Contract Law Fundamentals How the Position Differs Across Europe
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Industrial Property
ANNUAL SURVEY OF CANADIAN LAW INDUSTRIAL PROPERTY William L. Hayhurst, Q.C. * I. INTRODUCTION ....................................... 394 II. RECENT LEGISLATION ................................. 395 III. PROPOSED LEGISLATION ................................ 398 IV . PATENTS ............................................ 399 A. Matters in Which the Patent Office has OriginalJurisdiction ............................... 399 1. Conflicts ...................................... 399 2. Compulsory Licences ............................ 400 3. Subject Matter Capable of Being Patented .......... 401 (a) Printed M atter .............................. 402 (b) Gam es ..................................... 402 (c) Mental Processes and Computer Programs ...... 402 (d) Living M atter ............................... 405 (e) Medical Treatment of Animals and Humans ...... 407 (f) Medical Inventions .......................... 408 (g) The Progeny of Sandoz v. Gilcross ............. 410 (h) Aggregations and Exhausted Combinations ...... 412 (i) Synergism .............................. 412 (ii) M ixtures ............................... 412 (iii) The Aggregative or Unnecessary Addition ... 413 4. D ivision ....................................... 4 15 5. R eissue ....................................... 4 16 6. D isclaimer .................................... 417 B. Substantive Matters in the Courts .................... 418 1. Intervening Rights .............................. 418 2. Personal Liability of Persons in Control of CorporateInfringers ......................... -
Common Errors in Contractually Limiting Damages Theresa Y
Legal Insight Attorneys at Law Damage Control: Common Errors in Contractually Limiting Damages Theresa Y. Kananen We’ve all heard the proverb, “Prepare for the worst, but hope for the best.” Nowhere is that advice more fitting than in drafting a contract. Of course, the main focus of any negotiation will be the terms of the deal itself – who is doing what, when should it be done, and how much it will cost. But it’s equally important to consider what will happen if the relationship goes south. How can you protect yourself and your organization from liability? Contractual provisions for liquidated damages, indemnification, or other limitations on liability are a few of the most commonly used “damage control” tools. In too many cases, however, drafting errors transform the very provisions intended to provide for clear-cut remedies, or clear-cut limitations on remedies, into sources of prolonged and expensive litigation. Here are three of the most common pitfalls you’ll want to avoid the next time you include one of these “damage control” provisions in your contract. Liquidated vs. Actual Damages Liquidated damages are a fixed amount of damages designated by the parties during the formation of the contract as the remedy for one or more breaches. Typically, liquidated damages are enforceable only when actual damages would be difficult to calculate with precision, and when the liquidated sum is a reasonable estimate of the actual damages flowing from a breach. In other words, because liquidated damages are a substitute for actual damages, you can’t have both. Otherwise, the liquidated damages become an unenforceable penalty. -
Uncle Sam's Right to Damages for Delay in the Wonderland of Government Contracting James A
Santa Clara Law Review Volume 10 | Number 1 Article 2 1-1-1969 Uncle Sam's Right to Damages for Delay in the Wonderland of Government Contracting James A. Lande Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.law.scu.edu/lawreview Part of the Law Commons Recommended Citation James A. Lande, Uncle Sam's Right to Damages for Delay in the Wonderland of Government Contracting, 10 Santa Clara Lawyer 2 (1969). Available at: http://digitalcommons.law.scu.edu/lawreview/vol10/iss1/2 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at Santa Clara Law Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Santa Clara Law Review by an authorized administrator of Santa Clara Law Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. UNCLE SAM'S RIGHT TO DAMAGES FOR DELAY IN THE WONDERLAND OF GOVERNMENT CONTRACTING James A. Lande* INTRODUCTION If Humpty Dumpty happened to wander into the wonderland of Government contracting, he might feel quite at home in the topsy- turvy terrain. In this strange land he would probably be told that the Government is like any ordinary individual when making a con- tract, yet he could readily observe a vast difference between Gov- ernment and commercial contracts.' Furthermore, contractors appear to recover much money in claims against the Government, but one hears of little activity by the Government to recover its claims against contractors. In the eyes of the law, under contract principles, both parties are equal. However, while contractors obtain substantial sums for delay caused by the Government, the Govern- ment does not seem to recoup its losses due to tardy performance by the contractor. -
