Legal Affairs and Dispute Resolution

The fast pace of development of digital technologies has significantly transformed the world music industry, opening up new possibilities for content creation, distribution, and access. However, this digital revolution has also increased legal intricacies of safeguarding intellectual property (IP) rights more gravely. This essay critically evaluates the dynamics of IP disputes in the music sector, with particular reference to how artists, digital platforms, and legal frameworks respond to questions of ownership, infringement, and remuneration in the digital era. The study begins by exploring the foundations of IP rights in music, referencing the significance of copyright law and creators' moral and economic rights. It identifies common controversies brought about by unauthorized sampling, digital piracy, infringement of streaming platforms, and cross-border licensing challenges. The research assesses the efficacy of local instruments such as the U.S. Copyright Act and Nigeria's Copyright Act 2022, and international instruments such as the WIPO Copyright Treaty and the Berne Convention.
Furthermore, the paper examines the roles of Collective Management Organizations (CMOs) like ASCAP, BMI, and COSON in collecting royalties and asserting rights, and the effects of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and its safe harbor provisions. Through a series of case studies—Bridgeport Music v. Dimension Films, the Blurred Lines case, COSON v. NBC, and Lenz v. Universal Music Corp.—the paper describes the pragmatic impact of legal interpretation and enforcement on creators and users. Ultimately, the paper calls for dynamic legal reforms and industry best practices that can reconcile technological innovation with safeguarding artistic rights. It recommends more transparency in licensing, more effective digital enforcement tools, and global collaboration to offer an even and fair IP environment for the music industry.

Background: United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization (UNESCO) advocates a 15-20% allocation of the
developing nations’ annual budget to educational development, but
the available resources are not adequate to support the sector in the
global south. Thus, University Hostel Development and Management
(UHDM) policy was selected to attract private investors for the
provision of educational facilities in Nigerian public universities. The
policy considered a public-private partnership (PPP) model to
ameliorate the menace of dilapidated infrastructures. Initially, there
was massive investors’ participation until contractual disputes started
to undermine the success recorded. Therefore, incessant disputes
without resourceful resolutions motivate the need to examine this
policy and spot the gaps for necessary improvement.
Policy: The National Universities Commission (NUC) augments the
provision of infrastructure in Nigerian public universities through the
UHDM initiative in 2004. Conflicts owing to the multiplicity of
stakeholders’ contrasting interests overwhelmed the initiative. Many
value-added projects were terminated. The poor condition of facilities
lingers to serve as a basic factor for half-baked graduates, low
employee productivity and declined socio-economic values of the
nation. This brief focuses on the role of formal dispute resolution
mechanisms (DRMs) for conflict management in PPP arrangements.
By observation, stakeholders rarely envisage potential conflicts, thus,
no contemplation of specific DRMs adoption despite the inevitability
of contractual disputes.
Recommendations: This brief recommends the inclusion of the
dispute resolution policy in the PPP Memorandum of Understanding
(MoU). Recommendations are hereby generated from the analysis of
the stakeholders’ opinions on the causes of the dispute, conflict
prevention strategies, and the relevant dispute resolution

2. RICHARD RORTY, PHILOSOPHY AND SOCIAL HOPE 104-13 (1999). 3. Eastern philosophy did not play a formative role in the common civil justice system, although it may have informed certain early Greek pre-Socratic philosophers. 4. JOHN PATRICK DIGGINS, THE PROMISE OF PRAGMATISM: MODERNISM AND THE CRISIS OF KNOWLEDGE AND AUTHORITY 428 (1994) (describing Descartes's "logocentrism," and that "reason logically preceded language and that objects cognitively presided in the mind, a rationalism that Kant continued by making consciousness and intentionality the focus of knowledge").

The main objective of this article is to give an overview for an international audience of the results of two acts which were passed the same year, 2007 the French Enforceable right to housing (Droit au logement opposable, later referred as DALO) Act, and the Catalan Right to Housing Act (Llei catalana del dret a l ́habitatge, CRHA). Both acts are good examples of legal innovations regarding land use and housing at the beginning of the 21st Century. The first one established an enforceable right to housing in France for the first time in French history. The second one is the first act regarding the right to housing in Catalan history; it connected land use and housing, establishing inclusionary zoning techniques and promoting social mix.

