Sudan.

Chancel repair liability is an ancient legal concept which, when found to exist, may require a property owner to cover the cost of repairing a local parish church chancel. This cost can run into tens of thousands of pounds. The nature of chancel repair liability is elusive and not neatly classified within the framework of our modern legal system. This thesis seeks to explain the nature and scope of the concept and classify it within a modern legal system by characterising it as an established legal concept. The methodology used is to identify the cornerstones of the established proprietary and non-proprietary rights and determine whether these are analogous with the key principles of chancel repair liability. In doing this, a comprehensive analysis of the nature and scope of chancel repair liability has been performed and a determination regarding whether chancel repair liability is a proprietary right, within the parameters of this thesis, has been reached. In short, this thesis seeks to make chancel repair liability less elusive and uncertain.

Understanding the plasma conditions inside hohlraums in Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) experiments is important to achieve ignition. However, obtaining actual measurements of those conditions is a complicated task. X-ray spectroscopy techniques offer a promising approach to these measurements, given the amount of information contained in the plasma spectra. Extracting this information from the data requires reliable spectral models that are experimentally benchmarked. This thesis presents an analysis of the effects of the plasma geometry on its spectra, and their potential capabilities for spectroscopic diagnosis. By doing a detailed mathematical treatment of several geometries, it is shown that a cylindrical plasma is optimal to study these effects. The cylindrical geometry is therefore further studied with focus put on the emission from the He−α complex and how the line ratios are modified by the geometry. The potential use of these ratios as a measurement of the ion density of the plasma is described. The ‘OpticalDepth’ experiments at OMEGA are then detailed. In these experiments, plasma cylinders in the High Energy Density (HED) regime were generated and characterised using time-resolved X-ray imaging and X-ray spectroscopy. The experimental results are compared with predictions from a 2-dimensional radiative transfer computational model, showing that the simulations reproduce the experimental results to a much better degree than models which do not include the plasma geometry. The agreement found between experiment and simulations makes it possible to use cylindrical tracers in ICF experiments to obtain information about the plasma density from the geometry-modified line ratios. This is shown by analysing data from the Dot Spectroscopy campaign at the National Ignition Facility (NIF). Direct comparison of the tracers’ spectra from these experiments with the predictions from the computational model developed in this work yields time-resolved measurements of the ion density of the plasma, without the need for additional diagnostics.

This thesis examines the interaction of the influences of law, contract, and social norms in the commercial regulation of persona: name, voice, likeness and signature. It compares the UK, with its piecemeal legal protection, utilising passing off as the main cause of action, against the US which has state-based rights of publicity, as well as false endorsement under the Lanham Act. Persona protection in existing literature is examined through doctrinal analysis of case law and theoretical justifications. This thesis makes an original contribution to the field as it presents a new perspective on persona protection, in the form of empirical analysis through an ‘influences on behaviour’ framework. Behaviours are identified in the advertising, merchandising, film and television, and video game industries. These behaviours are then analysed by considering what influences apply, and why. With this in mind, the research question is: ‘What is the interaction of the influences of law, contract and social norms on behaviours which regulate persona in the UK, as compared to the US where a right of publicity exists?’ The thesis argues that similar behaviours exist across jurisdictions as the influences interact, but the role of law and the divergence in legal frameworks result in a contrast in the dispute resolution sphere. As such, while the transactional spheres in both jurisdictions are similar, US claimants are more likely to seek and be redressed for unauthorised use of persona, in comparison to UK claimants.

Achieving a distribution of benefits derived from the use of genetic resources (GR) and traditional knowledge (TK) has proven to be a target difficult to achieve. For this reason, the objective of this thesis is to find the key elements useful for a feasible implementation of ABS. Such elements respond to the problems evidenced throughout this work regarding the difficulties experienced so far in the operationalisation of ABS. Those problems are, (i) that developing proposals for the application of legal frameworks on this very specialised, complex, fragmented, and highly political issue, requires more than one approach, (ii) that the accessible proposals on how to address ABS are predominantly theoretical, and (iii) that there seems to be resistance to the inclusion of new aspects in the discussion on ABS. Therefore, the hypothesis of this thesis is that the experience gained by countries in the implementation of ABS laws provides practical ways to solve some of the issues related to the achievement of benefit-sharing that should be explored to complement the existing theoretical proposals. For that reason, the adoption of a practical rather than a theoretical approach has been preferred. However, solving those problems requires theoretical support. Thus, the analysis found in López, de Sousa Santos, and McCann and March have been acknowledged. From different perspectives, these authors support the creation of legal systems according to the way people behave in their daily life. Fundamental aspects taken into consideration in the current study include the variety of conceptual recommendations aimed to achieve ABS. Another aspect is the legal frameworks and mutually agreed terms (MATs) available in the ABS Clearing House (ABSCH) of the CBD. This work concludes that the most significant obstacles to effective implementation of ABS are: (i) the national/bilateral approach to the CBD; (ii) the lack of specific regulation for access to GR ex-situ in the CBD; and, (iii) the application of the concept of public domain in the ABS context. Due to the lack of agreement between the Parties concerned, these obstacles are not about to be amended soon, and, for now, possible solutions can only be sought through national laws. This thesis considers that benefit-sharing could be better addressed if provider countries were to abandon the current schema of entering into single negotiations every time a GR or a TK is accessed. This task, together with controlling and monitoring all the different ways these resources could be used once access is granted, seems so vast that it would be very difficult to accomplish. Instead, it is suggested that a mandatory sharing of non-monetary benefits with a voluntary sharing of monetary benefits is the best solution. The sharing of benefits could be encouraged by: (i) introducing a certificate of compliance upon actual sharing of non-monetary benefits; and (ii) providing tax benefits for the sharing of monetary benefits. The use of mutually agreed terms (MATs) is recommended as a tool to facilitate dispute resolution at an international level. Given the potential that the global multilateral benefit-sharing mechanism (GMBSM), proposed in Article 10 of the NP, has in achieving benefit-sharing, the implementation of a basic GMBSM is suggested. Modifications of this mechanism could be introduced by the Parties as they reach new agreements.