An Uncertain Penalty: a Look at the International Community's Inability to Harmonize the Law of Liquidated Damages and Penalty Clauses
Law and Business Review of the Americas Volume 15 Number 4 Article 4 2009 An Uncertain Penalty: A Look at the International Community's Inability to Harmonize the Law of Liquidated Damages and Penalty Clauses Jonathan S. Solorzano Follow this and additional works at: https://scholar.smu.edu/lbra Recommended Citation Jonathan S. Solorzano, An Uncertain Penalty: A Look at the International Community's Inability to Harmonize the Law of Liquidated Damages and Penalty Clauses, 15 LAW & BUS. REV. AM. 779 (2009) https://scholar.smu.edu/lbra/vol15/iss4/4 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Law Journals at SMU Scholar. It has been accepted for inclusion in Law and Business Review of the Americas by an authorized administrator of SMU Scholar. For more information, please visit http://digitalrepository.smu.edu. AN UNCERTAIN PENALTY: A LOOK AT THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY'S INABILITY TO HARMONIZE THE LAW OF LIQUIDATED DAMAGE AND PENALTY CLAUSES Jonathan S. Sol6rzano I. INTRODUCTION S the global economy rapidly expands and cross-border commer- cial contracts proliferate, the need to establish harmony between legal systems has never been a more pressing issue. It is trouble- some when legal systems are so philosophically divided as to actually im- pede the free flow of goods and services between countries. When nations lack ideological uniformity, the economic actors working within their legal frameworks face uncertainty. This leads to a reduction in their willingness to enter contracts if their potential liabilities are vague or the transaction costs of dealing with these ambiguities are raised. -
Introduction to Law and Legal Reasoning Law Is
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION TO LAW AND LEGAL REASONING LAW IS "MAN MADE" IT CHANGES OVER TIME TO ACCOMMODATE SOCIETY'S NEEDS LAW IS MADE BY LEGISLATURE LAW IS INTERPRETED BY COURTS TO DETERMINE 1)WHETHER IT IS "CONSTITUTIONAL" 2)WHO IS RIGHT OR WRONG THERE IS A PROCESS WHICH MUST BE FOLLOWED (CALLED "PROCEDURAL LAW") I. Thomas Jefferson: "The study of the law qualifies a man to be useful to himself, to his neighbors, and to the public." II. Ask Several Students to give their definition of "Law." A. Even after years and thousands of dollars, "LAW" still is not easy to define B. What does law Consist of ? Law consists of enforceable rule governing relationships among individuals and between individuals and their society. 1. Students Need to Understand. a. The law is a set of general ideas b. When these general ideas are applied, a judge cannot fit a case to suit a rule; he must fit (or find) a rule to suit the unique case at hand. c. The judge must also supply legitimate reasons for his decisions. C. So, How was the Law Created. The law considered in this text are "man made" law. This law can (and will) change over time in response to the changes and needs of society. D. Example. Grandma, who is 87 years old, walks into a pawn shop. She wants to sell her ring that has been in the family for 200 years. Grandma asks the dealer, "how much will you give me for this ring." The dealer, in good faith, tells Grandma he doesn't know what kind of metal is in the ring, but he will give her $150. -
Jenner && Block Construction News
Construction Law Practice Construction News FALL 2004 Congratulations to the Chair of Jenner & You Can’t Have Your Cake Block's Construction Law Practice, And Eat It Too: “Optional” Joseph G. Bisceglia, who was recently elected Third Vice- Liquidated Damages Clauses President of the Illinois State Bar Association (ISBA) and will automatically assume the posi- Are Unenforceable tion of President in 2007. Mr. Bisceglia has a long history of involvement in the ISBA during his 30 years of practice in Construction contracts often Resource’s repeated delays, the commercial and construction litigation at include “liquidated damages” parties amended their contract to Jenner & Block. Mr. Bisceglia is the clauses. A proper liquidated add a liquidated damages clause. third Jenner & Block lawyer to be elected damages clause is meant to Id. at *1. The liquidated damages President of the ISBA. The first was memorialize the parties’ clause stated: Judge Floyd Thompson. The second was name Partner Albert E. Jenner, Jr. agreement in advance as to the amount