Generally, engineers are held in high esteem for honesty and ethics. Even so, some engineers commit white-collar crimes. This paper provides a brief overview of white-collar crime. The fraud triangle is used as a framework to better understand why engineers would participate in white-collar crime. In addition, three case studies are presented where reputable engineers either participated in, or were pressured to participate in, white-collar crime. It is expected that this paper will be of interest to engineering educators who teach engineering ethics. It is also hoped that this paper will be of interest to practicing engineers who may feel pressure to commit white-collar crime.

Project finance is crucial for funding large-scale infrastructure projects, especially through public-private partnerships. However, the complex legal contracts and risk factors involved can lead to disputes between the various stakeholders. This dissertation examines effective legal strategies and risk management approaches to mitigate such disputes in project finance transactions, with a focus on the banking sector.

Through an extensive literature review and analysis of three notable case studies - the Ivanpah Solar Power Facility, the Crossrail Project, and the Yamal LNG Project - the research highlights the importance of robust contractual frameworks, active due diligence, regulatory compliance, and strategic risk allocation among parties. Key strategies are identified as proactive stakeholder engagement, dispute resolution mechanisms, and continuous monitoring and adaptation.

The findings underscore the need for a comprehensive and collaborative approach, leveraging partnerships, innovative financing structures, export credit facilities, and strategic government support. Effectively managing emerging risks, such as sanctions and climate change concerns, is also crucial. While legal disputes are inevitable in such complex projects, the deployment of an integrated legal and risk management strategy can significantly mitigate conflicts and ensure successful project outcomes.

This research contributes to a deeper understanding of the legal and risk management practices essential for effective project finance in the banking sector and beyond.

The centrality of the territorial principalities and imperial diet is a defining feature of the historiography of the late medieval Holy Roman Empire. This tendency risks restricting discussions of the Reich’s political life to the arena of high politics and obscuring important links and relationships between the imperial monarchy and its non-princely subjects. This article sets out to examine interactions between the late medieval imperial government and its subjects in the localities. The analysis focuses on the court and government of Emperor Friedrich III of Habsburg (r. 1440–1493), whose ‘peripheral kingship’ has been interpreted by historians as the moment of the crown’s definitive alienation from the Empire’s core lands. The article presents two case studies of protracted legal disputes in which communities of different size, importance and location came into the orbit of the emperor’s court seeking to protect their rights and interests. These case studies provide illustrative examples of how routine matters and local conflicts could be inextricably bound up in the structures of the emperor’s government. This evidence suggests that a complete account of the political and governmental history of the late medieval Holy Roman Empire needs to incorporate both new insights about the effectiveness of the imperial monarchy and the complex, multi-layered and interdependent nature of local politics.

The use of electronic Bills of Lading ("B/L") is a rapidly evolving area that faces much uncertainty. The intent of this article is to provide a brief review of the history of motor carrier B/L legislation and to summarize some of the legal issues involving the use of electronic B/L such as issues related to contracts, evidence of affreightment, evidence of title, accident and casualty documentation, and regulatory and security compliance. The motor carrier industry, including its customers and regulatory agencies, are the primary stakeholders in the electronic B/L area. But the behavior of these primary stakeholders could affect the safety and welfare of the public at large, especially in issues involving the Department of Homeland Security ("DHS") and the Customs and Border Patrol ("CBP"). Notwithstanding the unsettled legal issues, the hope is that the use of electronic B/L will lead to improvements in efficiency, safety and security.

Housing rights can act to guarantee minimum housing provision for poor and deprived persons, based on respect for human dignity. These rights are now established within many international public law instruments and treaties, as well as national constitutions, laws and curial jurisprudence. There is a growing corpus of law giving greater definition and clarification to state obligations, and the nature and extent of housing rights. Housing rights discourse is expanding from shelter and social housing toward embracing all elements of housing systems, including housing as property, housing finance, infrastructure, environmental, and regulation systems. But beyond regulation of these elements, can these housing rights be integrated into a template for the governance of overall housing systems in the new era of regulation of housing and finance markets?