Decisions on tradeoffs in trade negotiations, or decisions made to procure a win-set for a country, do not occur in a silo – rather they occur in a complex interacting web of political-economic factors. This is especially applicable to pharmaceutical intellectual property (IP), where countries often have to consider tradeoffs between public health, commercial interests, public security, and market access, and where there is notable historical controversy. When a 12-year period of exclusivity for biologics, basically a long monopoly period for a new (expensive) class of medications engineered from living organisms, was proposed by the United States in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), negotiating parties of differing income levels were reluctant and/or opposed to incorporating these IP provisions. Where there is a deadlock, the opposing side may offer market access or other benefits to force a concession. A number of political-economic factors may play into this, including previous relationships between the two nations, the formation of a coalition, and power dynamics. And while scholarly literature has described the diminishing hegemony of the United States, examining this power dynamic in the context of the TPP and associated negotiation tactics, and in particular as regards two upper middle-income countries (UMICs), Chile, and Malaysia, fills a gap in literature on trade-related IP. A couple of political-economic factors make this case study significant; including that UMICs, despite their higher GNI per capita, cannot often sustainably afford the price tags attached to biologic drugs, and that they may have established more diversified economic dependence, reducing the need for concessions in some areas solely for market access to the United States or membership of the TPP. Drawing upon the testimonials of trade negotiators, government officials, and civil society, this thesis analyses tactics utilised by UMIC negotiators when faced with biologics tradeoffs, and formulates lessons for other developing countries.

This thesis aims to shed light on a central aspect of private property: the limits that it imposes on the freedom of non-owners and its potential implications. To the extent that private property does not depend on the physical connection between the owner and the object, accumulation becomes normatively possible because one can be an owner of more things that one can physically hold or protect from others. The situation that private property enables is not only that people may have no opportunity to acquire and be an owner, but more importantly, that it may leave people without the possibility of satisfying their needs by using objects that otherwise would be available for everyone’s use. In the first part of the thesis, I examine three different justifications for private property produced within the liberal/libertarian canon. I will use these accounts to investigate what follows for a justification of private property from considering its passive side of the property relation. The general idea is that a justification of private property demands consideration of the interests of nonowners: of their unfreedom and its potential implications regarding the justification of a private property system. In the second part of the thesis, I intend to demonstrate that private property not only gives freedom to owners but also may give them power. There is certainly a sense in which private property always gives power to owners. Private property gives to owners the power to pursue aims that otherwise would be either impossible or very difficult to achieve. However, great unequal distributions of private property may give to owners not only power to, but also power over people. Given the fact that accumulation may leave individual needs unmet, private property becomes an important power resource. The second part of the thesis is dedicated to show that in its capitalist articulation, private property gives a dominating power to owners in two main spheres: the economic and the political spheres. This task turns to be more difficult than it might superficially appear to be, as political philosophy does not provide an adequate general framework for thinking about private domination.

Thanks to the advancement of biotechnology, a growing number of actors in developed countries, particularly multinational corporations have accessed biological resources in developing countries. However, the exploitation of resources and knowledge has inflicted intense damage on developing countries and their indigenous people and local communities who have made enormous contribution to conservation of resources because the companies have rarely acknowledged their contribution and shared the benefits. This phenomenon is called biopiracy and although biopiracy has happened all around the world, this dissertation will focus on biopiracy in Southeast Asia, one of the regions vulnerable to biopiracy because the regime in the region has a number of problems to tackle biopiracy. Therefore, in order to discuss how to tackle biopiracy in Southeast Asia, at first, this dissertation has identified some definitions of biopiracy including its legal concept. Following the (legal) definitions, this dissertation has analysed a number of biopiracy cases around the world including Southeast Asia, identifying the common patterns and problems, particularly grievances of the people and communities. On this basis, four international regimes relevant to biopiracy, namely biodiversity, human rights, intellectual property and investment regimes have been analysed particularly, focusing on their core principles, relevant cases and debates to show the international framework. Based on the analysis of the international framework, some regimes to tackle biopiracy in other regions and countries have been analysed focusing on the two African regional instruments and some national laws and institutions in Peru and India because they have some useful instruments to tackle biopiracy. On the basis of the analysis of the regimes, this dissertation has analysed the current status of regional and national laws and institutions in Southeast Asia, identifying some problems such as lack of enforcement mechanisms. Finally, in order to address the problems and tackle biopiracy, the final chapter has made a number of suggestions to show how to improve the regional instruments and national laws and institutions to tackle biopiracy in the region. While on a regional level, this dissertation has shown how the regional instruments should be improved to be more specific, on a national level, some key components of the model national regimes have been suggested because they can be used to make new laws or institutions or reform the existing ones. In particular, this dissertation has discussed how the international investment regime could be used to tackle biopiracy by improving their national laws and amending their international investment agreements because of the regime’s potential to tackle biopiracy. On this basis, this dissertation aims to suggest not only how to improve the current laws and institutions (or, regimes) but also how to utilize a potential regime to tackle biopiracy in the region.

The land is a precious resource, vital for humanity’s survival, yet it is under threat from deforestation, climate change and biodiversity loss. Despite awareness and acknowledgment of the need to tackle these issues, little truly effective has been implemented to-date. This research proposes property theory synthesised with sustainability as the mechanism to affect the change needed to protect the land, as part of the environment. Two clear limbs form the framework of this research: the theory of property and sustainability. Property theory provides an already acknowledged mechanism for change and private property has been selected to reflect humanity’s resistance to modify its behaviour (most notably our reluctance to restrict consumption); to facilitate a new approach using a familiar and recognisable paradigm; and to create a modified model (described as the Land Model) implemented through legislation Sustainability then forms the basis of this new restriction, developed through a critical analysis of sustainability and sustainability indicators (the means of measuring sustainability), ultimately placing a restriction (described here as the Sustainability Restriction) on the rate of biodiversity loss, change in land use and tree cover loss. Strong sustainability, with its emphasis on the land as part of the environment, underpins the ethical approach taken in this research. Finally, post-devolution legislation in England and Wales (together Britain, the geographical area selected for this research) is analysed to propose that Wales would best support the use of the new paradigm. This research advocates pro-active change but, acknowledging that good intentions rarely reach fruition through radical change, a series of incentives are proposed to encourage reactive change. The proposal is for slow, but steady, ground-up change: a velvet property revolution.

This thesis opens up theoretical pathways for decolonial epistemologies for energy planning in Brazil. The critical analysis is verticalized from the 2015-2024 Brazilian Decennial Energy Expansion Plan (DEEP) to better highlight the epistemological problems in energy planning. Epistemological challenges demand a critical understanding of the ethical system we live in - the ethics of exhaustion - to enable a comprehensive radical transformation of the consideration of energy futures, since epistemology is part of the formalization of ethics. This thesis argues that energy planning in Brazil is based on the ethics of exhaustion to epistemically impose the colonial agenda of power. Energy futures are planned as necessary harm to achieve the fetishized good, normalized as the ethical intersubjective and human-environment relationships. Critically analysing the ethical system enables understanding the epistemologies for energy planning in Brazil as the formal moment of the ethics of exhaustion, which can only be challenged in an intersectional manner by framing the multilateral and collateral aspects of the violence consistent in planning energy futures regardless and to the detriment of the existence of life. Epistemic diversity is the first step towards decolonizing energy planning. It comprises: the inclusion of indigenous and communal perspectives when elaborating the energy plans; having persons directly affected by energy enterprises as the majority of the personnel involved in the activity of planning; setting the priority of energy planning as the production and reproduction of all lives in a non-hierarchized manner; recognizing the necessary balance in the human-environment relationship; privileging local needs in relation to transnational markets; and intentionally de-hierarchizing the benefits of energy exploitation by delinking energy studies, production, and distribution from financial capital. This work challenges colonial epistemologies, based on the ethics of exhaustion, from the standpoint of the colonial difference, proposing epistemic diversity as the impulse for decolonial energy planning in Brazil. It is an urgent academic task to perceive epistemic decolonization to transform the present in order to stop condemning the future to social and environmental catastrophes.

