Linguistic analysis in trade mark law: current approaches and new challenges

Trade mark law regulates a field of commercially and culturally important language behaviour by means of a conceptual framework that differs significantly from any corresponding terminology or overall approach in linguistics or related fields. The chapter describes the interaction that has taken place between law and linguistics on this subject. It begins with a summary of the main legal measures governing verbal signs used as marks, taking European Union trade mark law as the main point of reference but introducing US law as appropriate. The chapter then describes how courts address language-related questions, and asks how compatible the understanding of communication relied on in trade mark law is with accounts developed in other fields. Highlighting both commonality and contrast, the authors examine the contribution made to trade mark law by linguists in two major traditions: an applied linguistic tradition of expert evidence; and an interdisciplinary tradition of efforts to understand trade marks in semiotic terms. Both traditions have been mainly concerned with US trade mark law. The chapter argues, however, that although it is largely US scholars who have paid most attention to linguistic issues in trade mark law, the insights and unresolved questions raised can also illuminate approaches taken by European courts. The chapter concludes by asking how research might be developed further in collaboration between lawyers and linguists

HAVE A BREAK and the changing demands of trademark registration

This article explores, from the point of view of both law and linguistics, how far the application and effect of the law of registered trade marks is shaped not only by legislative initiative but also by changing consumer behaviour and the shifting linguistic currency of the particular signs used (or proposed for use) as marks. It does so by focusing on the thirty-year campaign to register HAVE A BREAK for a chocolate bar, marketed as ‘KitKat’. It considers the changing approach of courts both to inherent distinctiveness and to distinctiveness acquired through use. It also considers the relationship between the average consumer test for distinctiveness and the public interest in leaving certain signs free. It suggests that while the present trade mark regime is open to the registration of slogans, it is not clear that courts have sufficiently considered the public interest implications of increasing trade mark protection in this way

Pragmatics in legal interpretation

How should pragmatic dimensions of meaning be understood when they occur in the frequently normative use of language in law? In this chapter, referring principally to common law systems, we outline how pragmatic issues arise in the interpretation of legal texts; we describe how legal interpretation has treated indirect and implied meaning; and we ask how far dialogue between linguistic pragmatics and law can enrich thinking and practice in each of these fields

Expanding hot flow in the black hole binary SWIFT J1753.5-0127: evidence from optical timing

We describe the evolution of optical and X-ray temporal characteristics during the outburst decline of the black hole X-ray binary SWIFT J1753.5-0127. The optical/X-ray cross-correlation function demonstrates a single positive correlation at the outburst peak, then it has multiple dips and peaks during the decline stage, which are then replaced by the precognition dip plus peak structure in the outburst tail. Power spectral densities and phase lags show a complex evolution, revealing the presence of intrinsically connected optical and X-ray quasi-periodic oscillations. For the first time, we quantitatively explain the evolution of these timing properties during the entire outburst within one model, the essence of which is the expansion of the hot accretion flow towards the tail of the outburst. The pivoting of the spectrum produced by synchrotron Comptonization in the hot flow is responsible for the appearance of the anti-correlation with the X-rays and for the optical quasi-periodic oscillations. Our model reproduces well the cross-correlation and phase lag spectrum during the decline stage, which could not be understood with any model proposed before.Comment: 13 pages, 11 figures, MNRAS submitte

Religiosity and Sexual Risk Behaviors Among Latina Adolescents: Trends from 1995 to 2008

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine trends in the influence of religiosity on sexual activity of Latina adolescents in the United States from 1995 to 2008 and to determine if differences existed between the Mexican American and other Latina groups. Methods: The sample comprised the subset of unmarried, 15–21-year-old (mean 17 years) Latina female respondents in the 1995 (n=267), 2002 (n=306), and 2006–2008 (n=400) National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG) datasets. Associations between religiosity (importance of religion and service attendance) and history of ever having sex, number of sex partners, and age of sexual debut were investigated. Results: Less than one half of Latinas in 1995 (44%) and in 2006–2008 (44%) reported that religion was very important to them, whereas in 2002, 50% reported it was important. Only in 1995 did Latinas who viewed religion as very important have a significantly lower level of sexual initiation. In 1995 and in 2006–2008, Latinas who held religion as very important had significantly fewer partners. In all three cohorts, the higher religious importance group had higher virgin survival rates. Across cohorts, approximately one third of respondents reported frequent religious attendance. In all cohorts, frequent attenders were less likely to have had sex, had fewer partners, and had older age at sexual debut. The survival rate as virgins for Mexican origin Latinas was higher in 1995 and 2002 compared to non-Mexican Latinas but was almost the same in 2006–2008. Conclusions: Religiosity had a protective association with sexual activity among Latina adolescents. The association of importance of religion with sexual activity has diminished from 1995 to 2008, however, whereas the importance of service attendance has remained stable. The influence of religion was more apparent among the Latinas of Mexican origin, but this greater influence also diminished by 2006–2008

Discrete Lie Advection of Differential Forms

In this paper, we present a numerical technique for performing Lie advection of arbitrary differential forms. Leveraging advances in high-resolution finite volume methods for scalar hyperbolic conservation laws, we first discretize the interior product (also called contraction) through integrals over Eulerian approximations of extrusions. This, along with Cartan's homotopy formula and a discrete exterior derivative, can then be used to derive a discrete Lie derivative. The usefulness of this operator is demonstrated through the numerical advection of scalar fields and 1-forms on regular grids.Comment: Accepted version; to be published in J. FoC

Diverse locations and a long history: historical context for urban leopards (Panthera pardus) in the early Anthropocene from Seoul, Korea

While the urban landscapes of the early Anthropocene may appear hostile to large carnivores, humans and leopards (Panthera pardus) are known to co-inhabit major urban centres like Mumbai (India), Nairobi (Kenya) and Johannesburg (South Africa). We provide evidence that the presence of leopards in urban landscapes is not, however, a new phenomenon and has occurred repeatedly over the early history of the Anthropocene. Using records of Amur leopards (P. p. orientalis) in Seoul, Korea, at the end of the 19th century, a capital city and major urban centre with a high human population density, we explore socio-cultural, political and ecological factors that may have facilitated human-leopard co-occurrence in an urban landscape and the factors that eventually led to the leopards' extirpation. We suggest that, in the absence of unsustainable levels of persecution by humans, leopards are able to persist in urban landscapes which contain small patches of dense vegetation and have sufficient alternative food supplies. In light of the continued expansion of urban landscapes in the 21st century and increasing conservation focus on the presence of large carnivore populations there, this paper provides historical context to human co-existence with leopards in urban landscapes during the Anthropocene – and what we can learn from it for the future

Coccidiosis in fowls

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Mold diseases of chickens and turkeys

Cover title.Includes bibliographical references