Conclusions (a) Are there four parallel 'monitoring' systems and two courts for housing rights in Europe ? (b) Moving housing rights away from law? (c) Without a remedy there is no right 10 Appendix 1. Collective Complaints Protocol 95 Appendix 2. Draft Optional Protocol 99 Appendix 3. Draft International Convention on Housing Rights Appendix 4. General Comment No. 4. Right to Adequate Housing Appendix 5. General Comment No. 7. Right to Adequate Housing (Forced Evictions) Foreword The year 2005 will be remembered as a year when many tens of thousands of people became homeless as a result of natural disasters. Whether in SouthEast Asia, New Orleans or the recent tragedies in Paris, many questions have been raised in relation to the rights of these homeless households. Indeed, their chances of being re-housed in decent housing may largely be dictated by what housing rights they have. The responsibilities of States depends on the extent of such housing rights. It is also clear that the continued reliance on the private market to meet the housing needs of the most vulnerable in society has now become a global phenomenon. Therefore, the disengagement of many States from intervening directly in the housing market to meet the needs of vulnerable households has compounded the difficulties for many low-income people in gaining access to housing. This is the first time a detailed book has been produced on the issue of Housing Rights and Human Rights. As well as outlining the various legal instruments that are currently in place to advance housing rights, it also provides a critical analysis of such instruments, and how they have been used in different countries, particularly in the European Union. Whilst there has been much discussion in recent times on rights based approaches to housing, this book provides a clear explanation and critique of the issues involved. It also illuminates the complex and lengthy processes in the European Union in relation to social inclusion policies, demonstrating how homelessness has not yet been properly addressed. Access and rights to housing in many countries have never been accorded the same level of priority as access to other forms of social protection or health care. Yet, it could be argued that access to decent housing is fundamental to ensuring proper access to other social goods. On behalf of FEANTSA, I would like to express thanks to Dr. Padraic Kenna, Chair of the FEANTSA Expert Group on Housing Rights in providing his services on a voluntary basis to produce this publication, as well as the other members of the FEANTSA Expert Group on Housing Rights. This is an invaluable publication by FEANTSA in its continued campaign to advance the housing rights of homeless people.

The main objective of this article is to give an overview for an international audience of the results of two acts which were passed the same year, 2007 the French Enforceable right to housing (Droit au logement opposable, later referred as DALO) Act, and the Catalan Right to Housing Act (Llei catalana del dret a l ́habitatge, CRHA). Both acts are good examples of legal innovations regarding land use and housing at the beginning of the 21st Century. The first one established an enforceable right to housing in France for the first time in French history. The second one is the first act regarding the right to housing in Catalan history; it connected land use and housing, establishing inclusionary zoning techniques and promoting social mix.

Urban governments show considerable interest in formulating policies for a more sustainable transportation sector. In Australia, despite the Commonwealth Government Ecologically Sustainable Development ͑ESD͒ Transport Working Group making over 40 recommendations for more sustainable urban transportation a decade ago, a recent Institution of Engineers Australia, Transport Panel found little progress with transportation indicators of sustainability and appropriate analytical techniques. A review of the international literature is made to determine definitions of a sustainable urban transportation and land use system, and objectives that would form the basis for determining suitable indicators of performance. Drawing on hierarchical diagrams from decision theory, we show the link between higher-level policy objectives for sustainability and lower-order actions, measurable attributes, and performance indicators. The analytical framework for sustainable urban transportation analysis includes descriptive statistics-exploratory and graphical methods, spatial mapping, spatial statistics ͑to identify geographical patterns and to identify outliers in the data͒, regression analysis, travel preference functions based on Stouffer's intervening opportunity

The purpose of this paper is to determine the adverse effect of abnormally low tenders (ALTs) on public construction works in Turkey. A comprehensive literature review was performed to investigate the reasons of ALTs. This paper categorizes the reasons behind ALTs with ...

