Pr to “My Left Foot”

Personal Response to Text â€Å"My Left Foot† By Isis Horne â€Å"It would be difficult to exaggerate the degree to which we are influenced by those we influence. † ~ Eric Hoffer. Parents greatly influence their children; most often people forget that children also greatly influence their parents. Children and everything they do have such a colossal impact on a parents life, and we as children are so caught up in ourselves that we often forget that even the most insignificant act in our minds changes everything a parent does or goes about handling it.A wonderful example of how children and parents influence each other is the memoir â€Å"my left foot† by Christy Brown. Children are always watching their parents, how they do things, how they act, and their beliefs. In the text â€Å"My Left Foot† It is suggested that parents influence their children to succeed by believing in them and encouraging them. Mrs. Brown’s actions influenced Christy tremendo usly, she showed that parents effect the way their children turn out. Mrs. Brown showed loyalty to her son when family and doctors said he was an imbecile, and should be put into an asylum.She did not put Christy into an asylum, instead she let him live normally with his parents in a loving home. This Gave Christy the chance to live like any other child would. Her Patience, and compassion for Christy is shown when she sat with Christy for hours trying to communicate with him, and she never gave up trying, and encouraging him. Her patience paid off when Christy was trying to write the letter â€Å"A† on the chalkboard with his foot, she kept encouraging him to keep trying until he succeeded to write the letter, and she was so proud, she cried tears of joy.Through Mrs. Browns Persistence of not letting Christy give up, or allowing others to look down on Christy, he became a published writer, and successful in his life. I have been suffering from Bipolar 1 and psychosis since I was an infant, later on while I was still a very young child I started suffering from post –traumatic stress as well. My mother was always there encouraging me no matter how hard it was going to make things for her. Every time I broke from reality, and the demons where scaring me she comforts me, and encourages me hat they’re not real, and nothing is going to hurt me with her around. Sometimes that worked, but then the demons started saying and threatening to eat her, to dismember her and the like; that made me very scared and so I tried to kill myself for the first time so that the demons would die with me, I was only 7 years old. My crazy mood swings where literally throwing my mothers life out of wack. One moment I would be ecstatic, then not a few minutes later I would be a weeping willow in the pitiful land of depression. It was very hard for my mother to find help for me, but she was persistent.In the Winter of 2010, I faced the worst depression faze I had ever e xperienced. My Mother put me into a hospital because knew I was not safe and she couldn’t protect me. I was kept 4 weeks at that hospital when the discharge limit is two weeks; the doctors couldn’t figure out what was wrong with me. I was diagnosed with bipolar 1, with sever psychosis there, and was discharged. Though I was safe enough to be let back into the world, my depression was still at a high peek, my mom found various psychiatrists, but none knew how to help me.My mom kept looking, until she found a treatment program in Calgary call Adolescent Day Treatment Program. They took me in almost immidiatly, and for 8 months I started my slow recovery. Because of my mothers persistence in finding help for me, driving me in from Cochrane to Calgary every morning and back, I was able to overcome my depression, control my demons, I am not in the constant terror that was holding me back from living a normal life anymore.My Mother is a very smart woman, and she always is pu shing me to do my best. She provides such a wonderful life for me, if it weren’t for her influences, I wouldn’t be where I am today. I know that I will succeed in my life, she taught me that. I know that I am smart, and am capable of doing all the same things and more as anyone else. The confidence I gained from my mother and at ADTP had such a positive impact on my life, it’s hard not to see that with confidence there is next to nothing you can’t accomplish in this world.

