A Review of Copyright Protection Approaches in Electronic Commerce (Watermarking Method)

Digital watermarking is the best way to protect intellectual property from illicit copying. Digital watermarks hide the identity of an image or audio file in its noise signal. A pattern of bits inserted into a digital image, audio or video file that identifies the files copyright information. The purpose of this paper is to provide copyright protection for intellectual property that\u27s in digital format. In this career we review digital watermarks an application of steganography

Tecnologías de la información y derecho del consumo –tendencias y perplejidades–

El consumidor es el sujeto fundamental en la relación jurídica por medios electrónicos. Su protección específica derivada del reconocimiento a su debilidad por la ausencia del contratante en este tipo de contratación han sido el fundamento de la regulación legal del comercio electrónico. Podría decirse que el “derecho del comercio electrónico” surge precisamente como una respuesta a la necesidad de mayor confianza en las actividades en la red. Paradójicamente, el consumidor, en la era del conocimiento sigue siendo también el sujeto por excelencia de los desarrollos tecnológicos dispuestos para el mercadeo virtual de bienes y servicios. La complejidad del tema regulatorio en esta materia proviene precisamente de que un consumidor cada vez más informado y con mayores herramientas de elección sigue siendo protegido en extremo por la regulación legal. La racionalidad de esta preocupación provendría de la necesidad imperiosa de aumentar las transacciones comerciales en línea. Aún en Estados Unidos, el mercado virtual más desarrollado, el uso de internet para adquirir bienes y servicios, es exiguo en comparación con el comercio real y tangible. En el presente ensayo evaluaremos la teoría general de la protección del consumidor desde la perspectiva de los avances de la regulación en materia de tecnologías de la información. Nuestro punto de vista considera a este tema como de alcance global en la medida en que el campo de protección del consumidor en la era de Internet debe ser más amplio que el ámbito estrictamente local. Pretendemos además hacer una evaluación general de las experiencias internacionales con el fin de iniciar la discusión sobre una completa regulación en Colombia.

The Possibility of Online Mediation under the Hungarian Mediation Act

  The first question which has to be discussed is the definition of online disputeresolution and, the definition of online mediation, and we would like to show thefeatures (advantages and disadvantages) of online mediation.  The presentation focuses on the Hungarian legal background. We’re going toanalyse whether online mediation can be conducted in the frame of the existingHungarian law on mediation, or not, how should the existing principles beinterpreted in online environment, and – finally – what are the crucial points of theexisting rules, which should be amended to ensure, that online mediation can beconducted under the law of mediation in Hungary. We shall examine the relevantprovisions of the Hungarian Mediation Act from two angles. First of all, we shallexamine the provisions referring to the possibility of online mediation, and, secondly,(where possible) we shall compare the provisions with a number of Europeandocuments on mediation

Reflexive transnational law : the privatisation of civil law and the civilisation of private law

The author examines the emergence of a transnational private law in alternative dispute resolution bodies and private norm formulating agencies from a reflexive law perspective. After introducing the concept of reflexive law he applies the idea of law as a communicative system to the ongoing debate on the existence of a New Law Merchant or lex mercatoria. He then discusses some features of international commercial arbitration (e.g. the lack of transparency) which hinder self-reference (autopoiesis) and thus the production of legal certainty in lex mercatoria as an autonomous legal system. He then contrasts these findings with the Domain Name Dispute Resolution System, which as opposed to Lex Mercatoria was rationally planned and highly formally organised by WIPO and ICANN, and which is allowing for self-reference and thus is designed as an autopoietic legal system, albeit with a very limited scope, i.e. the interference of abusive domain name registrations with trademarks (cybersquatting). From the comparison of both examples the author derives some preliminary ideas regarding a theory of reflexive transnational law, suggesting that the established general trend of privatisation of civil law need to be accompanied by a civilisation of private law, i.e. the constitutionalization of transnational private regimes by embedding them into a procedural constitution of freedom

How (not) to Regulate Mediation. The Effects of The Strict Hungarian Provisions on Online Mediation

Since the mediation is a more or less informal procedure, the first question is whether (legal) regulation of mediation is needed at all, or the framework of the civillaw is suitable for mediation. The second issue is the subject matter of the regulation: which elements (principles, the process of the mediation, the legal effect of thesettlement agreement, etc.) of the mediation procedure should be regulated. The third question is the flexibility of regulation. Should the law allow the parties to depart from the provisions by using special contract terms or the law should prescribedetailed and strict rules for the parties? Finally, I’m going to analyse the provisionsof the Hungarian Mediation Act, and compare it with some other mediation acts and recommendations concerning mediation. Finally, I’m going to show the (negative) effect of the strict and detailed regulation on online mediation

Back to (con)textuality: using chat services to teach legal reasoning

This paper discusses the technology-enhanced learning (TEL) environment named indicatively the 'Virtual Court', a text-based learning platform designed to introduce law students to the general dynamics of legal reasoning, particularly the argumentative character and open texture of the law. In the first two parts of the paper we reflect on the theoretical background behind the TEL, its earlier implementation and the lessons for the future drawn from that experience. In the third part, we propose developing the Virtual Court TEL environment into a cross-platform software application (app) that could be utilised within any programme and course for teaching law

