Limitations on Jurisdiction and Arbitration Agreements Based on Applicable Law and the Identity of the Carrier in Cargo Claim Disputes

The article demonstrates through an analysis of the limitations on choice of forum or arbitration agreements following the invalidity of a choice of law clause included in a charter party and/or a bill of lading (B/L). It is equally difficult enforcing a jurisdiction or arbitration clause included in a B/L if the parties are not clearly defined in the contract for the carrige of goods by sea. The article delivers some conclusions and suggests the approach to be taken by maritime contracting parties to overcome any feasible invalidity of a choice of forum or arbitration agreement based on the choice of law by European Member (EU) States’ courts

Invalid party wall awards and how to avoid them

Considers the reasons for the invalidity of party wall awards. Examines decided cases under earlier party wall legislation in the context of the Party Wall etc. Act 1996. Explains invalidity on the basis of an excess of the surveyors’ statutory authority. Defines this authority in terms of jurisdiction and power. Demonstrates the limits of the surveyors’ authority and emphasises the importance of strict compliance with statutory procedures. Concludes that surveyors should adopt an inquisitive and analytical approach to the scope of their authority to avoid the possibility of invalid awards. Echoes John Anstey’s earlier warning that surveyors should avoid a broad-brush approach to their duties which will only leave them “covered in soot”

Patent Invalidity and the Seventh Amendment: Is the Jury Out?

Patent invalidity is a defense commonly raised in actions for patent infringement when the defending alleged infringing party asserts the patent either is invalid or he or she is not liable for infringement. Today, a jury hears more than 50 percent of patent cases. This comment examines the constitutional issues related to the Seventh Amendment right to a jury trial, in the context of patent invalidity. The author argues that patent invalidity cases should not be afforded a jury trial because the action is arguably equitable rather than legal in nature, and the question of patent invalidity should be considered a pure matter of law reserved solely for the court

Invalidity of Classes of Approximated Hall Effect Calculations

In this comment, I point out a number of approximated derivations for the effective equation of motion, now been applied to d-wave superconductors by Kopnin and Volovik are invalid. The major error in those approximated derivations is the inappropriate use of the relaxation time approximation in force-force correlation functions, or in force balance equations, or in similar variations. This approximation is wrong and unnecessary.Comment: final version, minor changes, to appear in Phys. Rev. Let

Patent Reform and Best Mode: A Signal to the Patent Office or a Step Toward Elimination?

On September 16, 2011, President Obama signed the America Invents Act (AIA), the first major overhaul of the patent system in nearly sixty years. This article analyzes the recent change to patent law\u27s best mode requirement under the AIA. Before the AIA, patent applicants were required, at the time of submitting their application, to disclose the best mode of carrying out the invention as contemplated by the inventor. A failure to disclose the best mode was a basis for a finding of invalidity of the relevant claims or could render the entire patent unenforceable under the doctrine of inequitable conduct. The AIA still requires patent applicants to disclose the best mode, but has removed the traditional enforcement mechanisms – declarations of invalidity and unenforceability – as defenses to patent infringement. In this article, I propose and explore a couple innovative techniques that could be used to add teeth to the seemingly toothless best mode requirement. Ultimately, I reject these proposals as not being workable solutions and suggest that Congress\u27s resolution of the best mode problem is nonsensical and that it should completely eliminate the requirement rather than sending mixed signals to the Patent Office and patent practitioners

The Development of Group Stereotypes from Descriptions of Group Members: An Individual Difference Approach

This research examined the effects of Personal Need for Structure, Need for Closure, and Personal Fear of Invalidity on information processing during the development of stereotypes. In Study 1, participants read as many group member descriptions as they wanted before expressing group stereotypes. Participants higher in Personal Fear of Invalidity sought more information; they also developed more detailed stereotypes when they received more information, whereas participants lower in Personal Fear of Invalidity did not. There was a tendency for participants higher in Need for Structure & Closure to develop less accurate stereotypes. Finally, participants higher in Need for Structure & Closure or Personal Fear of Invalidity were less confident about their stereotypes when they received more information, whereas participants lower in Need for Structure & Closure or Personal Fear of Invalidity were more confident. In Study 2, participants were presented with two, four, or eight descriptions of group members before expressing stereotypes. Participants lower in Personal Fear of Invalidity developed more detailed stereotypes when they received more information, whereas participants higher in Personal Fear of Invalidity did not. When two or eight group member descriptions were presented (fewer or more than participants probably would have chosen themselves), participants higher in Personal Fear of Invalidity and lower in Need for Structure & Closure generated the most accurate stereotypes. Finally, participants higher in Need for Structure & Closure did not differ in stereotype confidence as a function of how much information they received, whereas participants lower in Need for Structure & Closure were more confident when they received more information. These results indicate that cognitive style plays a role in the development of group stereotypes

System Support for Managing Invalid Bindings

Context-aware adaptation is a central aspect of pervasive computing applications, enabling them to adapt and perform tasks based on contextual information. One of the aspects of context-aware adaptation is reconfiguration in which bindings are created between application component and remote services in order to realize new behaviour in response to contextual information. Various research efforts provide reconfiguration support and allow the development of adaptive context-aware applications from high-level specifications, but don't consider failure conditions that might arise during execution of such applications, making bindings between application and remote services invalid. To this end, we propose and implement our design approach to reconfiguration to manage invalid bindings. The development and modification of adaptive context-aware applications is a complex task, and an issue of an invalidity of bindings further complicates development efforts. To reduce the development efforts, our approach provides an application-transparent solution where the issue of the invalidity of bindings is handled by our system, Policy-Based Contextual Reconfiguration and Adaptation (PCRA), not by an application developer. In this paper, we present and describe our approach to managing invalid bindings and compare it with other approaches to this problem. We also provide performance evaluation of our approach