UK Design as a Global Industry : International Trade and Intellectual Property

The importance of design to the UK economy is widely recognised. It is one of the key pillars of the knowledge economy, it plays an important role in the innovation process, and it is one of a number of specialisms that help to set the UK apart from global competition. But despite this importance, the nature of design-intensive industries – the businesses that practice and sell design – is remarkably hard to pin down. This uncertainty renders it hard to analyse, and makes it difficult to develop clear, consistent policies to support the designers. The Hargreaves Review recommended that more research was needed to develop a clear evidence base for improving the intellectual property system for design. This report forms part of that evidence base. It examines how UK design figures in the global economy, and considers how the intellectual property system can best support its growth.

UK Design as a global industry : international trade and intellectual property Executive Summary

This is an independent report comissioned by the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) and supported by the Design Council.

Global forest governance

This book identifies the fundamental legal principles and the governance requirements of sustainable forest management. An analytical model for assessing forest regulation is created which identifies the doctrinal concepts that underpin forest regulation (justice, property, sovereignty and governance). It also highlights the dominant public international institutions involved in forest regulation (UNFF, UNFCCC and WB) which is followed by analysis of non-state international forest regulation (forest certification and ecosystem markets). The book concludes by making a number of practical recommendations for reform of global forest governance arrangements and suggested reforms for individual international forest institutions.

The Australian Consumer Law

Reform of Australia’s inconsistent Commonwealth, State and Territory consumer laws is now a reality. The 1 January 2011 commencement of the Australian Consumer Law (ACL), within the Competition and Consumer Act 2010, is the culmination of a long process of consultation. Unifying and rationalising the plethora of laws, this new Act sees the disappearance of the “Trade Practices Act” and the amendment of a raft of State and Territory legislation; the new national regime informed by them operates in their stead. This is indisputably the most comprehensive change in the history of the Trade Practices Act 1974. This book aims to assist practitioners, academics and students understand the Australian Consumer Law regime and its impact. It summarises the history and constitutional basis of the ACL, explaining how the ACL will be implemented, amended and enforced. In addition it explores how the various general and specific protections interrelate, and the scope of their overlap, and considers the content of the ACL, and the principal changes from the provisions of the Trade Practices Act.

SnowSports interactive a global start-up's challenges

A case study based on the experiences of (at the time of writing) Brisbane-based start-up SnowSports Interactive and their plans for global expansion. This case study questions whether SnowSports interactive is ready for global expansion, and if so which country should be its primary target? Once a country has been chosen, how should SnowSports approach and enter the market? This case study prompts business (in particular international business students) to consider a company's readiness in entering a global market, utlising evaluating tools in a wide range of discipline - product, human resources, capital, busines strategy. Furthermore students are asked to match SnowSports' unique characteristics with a country and an entry strategy. Ability to answer questions posed in this case study will demonstrate high level understanding in entrepreneurship and innovation, international business strategy, and cultural awareness; and demonstrate ability in theoretical and framework application

IMO mandatory energy efficiency measures for international shipping : the first mandatory global greenhouse gas reduction instrument for an international industry

Bunker fuels used in the aviation and maritime sectors are responsible for nearly 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions.1 According to a scientific survey: ‘[s]hipping is estimated to have emitted 1,046 million tonnes of CO2 in 2007, which corresponds to 3.3% of the global emissions during 2007. International shipping is estimated to have emitted 870 million tonnes, or about 2.7% of the global emissions of CO2 in 2007’. The study also predicted that ‘by 2050, in the absence of policies, ship emissions may grow by 150% to 250% (compared to the emissions in 2007) as a result of the growth in shipping.’

The global creative economy and the new development debate

This paper explores the renewed interest in the creative economy as a possible development pathway for developing nations. Noting the extent to which discussions of creative industries frequently merge into the concept of a creative economy, the paper considers the institutional and public policy settings required to capture economic value associated with creative practice. It is also argued that knowledge economy and creative economy discourses are increasingly merging, particularly in their focus upon design, innovation, software development and convergent media. The paper draws attention to ambiguities in policy discourse, particularly in relation to copyright and intellectual property.

Review essay -- Weber L and Pickering S (2011) Globalization and borders : death at the global frontier

The pertinence of this book cannot be overemphasised. The world’s refugee crisis has reached a two‐decade high with the United Nations recently announcing that ‘displacement is the new 21st century challenge’ (UNHCR 2013). The transnational movement of dislocated peoples fleeing conflict, persecution and poverty is a global responsibility requiring nation states to collaborate for humanitarian resolutions embedded in human rights. However, in times of human rights expansionism, and the relaxation of borders for maximising free‐trade and fiscal prosperity, the movement of people experiencing immense abuse and deprivation has witnessed an increase in draconian regulation within discourses of intolerance and deterrence. Weber and Pickering cogently and emphatically emphasise the human cost of inhumane and populist government immigration and border‐entry polices underpinned by ideologies of retribution, suspicion, and demonisation. It is a moving and engaging narrative: a book that exposes state prejudice and abuse, whilst advocating for the victims who undertake perilous journeys in search of safety from lives of violence and persecution. Moreover, it is a book that pushes ideological boundaries and seeks new criminological horizons, for which the authors must be sincerely congratulated. It is a text of innovation, inspired thinking and long lasting criminological value.

Shifting global power and shifting state power

The adoption of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (DRIP) by the United Nations General Assembly in September 2007 has been heralded by many as a major breakthrough in the promotion of Indigenous rights under international law. Many however are sceptical as to whether DRIP actually promotes Indigenous rights or rather limits them in ways that serve the interests of nation states thereby diminishing the universality of human rights with respect to Indigenous peoples. This paper will examine how shifts in global power from the United States to the BRIC nations (Brazil, Russia, India and China) are likely to impact on the realisation of the right of self determination for Indigenous peoples. It will start by outlining the right of self determination as articulated in the Declaration, and in particular how the United States and its allies - the CANZUS group (Canada, Australia, New Zealand and United States) - were influential in shaping its form and content. The paper will then assess the extent to which the right to self determination is realised in Australia, the United States and the BRJC nations to provide an indication of the likely future direction of recognition and realisation of Indigenous rights at a global level.

Populism, law and order and the crimes of the 1%

The article examines the evidence of endemic financial crime in the global financial crisis (GFC), the legal impunity surrounding these crimes and the popular revolt against these abuses in the financial, political and legal systems. This is set against a consideration of the development since the 1970s of a conservative politics championing de-regulation, unfettered markets, welfare cuts and harsh law and order policies. On the one hand, this led to massively increased inequality and concentrations of wealth and political power in the hands of the super-rich, effectively placing them above the law, as the GFC revealed. On the other, a greatly enlarged, more punitive criminal justice system was directed at poor and minority communities. Explanations in terms of the rise of penal populism are helpful in explaining these developments, but it is argued they adopt a limited and reductionist view of populism, failing to see the prospects for a progressive populist politics to re-direct political attention to issues of inequality and corporate and white collar criminality.