For those communities in Kenya that identify as indigenous, and with the indigenous movement, land is the core of their collective existence. To remove them from their ancestral lands violates their customary rights to land and says to them that they do not matter. For years they have been the victims of those in power who have used their political influence as well as the law to denigrate and invalidate those rights. This has been through forced assimilation of these communities into larger groups, forced evictions, damaging of property, killings, inhuman and degrading treatment; and broken promises. Judgments of regional bodies under the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights framework affirming those rights have gone unimplemented. This thesis therefore looks at what law has been, what it is and what it could do with a particular focus on the Constitution of Kenya 2010 and its harbingeron land- the National Land Policy 2009. Alternatives existing under the East African Community Treaty and also the World Bank's framework on indigenous communities, -are also examined. The conclusion reached is that land in Kenya is a political chalice, howbeit, progressive law has been enacted. This must have an intended purpose, and where that purpose is not fulfilled, law may as well not exist. There is opportunity in the law for both communities and law makers to close in on this disparateness and bring out the realisation of these land rights.

My thesis explores the legal concept of home and the experiences of private rental sector tenants in England. ‘Home’ is difficult to define, despite the extensive literature on the topic. My thesis analyses the cross-disciplinary approach to home and identifies its core themes. Legal scholarship on the topic is largely absent, especially in relation to private tenants. The term ‘home’ does feature in contemporary legislation, albeit undefined. Rather, the legal conceptualisation is an accumulation of decades of policy, legislation and case law. My thesis analyses its development and bridges some of the gaps in the scholarship. My examination of private rental sector legislation and case law from the last 100 years reveals a nuanced conceptualisation of home that is reflective of the broader scholarship. However, contemporary legislation acts as a disjoint. Assured shorthold tenancies and s.21 eviction notices under the Housing Act 1988 mean that tenants have little control and limited security of tenure. My empirical findings suggest that private tenants experience lesser versions of home. This is problematic as 19.5% of households in England privately rent, and the sector continues to grow. My empirical research focuses on a sub-set of Generation Rent, defined as private tenants aged 18-35 that aspire to homeownership but are financially unable to do so. In my thesis, this group is referred to as Generation Rent1. Their aspirations of homeownership offer an interesting perspective on the tenant home. My analysis highlights a condition I have termed the ‘Janus Syndrome’, an original contribution to the scholarship. My participants’ aspirations for their future homes and nostalgia for their childhood home causes a lack of engagement with their current homes. My analysis of the three perspectives of home (cross-disciplinary, legal and individual) produces fresh insights into the meaning of home and the role of law in experiencing home.

Each year, billions of people lack adequate access to urgently required medicines, leading to unnecessary suffering and the loss of millions of lives from preventable conditions. One of the main causes of this situation is that individuals living in extreme poverty cannot afford the prices of essential medicines, and the health-care systems of poverty-ridden developing countries are incapable of providing the required medications to their population. Exclusive patent rights contribute to the severity of this situation by providing the legal frameworks which enable pharmaceutical corporations to charge exorbitant prices for their patented drugs. Therefore, the global introduction of the patentability of pharmaceutical products under the WTO's TRIPS Agreement constitutes one of the main threats to the realisation of the Right to Health in developing countries. This thesis addresses conflicting provisions of the human right to health and patent rights under international trade agreements, scrutinising whether there exists a legal hierarchy between human rights and trade law, or whether there are moral reasons suggesting that one should be superior to the other. Identifying that currently a legal hierarchy cannot be established, but that moral reasons suggest the superior importance of human rights, this thesis addresses the justifiability of the current international patent regime. The main findings of this thesis suggest that the current international patent regime cannot be regarded as justified; either from a human rights perspective, or within itself. It is therefore submitted, that the international patent system urgently requires to be changed with respect to its regulations on the patentability of medical products. This thesis then proposes that the international patent regime offers the distinct opportunity of implementing direct responsibilities of pharmaceutical patent holders as requirements for patentability within international trade law itself, for example by an amendment of the TRIPS Agreement. In presenting these possibilities, this thesis contributes a further dimension to ongoing debates about how the human rights responsibilities of the private business sector can be identified and effectively enforced.

The relationship between athletes and HMRC has come to the forefront in the media in recent years. The media has continually reported on athletes alleged tax avoidance in relation to their image rights. This avoidance has led HMRC to launch numerous investigations into the tax affairs of athletes and their advisors, particularly within the footballing world. However, the ability to make these tax savings, both lawfully and unlawfully, has been facilitated by the UK's reluctance to define what constitutes an 'image right' in law; coupled with its readiness to allow athletes to make these savings based upon this non-definitive 'image'. This research will show that within the UK, the protection of a celebrity's image is reliant upon the traditional intellectual property remedies such as a breach of confidence or passing off action. To date, the courts have interpreted these 'traditional' remedies in such a way that allows for the protection of the celebrity image, without ever defining what constitutes 'image' in the first instance. This research will also show that this reliance on the traditional remedies in the context of the protection of image rights is generally non-problematic as very few of these instances ever reach the courts, and those that do are generally provided with a legal remedy. The issues regarding this reluctance to legally define image however, become prominent when athletes use their image as a means of securing a tax reduction. HMRC allows athletes with the requisite goodwill to receive a portion of their salary as an 'image rights' payment, thus resulting in the athlete paying a lower percentage of tax upon this income. However, with no clear definition of image, the system of taxation in relation to high-earning celebrity athletes has been left open to abuse; the 'why' and the 'how' of which shall be discussed in this thesis. This thesis will also illustrate that Canada offers an alternative system of image rights and the taxation of high-earning celebrity athletes. The Canadian image rights system operates on both a statutory and common law level, in which the concept of 'image' is defined within both. Within the sporting context, in particular ice hockey, athletes are generally constrained by the provisions of collective bargaining agreements which ultimately limit their ability to receive image rights or endorsement payments as part of their salary from their employer club (although they are permitted to seek separate endorsement opportunities outside of a 'club context'). However, Canadian athletes are not deprived of the ability to make taxation savings; whilst UK athletes are able to make savings based on their ability to sell their image, Canadian athletes are able to making similar savings due to the tax authorities acknowledgement of the short-spanning nature of their careers - thus providing athletes with various mechanisms to reduce their tax liabilities such as salary deferral arrangements, employee benefit plans, and retirement compensation arrangements. This research will ultimately show that the UK's reluctance to define an image right in one area of law, which can then be exploited in another area, has ultimately led to a convoluted system of taxation open to abuse. In contrast, Canadian approach has developed a system which is clear, transparent and predictable; and one in which athletes, their advisors and employer clubs know their rights and responsibilities.