Transnational Consumer Law: Co-Regulation of B2C-E-Commerce

The nation states provide workable contract enforcement institutions for domestic commerce. Due to a lack of international cooperation the same does not hold true when it comes to cross-border situations. Thus, the institutional organization of international commerce is characterized by its reliance on private ordering or private legal services. Many believe that the emergence of a New Law Merchant can be observed in international commercial arbitration. This trend towards the privatization of commercial law, however, is believed to be limited to the sphere of corporate actors or merchants. When it comes to the protection of weaker contract parties like consumers, self-regulation is not held to be a viable option. In fact, consumers do shop increasingly across borders when engaging in e-commerce, often without noticing. The 1999 OECD Guidelines proposed to tackle the resulting consumer protection concerns by means of co-regulation. In this article, I intend to examine the potential role of private ordering and co-regulation in the area of cross-border consumer contracts. I start with a survey of the different mechanisms of private ordering, which have developed in e-commerce. This illustrates that electronic market places fulfil an essential role in bundling different means of private ordering into what I call transnational civil regimes for consumer protection. Finally, I aim at demonstrating how states, industry, and civil society actors can jointly contribute to the establishment of a civil constitution for such regimes

Transnational Consumer Law: Co-Regulation of B2C-E-Commerce

The nation states provide workable contract enforcement institutions for domestic commerce. Due to a lack of international cooperation the same does not hold true when it comes to cross-border situations. Thus, the institutional organization of international commerce is characterized by its reliance on private ordering or private legal services. Many believe that the emergence of a New Law Merchant can be observed in international commercial arbitration. This trend towards the privatization of commercial law, however, is believed to be limited to the sphere of corporate actors or merchants. When it comes to the protection of weaker contract parties like consumers, self-regulation is not held to be a viable option. In fact, consumers do shop increasingly across borders when engaging in e-commerce, often without noticing. The 1999 OECD Guidelines proposed to tackle the resulting consumer protection concerns by means of co-regulation. In this article, I intend to examine the potential role of private ordering and co-regulation in the area of cross-border consumer contracts. I start with a survey of the different mechanisms of private ordering, which have developed in e-commerce. This illustrates that electronic market places fulfil an essential role in bundling different means of private ordering into what I call transnational civil regimes for consumer protection. Finally, I aim at demonstrating how states, industry, and civil society actors can jointly contribute to the establishment of a civil constitution for such regimes

Das Zivilrecht der Zivilgesellschaft : die abendländische Rechtstradition, das Internationale Privatrecht und der Verbraucherschutz

"Allgemeines Allgemeinrecht (nicht nur) als Privatrecht", "Rechtsverfassungsrecht", und "prozedurales Recht" als Ermöglichung und Verwirklichung der “autonomen Wahrnehmung von Eigen-Interessen zugleich als/für Allgemein-(Fremd-)Interesse“, als "Zulassung von/ Einlassung auf Autonomien unter vorbehaltenen Kontrollen", als "Freiheit unter Auflagen". Diese Begriffe verweisen auf ein zentrales Anliegen in Rudolf Wiethölters Rechtstheorie, i.e. das "bürgerlich wie antibürgerlich unerledigte nachfeudalistische Sachprojekt Reziprozität". Man kann dieses Anliegen auch in die Frage kleiden, ob und wie Kants Projekt der Suche nach einem allgemeinen Prinzip, nach dem die Freiheit des einen mit der gleichen Freiheit aller anderen übereinstimmt, unter modernen gesellschaftlichen Bedingungen zu verwirklichen ist. Wiethölters Antwort besteht in vorsichtigen "Skepsis-Verheißungen". Skeptisch bleibt seine Antwort vor allem deshalb, weil er es unternimmt, sich ganz den Herausforderungen der neueren Wissenschafts- und Gesellschaftstheorie auszusetzen, die den alteuropäischen Überbau kantischer Provenienz hoffnungslos dekonstruiert, ja hinweggefegt zu haben scheint. Die "Verheißungen" rühren hingegen von einer nie verleugneten persönlichen Voreingenommenheit für die "kritische Theorie" her, die gegenüber den gesellschaftstheoretischen Konkurrenten der Systemtheorie und der ökonomischen Theorie die Hoffnung auf eine rationale Gesellschaftsintegration nicht grundsätzlich zu verabschieden bereit ist. Das Projekt einer "reflexiven Modernisierung", das Vertreter der kritischen Theorie gegen die Postmoderne in Stellung gebracht haben, verbindet solche Hoffnungen primär mit dem Konzept der "Zivilgesellschaft". Diente die Zivilgesellschaft zunächst dazu, die kritische Theorie unter dem Stichwort der "deliberativen Politik" mit dem demokratischen Verfassungsstaat zu versöhnen, so richten sich die normativen Projektionen im Kontext der gegenwärtigen Globalisierungsdebatte auf eine "Global Civil Society", die in Abwesenheit eines institutionalisierten Weltrechtsstaats den Gedanken an eine "Global Governance" jenseits der nationalen Verfassungsstaaten erträglich machen soll. ..

From Face-to-Face to Screen-to-Screen: Real Hope or True Fallacy?

Published in cooperation with the American Bar Association Section of Dispute Resolutio