of damages that will arise Liquidated Damages Payment. from a breach of contract. If Contractor fails to commence However, those in the commercial operation of the Table of Contents construction industry need to be Gas-to-Electric Plant on or mindful that an improperly worded before the date specified in You Can’t Have Your Cake Paragraph 7(b)(15) . Seller And Eat It Too 1 clause may not be effective. In a recent case, the United States may assess and collect from U.S. Supreme Court to Consider Contractor, at Seller’s Major Issue for CERCLA Cost District Court for the Northern Recovery Scheme 3 District of Illinois affirmed a option, liquidated damages in bankruptcy court’s ruling that an an amount equal to Two Contractor Defamed During Thousand Five Hundred and Unionization Campaign May Be “optional” liquidated damages Entitled To Punitive Damages 4 clause was unenforceable under No/100 Dollars ($2,500.00) Illinois law. -
Federalizing Contract Law
LCB_24_1_Article_5_Plass_Correction (Do Not Delete) 3/6/2020 10:06 AM FEDERALIZING CONTRACT LAW by Stephen A. Plass* Contract law is generally understood as state common law, supplemented by the Second Restatement of Contracts and Article 2 of the Uniform Commercial Code. It is regarded as an expression of personal liberty, anchored in the bar- gain and consideration model of the 19th century or classical period. However, for some time now, non-bargained or adhesion contracts have been the norm, and increasingly, the adjudication of legal rights and contractual remedies is controlled by privately determined arbitration rules. The widespread adoption of arbitral adjudication by businesses has been enthusiastically endorsed by the Supreme Court as consonant with the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”). How- ever, Court precedents have concluded that only bilateral or individualized arbitration promotes the goals of the FAA, while class arbitration is destruc- tive. Businesses and the Court have theorized that bilateral arbitration is an efficient process that reduces the transaction costs of all parties thereby permit- ting firms to reduce prices, create jobs, and innovate or improve products. But empirical research tells a different story. This Article discusses the constitu- tional contours of crafting common law for the FAA and its impact on state and federal laws. It shows that federal common law rules crafted for the FAA can operate to deny consumers and workers the neoclassical contractual guar- antee of a minimum adequate remedy and rob the federal and state govern- ments of billions of dollars in tax revenue. From FAA precedents the Article distills new rules of contract formation, interpretation, and enforcement and shows how these new rules undermine neoclassical limits on private control of legal remedies. -
AJS Review Barry Scott Wimpfheimer. Narrating The
AJS Review http://journals.cambridge.org/AJS Additional services for AJS Review: Email alerts: Click here Subscriptions: Click here Commercial reprints: Click here Terms of use : Click here Barry Scott Wimpfheimer. Narrating the Law: A Poetics of Talmudic Legal Stories. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2011. 248 pp. Steven D. Fraade AJS Review / Volume 37 / Issue 01 / April 2013, pp 135 139 DOI: 10.1017/S0364009413000093, Published online: 17 May 2013 Link to this article: http://journals.cambridge.org/abstract_S0364009413000093 How to cite this article: Steven D. Fraade (2013). AJS Review, 37, pp 135139 doi:10.1017/ S0364009413000093 Request Permissions : Click here Downloaded from http://journals.cambridge.org/AJS, IP address: 128.36.43.134 on 22 May 2013 AJS Review 37:1 (April 2013), 135–176 © 2013 Association for Jewish Studies BOOK REVIEWS FEATURED REVIEWS Barry Scott Wimpfheimer. Narrating the Law: A Poetics of Talmudic Legal Stories. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2011. 248 pp. doi:10.1017/S0364009413000093 Barry Wimpfheimer makes an insightfully original and valuable contri- bution to the growing number of studies of the relation between law and narrative (halakhah and aggadah in rabbinic terminology) in ancient Judaism, as in Judaism and the humanities more broadly. His focus is on “talmudic legal stories,” that is, on narratives whose subjects are legal actors, which are set within a mainly legal setting in the Babylonian Talmud, and which, therefore, both draw meaning from and contribute meaning to that broader literary context. These stories have often baffled (or annoyed) previous commentators on the Talmud precisely because they complicate any neat division between rabbinic law and narrative and the con- ventional roles assigned to each. -
The Putative Spouse and Marriage by Estoppel Doctrines: an "End Run Around Marriage" Or Just a Marriage?