Moral rights in copyright law are noneconomic rights that entitle the author to control how the author is divulged, modified, and attributed. They are based on the idea that each author alone stands in a special relation ("Relation A") to her work by virtue of creating it. Despite the quite voluminous literature, moral rights scholars have not specified in what this special relation could consist. My dissertation addresses this issue. More specifically, I answer two questions. First, what is the nature of Relation A? Second, assuming I provide a plausible account of Relation A, how could the law protect it? In answering the first question, I drawing on law, sociology, psychology, and philosophy to develop the first full account of the nature of Relation A. I show that this Relation consists in certain psychological states regarding perceptions of the author's empirical or "social self" as externalized in the work - what I call her externalized social self. In contrast to an abstract or ideal notion of the self typically propounded by moral rights advocates, the social self is built up by interaction between the author, the work, and non-authors, or "the other." It is not fixed and unchanging but subject to constant renegotiation - and the author is but one of the negotiators. This account has implications for just how moral rights protect Relation A. Importantly, this account of Relation A forces a shift in the scope and nature of moral rights. Because moral rights are limited tools to present and manage a specific aspect of the author's externalized social self, relevant protections are not focused entirely on the author, or even honor or reputation. Instead, the thing protected - the externalized social self - depends on what others think, not just what the author thinks. The externalized social self can be harmed only in limited ways - when its existence is threatened, and even then, only in certain circumstances. Moral rights, on this account, are not designed to protect some inner personality or mystical self; they are tools to present and manage the author's externalized social self in limited ways. What results is a set of protections that are weaker and narrower than most moral rights scholars would prefer. These protections are focused less on inviolate harm, honor, or reputation and more on managing a particular image of the self-as-presented.

The thesis examines the legal licensing framework of standard essential patents (SEPs) in the upcoming Internet of Things. In doing so it analyses the meaning and content of the commitment to license SEPs on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) terms, assess the adequacy of current FRAND licensing models in the changed IoT environment and suggests avenues for reform. The precise meaning and content of FRAND licensing terms to date remain unclear, and the thesis will contribute to the literature by providing a comprehensive legal and policy analysis of different elements of FRAND commitment. In particular the thesis will look at the legal nature and enforceability of FRAND commitment; the role of contract and competition laws in ensuring compliance with a FRAND commitment; the principles of FRAND royalty; the methods for calculating FRAND royalty; the appropriate FRAND royalty base; the meaning of the non-discrimination requirement of FRAND commitment; the requirement to license at every level of the supply chain, and legal remedies available for infringement of SEPs. The answer to each element will provide a comprehensive guide to the meaning of the FRAND licensing framework. After providing an insight into what FRAND terms are, the thesis will look at the suitability of the current FRAND licensing framework in the IoT environment. It will be shown that current bilateral licensing models which mainly focus on cross-licensing may not be adequate in the IoT context. The thesis will critically assess current proposals intended at reforming the SEP licensing landscape and will suggest several measures with the aim of increasing the transparency and predictability of the SEP licensing framework in the IoT.

This thesis examines the moral significance of the intellectual commons and proposes appropriate modes for their regulation with the aim of accommodating their social potential. In the course of exploring their normative aspects, the thesis proceeds successively by analysing (i) the ontological characteristics of the intellectual commons, (ii) the relevant literature concerning their potential and interrelation with capital, (iii) the ways that they been shaped by law across history, (iv) their circuits of value, and (iv) their elements which bear moral significance. The thesis concludes by outlining the fundamentals of a normative theory for the intellectual commons. The thesis offers an overall analysis of the intellectual commons with the aim of grounding a holistic normative theory for their regulation by the law. The ontological part of the thesis examines the elements, characteristics, tendencies and manifestations of the intellectual commons and their potential for society from the perspective of processual ontology. Furthermore, its methodological part presents the main theories of the intellectual commons from the prism of critical epistemology and sketches out their divergent approaches on the relation between the intellectual commons and capital. In addition, its historical part exhibits the historical evolution of the cultural commons and their interrelation with law and society. Accordingly, the thesis features extensive social research concerning the ways that social value is generated, circulated, pooled together and redistributed within and beyond the communities of the intellectual commons and concerning the dialectics between commons-based and monetary values. The final normative part of the thesis analyses the moral dimension of the intellectual commons. Throughout its analysis, the thesis adheres to the methodological choices of critical theory. The thesis demonstrates that the intellectual commons are a social regime for the regulation of intellectual production, distribution and consumption, which bears moral significance. The contemporary formations of the intellectual commons feature elements of inherent moral value, have the potential to produce outcomes of net social benefit and underpin freedom, justice and democracy in ways, which justify their protection and promotion by the law. Morality thus requires the enactment of an independent body of statutory rules to protect the intellectual commons from encroachment by private enclosures and to promote commons-based practices in the form of a non-commercial sphere of creativity and innovation in all aspects of intellectual production, distribution and consumption.

The thesis principally examines the three categories of petroleum arrangements in Nigeria and gives examples of other developing countries. This study presents a systematic and in-depth analysis of both the structure and substance of some modern petroleum arrangements that have emerged in recent years and examines, the financial benefits of such associations. The thesis is divided into two parts. Part 1 deals with participation agreements, joint venture and production sharing contracts, whilst Part 2 examines mutual benefit and marginalisation of the host communities. These agreements are usually long-term, without any mechanism for renegotiations and are shrouded in secrecy and confidential clauses. A good example is the NNPC and Ashland oil contract. Due to this lacuna, it is usually the practice for renegotiation to be done through the passing of a legal notice or new law, resulting in the presence of quite a few laws in the petroleum industry and the attendant mystification. This practice would have been simple if renegotiation clauses were enshrined in the agreement, enabling changing circumstances; and confidential clauses removed, aiding transparency in the transaction. The study finds that some of the laws and the regulations are very old and clearly out of style with the times, not to mention in an industry that is forever changing and dynamic and further affected and determined by international factors. Further, the study also found that the activities of the oil and gas companies, to a great extent have not employed international best practices or remained compliant with the existing laws of the nation; resulting in oil spillages, various forms of pollution, serious health hazards, gross environmental degradations, rural agricultural destruction, distortion of social harmony and peace that exist in, and between host communities and have fuelled underdevelopment in these communities. As long as these social inequalities and injustice continue, human rights violations, gross mismanagement of natural resources, corruption in all forms and sizes exist and the activities of the participants in that sector are not addressed satisfactorily, so shall poverty, insecurity and serious threat to national existence and survival continue.