How Today’s Managers Use Scientific Management Essay

An overview During the past 57 years, Pakistan’s experiences with democracy have been transitory, as brief democratic rules have been followed by prolonged military regimes.As a nation, Pakistanis have time and again refused to delearn the incremental lessons in parliamentary democracy. Due to this fact, the four military regimes that Pakistanis saw finally reverted to controlled and guided democracy in quest for legitimacy. ‘Basic democracy’ of General Ayub Khan and ‘Islamic democracy’ of General Ziaul Haq were the efforts to appease popular sentiments and ‘sustainable democracy’ of General Pervez Musharraf is also not different from the two previous experiments with democracy. All the three military dictators patronized and promoted their own factions of Pakistan Muslim League — the party claimant to be the founder of the country — to block the way of normative political forces. In order to supplement their efforts to monopolize the political sphere, the military rulers as unfair referees framed biased rules for the political game. The outcome was a paralysed parliament run by privileged puppets. So-called intellectual brigades mostly comprising retired generals and former bureaucrats nursed not only militarization of state and society but also pleaded for authoritative presidential system. However, with the exception of Ayub Khan none of the military rulers succeeded in such efforts. Ayub Khan’s so-called presidential system immediately collapsed  with his ouster from the political arena. Shockingly, such debates still exist to eclipse the future of parliamentary democracy in Pakistan. The argument derives its logic from the experience of certain East Asian nations that mortgaged their political liberties for economic growth in first place. In this scenario, a qualitative judgement on Pakistan’s democratic experiences can only point to trends and perceptions. Integrity of a nation state The lack of continuity in the democratic process meant that most of the interests groups in the country, whether economic or sub-national at one stage or the other, feel that the system is not fully responsive to their interests. It is generally perceived that during the undemocratic regimes, sub-nationalist forces grew in their disenchantment with the state and governance pattern. Conversely, whenever there have been even quasi-democratic governments, these sub-national entities felt to be part of the system and voices of dissent against state have been considerably mild. To that extent, the democratic experience in Pakistan has played some part in assuaging the concerns of the federating units. Interestingly, with the exception of a few hardcore jihadi outfits, all major religiopolitical parties have been stakeholders in the democratic process. Despite their cherished theological dream and desire of caliphate, the religious parties competed and contested all general elections in the country. The story of ethnic and nationalist voices from periphery namely smaller provinces — Balochistan and NWFP — is not different. These forces have fully participated in the democratic institutions to plead for their demands. Democratic institutions Juxtaposed to above-mentioned trends, the governance and the democratic institutions have not been sufficiently participatory and democratic in their conduct, and failed to cobble up some institutional mechanism for making decisions democratically. The conflicts between the opposition and ruling party often led to use of state apparatus against the opposition parties. Thus, it has been common to see rulers of yesterday as prisoners of today. Therefore, the democratic empowerment remained an illusive dream, and execution and exile emerged as alternatives for the politicians. Many  political observers agree that although the country’s political leadership commendably fought for democratic governance whenever they faced a military rule, there own actions in power have been autocratic.â€Å"Despite making struggle for restoration of democracy, they have failed to build a legal framework, create a pro-democracy environment and most importantly build a policy framework in which  conflicts may be resolved through negotiations, by making bargain, and by building consensus.† (Saeed Shafqat — Democracy in Pakistan: Value Change and Challenges of Institution Building) In this context, no wonder that conflicts between different political forces in the 1980s and 1990s were resolved through the military mediated coercive state powers. Both Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto launched major military operations in Karachi to counter Muttahida Qaumi Movement. Though the conflict was not entirely political in nature, during the course of events such operations backed by the military establishment somewhere crossed lines from merely a law and order restoration to political vendetta. Present discontentment among Baloch nationalists over the alleged abuse of their resources by the federal government, especially in Gwadar, points to the inability of the state to satisfy the federating units. Moreover, the way these concerns are being addressed exemplify that nothing has changed in terms of coercive methodologies employed to settle major political issues. Constitutional amendments In order to evolve and erect a fair social contract between the state and the citizens, Pakistan has had three constitutions in 1956, 1962 and 1973, two interim constitutional arrangements in 1947 and 1972, and two major attempts of constitutional engineering in 1985 and 2002. All these attempts were to oscillate the power pendulum towards the designer. The casualty in the process was the rule of law and a viable social contract between the rulers and the ruled. In spite of these odds, Pakistan has exhibited unique resilience to survive. The critical question, however, remains that whether instability would stay as the professed policy of the powerful civil-military establishment or Pakistan would finally witness any moment of democratic triumph? Flawed legislation Legislation process that traditionally flows out of the constitution and contemporary needs of the society is often considered as the most important function of democratic institutions. Unfortunately, this process has been highly flawed even in the democratic eras. In the statute books, majority of the laws are those inherited from the colonial rulers, whereas the second biggest chunk is the set of presidential ordinances (though these are later converted into acts of parliament without any major changes), and very few laws that epitomize the brain of legislators. The tradition of private member bill has never been encouraged in Pakistan. Role of state institutions in protecting citizens The state has miserably failed in protecting life and property of its citizens. The actions to curb the crime have been selective and demonstrative, and that too marred by corrupt practices of the functionaries in different state agencies responsible for providing protection to masses. The state of affairs in the country’s police department and judiciary is no secret, and popular perception is that all efforts on part of the state have been mere an eyewash. Registration of cases by the police even on commission of a crime of heinous nature is very difficult for a common citizen, particularly the poor. In some instances, cases are registered even months after commission of a crime and obviously this leads to loss of critical evidence to prove the cases. Not only this, even if an aggrieved person gets a case registered, the rampant corruption in judiciary makes the accomplishment of justice impossible for the weak and vulnerable segments of the society. Thus, this state of affairs has badly shattered the public confidence in the state institutions, leading to aggravation of situation at the grassroots through giving further boost to the lawlessness and prevalence of uncertainty among the masses. Decision-making and people’s voice Lack of a culture of public debate before legislation is one of the major reasons that today there may be thousands of laws on the statue books but their enforcement is very weak. Sometimes, multiple laws to address any  single issue empower the law enforcers to employ their discretionary powers. Drivers of legislation are often self interests of the ruling class, expediency or some external pressures when it comes to things that have a global perspective. Constitutional amendments to strengthen the interests of the ruling party or one-sided amendments by the military rulers are also not uncommon. Therefore, the present lawmaking system has been unable to keep pace with the changing realities. The government often comes up with quantitative figures to project its legislative performance that in fact is nothing more than minor amendments to the existing laws. Similarly, policy formulation also remain highly personalized and outside the ambit of the parliament. Lack of credibility of elections Country’s record in holding fair and free elections is also not very impressive. It has become a common practice of the defeated parties or politicians that they invariably blame the state for manipulating the elections, and the reason for such scepticism is ingrained deep in the country’s political history. Understandably, when the state institutions (military and civil bureaucracy) seem to have a lucid tilt towards a particular political force or the other, the losing party has all the reasons to suspect the transparency of elections. Moreover, the results of the elections are further manipulated when it comes to the formation of a government. Many a time, the party that has gained larger number of votes or larger number of seats is kept out of the power through post election alliance making. This exercise could be a positive development if entirely left to the dynamics of politics alone, as this could lead the political parties to create some kind of minimum consensus. But contrary to this fact, the outside players, like intelligence agencies, take up the responsibility of forging the alliances. Such manipulations not only create further doubts about the democratic process but also have inbuilt flaws and instability. Such alliances mean that the government has no connection with the masses. Pakistan’s history also testifies to another fact that though the people are allowed to elect governments, they have rarely been given an opportunity to vote out governments. The elected governments have been mostly removed through some arbitrary and discretionary power vested in the head of the  state or by direct military intervention. In a sense, people in the country are not fully aware of the power that their vote may have. Communication gap between political parties and masses Despite a majority of people in the country accepts that democracy is the best system of governance, political parties have not really been able to capitalise on this broad consensus. As the infrastructure of the political parties over the past two decades has lost the ability to educate masses at the grassroots level, and the parties are less interactive with them, the creed known as political workers is becoming extinct. Political parties are now talking to the electorate through media alone, and this practice has led to an ample communication gap between the parties and the people. While this gap increases, some other impediments in the development of democratic culture continue to influence the common man’s mindset. Textbooks taught in schools do not talk favourably about political parties as institutions. Rather these books target some of the elected leaders while eulogising the military rulers of the country. Even the overall sense of the textbooks does not come out positively for a democratic system of governance. The common perception propagated vehemently by the establishment that members of the parliament do not remain in touch with the electorate once they are elected. Although a deep look at the mechanisms of politics suggest this may not be true, as it might have almost been impossible for politicians to get reelected if they completely lose contact with the electorate, it is largely true in case of big landlords who  have such clout in their constituencies that they cannot be defeated whatever the situation may be. However, in case of some politicians from the urban centre, the past elections have proved this perception wrong. Public perception of democracy Despite all odds pitched against vibrant and transparent democratic governance, 88 per cent Pakistanis value democracy as a good political system. In a survey, conducted between August 15, 2001 and February 28, 2002, 2,000 people were interviewed, and only four per cent of respondents preferred military rule over democratic governance. However, the level of  trust in political parties was pretty low as compared to the civil service and the armed forces. See table below: Answers Questions Yes in % Is democracy a good political system? 