THE CONTRACTUAL RIGHT TO WITHDRAW: COPYRIGHT CONTRACT V COMMERCIAL CONTRACT

Pacta sunt servanda is the important Roman principle that “equalises” the binding effects of contracts and law. The right to withdraw loosens the sanctity of the contract, bringing some legal uncertainty to the contractual relationship. The right to withdraw based on the change of ones’ mind concerning a transaction is a unilateral act of will, provided both by Albanian Contract Law and the Albanian Law on Author’s Rights. This paper will point out the Albanian legal conditions according to which the withdrawal can be rightly exercised, highlighting the differences between the right to withdraw from commercial contracts and the author’s moral right to withdraw from copyright contracts

Challenging ownership of copyright of the employee-author

In a world where the IP intangibles are becoming the most valuable assets of any business, there is intense competition to hire people who manage to create works. When the author is simultaneously an employee, the exciting scenario produces legal debate regarding authorship and copyright ownership. This paper will analyse from the Albanian legal perspective how the "employed" status of the author affects the ownership of the rights deriving from work, according to Law on Author's Right and Labour Law, thus examining the implication of the employer as a temporary right’s holder. The paper will explain the different legal approaches to exercising economic rights depending on the type of work deriving from the employment relationship, further comparing to Kosovo Law on Author’s Rights.

FRANCHISE CONTRACT AND GOOD FAITH

Franchise is a widespread business model in countries with developed economies. Although that in Albania there are few franchising relations, the Albanian Civil Code provides franchising as a contract. The franchise contract is a binding agreement where the franchiser grants the franchisee the right to use the trademark and the operating system of the franchiser, mutually fulfilling rights and duties derived by this contract. The most important duty of the franchiser is to make available to the franchisee a standardized set of immaterial rights, models, charts, profit, organization and trade ideas, and other appropriate knowledge for the development of trade. During the negotiations, the parties have to show each other the commercial affairs conditions dealing with the franchise agreement and the franchise obligations particular program. The information during the negotiations must be confidential and such must remain, even if the contract is not concluded. The Albanian Civil Code provides that in general during the contract negotiations, the parties must act in good faith towards each other. In case of franchise contract the good faith is specifically required by law, due to the fact that the parties normally provide each other with important and economical valuable information. The aim of this paper is to realize an overview of a new contract, as franchising and its importance in economic relations. This paper will clarify the Albanian legal provisions on franchise contract, the rights and duties of each party. It will be highlighted the role of good faith in negotiations, how the parties must act and the possibility to compensate potential damages. It is about one principle, the Good Faith Principle, that Civil Law jurisdiction and Common Law jurisdictions have generally two different approaches. The paper will show the changes in legal provisions of some European countries regarding good faith in franchise contracts. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n22p31

Who has Created the Work? Albanian Legal Framework and Cases on False Attribution of Authorship

The act of creating a work is often described like the birth of a child, which naturally establishes a unique affiliation relationship between the author and his work, legally known as the right of attribution. The paper aims to clarify if the Albanian right of attribution “contains” the sub right to disclaim authorship through analyzing the right of attribution provided by the new Albanian Law on Author’s Rights and how it is claimed in court. The paper will also explain the ways false attribution can infringe two most distinguished author’s rights: the right of attribution and the right of integrity and will highlight the difficulties to protect them through long and high-cost litigation process