Before they can receive marketing approval, the safety and efficacy of pharmaceutical products must be established. Generating test data to demonstrate this is extremely expensive; consequently, developers of ‘generic’ versions of pharmaceuticals are generally not required replicate these trials and instead may receive marketing approval based on previously submitted test data. However, in many jurisdictions intellectual property rights in submitted test data (often referred to as ‘test data exclusivity rights’) prevent subsequent applicants from gaining approval in this manner for a time-limited period. During the negotiations which led to the foundation of the WTO, proposals were made for a requirement to provide test data exclusivity in what would become the TRIPS Agreement. These were ultimately rejected; instead, TRIPS Article 39.3 requires that submitted test data be protected against unfair commercial use. This term is not defined, and the meaning of Article 39.3 remains highly contested. Despite this, test data exclusivity has become highly globalised in the post-TRIPS period, and is now a feature of the legal systems of most significant pharmaceutical markets This thesis seeks to analyse the origins, globalisation and impact of test data exclusivity. Specifically, it examines how test data exclusivity has become so globalised despite its rejection from TRIPS, how test data exclusivity has developed across different jurisdictions, and what some of the practical impacts of test data exclusivity have been. This thesis concludes that Article 39.3 has played an important role in the globalisation of test data exclusivity, that test data exclusivity rights are surprisingly similar across jurisdictions (a similarity which the ambiguity of Article 39.3 may, paradoxically, have contributed to) and that it is likely that these textually similar regulations produce different impacts across jurisdictions due to differing local contexts. Test data exclusivity rights may therefore be poorly adapted to the needs of many jurisdictions.

The thesis explores the principle of party autonomy in choice of law and its application in cross-border disputes concerning movable property. The central argument is simple. An expansive application of party autonomy in disputes concerning movable property should be favoured, while the traditional rule of lex situs remains a secondary rule. In doing so, it at first conducts a theoretical study of the development of choice of law theories in the search for theoretical foundations of party autonomy. It is demonstrated that party autonomy has not been addressed properly and introduced a new approach to accommodate party autonomy as a foundational choice of law principle. Then it adopts a comparative study to evaluate the two different choice of law approaches adopted in the UK and China addressing movable property rights. Four sub-sections contributed to this part of discussion, including the critical examination of the application of the lex situs rule in respect of tangible movables in the UK; the application of party autonomy in China concerning tangible movables and an evaluation of its effectiveness; the relevance of the situs of a debt in an assignment in the UK. It concludes that the rule of lex situs is far from perfect and faces serious challenges especially in the borderline case of assignment. It thus proposes a rights-based approach embodied party autonomy to address comprehensively the choice of law issues for assignment of debts and examines two examples of the EU and China where a similar approach is partially adopted. Finally, it revisits the relevance of designing choice of law rules based on the contract/property divide and concludes that the purposes for which party autonomy is conceived in private international law do not conflict with the essential values of property rights and proposes a general framework under which party autonomy is exercised with reasonable restrictions.

The safe extraction of shale gas resources has become a controversial issue in the energy sector and within energy law and policy circle. These issues have transcended to other areas of the society such as the environment, public health, and geopolitics. In fact, in environmental issue and regulation, it has become a norm in the minds of many that finding a model individual to do the right thing is a onerous task. One solution to this problem currently would be to realise the benefits energy resource extraction presents by devising the right regulatory strategies to improve the compliance level of those operating such risky activity to do the right thing. However, the strategic solutions to achieve the benefits are not that complex when compared with the strategic measures for achieving compliance to set regulatory standards for mitigating risks from energy extraction activity. This thesis argue for a complementary regulatory instrument mix (self-regulation and command & control regulatory strategies) to improve effective compliance for mitigating risks associated with energy extractive and consumption activities. One fundamental problem for this disparity is that the available regulatory strategies and approaches are fraught with diverse limitations that makes it unable to accommodate the dynamic of energy resource extraction. Also, industry and regulators of such activity's dependence on regulatory approaches has been centred on command and control regulation that inhibits the incentive for the operator to go beyond the set standards. Hence, the urgency to devise an effective framework to balance costs that comes with the quest to relaise the benefits from resource extraction activities and the need for the preservation of the environment and health. Though achieving full compliance is far-fetched but optimal compliance is achievable within the context of collective participation amongst all industry players. One pragmatic means of achieving these conflicting interests within the global energy sector is through alternatives or a combination of regulatory instrument mixes (self-regulation and command and control regulation). This thesis intends that these alternatives should serve as complements to the command and control regulation and not to replace them. Such alternatives to regulation which this thesis argue and formulate that can help mitigate especially water contamination risk which has an increased frequency of occurrence is what it calls: 'the risk/segment based strict liability rule.' In addition, 'self-regulation' as a complement to command and control environmental regulation. While self-regulation helps to address the problem of information asymmetry that regulation grapple with, the risk based strict liability rule helps to address risks that have a highly probable or increased frequency level of occurrence. By risk based strict liability rule being proposed in this thesis, it means a risk from an activity can be subject to a strict liability cause of action without necessarily subjecting the entire activity to stricter environmental laws. This is based on the legal rationale that where particular risks' has an increased frequency level of occurrence or the impacts could lead to transgenerational harm, it should be classified as abnormal. Therefore, should be subject to strict liability cause of action. Thus, the philosophy behind this thesis is to see how regulation can deal with particular risks under strict liability when they have an increased frequency to occur and not necessarily the entire activity. Thus, the significance of this thesis is that it resonates the ability of self-regulation and liability systems to direct the costs of the harms to those who create them. More so, these innovative policy options embedded in the properties of self-regulation and liability system will force operators to incur additional costs needed to forestall or control their actions that might result in externalities beyond the socially optimal level. Thus, environmental governance through self-regulatory and risk/segment liability rule systems as alternatives to command and control regulation will erode that complacency on the part of the creators of such possible negative impacts to act sustain-ably. These alternatives to command and control regulation are cogent in mitigating risks associated with shale gas as an energy source on two grounds. Based on the above problems, this thesis shall examine the critical question of whether stricter environmental liability and regulatory approaches is required to achieve a sustainable shale gas extraction. Also, what other features should be included in these environmental protectionist tools to achieve effectiveness in managing water contamination and dispersed risks associated with fracking activity. This thesis, argue for a stricter liability and regulatory approach as a complement to the limitations of command and control regulation with some added features to address dispersed harms associated with energy extraction activity especially the risk of water contamination.