Alternative dispute resolution techniques as means to speedily and economically resolve certain types of disputes have been well recognized. In this regard, some jurisdictions have opted to use mandatory adjudication to deal with construction, in particular payment-related disputes. The situation in Hong Kong is a bit different. The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region aspires to make Hong Kong a hub for arbitration and mediation services for the region. Voluntary mediation has been introduced in the civil procedures rules of the High Court as part of the newly launched Civil Justice Reform. Adverse cost order is used to discourage "refusal to mediate" and "failing to attempt to mediate." While the new measures that came into effect on April 2, 2009, sound sensible, a better picture on the actual impacts will unfold as more cases reach the Court. Nonetheless, the cost sanction may be able to make the voluntary use of mediation less voluntary.

Departments in the arts and humanities are often inhospitable environments for assessment of learning outcomes. For one thing, student learning in these disciplines is not easily quantified. Also, department chairs and faculty members, having survived the culture wars of the 1990s, are understandably wary of any initiative that seems to demand a justification of what they do. In an atmosphere of distrust, assessment becomes little more than a defensive tactic. When, on the other hand, departments take ownership of the process, assessment becomes a powerful tool in making an effective case for scarce resources. We have found that that the best approach to assessment starts with first principles(historical perspectives on the discipline, the fundamental aims and methods of its research), then proceeds to instrumental issues (what to measure and how to measure it).

Urban governments show considerable interest in formulating policies for a more sustainable transportation sector. In Australia, despite the Commonwealth Government Ecologically Sustainable Development ͑ESD͒ Transport Working Group making over 40 recommendations for more sustainable urban transportation a decade ago, a recent Institution of Engineers Australia, Transport Panel found little progress with transportation indicators of sustainability and appropriate analytical techniques. A review of the international literature is made to determine definitions of a sustainable urban transportation and land use system, and objectives that would form the basis for determining suitable indicators of performance. Drawing on hierarchical diagrams from decision theory, we show the link between higher-level policy objectives for sustainability and lower-order actions, measurable attributes, and performance indicators. The analytical framework for sustainable urban transportation analysis includes descriptive statistics-exploratory and graphical methods, spatial mapping, spatial statistics ͑to identify geographical patterns and to identify outliers in the data͒, regression analysis, travel preference functions based on Stouffer's intervening opportunity

Citation: Abukhalaf, A. H. I. (2021). Where does the law stand on green construction in the U.S?. Science X. Retrieved from https://sciencex.com/news/2021-08-law-green.html?fbclid=IwAR3Q08zCdx3VGOsbwdqjaUIoCZlY-Ho9wenpe7_7_Ajj3rO2XVF-_l11HxM. doi:10.13140/RG.2.2.23057.56161

Purpose – This paper aims to propose to politicize partner choice as a discourse that rationalizes, legitimizes and justifies the choice of partners by underlining economic, cultural and institutional differences
to (re)create power relations. By reconceptualizing partner choice as a discourse, the paper challenges the established view of partner choice according to international business and management studies as a rational and strategic behavior based on resource complementarity, best practices and win–win situations.

Design/methodology/approach – Based on the longitudinal study of Israeli–Korean business collaboration, which includes in-depth interviews, observations and media texts, this paper uses critical
discourse analysis (CDA) to demystify partner choice as neither a neutral nor an objective behavior to unveil its discursive construction and embeddedness in power relations.

Findings – The actors on both sides of the Israeli–Korean business collaboration evoke resource complementary discourse between “Israeli innovation” and “Korean productivity” to rationalize their partner
choice as a win–win situation. CDA demonstrates how both sides are engaged in a “borrowing” process from east-to-west and head-to-hands postcolonial images to (re)produce hierarchy between the parties. While east–west mapping remained almost unchallengeable, the reversal, crossing and blurring of the Israel-to-Korea knowledge transfer direction provides a counter-narrative to resource complementarity discourse.

Originality/value – The resource complementarity discourse supported by east–west mapping and “head–hands” justifications for partner choice reveals the lingering presence of postcolonial images, imagery
and imagination. By taking two nations without substantial troubled memories, histories and relations, the paper broadens the picture beyond national contexts, emphasizing the importance of borrowing and
translation from postcolonial vocabulary to non-colonial situations.

