THE EVOLVING THREAT AND ENFORCEMENT OF REPLICA GOODS

Of all the instances and schemes for infringing and counterfeiting trademark rights, perhaps none has been as successful and insidious as “replicas.” The term “replica,” when applied, for instance, to a watch or handbag, is synonymous with “counterfeit.” Both terms are used to describe a product that is an exact and unauthorized copy of an authentic product. While some street merchants may call their counterfeit products “replicas,” the designation exploded in popularity on the thousands of websites that boast look-alike counterfeit products. The popularity of “replica” goods is largely dependent on the absence of liability for manufacturers of these transient and low-cost goods, coupled with the public’s quest for a luxury image without the luxury good price. The prevalence of replica goods and the never-ending demand for them has created an unprecedented enforcement challenge for trademark owners. This Article discusses the issue of replicas and the difficulty in applying liability. It addresses the difficulty in convincing consumers that replica goods are harmful, absent some personal liability. United States Customs even permits those traveling to the United States to import one counterfeit good, such as a handbag or item of clothing, so long as it is intended for personal use. How can trademark owners persuade consumers that all counterfeiting is a crime, when certain circumstances allow—or in the case of replicas, at least appear to condone—counterfeit products? The Author concludes that trademark owners must be proactive and search for alternative ways to enforce their intellectual property rights, including holding third parties liable for infringement

THE EVOLVING THREAT AND ENFORCEMENT OF REPLICA GOODS

Of all the instances and schemes for infringing and counterfeiting trademark rights, perhaps none has been as successful and insidious as “replicas.” The term “replica,” when applied, for instance, to a watch or handbag, is synonymous with “counterfeit.” Both terms are used to describe a product that is an exact and unauthorized copy of an authentic product. While some street merchants may call their counterfeit products “replicas,” the designation exploded in popularity on the thousands of websites that boast look-alike counterfeit products. The popularity of “replica” goods is largely dependent on the absence of liability for manufacturers of these transient and low-cost goods, coupled with the public’s quest for a luxury image without the luxury good price. The prevalence of replica goods and the never-ending demand for them has created an unprecedented enforcement challenge for trademark owners. This Article discusses the issue of replicas and the difficulty in applying liability. It addresses the difficulty in convincing consumers that replica goods are harmful, absent some personal liability. United States Customs even permits those traveling to the United States to import one counterfeit good, such as a handbag or item of clothing, so long as it is intended for personal use. How can trademark owners persuade consumers that all counterfeiting is a crime, when certain circumstances allow—or in the case of replicas, at least appear to condone—counterfeit products? The Author concludes that trademark owners must be proactive and search for alternative ways to enforce their intellectual property rights, including holding third parties liable for infringement

Capital trading, stock trading, and the inflation tax on equity: a note

The authors show that there is more responsiveness of consumption and output to changes in the money supply than exists in the standard neoclassical growth models.Capital investments

Strict protected areas are essential for the conservation of larger and threatened mammals in a priority region of the Brazilian Cerrado

ssessing protected area (PA) effectiveness is key to ensure the objectives of habitat protection are being achieved. There is strong evidence that legal protection reduces loss of natural vegetation, but biodiversity loss can still happen without significant changes in vegetation cover. Here we use data from a specifically designed camera trap survey to conduct a counterfactual assessment of PA effectiveness at safeguarding local biodiversity in the Brazilian Cerrado. We surveyed the mammal community in 517 locations at the Sertão Veredas-Peruaçu mosaic, distributed across five strict PAs (264 survey sites in five arrays) and two multiple-use PAs with low management levels (253 survey sites in four arrays). We adopted a multi-species occupancy framework to analyse our dataset while also controlling for confounding factors not directly related to protection. Of the 21 species assessed, nine had higher occupancy in strict PAs, one had higher occupancy in multiple-use PAs, and ten did not respond to protection level. Site species richness was nearly twice as large in areas under stricter protection, with even greater differences for species richness of globally threatened and larger mammals (>15 kg). Overall we demonstrated that the strict PAs surveyed support higher mammal diversity than similar areas under less restrictive management, with a particular strong effect on larger and threatened species. Given that strict PAs cover only 3% of the Cerrado, our results suggest that expanding the area under strict protection is likely to benefit iconic species of the Brazilian savanna, such as the maned wolf and giant anteater