88 Is democracy despite its problems better than other political systems? 82 Is military government good for Pakistan? 4 Is a strong leader better to make decision without consent of the 34 Parliament? Should technocrats make key decisions rather than elected 19 government? Is Pakistan run by big interest groups who looked out for themselves 89 rather than the benefit of the people? Are you satisfied with handling of country’s affairs by the gov ernment 43 (military government)? Are you happy with the country’s political system? 8 Do you have confidence in political parties? 28 Do you have confidence in civil service? 50 Do you have confidence in armed forces? 86 Would like to have higher economic growth? 76 Would like to have more say in decision making? 4 Would like to see improvement in law and order situation? 57 Would like to see higher economic growth? 76 (Data Published in Daily Times on November 24, 2004.) The survey was published as part of a publication: Human Beliefs and Values. The lead author was Ronald Inglehart, a professor of political science at the University of Michigan and president of the World Value Surveys Association. The book is a cross-cultural scorebook based on surveys in 82 countries conducted between 1999 and 2002. According to another opinion poll, conducted by the Pakistan Legislative Strengthening Consortium (PLSC), in Pakistan 45 per cent people believe that political parties are essential and necessary for democracy but 62 per cent think that the parties primarily serve their own interests. Only 13 per cent consider political parties do serve the public interest. These figures show the political parties have to put their house in order to gain wider acceptance and reclaim their lost ground. Mushrooming of political parties Political parties have mushroomed in Pakistan in the past couple of decades. Every shade of political opinion or religious/sectarian group is now organized as a full-fledged party. Thanks to the constitution, there is no condition of the minimum membership for registration of a political party. Presently, over 90 parties submit their internal election certificate and annual income and expenditure statements to the Election Commission of  Pakistan to qualify for an election symbol. As many as 62 participated in the general elections in 2002, and 16 parties and two alliances got representation in the National Assembly, 12 parties and two alliances won seats in the Senate, and a few  more in the provincial assemblies. This is the highest number of political parties to reach the democratic institutions in Pakistan. Interestingly, seven out of 15 parties have just one legislator and another one — Pakistan People’s Party Parliamentarians (Patriots) later renamed and registered as the Pakistan People’s Party — parachuted from the opposition to the treasury benches after the establishment facilitated division of the Pakistan People’s Party Parliamentarians. Amazingly, majority of defectors hailed from Punjab and many of them have been given ministerial slots. Role of intelligence agencies in politics The role of the intelligence agencies that are mostly controlled by the military establishment is also a major impediment in the growth of democratic culture. The attempts to downgrade the political forces have been a consistent strategy for the establishment. These outfits work behind the scene to purchase loyalties or force politicians for forging alliances to serve the purposes of the establishment, particularly the military. Infliction of political parties by corruption A large number of Pakistanis believe that corruption inflicts political parties, and that political leaders have failed democracy.In Global Corruption Report 2004, published by the Transparency International, Pakistan figures in a category of states where investment in political parties can yield desired policy outcomes sought by the investors in the game. This study conducted by World Economic Forum to expose the extent of political corruption around the world is based on the results of 2003 Executive Opinion Survey in the Global Competitiveness Report. The report places Pakistan in the category of the countries with ‘medium political corruption’ where the culture of irregular payments in government policymaking, policy consequences of political donations and odd reality of illegal political donations do exist. However, the facts belie the popular  perceptions about political corruption. Who is really tainted? An answer came on February 28, 2003 when a federal minister told the National Assembly that the National Accountability Bureau had recovered Rs1.8 billion from 87 senior officials and Rs770.10 million from 149 officials working at lower levels. The second biggest recovery of Rs450.10 million was made from military officers and the much-maligned politicians were at number three as Rs260.20 million were recovered from 17 politicians. Abrupt policy changes In fact, Pakistan first time experienced across the board general elections in 1970 and people clearly voted in favour of the parties that were challenging the established order. Though these elections resulted in the break up of Pakistan, still the process is described as the most transparent one. After creation of Bangladesh in 1971, the remaining part was led by a leader who tried to establish supremacy of the elected leadership over bureaucracy. This gave a new impetus and confidence to the polity to aspire for civilian control over state institutions. But General Ziaul Haq’s martial law tried to reverse whatever had been achieved by the polity. There were many steps like party-less polls at the local level and also later at the federal and provincial levels. Creating new breed of politicians and doling out state funds for development work to strengthen them were some of the steps that affected the political process negatively. However, as soon as an elected parliament was in place the tussle for supremacy once again started. Driven by demands of the electorate for development, jobs and resolution of their problems by 1999, the polity in fact had increased influence and autonomy to an extent where it started to vie for control over the military appointments. In 1999, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s ultimate downfall was a consequence of an attempt to replace the army chief (General Pervez Musharraf) with a general of his own choice, as earlier he had succeeded in securing resignation from General Musharraf’s predecessor (General Jehangir Karamat) in October 1998. Before  that, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto had removed an army chief in 1972. Except the two mentioned instances, the military mostly decided its affairs on its own, without allowing a civilian chief executive to do so. Role of civil and military bureaucracy The elected representatives had largely been powerless. This could be judged easily through role of deputy commissioner as envisaged by the British when they introduced this office for the basic administrative unit (district) in the then India and the functions a deputy commissioner performed till introduction of a new local government system (or devolution of power by the Musharraf regime) in 2001. Through introduction of a new local government system, the Musharraf regime institutionalised the supremacy of elected public representatives at the district level over deputy commissioner. It handed over many powers of the deputy commissioner to the district nazim. In a way, the wish of the polity to have a better control over state affairs at the local level has been granted and accepted. However, in this case too the establishment opted to provide a lease of life to traditional political elite by allowing them to contest for election to the office of district nazim. This way, the fresh blood was recruited as councillors with 33 per cent representation of women. Second odd that goes against the spirit of meaningful devolution of power is that the role of military has been institutionalised at the federal level with a president who is also the chief of army staff and the National Security Council that has representation of the armed forces and is headed by the president. In the words of Jehangir Karamt, a former chief of army staff, the new amendments in the constitution including the one under which the National Security Council has been established were an attempt to settle the question of civil-military relationship on terms of the military. Even at the district level the military establishment is not ready to allow party-based elections as that would mean strengthening the political parties at the grassroots level and once able to organise would again be ready to challenge the military dominance in the affairs of the state. Role of people In the whole equation, where do the people stand? For the people, the elected members remain the only access to the legislatures. However, Pakistani democracy is yet to reach a level where access to parliament means that their issues are debated and laws are framed to safeguard the public  interests. An opinion poll, conducted by the IFES in 2004 on behalf of the Pakistan Legislative Strengthening Consortium with support from the USAID, revealed that the people tend to be satisfied with the closest tier of government. However, the disturbing finding of the survey was that majority of the respondents fall in the category of â€Å"don’t know† and it reflects their apathy towards democratic governance. Satisfaction/dissatisfaction with institution Institution Very/somewhat satisfied % Army 58 Union Council 28 District Government 19 Town/Tehsil Council 18 Judiciary 18 Provincial Assembly 15 National Parliament 14 Election Commission 12 The Senate 10 Very/somewhat dissatis fied % 10 23 22 23 27 19 20 17 18 Don’t Know % 33 49 59 59 56 65 66 70 72 Public Opinion in Pakistan-2004 Role of judiciary In functioning democracies a void is filled by the judiciary. But besides corruption, the lack of proper infrastructure and interference of executive in the domain of judiciary are some of the major impediments. Only in the Supreme Court of Pakistan 25,000 cases are pending, though the Chief Justice of Pakistan claims that during the last year a record number of cases were disposed of. The number of pending cases in the lower courts also runs in hundreds of thousands. In absence of speedy justice, medieval jirga (tribal jury) system competes with formal judiciary in various parts of the country. â€Å"There is a backlog of civil and criminal cases at the level of subordinate judiciary in all provinces. In the province of the Punjab, the number of cases presently pending is 111,839 sessions cases, 343,732 criminal cases and 439,460 civil cases. In the province of Sindh, the number of pending cases comes to 109,833, in NWFP the figure is 96,332 whereas in Balochistan, it is 5,454.