Keywords
Critical discourse analysis, Development discourse,
International business and management studies, Partner choice, Postcolonial imagination, Resource complementarity, Postcolonial theory

In this paper we take a postcolonial management approach to exploring the lingering significance of postcolonial imagery in shaping legal disputes between host country and foreign multinational corporations (MNCs). We apply a critical discourse analysis to the Korea vs. Orbotech industrial espionage lawsuit, in which the Korean government accused a foreign MNC of leaking its “national core technology.” Through this analysis we demonstrate how IE discourse was used to fight Korea’s negative reputation as a technological imitator, associate Korea with global technological leaders, and disassociate itself from other “imitators.” In response, Orbotech’s IE discourse has aimed to reproduce Korea’s imitator stigma. Our findings highlight the continual role of the imagined North/South, West/rest symbolic boundaries in constructing global business hierarchies even when the marginalized party—Korea—has already moved to the elite economies club. While international management studies rarely address IE beyond its technical meaning, we underline the embeddedness of IE-as-a-discourse in maintaining and disrupting the geopolitical business landscape.

This thesis investigates the ways in which scientific and technical information are used to challenge policies regarding development in landslide-prone areas in Seattle, Washington. It examines the values that underlie actor arguments within those challenges, using the theoretical lens of Science, Technology, and Society. Twelve case studies are selected from a set of 90 permitting appeals, court cases, and growth management hearings board appeals between the years of 1990 and 2015, and analyzed to identify the complex ways in which scientific information is used to further actor positions. A narrative analysis approach is used to analyze the case studies, archived news coverage, and interviews with geologists and planners in order to identify actor values and narratives. The results of this project suggest that, despite the science-centered arguments of developers and government, actor decisions are highly influenced by values. Neighbors who oppose development draw their arguments from aesthetic values; developers draw their arguments from values that center on property rights and right to accept risk; and all actors, including government, base arguments on potential economic gains or losses. What can be concluded is that despite hillside development policy being based upon science and technical knowledge, actor arguments and concerns are often based upon values, which cannot be articulated through science and technical information. Though well-resourced actors can influence policy through the leveraging of science and technical information, the prominence of values in debates about landslide regulation indicate that science-based policy approaches that do not consider values may encounter more challenges from the public.

The main objective of this article is to give an overview for an international audience of the results of two acts which were passed the same year, 2007 - the French Enforceable right to housing (Droit au logement opposable, later referred as DALO) Act, and the Catalan Right to Housing Act (Llei catalana del dret a l´habitatge, CRHA). Both acts are good examples of legal innovations regarding land use and housing at the beginning of the 21st Century. The first one established an enforceable right to housing in France for the first time in French history. The second one is the first act regarding the right to housing in Catalan history; it connected land use and housing, establishing inclusionary zoning techniques and promoting social mix.

Dalam rangka pembangunan hukum, upaya pembaharuan hukum dan pemantapan kedudukan serta peranan badan-badan penegak hukum negara terarah dan terpadu dibutuhkan untuk dapat mendukung pembangunan nasional serta kesadaran hukum dan dinamika yang berkembang dalam masyarakat Indonesia. Sehubungan dengan itu lembaga-lembaga hukum atau badan-badan penegak hukum seperti kepolisian, kejaksaan, pengadilan, lembaga pemasyarakatan, lembaga bantuan hukum dan sebagainya perlu untuk lebih memantapkan kedudukan, fungsi dan peranannya dalam rangka melaksanakan tugas dan wewenangnya masing-masing di dalam negara kesatuan Republik Indonesia. Bahwa pembangunan nasional di bidang hukum adalah terbentuk dan berfungsi sistem hukum nasional yang mantap, bersumber pada pancasila dan UUD 1945 dengan memperhatikan kemajemukan tatanan hukum yang berlaku, yang mampu menjamin kepastian, ketertiban, penegakan dan perlindungan hukum serta untuk memantapkan penyelenggarakan pembinaan keamanan umum dan ketentraman masyarakat dalam sistem keamanan dan ketertiban masyarakat swakarsa dengan berintikan Kepolisian Negara Republik Indonesia sebagai alat negara penegak hukum yang profesional, maka dianggap perlu untuk memberikan landasan hukum yang kukuh dalam tata susunan tugas dan wewenang Kepolisian Negara Republik Indonesia.