Child and Family Law Journal Volume 8 Issue 1 Article 3 3-27-2020 The Putative Spouse and Marriage by Estoppel Doctrines: An "End Run Around Marriage" or Just a Marriage? Dana E. Prescott, Esq., Ph.D Follow this and additional works at: https://lawpublications.barry.edu/cflj Part of the Elder Law Commons, Family Law Commons, Juvenile Law Commons, and the Other Law Commons Recommended Citation Prescott, Esq., Ph.D, Dana E. (2020) "The Putative Spouse and Marriage by Estoppel Doctrines: An "End Run Around Marriage" or Just a Marriage?," Child and Family Law Journal: Vol. 8 : Iss. 1 , Article 3. Available at: https://lawpublications.barry.edu/cflj/vol8/iss1/3 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Digital Commons @ Barry Law. It has been accepted for inclusion in Child and Family Law Journal by an authorized editor of Digital Commons @ Barry Law. The Putative Spouse and Marriage by Estoppel Doctrines: An “End Run Around Marriage” or Just a Marriage? Dana E. Prescott, Esq., Ph.D* I. INTRODUCTION For generations in the United States, each state determined the definition of a legally recognized marriage.1 Indeed, the United States Supreme Court long ago held that marriage “has always been subject to the control of the [state] legislature.”2 For the most part, these early notions of “federalism”3 permitted states to constrain the definition of a lawful marriage. States did so without much public controversy; at least when consistent with socially and legally *Dana E. Prescott is licensed to practice in Maine and Massachusetts and a partner with Prescott, Jamieson, & Murphy Law Group LLC, Saco, Maine. -
Remedial Clauses: the Overprivatization of Private Law
H - Shiffrin_12 (DUKANOVIC).DOCX (Do Not Delete) 2/9/2016 1:40 PM Remedial Clauses: The Overprivatization of Private Law Seana Valentine Shiffrin This Article considers the growing trend to enforce liquidated damages agreements or what I think are more felicitously called “remedial clauses.” I criticize this trend on the grounds that a permissive approach to enforcing remedial clauses contravenes important public values. Although many have claimed the traditional presumption against such clauses is mysterious or unsupported, I contend that the traditional presumption against such clauses enforces important values central to the rule of law, including that private parties should not decide their own cases and that the public has a special interest in deciding what remedies are appropriate for breaches of legal duty. In delineating the theoretical foundations for treating remedial clauses differently than performance terms, I offer a distinctive, liberal, and democratic perspective on contract and contractual breach that answers the common arguments offered by libertarians and law and economics scholars that freedom of contract requires the contrary. * Pete Kameron Professor of Law and Social Justice and Professor of Philosophy, UCLA. I am grateful for conversations and very helpful assistance with this Article from Aditi Bagchi, Samuel Bray, Curtis Bridgeman, Robert Double, Joseph Gilmore, Barbara Herman, Martijn Hesselink, Tommy Huynh, Robin Kar, Gregory Keating, Gregory Klass, Ethan Lieb, Elyse Meyers, Liam Murphy, Jason Neyers, Judith Resnik, William Rubenstein, Scott Satkin, Ed Stein, Rebecca Stone, Matthew Strawbridge, Zachary Taylor, Jordan Wolf, Stephen Yeazell, members of a seminar at the Centre for the Study of European Contract Law at the University of Amsterdam, participants in the Cardozo Faculty Workshop, participants in the North American Workshop on Private Law Theory, the Yale Center for Law and Philosophy, and members of the Fordham Legal Theory Group. -
Jewish Law and Litigation in the Secular Courts of the Late Medieval Mediterranean Rena N