† — The figures have been taken from speech of the Chief Justice of Pakistan on beginning of new judicial year on October 4, 1999, available at: http://www.ljcp.gov.pk/ Continuous tussle between different power centres in the country has also led a large number of cases of political nature being decided in the superior courts. In a sharply divided society that translates into question marks over the credibility of the judiciary. Judiciary has not served its cause well by accepting supra-constitutional arrangements to work under. Pakistan’s superior judiciary till date is working under an oath administered to them after promulgation of the  Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO) 1999. The PCO 1999 was introduced to facilitate General Musharraf. Constitution was restored in 2002 but the judiciary has so far not taken a fresh oath. The lawyers community has been very critical of this role of judiciary, and even today all the major bar associations of the country continue to question the credibility and legitimacy of courts. The Supreme Court Bar Association has for the first time in the country’s history published a whitepaper about the undemocratic role of the superior judiciary and continues to campaign for supremacy of the constitution and independence of judiciary. The collusion between the judiciary and the autocratic rulers has had a very adverse impact on the country’s political and social fabric. Many of the laws that were brought on the statute books by the military rulers to back their particular agenda could not be repealed. Many controversial laws now have the religious seal of approval. This means that even democratic majority cannot amend and change these laws as it fears that such a change may bring adverse reaction by the aggressive religious lobbies. Many of these laws have a potential to be used for selective justice against minorities, women and marginalised sections of the society. This is evident from the laws like blasphemy and Hudood laws. Attempts to change these have met stiff resistance despite attempts by some elected members across the party divide but these have often hit roadblocks. Functioning and outlook of political parties In Pakistan, democracy’s inability to sustain and deliver on the long-term basis not only lies in the unwillingness of the military establishment to let political process take its own course but also in the way the political parties function and grow. The political parties in their outlook remain personality oriented. Each party is recognised by the name of one person. Even breakaway factions if they do not try to give themselves a proper nomenclature and try to stick to the parent party’s name will be recognised with the name of prominent leader heading the faction. The elitist leadership of most of the populist parties limits their ability to articulate, propagate and protect the interests of all societal groups. Majority of the mainstream parties excluding those representing religious right are dominated by the landowning classes. These classes bring their  traditional mode of control and manipulation to party politics also. As a result the political parties whenever they had an opportunity have strengthened a system of governance that is more paternalistic where the local political influential provide solutions like jobs, development, etc, but in the process constitutional governance is ignored. People’s participation in policy formulation at the party level is also scant. Most parties believe in the top down approach and tend to follow the decisions of leadership on critical matters. Party workers most often than not will be wondering what way their leadership is going or what kind of compromises these parties are making to win power. Religious parties have another kind of internal conflict in their discourse about democracy and democratic governance. The religious right has participated in most of the elections since the creation of Pakistan with the best electoral performance in 2002 when these parties joined hands and contested from a single platform. Now at least in one province, the alliance is running a government and in another is a coalition partner. On the other hand, the jihadi offshoots of the religious right do not agree that democracy is the path that can bring the change they desire for. Role of media and freedom of expression During the last 57 years, the pattern of governance in Pakistan thrived on the culture of secrecy and information blockade. Resultantly, Pakistanis suffered bad and corrupt governance. Apathy and cynicism emerged as the logical by-products of such closed culture that retarded the citizen’s capacity to monitor public institutions run on taxpayers’ money. However, now there is a new hope. This hope can transform into good governance and engaged citizenship provided the government functionaries internalize the new spirit of open access to information. Amongst the non-party political influencers, media besides some organised civil society groups play an important role. Pakistani media environment is going through a rapid transformation. Besides privately owned vibrant print media, a number of new FM radio stations, cable television networks, satellite televisions and interactive websites on the Internet are catering to the citizens’ information needs. The unprecedented proliferation of new media outlets  could be attributed to the open media policy of the government. Since March 2002, the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) is engaged in providing enabling environment to media entrepreneurs. The role of new enabling information and communication technologies and their cost effectiveness also cannot be ignored. Encouraging feature of this entire scenario is that emerging media voices are no more confined to urban centres alone, and rather rural areas, though at small scale, are also on their way to alleviate their media poverty. All this will have long-lasting impact on the way society and politics have to move over the next decade or so. The most lasting of these was the introduction of media friendly laws that after years of martial law provided breathing space to the country’s print media. Pakistan’s media has in fact fought long and hard for its freedom. The changing world realities also played a major part in ensuring that media is given space and opportunity to play its role. But all said and done, it would be highly risky to conclude that the media is free of any pressures from both the state and non-state actors. While guarding its freedom, media is quite cautious of the fact that whatever freedom it enjoys must be used with care and caution. And a large part of that caution means that some institutions and personalities are not probed enough through quality investigative journalism. Columnists and commentators can express their opinions rather freely. In a recently conducted nationwide survey by the Pakistan Legislative Strengthening Consortium, it was revealed that for 43 per cent people the source of information on political situation is state-controlled Pakistan Television, for 16 per cent Radio Pakistan, for 13 per cent Geo TV, for 12 per cent daily Jang, for nine per cent BBC Radio and for equal percentage daily Nawa-e-Waqt. Among the rest are ARY TV (seven per cent), FM Radio (five per cent), Indus Vision TV (four per cent), Kawish newspaper (four per cent), family and friends (37 per cent), ‘Hujra,’ ‘Chopal,’ and ‘Bethak,’ etc, (12 per cent). The reasonably high percentage for family, friends, ‘Hujra,’ ‘Chopal’ and ‘Bethak’ provides a hint that the media and the medium that exists at proximity remains an enriching source of information. Citizens need information to follow and scrutinize actions of the government. Accurate and timely information enables them to have a meaningful say in decision-making processes and enhances their ability to hold the government accountable. Globally, the idea of citizens’ right to  know is gaining grounds as a proactive concern and today more than 57 countries of the world, including Pakistan, have formally acknowledged it by adopting freedom of information laws. Resultantly, the culture of openness is replacing the centuries-old practices of secrecy in the arena of governance. A democratic government is expected to function in a transparent fashion so that the citizens know what their government is doing at taxpayers’ expense. This enables them to keep a check on the executive and legislative powers, and assess the efficiency of these vital pillars of a state. It ensures transparency in social and economic fields, facilitates rule of law, equality and fair competition. Free flow of information helps citizens articulate their informed political and economic choices. In democracy and governance discourse, information is described as ‘the oxygen of democracy.’ The logic is that if people do not know what is happening in their society, if the actions of those who rule them are hidden, then they cannot take a meaningful part in the affairs of that society. The president of Pakistan promulgated the Freedom of Information Ordinance on October 26, 2002 that came into force at once. Its manifested purpose is to provide for transparency and freedom of information to ensure that the citizens of Pakistan have improved access to public records to make the federal government more accountable to its citizens. The Local Government Ordinance 2001 also envisages that the meetings of District Council shall be open to public unless the council by resolution decides to hold any in-camera meeting. Similarly, the Tehsil Municipal Administration is supposed to seek approval of the Tehsil Council to the plans prepared after due process of information dissemination and public inquiry. Tehsil administration as per law is also required to maintain with the assistance of district government, union and village councils a comprehensive database and information system for Tehsil Municipal Administration and provide public access to it on nominal charges along with maintaining municipal records and archives. Through the Local Government Ordinance 2001, the Tehsil Municipal Administration has also been asked to assign or contract out any of its functions to any public-private, public or private organization only after inviting public objections. The functions of tehsil nazim envisage presentation of a performance report at least once in six  months. The law has provisions to collect and maintain statistical information at union level for socio-economic survey and asks to disseminate information on the matters of public interest. The law requires that Union Council will place a monthly and the annual accounts and other necessary statements at a conspicuous place for public information. Similar clause exists regarding information about the staffing and the performance of the office of a local government during the preceding month. The law also empowers the citizens to have access to information about any office of the district, tehsil and union administration on the prescribed forms on payment of fixed fees. Presently, these enabling provisions are not being used effectively. Perhaps, the government institutions have not divorced the mindset of secrecy and the citizens are also not adequately trained and capacitated to make use of these laws.