The law of real burdens developed in Scotland in a piecemeal fashion over 200 years, resulting in a series of arcane rules which left property owners unclear about their rights and complicated the sale and purchase of property. The Title Conditions (Scotland) Act 2003 (TCA) represented a major overhaul of the law in this area, aiming to clarify and modernise provision on real burdens and bring certainty while reducing costs. This thesis looks at how the TCA is working in practice and evaluates whether those aims have been achieved in relation to three key parts of the TCA, namely implied rights to enforce, interest to enforce and the Development Management Scheme (DMS). In addition to a systematic exploration of the background to the reforms, my research involved empirical work with solicitors and insurers to ascertain their experiences with the new rules. The case law in these key areas is fairly limited and has not provided clear guidance, with many resorting to insurance as a solution to the uncertainty in the law of implied rights and interest to enforce, while the DMS appears to have been largely ignored by the profession. This thesis sets out my findings on the operation of the law in practice, considering particularly the difficulty for practitioners in understanding and applying the rules on implied enforcement rights for common scheme burdens and interest to enforce, and the knock-on effect for clients in terms of transaction timescales and costs. Issues with some aspects of the DMS raised by practitioners and academics are also explored.

The duration and complexity of copyright in relation to unpublished materials is contributing to a 20th century 'black hole' in the online historical record. Archives collect, preserve, and provide access to records of governments, businesses, communities and individuals: the raw evidence of transactions, activities and events that informs our understanding of the past. The transformative nature of online access to the archival record supports human rights, democracy, openness, transparency, accountability, culture, learning, research and innovation. Despite reform, the legal framework in the UK fails to provide a safe harbor for archives that could make comprehensive online access to the country's rich and diverse archival holdings possible. This thesis presents the results of a survey of the UK archive sector that explores how copyright affects digitisation of collections, and analyses five digitisation projects at a variety of archive institutions, in order to better understand the decision-making processes and risk management strategies that make archive collections containing third party rights materials available online, despite the tendency towards risk aversion within the archive sector. The thesis found that a small proportion of UK archives have made third-party rights holder material available online, supporting the view that the sector, in general, is risk averse in relation to third-party copyrights. However, evidence gathered suggests that approaches taken by less risk-averse institutions can be adapted to suit the needs of a wide-range of cultural heritage institutions, and best-practice guidance could have a significant impact on online access to 20th century collections. The study contributes baseline data on the sectoral approach to copyright, rights clearance and risk management, and how these approaches affect digitisation, in order to provide a starting point for further research and best-practice guidance for the UK archive sector.

Trade marks play a crucial role in our economy. By indicating trade origin, they facilitate the sale of trademarked products as well as signalling information about their quality. However, advancements in advertising enabled trade marks to become powerful tools that attract consumers and develop an aura that influences purchase decisions. While the main purpose of European trade mark law is the protection of the trade origin function, it also recognises and protects these 'modern functions' of trade marks, including the advertising, investment and communication functions. Tobacco plain packaging legislation is the latest development in tobacco control in the European Union and it also affects the functions of trade marks. It requires that the word marks of tobacco products should appear in a standardised way on tobacco packaging while preventing the use of any other trade marks. By doing so, tobacco plain packaging legislation aims to diminish the advertising, investment and communication functions of trade marks in order to reduce the power of attraction of trade marks and the influence they have on consumers. Tobacco plain packaging legislation is the first legislation that fully standardises the appearance of product packaging. This absolute nature of tobacco plain packaging legislation led to controversy and it was challenged, inter alia, under the provisions of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights of the World Trade Organization and under the jurisdiction of the Court of Justice of the European Union. This thesis assesses the prohibitive provisions of tobacco plain packaging legislation in the light of the recently expanded rights given to trade mark proprietors under trade mark law. Through this assessment, it explains that the modern functions of trade marks recently recognised in the expansion of trade mark rights form the theoretical basis of the restrictive provisions of tobacco plain packaging legislation. Although they share the same theoretical basis, trade mark law provisions amplify the effect of the modern functions of trade marks while the provisions of tobacco plain packaging disable them. Therefore, this thesis uses tobacco plain packaging legislation as an analytical tool to examine the way trade mark law evolves. It evidences that the development of trade mark law is guided by the attribution of functions to trade marks and the balancing of the interests of the relevant parties involved. By viewing the development of trade mark law as the result of this two-stage process, this thesis argues that tobacco plain packaging should not be seen as an intrusive piece of legislation but as a legislation which is coherent with the development of the principles of European trade mark law. This thesis concludes that the way trade marks are used is shaped by the policy under which they are governed and as a result, trade mark law can play an important role in the enforcement of public policy considerations.

Since the 1970s, modern biotechnology and its innovative products have been central to the development of what is considered to fall within the scope of patent eligible subject matter. In major patent systems, an interpretation of the definition of patentable invention has evolved to allow matter qualifying as patent eligible to include techno-scientific products and processes that could not have been envisaged when patent systems were first established. However, modern biotechnology and its bio-artifacts have proved challenging, as they have increasingly raised social opposition and ethical concerns from non-governmental organisations and civil society. Biotech patent claims on genetically modified organisms, DNA sequences and genes, isolated human biological materials and human embryonic stem cells have questioned more radically than other technological claims the meaning of nature and artifact, subject and object, discovery and invention. In the United States, Canada and under the European Patent Convention (EPC), several landmark biotech patent cases involving these kinds of inventions have settled the patent eligibility of these products. In these cases, judges, parties, patent officers and amici curiae have drawn on a rich repertoire of metaphors that, by defining the "nature" and ontology of the claimed invention, sustained or rejected the allocation of intellectual property rights over it. This thesis addresses whether and how metaphors and the analogies they entail have been resorted to in judicial decisions and the administrative discourse of patent offices (practices and guidelines) to expand and limit the scope of patentable subject matter. Moreover, the thesis is engaged in explaining the discrepancies that marked the development of what is a patentable invention in these three jurisdictions. The main hypothesis of the thesis is that the use of the metaphors of the machine, molecule and code has proved pivotal in expanding the scope and stabilizing the meaning of patent eligible matter. These metaphors have been endorsed in technoscientific domains of research and they could be deemed what Ruse has called "root metaphors", metaphors that were pivotal in orienting the study of the phenomena of life. All these metaphors, as this work illustrates, imply an atomistic and reductionist view of the living organisms, which has largely sustained their patent eligibility. Drawing on the insights offered by cognitive linguistics, the thesis explains that, by prompting analogies, metaphors define the "is" and the "ought" of a concept. Their analysis, therefore, enables an account of how descriptive and normative issues have been entangled in sustaining and settling the meaning of molecular biotech products, so that the metaphorical definition of the nature of the invention conveyed or not its patent eligibility. The thesis argues and shows, furthermore, that the judicial and administrative narratives in which these metaphors have been employed have been likewise influential and backed particular sociotechnical imaginaries of life and nature, which have been pivotal in defining what is natural and artificial and in framing individual and collective identities in molecular terms. This work relies, in particular, on Science and Technology Studies' framework centered on concept of co-production, namely the insight that the natural and social orders are produced together. According to this framework, the is and ought of the world are continuously established, through the authoritative discourses of science and law, which define what is a claimed invention within a technological field and how it should be governed. The co-productionist framework is fundamental to pinpoint and understand the relevant nexus that narrative analysis should address and explain in the thesis (which has been articulated by Calvert and Joly): the relationship between making knowledge - the creation of ontologies - and the production of intellectual property.

