The Public Policy Argument Against Trademark Licensee Estoppel and Naked Licensing

Federal courts have sometimes applied the doctrine of licensee estoppel to prohibit a trademark licensee from challenging its licensor’s rights to the licensed mark, particularly where the licensor has failed to establish and monitor quality control and the licensee contends that abandonment has occurred. This Article examines the history of licensee estoppel and those cases on which courts have and have not enforced licensee estoppel; often on the grounds that enforcing licensee estoppel would not serve the public policy of protecting consumers from deceitful practices. This Article also compares trademark licensee estoppel to patent licensee estoppel and recognize that courts have been far less willing to apply licensee estoppel in patent licensing cases although similar principles are involved. This Article concludes that the doctrine of trademark licensee estoppel should generally be abolished

Snake-Oil Security Claims the Systematic Misrepresentation of Product Security in the E-Commerce Arena

The modern commercial systems and software industry in the United States have grown up in a snake-oil salesman\u27s paradise. The largest sector of this industry by far is composed of standard commercial systems that are marketed to provide specified functionality (e.g. Internet web server, firewall, router, etc.) Such products are generally provided with a blanket disclaimer stating that the purchaser must evaluate the suitability of the product for use, and that the user assumes all liability for product behavior. In general, users cannot evaluate and cannot be expected to evaluate the security claims of a product. The ability to analyze security claims is important because a consumer may place unwarranted trust in the security abilities of a web server (or other computer device) to perform its stated purpose, thereby putting his own organization at risk, as well as third parties (consumers, business partners, etc.) All but the largest and most capable organizations lack the resources or expertise to evaluate the security claims of a product. More importantly, no reasonable and knowledgeable person would expect them to be able to do so. The normal legal presumptions of approximate equality of bargaining power and comparable sophistication in evaluating benefits and risks are grievously unjust in the context of software security. In these transactions, it is far wiser to view the general purchaser, even if that purchaser is a sizable corporation, as an ignorant consumer. Hence, often purchasers accept what appear to be either implied merchantability claims of the vendor or claims of salespersons\u27 made outside of the context of a written document. These claims frequently have little, if any, basis in fact. These standard commercial systems form the bulk of the critical infrastructure of existing Internet functionality and e-commerce systems. Often, these systems are not trustworthy, yet the use of these systems by misinformed purchasers created massive vulnerability for both purchasers and third parties (including a substantial fraction of both U.S. and international citizens). The frequent disclosure of individual credit card information from supposedly secure commercial systems illustrates an aspect of this vulnerability and raises serious questions concerning the merchantability of these systems. While it is impossible to avoid all risks, they can be reduced to a very small fraction of their current level. Vendors have willfully taken approaches and used processes that do not allow assurance of appropriate security properties, while simultaneously and recklessly misrepresenting the security properties of their products to their customers

The role of family firm image perception in host-guest value co-creation of hospitality firms

Customers value the services and products of family firms. Especially the rural hospitality industry is dominated by family firms and shaped by high-contact services, where hosts and guests co-create value. Hypothesizing that behavioural and relational qualities of family firms are a central source for value co-creation and that a perceived family firm image (FFI) affects guests in co-creating value, this study investigates the effect of three relevant principles (trust, relationship commitment, social interaction ties) on value co-creation under the influence of FFI perception. The model is tested on a sample of 331 guests of Austrian rural hospitality firms. Findings show that relationship commitment and social interaction ties influence value co-creation, and a perceived FFI in particular strengthens the effect of social interaction ties on value co-creation. Implications suggest installing facilitators of value co-creation, enhancing the FFI via social capital and further investigating the customer perception of family firms in the rural hospitality industry and beyond

Family Businesses and Adaptation: A Dynamic Capabilities Approach

The main objective of this research was to propose a framework centred on the dynamic capabilities approach, and to be applied in the context of family businesses’ adaption to their changing business environment. Data were gathered through interviews with ten FBs operating in Western Australia. Based on the findings, the clusters of activities, sensing, seizing, and transforming emerged as key factors for firms’ adaptation, and were reinforced by firms’ open culture, signature processes, idiosyncratic knowledge, and valuable, rare, inimitable and non-substitutable attributes. Thus, the usefulness of the proposed framework was confirmed. Implications and future research opportunities are presented. © 2018, The Author(s)

Defining family business: a closer look at definitional heterogeneity

Researchers have used a myriad of different definitions in seeking to explain the heterogeneity of family firms and their unique behavior; however, no widely-accepted definition exists today. Definitional clarity in any field is essential to provide (a) the basis for the analysis of performance both spatially and temporally and (b) the foundation upon which theories, frameworks and models are developed. We provide a comprehensive analysis of prior research and identify and classify 82 definitions of family business. We then review and evaluate five key theoretical perspectives in family business to identify how these have shaped and informed the definitions employed in the field and duly explain family firm heterogeneity. Finally, we provide a conceptual diagram to inform the choice of definition in different research settings