Political structure of libya in the past and its current challenges Research Paper

Political structure of libya in the past and its current challenges including the national transition council - Research Paper Example Unlike the protests in Tunisia and Egypt, Libyans took a different approach torching and demolishing government buildings from the outset. Within a few days, the protests had found their way to the capital Tripoli and other major cities especially in the north-west. A look at other Arab countries such as Tunisia and Egypt revealed an active participation of organized social movements, opposition parties and trade unions (Inbar 110). However, this was not the case in Libya, the long serving Libyan leader, Muammar Gaddafi, had actively suppressed these organized bodies which informed their inexistence. Initially, the actors of the uprising were unorganized young men who acted spontaneously and lacked the social interactive forums as was the case in other Arab countries (Panara and Gary 10). Furthermore, these young men could not be identified as representatives of the Libyan middle class as the Libyan private sector was comparatively weak. There were two main reasons that led to the de velopment of the uprisings into a revolution. The first reason was the regime’s violent response to the protests. Initially, the uprisings were isolated and the regime was keen on suppressing them before they reached unprecedented levels as was the case with most of Libya’s neighbors (Panara and Gary 10). ... The second development was the institution of NTC (National Transition Committee) in Benghazi in early March. NTC was largely made up of elitists who had defected from the regime and assumed leadership of the unorganized uprising with a promise of bringing down the regime (Inbar 110). The background of the Libyan revolt against ruler Muammar Gaddafi had little to do with the overall performance of the economy. The high prices of oil in the international markets had helped the Libyan economy prosper. Following Gaddafi’s decision in 2003 to give up weapons of mass destruction programs, Libya returned to the forefront of international investor attention. From that point, overall growth increased, reaching 10 percent in 2010. Libya’s estimated 2010 GDP was $71.336 billion, of which oil accounts for 98 percent (Inbar 111). Nevertheless, there was vast corruption and nepotism, at least one third of residents lived in poverty, the unemployment rate was 30 percent, and substant ial income gaps existed between rich and poor; all of this helped fuel the resistance to the Gaddafi regime. Political developments From the beginning, both the political leadership and the forces that shaped the revolution were diverse and disjointed. The NTC was largely made up of longstanding members of the exiled opposition and had also created room for Gaddafi loyalists turned dissidents such as General Abdel Fatta Younis. The NTC also played host to influential and aristocratic families who had been isolated by the Gaddafi regime. This diversity created a clear split of ideas on the way forward, some of these individuals fought for reforms, while others only fought for inclusion (MacQueen 378). This