Global effects of land use on biodiversity differ among functional groups

Human land use has caused substantial declines in global species richness. Evidence from different taxonomic groups and geographic regions suggests that land use does not equally impact all organisms within terrestrial ecological communities, and that different functional groups of species may respond differently. In particular, we expect large carnivores to decline more in disturbed land uses than other animal groups. We present the first global synthesis of responses to land use across functional groups using data from a wide set of animal species, including herbivores, omnivores, carnivores, fungivores and detritivores; and ranging in body mass from 2 × 10^{-6} g (an oribatid mite) to 3,825 kg (the African elephant). We show that the abundance of large endotherms, small ectotherms, carnivores and fungivores (although in the last case, not significantly) are reduced disproportionately in human land uses compared with the abundance of other functional groups. The results, suggesting that certain functional groups are consistently favoured over others in land used by humans, imply a substantial restructuring of ecological communities. Given that different functional groups make unique contributions to ecological processes, it is likely that there will be substantial impacts on the functioning of ecosystems

Intraluminal instillation of urokinase and autologous plasma: a method to unblock occluded central venous ports

BACKGROUND: Therapeutic use and effective function of recombinant urokinase (r-UK) for occluded ports need the presence of plasminogen. METHODS: As a therapeutic proof of principle, we demonstrate that the use of r-UK and autologous plasma effectively reestablishes the function of occluded central venous ports (CVP) resistant to routine management of catheter occlusion. Five patients with occluded ports resistant to the routine management were treated. RESULTS: All patients were successfully treated with thrombolytic therapy using intraluminal instillation of r-UK and autologous plasma. CONCLUSION: Instillation of r-UK and autologous plasma is a safe and effective method for management of CVP occlusion

The global distribution and drivers of alien bird species richness

Alien species are a major component of human-induced environmental change. Variation in the numbers of alien species found in different areas is likely to depend on a combination of anthropogenic and environmental factors, with anthropogenic factors affecting the number of species introduced to new locations, and when, and environmental factors influencing how many species are able to persist there. However, global spatial and temporal variation in the drivers of alien introduction and species richness remain poorly understood. Here, we analyse an extensive new database of alien birds to explore what determines the global distribution of alien species richness for an entire taxonomic class. We demonstrate that the locations of origin and introduction of alien birds, and their identities, were initially driven largely by European (mainly British) colonialism. However, recent introductions are a wider phenomenon, involving more species and countries, and driven in part by increasing economic activity. We find that, globally, alien bird species richness is currently highest at midlatitudes and is strongly determined by anthropogenic effects, most notably the number of species introduced (i.e., "colonisation pressure"). Nevertheless, environmental drivers are also important, with native and alien species richness being strongly and consistently positively associated. Our results demonstrate that colonisation pressure is key to understanding alien species richness, show that areas of high native species richness are not resistant to colonisation by alien species at the global scale, and emphasise the likely ongoing threats to global environments from introductions of species.Ellie E. Dyer, Phillip Cassey, David W. Redding, Ben Collen, Victoria Franks, Kevin J. Gaston, Kate E. Jones, Salit Kark, C. David L. Orme, Tim M. Blackbur

The present and future effects of land use on ecological assemblages in tropical grasslands and savannas in Africa

The world is currently experiencing a period of rapid, human-driven biodiversity loss. Over the past decade, numerous metrics for biodiversity have been used to create indicators to track change in biodiversity. However, our ability to predict future changes has been limited. In this study, we use two very different models to predict the status and possible futures for the composition and diversity of ecological assemblages in African tropical grasslands and savannas under land-use change. We show that ecological assemblages are affected more by land use in African grasslands and savannas than in other biomes. We estimate that average losses of assemblage composition and diversity are already between 9.7 and 42.0%, depending on the model and measure used. If current socio-economic trajectories continue (‘business-as-usual’), the likely associated land-use changes are predicted to lead to a further 5.6–12.3% loss of assemblage composition and diversity. In contrast, a scenario that assumes more efficient use of agricultural areas (thus requiring a smaller total area) could be associated with a partial reversal ‒ of as much as 3.2% ‒ of past losses. While the agriculture that causes the majority of land-use change is an important source of economic growth, projections of the effects of land use on ecological assemblages can allow for more informed decisions