Riding on the Coat-Tails of Traditional Cultural Expressions

Matters related to the protection of traditional cultural expressions (‘TCEs’) or expressions of folklore (‘EoFs’) are sensitive and intricate as a blend of legal, economic, philosophical and anthropological considerations jostle to capture their core features. This results in disparate views surrounding what should qualify as TCEs or EoFs, who should be considered their ‘owner’ (assuming that ownership per se is conceptually compatible with these items), which is the most appropriate legal protection regime and how broad their scope of protection should be. Drawing from these various accounts on TCEs, this article focuses on the interaction between TCEs and EoFs originating on the European continent and the European Union (‘EU’) trade mark legislation. Specifically, this article examines whether the limitations of the effects of trade mark rights and of the absolute grounds of refusal, as developed by the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union, are effective in preserving the cohesion of TCEs. This article advances the thesis that registration of TCEs and EoFs as trade marks generates an imbalance between the rights of the trade mark owner and the defences available to others under the EU trade mark law framework. Furthermore, such an imbalance is likely to hinder the unfettered circulation of TCEs and undermine their original meaning. Lastly, in some cases, trade mark registration of TCEs contributes to their appropriation and misappropriation. The article concludes that, de lege ferenda, the direct exclusion of TCEs as eligible subject matter for trade mark registration is preferable to seeking a post factum remedy

The effect of dietary phenobarbital on the induction of skin tumors in hairless mice with 7,12-dimethylbenz(a)anthracene.

Since phenobarbital is known to induce drug-metabolizing enzymes and to alter the effectiveness of certain carcinogens, its influence on 7,12-dimethylbenz[a]anthracene (DMBA)-induced skin carcinogenesis has been examined. Skin tumor development was studied in groups of hairless mice treated with repeated applications of DMBA and maintained on either a control diet or one supplemented with 0.05% phenobarbital. The feeding of phenobarbital concurrently with the application of DMBA delayed the appearance of papillomas initially, but the suppression of the ultimate tumor yield was variable, and appeared to be dependent on the dose of the carcinogen and the age-dependent toxicity response of the mice. Phenobarbital was ineffective when DMBA was applied in sufficiently large amounts to elicit marked cutaneous damage, or when dietary phenobarbital was started 1 week after the cessation of the DMBA treatment. Although the dietary administration of phenobarbital caused an apparent decrease in the final incidence of papillomas and sarcomas, the feeding did not appear to modify the macroscopic skin response or change the incidence of carcinomas