Recruitment methods Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Recruitment methods - Coursework Example They would believe that their chances of getting the said job are minimal since there are a number of other applicants also trying for the same vacancy. Hence these two reasons suggest how a firm should always avoid the discussion of generating large applicant pools for a firm and must never emphasize on bringing together so many people at the same time. Its policy should be such that it asks very few people to fight for the same vacancy and then select the very best in the end. 2) What implication exists for recruitment methods? The recruitment methods depend a great deal on how the organization views the entire discussion of recruitment and selection, and what kinds of measures are adopted by the firm to get in success with the tasks of the firm in the long run. The implications come in because the firm wants to know whether or not these recruitment methods would bring in the success that has been envisaged by the human resource management domains and the people who are at the back end of such measures (Nelson, 1997). They want to be 100 percent sure that all their steps within the aegis of recruitment methods are taken care of and that they are able to hire the very best at the end. Also the reason for these recruitment methods to be taken seriously by the organization lies in the fact that it can have a good say within the related industry as per its recruitment and selection methods, and thus be taken as an organization that is on the right footing all said and done. The implications for the recruitment methods raise quite a few questions about the legitimacy of an organization to adopt them and hence gain an understanding into the ways and means through which success could be achieved within such recruitment ranks. References Nelson, J., 1997. The Boundaryless Organization: Implications for Job Analysis, Recruitment, and Selection. Human Resource Planning,

Mortgage markets Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Mortgage markets - Essay Example In general the beliefs of the people on the mortgage bonds may affected by the interest rate shock. The interest rate shock can be absorbed when the bonds are backed by Government. The size of the GSE mortgage portfolios coupled with discipline in the market helped by interconnectivity of the international financial institutions, led to the possibility of a result that is not precedent. These bonds can become liquid when the firms unwind their positions due to losses. The other firms loss will create liquidity in the illiquid GSEs. The trends that affect the mortgage market is the losses and gains in the international markets as they are interconnected.The danger of long term investment that rely on the presumption of liquidity are important for transparency. These help in disclosure also. The complexity is considered as enemy of stability in case of mortgage bonds. The confidence in hedging strategies may lead to complacency and produces the opposite effect in the absence of liquidi ty. Yet times it is considered that the complexity also helps in stability of mortgage bonds and capital markets. The paper focuses on the trends of the market and the complexity that can result in stability. The mortgage bonds would be more stable when the financial markets and the guarantee of liquidity depend on the risk management also. As a single firm is considered it can be termed as complex. There will be a division of labor in the case of interest rate risk management. The portfolios can be comprised with fixed rate mortgages as loans or mortgage backed securities. 2. Trends in Financial markets The markets of major equity have resumed growth in 2006 as regaining levels reached before May June correction. This trend is due to the healthy corporate balance sheets and robust earnings growth. The low default rates and investor sentiment has remained positive. These are capable of increasing tension in the markets due to the turbulence and somewhat increased levels of historical and implied volatility. Name Value Change 100 6,649.3 -15.2 250 11,797.5 -39.7 techMk 1,601.8 -1.4 All Sh 3,435.1 -18.8 Sm Cap 4,095.5 -14.5 The above statistical chart is obtained from http://www.moneyweek.com/file/14905/how-us-mortgage-debt-could-cause-a-global-financial-crisis.html The central banks of different countries have withdrawn liquidity and short term interest rates are raised. These have not been matched at the long end. In case of mortgage bond markets regarding corporate organizations the past turbulence may spread to the 2007 or declined. These spreads have a chance of spreading in 2007 and these should be maintained at low levels. The major corrections in the equity markets internationally spread fears of increasing inflation in the concerned countries. As the higher interest rates decreased growth and increased inflation all over the globe, this can be termed as turbulence or liquidity in the mortgage or bond markets. In 2006 some major markets dropped back to levels of 2005 and implied losses. Though there are losses the steep gains in the previous market neutralized the present ones. These results are recorded in Japan or in Euro area. In the second half of 2006 the euro area broad market index fell back to January 2006 levels. In the same per iod the broad market index of US is slightly less than 9 percent. After that the volatility of major indices increased and continued to rise. This is in spite of regaining in the markets. The volatility decreased after July and remained at previous correction levels. This indicates the increased uncertainty on the part of investors. As all the major indices have remained below the stock market volatility, the forward looking measure can corroborate the view

Human Rights Act 1998 6(3)(b) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Human Rights Act 1998 6(3)(b) - Essay Example This pigeonholing of information meant for the common people of a democratic country only serve to increase ambiguity about the nature and extent of their existence and most importantly the essential function they possess to help the citizen of the state. Statutory interpretation of Section 6 of the Act makes the understanding of two types of "public authority" seemingly quite clear-cut within the sphere of judicial classification. Obvious public authorities, private authorities that act publicly and as per section 6 (3)(a), those bodies who may be part of any court or tribunal2. Thus Public Authority stands precariously at a very sharp contrast to the given fundamental rights under the British Constitution Law. Briefly, the 6(3)(b) may be seen as one of those restrictive clauses that seek to curb those given rights under imposing specifications that though clarify their function of being exhaustive to their cause, is nonetheless oppressive to universal ideology of the Human Rights. Thus the actual impacts of exercise of such rights are important to the present condition, which shall indicate where our future is headed. Hermeneutics of law is an important step towards grasping the closest interpretation of an evolving constitution that exist side by side to so many case law challenges. To accommodate international or rather European Convention of Rights' incorporating Human Rights law nationally the British Constitution must also revise its fundamental problems of laws full of gaps. The Leonard Cheshire3 case successfully brought forth new interpretation and classification of bodies of 'pure' public authorities. These fell outside the scope and target of the Act since the court had narrowed the whole idea of the 'public authority' for the specific category of section 6(3)(b). The case centered on a home care foundation called the Leonard Cheshire Foundation was unable to fight for the fundamental rights called voicing out. They were thus met with a lot of resistance when they tried to fight against the decision that directed closure of the home thereby leaving the residents free to go wherever they will. This act of closure was problematic to the residents since under the Human Rights Act 1998 the home was being subjected to disrespect by them and the major issue got tied up with finding an apt definition for Leonard Cheshire, which ultimately was declared a non public authority and thus it changed the way human rights act was applicable in its context anymore. The event is familiar to all, but the act requires us to think a step further about the case of fundamental rights being held at variable contexts and thereby being subject to being called null and void when it acted in favor of the residents by helping them find placements too. Similar was the case of Johnson v. London Borough of Havering in 2007 when the Court of Appeal made decision of another care home being governed by the local authority. The transfer from them to another private sector was proposed which brought alarming issues of human rights act and its legitimacy or applicability under the private sector. Hum an rights act enjoyed under the governmental concern would invariably lead to a confusing turn of being loosened and ultimately becoming in effective in the future. Thus under the private sector the public and the private would not be a separate domain at all and be under the constant threat of being violated without any fixed line drawn legally to act in favor of its citizens.