Jewish Law and Litigation in the Secular Courts of the Late Medieval Mediterranean Rena N. Lauer* Abstract Although medieval rabbinic law generally forbade Jews from suing their co-religionists in state courts, this practice was widely accepted among some Mediterranean Jewish com- munities. This study focuses on one such community, the Jews of Venetian Crete’s capital city of Candia, during the century following the Black Death (ca. 1350-1450). Court records indicate that Candiote Jews quite often sued each other in Venice’s coloni- al courts. Unlike many other medieval Jewish communities, the rabbinical leadership of Candia took this intra-Jewish litigation as a given. Moreover, these leaders themselves ac- cessed Venetian justice to sue fellow Jews. Among the factors that motivated Jewish use of the Venetian court was a special accommodation given to Cretan Jews: when litigation in the colonial court dealt with Jews’ marriages or divorces, judges were obligated to ad- judicate according to Jewish law. Many Candiote Jews utilized this personal law privilege, and the Venetian court actively implemented it. The Catholic judges of the colonial court in Crete learned about Jewish law mostly from the litigants themselves, and not from a panel of rabbinic experts, giving these Jewish litigants significant agency in shaping not only the outcome of their marriage and divorce cases but also the government’s under- standing of Jewish law. * * * Normative rabbinic consensus in medieval Europe squarely forbade Jews from suing each other in secular or so-called “gentile” courts. Instead of airing intracommunal grievances before state judiciaries, Jews were directed to settle their disputes in their local Jewish court (beit din).1 The responsa2 of the unrivaled Barcelonan legal authority Rabbi Solomon ibn Adret (the Rashba, d. -
Rescission, Restitution, and the Principle of Fair Redress: a Response to Professors Brooks and Stremitzer
Valparaiso University Law Review Volume 47 Number 2 Winter 2013 pp.1-78 Winter 2013 Rescission, Restitution, and the Principle of Fair Redress: A Response to Professors Brooks and Stremitzer Steven W. Feldman Follow this and additional works at: https://scholar.valpo.edu/vulr Part of the Law Commons Recommended Citation Steven W. Feldman, Rescission, Restitution, and the Principle of Fair Redress: A Response to Professors Brooks and Stremitzer, 47 Val. U. L. Rev. 1 (2013). Available at: https://scholar.valpo.edu/vulr/vol47/iss2/22 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Valparaiso University Law School at ValpoScholar. It has been accepted for inclusion in Valparaiso University Law Review by an authorized administrator of ValpoScholar. For more information, please contact a ValpoScholar staff member at [email protected]. Feldman: Rescission, Restitution, and the Principle of Fair Redress: A Re Article RESCISSION, RESTITUTION, AND THE PRINCIPLE OF FAIR REDRESS: A RESPONSE TO PROFESSORS BROOKS AND STREMITZER Steven W. Feldman* I. INTRODUCTION Analyzing a remedy that the reporter for the Restatement (Third) of Restitution and Unjust Enrichment describes as having “[e]normous practical importance and theoretical interest,”1 scholars in recent years have produced a flood of articles covering contract rescission and restitution.2 In their 2011 Article in the Yale Law Journal, Remedies on and off Contract, Professors Richard Brooks and Alexander Stremitzer weigh in on the discussion.3 Relying on microeconomic theory, which reflects the perspective of rational buyers and sellers, the authors’ thesis is that current legal doctrine is too restrictive in allowing buyers’ rescission and too liberal in granting them restitution.4 Although other commentators * Attorney-Advisor, U.S.