The complex nature of construction projects and the involvement of a large number of unpredictable correlated factors make them susceptible to disputes. Although a wide range of dispute resolution mechanisms exists, experts in the construction industry favor arbitration over litigation when legally binding dispute resolution mechanisms are concerned. Because initiating a litigation or arbitration case against a business partner often severs the business relationship between them, predicting the arbitrator’s decision becomes valuable to the arbitrating parties. Because arbitration has been extensively treated as a game, and because the proposed approach relies on the wealth maximization concept, which is in turn dependent on the sum of utility sources of a firm, modeling arbitration is best achieved as a game with disputing parties’ utility profiles that would have an agreement zone. A construction-specific utility framework for the disputing parties arbitrating before a single arbitrator is proposed based on the additive expected utility theory. The proposed additive utility framework preserves the industry practicality and, most importantly, considers direct short-term factors and indirect long-term factors that would address factual disputes related to claim entitlement and quantification. It is expected that such a framework could then be used to identify utility equilibrium points between the disputing parties, which would serve the purpose of predicting the arbitration outcome.

Abstract. The importance of formative assessment in student learning is generally acknowl- edged, but it is not well understood across higher education. The identification of some key features of formative assessment opens the way for a discussion of theory. It is argued that there is ...

Garnishee proceedings, now known in England as third party debt order proceedings, against  a banking account of the judgment debtor is a popular method of enforcement of judgments. While this is true for conventional banking accounts, it is not always so for Islamic banking accounts. This paper discusses the reason some Islamic banking accounts cannot be subjected to garnishee proceedings.

This article deals with European and American legal techniques used to provide affordable housing and promote social mix in communities. Using a comparative approach, the work studies the concepts of sustainability and social and territorial cohesion ͑widely used in the legal European environment and present in the American legal framework too͒. The article analyzes the role of affordable housing as an element to promote social inclusion. Taking as a reference the case study of Spain and considering France, England and the American inclusionary zoning, the article concludes that public intervention should promote social mix, which could be a useful antidote for urban segregation, according to current available data. In any case, further research about those issues is necessary to have more information about the exact meaning of social mix, its adequate territorial scope and its appropriate level in each urban area.

It is widely accepted that when seeking to implement CAA we should not begin with the technology but with the pedagogy. If CAA is to be used appropriately it must be regarded as a range of assessment strategies, including objective tests, formative self-assessment and so on. This paper describes an action research project to develop a methodology for the implementation of online feedback and assessment. The methodology incorporates pedagogic, operational and strategic issues and is emerging as part of the continued development of CAA at Sheffield Hallam University.

Urban governments show considerable interest in formulating policies for a more sustainable transportation sector. In Australia, despite the Commonwealth Government Ecologically Sustainable Development (ESD) Transport Working Group making over 40 recommendations for more sustainable urban transportation a decade ago, a recent Institution of Engineers Australia, Transport Panel found little progress with transportation indicators of sustainability and appropriate analytical techniques.

“My students don’t ‘get it’ ” ... “this fourth year student can’t apply basic theories” ... “the applicants for this engineering position don’t have the industry-related skills we need”. Complaints from university teachers and industry employers are well-documented. We present students with all the knowledge they need – why is it that so many of them don’t seem to end up with functional understanding of the subject? Globally in higher education, there has been a move away from accepting a ‘transmission’ style of education (the student is an empty vessel to be filled) to a ‘constructivist’ style – where the student is an active participant in development of knowledge and understanding in an ‘authentic’ (real-world) context. This is a challenge for subjects that are traditionally content-rich, and focused on examining knowledge acquisition rather than application of understanding. This paper explores recent learning theory and shows how understanding of learning styles and approaches can be applied to Materials Engineering education to support deeper learning, and promote the development of important graduate attributes such as self-directed learning, research and teamwork skills.