American Government Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

American Government - Research Paper Example Lynda (2000) asserts that, politicians use newspapers, television, radio, and the internet in seeking support from voters and influencing public opinions. Television in America has been entwined with every political process, ranging from coverage of key political events and organizations to effects on political campaigns and elections. Currently political advertising in America is the main form of communication between voters and candidates. Election candidates use television spots and television debates to sell their policies to the electorate (Richard, 1998). Through television, candidates are able to defend themselves against false accusations, for example, corruption charges. Also, television exposes the conduct of various candidates, thus enabling the public to access this information. Television acts as a public watchdog on government activities; television keeps an eye on the governing process and government institutions. Coverage of political processes on television has a more impact on political campaigns and elections as compared to other political processes. Most Americans relies on television news, television debates, and television spots to obtain information about politics. Through coverage of political processes on television, candidates are able to enhance, sell, and influence the views of their policies (Lynda, 2000). On the other hand, voters are able to analyze policies of various candidates thereby influencing on the outcome of the election (Lynda, 2000). The following are the reasons of using television spots in political advertising. First, spots overcome partisan selectivity; the spots are usually seen by all voters regardless of their parties. Second, electorate learns more about political issues from television spots than from television debates and news. Third, an election candidate and his/her campaign team directly control the content of the television spots. Fourth, television spots can reach a much

Positive relationship between the current best practices of nonprofits Dissertation

Positive relationship between the current best practices of nonprofits and the Eclectic Paradigm - Dissertation Example The research questionnaire therefore contained questions that asked the respondents to give their opinion on the importance of OLI factors and to elaborate if their organization used these factors for developing a sustainable business model of non-profit. 4.2.1 Ownership (O): Brand Awareness, Proprietary Relationships and Exclusive Relationships The ownership factors include the capacity of the organization to develop a powerful brand, and its ability to replicate its best practices intra-organizationally across different departments or business units. The replication of the best practices is studied through proprietary and exclusive relationships. Table 1a: Regression Statistics Ownership (O) SUMMARY OUTPUT Regression Statistics Multiple R 1 R Square 1 Adjusted R Square 65535 Standard Error 0 Observations 3 Table 1b: ANOVA Ownership Attributes    df SS MS Significance F Regression 4 16.7086 4.17715 3.3 Residual 0 0 65535 Total 4 16.7086          Coefficients Standard Error t Stat Lower 95% Upper 95% Lower 95.0% Upper 95.0% Intercept 0 X Variable 1 0.2375 0 65535 0.2375 0.2375 0.2375 0.2375 X Variable 2 0.3825 0 65535 0.3825 0.3825 0.3825 0.3825 X Variable 3 0.5225 0 65535 0.5225 0.5225 0.5225 0.5225 X Variable 4 0 0 65535 0 0 0 0 Figure 1a: Importance of Brand Awareness, Proprietary Relationship and Exclusive Relationships The above presented regression analysis and the scatter plot in the figure highlight the fact that to become a successful organization, Brand Awareness & Proprietary Relationship must be higher as attribute of the company. The results being from 70 respondents from the sample of 25 non-profit organizations indicate that there is a consensus on building non-profit organization on the basis of sound marketing strategies that involve developing a brand name that is recognizable and has credibility. As was seen in the literature review, there is an enhanced competition between non-profit and charitable organizations to obtain both corpor ate and governmental funding and to attract human resources (Buckley and Casson, 200). Having a brand image and recall among the community as well as having a reputation of excellence lead the non-profit organizations creating a distinct identity and recall for the people (Madhok and Phene, 2001). The need to have a powerful brand is found to have increased in the past few years especially post the global financial crisis. The global crisis led to budgetary cuts for corporates and adversely impacted on their funding of non-profit organizations cut back their initiatives related to corporate social responsibility (Cole, Lee and McCullough, 2007). On the other hand, the tightening of public spending also led to a general attitude of saving and insecurity, making less funds available from individual or private donations (De Rosa, 2009). Under these conditions it became even more challenging for non-profit organizations to remain sustainable and viable and to keep their operations intac t. An eclectic paradigm was therefore the most viable option which including building brand awareness and developing exclusive long term relationships that can sustain the non-profit organizations over similar periods of economic slowdown (Franklin, 2011). The research questionnaire also requested the respondents to elaborate on their answers regarding why they think that brand awareness, proprietary relationships and exclusive relationships is or is not important for their non-profit organizations. However, as seen by the following chart, a very small number of the respondents took the initiative to give detailed information regarding

Racial Relations in the U.S Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Racial Relations in the U.S - Essay Example Another thing that became a major hindrance in the community is racial abuse. Racial abuse has resulted in diversified and serious effects on adolescents and adults. The effects of racial harassment have long-standing issues and may stretch through out the life span. Short term or long term bullying tend to have serious mental difficulties on adults. Adults who continue to bully get into serious troubles and commit crimes like, marital violence, child abuse etc. It also affects the cordial relationship between the family members and friends. Though inequalities still exists, it doesn't mean that there shouldn't be any racial and ethnical categorization. In the present world scenario utmost importance is given to human rights. Under United Nations resolution human rights to every citizen of every country should be considered as an important factor. It's every country's responsibility to protect its citizen's basic human rights. Human rights violation should be considered as a serious offence, legal and appropriate action should be taken against those who violate these rights Assessing student's abilities and disabilities is the major factor and teachers should strive to identify these issues. By identifying their strengths and weaknesses one can easily work on these issues. Self-confidence plays an important role in everyone's lives. It is the deciding factor that decides a winner and a loser. In US the Blacks are the largest immigrants. They migrated from the far lands of the black continent Africa. In the past, since these countries were not as developed as US and their socio-economic structure was on decline, many of the citizens were forced to work as slaves and have to migrate to US. In US, Black immigrants have less education and less skill set, even among Black women also. Apart from other groups these Blacks have less human capital, so they have very less employers in their group and it is indirectly affecting their economic status and social environment also. Gender inequality was always prevailed among the Blacks. Since they were not the major community and further more they were immigrants, they had to face the brunt of racial abuse. One of the reasons of racial abuse was, fear among the US citizens was losing the jobs to these immigrants. Since the Blacks were ready to work for fewer wages there always lies the danger of losing jobs. Most of the Blacks were more or less unskilled or semi-skilled. This makes them of losing jobs very often. This brings more responsibilities on average Black women. Now she has to work outside to meet the daily requirements and look after the family. Journal 2 Bullying and racial harassment were the most dreaded things that most of the blacks and their children experienced in the pre and post civil war. The major reasons to start bullying and racial abusing depends on the characters surrounding the respective environment (like parents, neighbors, etc.,), children will face the immediate effect since they are the immediate guardians to the children, if not this parents or teachers at school whoever are close to the children with respect to time get to influence them. Human beings develop or grow by observing the surroundings and so they are called as social animals. The madness of depression is the antithesis of violence. It is a storm indeed, but a storm of murk. Soon evident are the slowed-down responses, near

