Does It Really Suck?: The Impact of Cutting-Edge Marketing Tactics on Internet Trademark Law and Gripe Site Domain Name Disputes

International audienc

Aesthetic objects, aesthetic judgments and the crafting of organizational style in creative industries

In this article, we conceptually engage with style as central to creative industries. We specifically argue that style is crafted into being via an interplay between aesthetic judgments and “aesthetic objects.” We define aesthetic objects as temporary, material settlements fueled by a continual sense of dissatisfaction, eventually resolved through relational engagements. These remain under aesthetic inquiry throughout the process of crafting, until brought to particular close. We elaborate our theorizing with a non-traditional exemplar of the Bride Dress in the preparation of a 2009 Jean-Paul Gaultier’s fashion show. Our subsequent contribution is a richer conceptual understanding of style, with a material, aesthetic engagement at its center. In addition, in foregrounding under-explored features (i.e., aesthetic judgments, crafting of physical materials), and introducing new concepts (i.e., aesthetic objects), we outline promising openings for and significant connections with scholarship on creative or fluid industries, style, and organizational identity

The International Bar Association and Trade in Legal Services: Meta Law-Making in International Economic Law?

This article presents the International Bar Association as a highly-influential but often overlooked non-state actor through the lens of its involvement in the standardization of Mutual Recognition Agreements (MRA)s for legal services. Not only do most MRAs contemplate the active involvement of professional bodies such as law societies and bar associations in their construction and monitoring, the IBA’s guidelines for MRAs inform the content of these agreements, facilitating the practice of international law by a more highly mobile profession. This in turn underpins the capacity of the community of international lawyers to exercise their technical expertise to influence other non-state actors, exemplifying what may be described as the IBA’s “meta-lawmaking” on the global stage. As there has been poor uptake of MRAs by developing countries, initiatives of the IBA could help establish mutual recognition for legal services in the developing world

Commercial arbitration in cyberspace: the legal and technical requirements towards a more effective Lex Electronica Arbitralis

Online Arbitration is an online alternative dispute resolution (OADR) process that resolves disputes without litigation outside national courts. Due to globalisation and increased e-commerce, international commercial online arbitration has become more important and it is therefore essential to look at the legal and technical requirements for a more effective international online arbitration regime or lex electronica arbitralis, specifically focused on disputes that arise from cross-border, low value e-commerce transactions for both goods and services, and especially between online businesses and consumers (B2C), but also between online businesses (B2B). The lex electronica arbitralis should lead to swift outcomes that will be able to be enforced efficiently anywhere in the world, without impairing the requirements of accountability, due process, efficiency, impartiality, independence, fairness, transparency, etc. The 'UNCITRAL Technical Notes on ODR of 2016' follows a non-binding guideline format, so there is currently no legal outline that exclusively regulates online arbitration. Due to this lacuna, the guidelines of the 'Technical Notes' and rules of traditional international commercial arbitration will have to be used as far as they accommodate online arbitration. Due to its unique features, online arbitration however needs an exclusive set of rules that will deal with its legal and technical requirements. The most comprehensive manner to have realised an online arbitration regime or lex electronica arbitralis would have been by the proposed 'UNCITRAL Draft Procedural Rules (DPR) on OADR for Cross-Border E-Commerce Transactions'. Unfortunately, since Working Group III (WG.III), who was mandated by UNCITRAL to compile the 'DPR', could not manage to reach consensus on many aspects, the 'Technical Notes' was adopted instead. The thesis will review WG.III's progress to complete the 'DPR' and how it eventually led to the adoption of the 'Technical Notes'. The 'Technical Notes' still leaves many questions and uncertainties on many of online arbitration's legal and technical requirements that will be pointed out. The thesis will indicate that these legal and technical requirements do not compose insurmountable challenges, but that UNCITRAL will have to address them when they decide to revise the 'Technical Notes' in the future or when they decide to compile a set of legal standards exclusively for online arbitration in the future. The focus will also be directed to the future of international arbitration legislation in a developing country such as SA, while a plea is made to SA lawmakers to make provision for online arbitration

Legal, Linguistic, and Cultural Aspects in International Commercial Arbitration Discourse: A Corpus-Based Study of Arbitral Awards

In today's globalized landscape, disputes between parties from different countries are on the rise (Bhatia et al. 2018, 1), leading to a growing reliance on international arbitration as the primary method for resolving such issues (Born 2001, 1; Gotti 2008, 221; Bhatia et al. 2008, 2018). Arbitral awards, the outcomes of such procedures, are crucial in understanding the evolution of international arbitration practices (Bhatia et al. 2012, 1).A decade ago, arbitral awards were considered a "relatively unexplored genre" (Bhatia et al. 2012, 1) due to the historical perception of arbitration as a highly protected practice. However, over the past decade, there has been a shift towards transparency in arbitration, with a growing commitment to publishing arbitral awards. This trend, supported by scholars and professionals (e.g., Bhatia 2010, 468; Resnik et al. 2020, 612; Mourre and Vagenheim 2023, 265), aims to contribute to legal development. In 2019, Jus Mundi, an Al-powered legal search engine, was launched, facilitating access to a vast array of legal information through partnerships with arbitral institutions worldwide. This cultural shift marks significant progress in democratizing access to legal knowledge through technology, enhancing accessibility to discoursal data (e.g., Swales 1990; Bhatia 1993).Drawing on previous analyses conducted by prominent scholars on arbitration discourse (e.g., Bhatia et al. 2003; Bhatia et al. 2008; Bhatia et al. 2010; Bhatia et al. 2012; Bhatia et Bhatia et al. 2018), in this research project, a selection of arbitral awards in English is collected via Jus Mundi for linguistic analysis. The assertion posited is that, even in the era of globalization, cultural differences continue to manifest as cultural variations in the form of reasoning. The study recognizes the influence of legal traditions on linguistic choices in arbitration texts (Gotti 2008, 232). Thus, this approach aligns with the understanding that texts and genres are inseparable from their institutional and professional contexts (Bhatia et al. 2012, 1). In particular, legal discourse, shaped by its environment (Fairclough and Wodak 1997, 276), varies across different legal systems. Specifically, this study operates within the field of corpus linguistics and conducts a syntactic-lexical analysis on the genre of arbitral awards from various arbitration seats, using both quantitative and qualitative methods

Contracts Ex Machina

Smart contracts are self-executing digital transactions using decentralized cryptographic mechanisms for enforcement. They were theorized more than twenty years ago, but the recent development of Bitcoin and blockchain technologies has rekindled excitement about their potential among technologists and industry. Startup companies and major enterprises alike are now developing smart contract solutions for an array of markets, purporting to offer a digital bypass around traditional contract law. For legal scholars, smart contracts pose a significant question: Do smart contracts offer a superior solution to the problems that contract law addresses? In this article, we aim to understand both the potential and the limitations of smart contracts. We conclude that smart contracts offer novel possibilities, may significantly alter the commercial world, and will demand new legal responses. But smart contracts will not displace contract law. Understanding why not brings into focus the essential role of contract law as a remedial institution. In this way, smart contracts actually illuminate the role of contract law more than they obviate it