The concept of strategic patenting is neither new nor inherent only to the pharmaceutical industry. However, the pharmaceutical industry is unique as it combines private and public interests, and therefore falls under the rigorous control of competition authorities. As a result of the 2008 Pharmaceutical Sector Inquiry, the European Commission revealed that patenting practices may delay or even block generic competition and hence affect access to affordable medicines. Such findings have fuelled debates as to whether these strategies may be deemed unlawful and violate EU competition rules, while also being justifiable business practices under patent law. Until now, the agreement has not been reached either on the legality of these practices, or on an efficient legal tool to assess them. This thesis provides a contribution to the discussion on strategic patenting in the pharmaceutical industry by analysing these strategies from the competition law perspective. It focuses on two specific practices, in particular: strategic accumulation of patents and product hopping. While the Commission has flagged them as potentially problematic, they are currently viewed as lawful business practices in the EU. This thesis investigates whether in certain specific circumstances these practices may be anticompetitive. In order to address this enquiry, the analysis is conducted in a twofold manner: on the one hand, it identifies the reasons for and provides possible solutions to this issue within the patent system itself, while on the other hand it provides an in-depth analysis of these practices under the competition law rules. The findings contained in this thesis are intended to be a useful policy tool in reducing the negative effect of strategic patenting in the pharmaceutical industry in order to facilitate access to affordable medicines.

The functions theory developed by the CJEU continues to be one of the most contentious issues in contemporary European trade mark law. In this thesis, I propose a more coherent reading of the CJEU jurisprudence; the functions theory may deliver a more transparent process of reasoning, allowing infringement assessment to engage with normative choices (or internalise policy concerns), which a conventional industrial property model otherwise fails to grasp. But these benefits can be attained only if functions theory is assessed within a broader, more complex expansionary trajectory within trade mark law. I therefore argue that the development of the functions theory is intertwined with and most productively understood alongside the increasing role of context in trade mark infringement. It should be seen as a doctrinal device that, together with a more realistic (or hybrid) construction of the average consumer, enabled infringement assessment to be infused with market realities, in response to the problems of abstraction that an expansionary trade mark doctrine had created. This analysis is potentially useful in two ways. First, it indicates that the CJEU might be relocating the centre of gravity of trade mark law from the formal universe of the registrar to the everyday experience of the consumer; a proposition finding some support in recent decisions of national courts. Secondly, it argues that the origin function seemingly departed from a more conventional paper-based approach, with infringement becoming increasingly contextual. This further suggests that other trade mark functions took a different path, relying more on untested assumptions of consumer behaviour, producing inconsistencies in the case law that ought to be addressed. The emerging approach to the origin function has important lessons for how the other functions ought to be assessed during infringement analysis.

For Albania, property has always been considered as the foundation stone of its unsettled legal and political order. In the last two centuries, the attitude towards property has changed several times alongside the country's various political and economic regimes. The most recent changes occurred more than two decades ago, after the fall of the communist regime when Albania started to build a market economy. Successive post-communist governments adopted a series of laws relating to property rights to redress the violations of human rights brought about by the former dictatorial regime. However, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) found Albania in violation of its obligation imposed by the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) in several cases related to property compensation and restitution approaches. This thesis aims to highlight the gap between the European Convention system's understanding of a transitional justice model for property rights and the Albanian approach. I will examine the response of the Albanian authorities to the Strasbourg Court`s recommendations to reach the quality and degree of the ECHR standards on property rights protection. In its response, Albania did not meet those standards; neither did it close the gap. The solution implemented by the Albanian authorities was not a rational or convincing one and generated further conflicts with the former owners. It will be argued that the ECtHR jurisprudence and especially the general measures indicated through the pilot judgment Manushaqe Puto, which pointed the way towards a fast and just resolution of the complex situation created, should have been used by Albanian authorities as a way to facilitate the process.

Geographical indications (Gls) arc one of the most controversial categories of intellectual property rights. The complication of Gi protection not only results from the overlapped dimensions of law, economics, culture and social policy but also is caused by the under-constructed theoretical basis. Thus, the thesis firstly constructs a theoretical foundation of GI protection based on morality and utilitarian theory. The theoretical rationales of GI protection demonstrate and lead to the proposition that Gls are an independent type of intellectual property right as they are justified by their own rationales in addition to conventional justifications for trade mark protection. GI protection not only involves considering signs from the point of view of communicative logic but is also fundamentally influenced by the specificity of the underlying products with the sign as a proxy. Accordingly, doctrinal issues with regard to GI protection should be considered and addressed by reference to its own rules rather than by drawing upon rules applied to the trade mark or unfair competition regimes. After exploring the principal models of GI protection in national law and discussing the advantages and disadvantages of each approach in a theoretical context, the thesis focuses on choice of models in the EU and China by tracing the historical development of Gl protection in both parties. Under the current legal framework of GI protection in the EU and China, the thesis evaluates the rational coherence with regard to two doctrinal issues - qualification and level of protection - in an attempt to clarify the conceptual confusion that surrounds Gls, deal with exceptions to GI protection, and explore the extent to which they should be protected. Based on the theoretical rationales of GI protection, the thesis proposes that a sui generis system designed for GI protection within the intellectual property family, introducing proper state intervention and operating by their own rules is the optimal model of GI protection for China.

Maintaining a fair balance between individuals’ interests and the public interest is arguably believed to be the most effective approach in serving the ultimate objective of copyright: to promote social, economic and cultural development for the benefit of both rightsholders and the public at large. Through this balanced approach, creativity can be maximised and thrive better than by tilting towards one or the other. In copyright law, such balance is reflected by the way in which the short-term grant of exclusive rights respects the long-term public interest represented by limitations and exceptions to copyright. Despite an unclear and non-uniform definition and scope, the importance of the public interest has been implicitly and explicitly recognised through disparate forms of safeguards in different jurisdictions. However, the last few decades have seen a rapid development of information technologies which, in turn, has contributed to an unparalleled legislative drive at international level towards overprotecting the interests of rightsholders. This has then left the public interest under-protected and now constitutes an imbalance of copyright. This thesis therefore examines legislative intervention into the international copyright regime in an attempt to ensure that the public interest is uniformly and mandatorily safeguarded at international level. In particular, it strives to establish an overarching public interest defence capable of protecting certain aspects of public values embedded in copyright works. In achieving this, the thesis examines the scope of the defence, what it should entail, and what aspects are to be taken into account in the course of formulating and giving effect to the defence. The substantive chapters investigate the public policy grounds, the right to freedom of expression and the international three-step test, i.e. the roles they play in shaping the latitude and operations of the defence, respectively. Finally, the thesis also evaluates different ways in which the defence can be incorporated into the international copyright regime in order to effectively counterbalance the rightsholder-centric tendency and restore the balance of copyright.

This thesis argues that the interaction between copyright and human rights must be understood in the pitch of protecting an author’s moral and material interests. The implications of such an understanding has been analysed in three interrelated areas. One is the justification of copyright through different theories and how this can be connected to the principles of a modern conception of natural law. This has demonstrated that copyright responds to principles based on democracy, freedom of expression and equal rights of participation in the life of society. By protecting the author, society finds a mechanism that guarantees the diversity and dissemination of thoughts. Here is suggested that a concept of author should respond to the human potentiality of creativity as mean for free participation in the life of society. The second area of analysis of author’s rights is the comparative study of legislation, case law and doctrine in the mechanisms that Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, the US, the UK and Spain produce to the protection of the author. This has implied also the study of how some of those countries that have developed a constitutional structure protecting author’s interests within the understanding of the role that such a protection plays in the construction of a knowledge-based society. The study led to finding that those mechanisms related to the regulation of the contractual relationship between authors and producers are the most important for protecting author’s interests. There, the problem is to what extent the law can limit freedom of contract towards the protection of author’s interests. The international dimension of this problem shows that the narrative of protecting the author has been present in the discussion towards the construction of a universal copyright system. Such an aim of universalisation is coherent with the introduction of author’s rights in the structure of human rights, as for example in the ICESCR. The problem of regulating freedom of contract has been part of the discussions of international instruments recently in the texts of the US-Chile FTA and the TPP. It has been also considered in the recent proposal of EU Directive for Copyright in the Digital Market. However, the challenge is if a principle of protecting author's autonomy, dignity and freedom of creation which would limit freedom of contract in copyright could be reflected in an international instrument. The conclusion is that protecting the author requires attention and legal action, and that there are mechanisms at hand for such a purpose, which would add coherence to the interaction between copyright and human rights.

The thesis seeks to develop a normatively well-grounded and practically viable framework for the registration of product shapes under EU design and trade mark law, taking proper account of doctrinal overlaps. The institutional challenge is to develop a model which avoids unnecessary duplication of protection while permitting each regime to function in a principled and complementary manner. The thesis adopts a multi-dimensional comparative approach focussing on four central criteria (subject-matter, subject-matter exclusions, protection thresholds and scope). Firstly, US Federal law is employed as a comparator for subsisting legal doctrine and theoretical rationales. Secondly, a comparative analysis is undertaken between the two regimes to pinpoint the aspects which distinguish between a ‘design’ and ‘trade mark’ right vesting in features of product shape. The thesis develops a normative model of protection and advances interpretations which EU tribunals should adopt to give effect to the underlying rationales of both registration regimes, as applied to product shapes, while mitigating against over-protection and 'regime clash'.

This thesis presents three essays on intellectual property and the managerial aspect of its protection end exploitation. The first essay provides a systematic review of the empirical trademark literature with the goal to develop a framework that brings together different research streams. Despite its relative youth, this field of scholarly inquiry has already accumulated a critical mass of contributions that allow us to draw initial conclusions about the trademark lifecycle and its multifaceted impact on organisational functioning. Based on a systematic review of 64 academic papers containing some elements of empirical trademark analysis, five broad research areas have been identified, namely: the determinants of trademark deposits; the role of trademarks in differentiating product offerings; the relationship between trademarks and innovation activities; the strategic use of trademarks; and the impact of trademarks on firm performance. Overall, the analysis reveals that the performance-based perspective currently dominates the research landscape, with studies on trademark deposits and the trademark-innovation link to follow. At the same time, there is still relatively little known about the micro-foundations of a firm's trademarking behaviour; the complementary use of trademarks and other intellectual property rights, including its effect on value transference; and the performance implications of different trademark strategies. This essay accounts for these and other findings to outline directions for future research. The second essay focuses on the managerial aspects of intellectual property strategy. Often scholars refer to intellectual property protection as an auxiliary concept that assists in building up or proving an argument about the innovation process. By contrast, this research focuses on intellectual property strategy per se, placing specific emphasis on its managerial dimension. It adopts the upper echelons approach to examine the extent to which CEO characteristics contribute towards the variance in patent and trademark applications. Guided by the resource-based view of the firm, it suggests three areas of resource expertise – legal, scientific, and business – each of which is likely to have a distinct influence on how the chief executive perceives and subsequently responds to intellectual property issues. This proposition is further extended by incorporating the possession of general skills and the moderating role of proactive personality in the overall conceptual framework. The empirical analysis of a sample of 848 CEOs in 261 U.S. publicly-traded companies over the period 1992-2013 generally confirms the contention that executive characteristics are an important determinant for predicting the outcomes of intellectual property strategy. As such, the study reinforces the ongoing academic debate on the need to account for the managerial aspect when considering the strategic decision processes. The third essay offers an extensive analysis of how executive demography affects differentiation strategy. Previous studies of competitive strategy have provided some support for aligning CEO personality traits with product differentiation. This essay suggests further refinement of these findings and extends them by considering a wider range of managerial characteristics proposed in subsequent research. By integrating the upper echelons perspective with the hierarchical view of strategy, this work also draws attention to channels through which chief executives influence organisational outcomes. It particularly argues that along with direct involvement, decisions made by the CEO regarding corporate strategy will affect the extent of product differentiation, too. The empirical testing is based on a sample of 821 chief executives in 259 U.S. publicly traded companies over the period 1992-2013. Using trademarks to measure product differentiability, this research has demonstrated that executive tenure, age, education, functional experience, monetary incentives, CEO duality, and the founder and owner statuses – all this is statistically significant for explaining variations in differentiation strategy across companies, even after when firm and industry-specific effects are controlled for. Furthermore, it has also been shown that chief executives leverage different characteristics, depending on the type of involvement and the strategy level at which they make decisions. By confirming CEO biases that guide product differentiation, this research also contributes to the broader discussion on the importance of accounting for human interpretation in the strategy making process.