Vanishing (Disappearing) Middle Class in U.S.A Essay

Vanishing (Disappearing) Middle Class in U.S.A - Essay Example According to the research, the shift is being attributed to a fall in wages and job market that is slowly weakening. In a new report that was published by Autor (2010), the work force in the U.S.A is rapidly splitting into two main categories, the high paying jobs and the corresponding low paying jobs. In this regard, it can be noticed that demographics about the middle income earners is missing. The effect of the disappearing middle class is taking a toll on America’s young men who are turning out to be potential employees. This situation simply means that irrespective of the field which they would want to join, they have to increase their educational levels to secure employment chances. Having high school qualification alone may not be enough to warrant a good job unlike in the past. Despite of the many disadvantages that have been associated with this trend, there is a group of people who seem to have benefited. Advanced degree holders have been having gains in the job opportunities available. This is just for the fact that job opportunities have remained a preserve of the highly educated or the low class. For this reason, the few that have gained employment in this season have benefitted from the better remunerations associated with the jobs (Wessel, 2011). One of the key culprits for this alarming development is technology. It has been witnessed that knowledge and skills exhibited by the middle class group are fast becoming irrelevant or obsolete with respect to industry needs. The introduction of computer and robot technology has meant that clerical works in companies and assembly line productions can be done by few people who have the required knowledge to run the machines (Price, 2010). Introduction of computer technology has led to a sharp reduction in the amount of human capital in companies. The jobs that have been left available are only those requiring low education, something that has led to an increase in the low

Videogame magazine Essay Example for Free

Videogame magazine Essay Magazines and newspapers have two of the most attained markets for articles and short storywriters keen to see there work in print. Magazines have a significant influence on individuals and the culture in which they live. Magazines are a very wide and fragmented media. They cater for a mass or niche audience. There can be hybrid magazines which contain a mixture of genres. Magazines nowadays have colour covers, are generally glossy and are published either weekly, fortnightly, monthly are quarterly. The word magazine was first used to describe something miscellaneous meaning a collection of different kinds of articles. Many early magazines were barely distinguishable from newspapers. Nowadays Computer technology has made redundant the old methods of magazine publishing. Both womens and mens magazines obviously define their audience in gender terms and today there are many magazines is which are suited and targeted for them. There are many types of magazines for all age groups especially teenagers as the magazine editor knows that teenagers have more disposable income than any other age group. Magazines also appeal to social economic groups. A new magazine tends to try and stand out and will target a rare different audience that has not been targeted usually. Magazines have to compete with each other in order to attract their target audiences. There are over 7000 magazines on the market in Britain. Gender is a key issue when discussing representation. Repeated representations can often lead to stereotypes which can then lead to ideology. Stereotypes are narrow representations that are repeated over again. Representations can change over time. Today feminists are creating alternative representations of woman which are challenging the dominant ideology of women. Media images never present the real world. Many objects are represented by the media as being particularly masculine or feminine- especially in advertising. The type of magazine affects the representation of gender presented in the magazine. The stereotypical view of gender in magazines is that women are still under-represented in parliament, business and politics. There is still inequality in pay and status of women. Women are still represented according to cultural stereotypes. Men are often represented in situations of authority and control over women. An example of this is of film and television voiceovers that tend to mostly be male voiceovers rather then female telling a story or being the narrator, also magazine editors tend to be male rather than female. Positive representations of Men are that they are often seen as athletic or math and science oriented such as being a scientist whereas women just consume. The negative representation of men and teenage boys is that they are aggressive, tend to be insensitive, verbally loud and messy at times and only interested in sports and videogames. The positive representation of women and teenage girls is that they are angelic, punctual, quiet, neat, clean, and supportive. A good example of this is that Men commit more crimes than women. The negative representation of women and teenage girls is that they are submissive, emotional and clumsy and have to be attracted to fashion and gossip. . Women are represented negatively as sexual objects and are fragmented because of their looks and physique. However due to the environmental factors of gender you will see a few girls that have an interest in videogames and sport, and a minority of boys that have an interest in fashion and gossip; this will depend on the way that the person was raised. Media Institutions use many types of ways to promote and advertise their products. Advertising is essential to magazines although most magazines aim to make a profit from both advertising and the cover price. Every magazine will have a majority of advertisements which could consist of one-third of the magazine. Advertisements make up the majority of revenue that the magazine gets. Magazines are dependent upon advertising in order to survive. Advertising is not just about selling a product; it also promotes images and life styles. It also shows us a world (which is regarded as perfect) where the products are needed wanted and used. Because the images we see in magazines are so desirable it is easy to forget that the world presented to us is not real. Adverts sell a brand image as well as a product. A brand image offers o form of guarantee and a set of ready made values with the product that you buy. Most modern advertising deals with enhancing the image of a brand rather than promoting the benefits of the brand. Advertising also informs and draws attention to the availability of certain services. Cosmetic adverts in fashion magazines play along on womans fears and anxieties. Women are the major consumers in society therefore you see many adverts with them. When targeting women in advertising they use sexuality and stereotypes. Advertisements create both implicit and explicit messages of meaning. An implicit message is a message that is not directly expressed to the audience. An explicit message is a message which is directly expressed to the audience. Magazines aim to sell to as many people as possible and they will usually target a group large enough to make a profit, but specific enough to be distinctive. Magazines for young men do include stereotypical images of both men and women. They depict a fearless, competitive masculinity, ignoring the emotional, sensitive male, and women are depicted as sex objects for mens enjoyment. People can look at the front cover of a magazine and immediately know what genre it is. Front covers of magazines need to be appealing to its intended target audience and are essential in promoting the magazine. In order to do this there needs to be image that will get noticed. That image needs to be relevant to whats inside the magazine and it has to be conventionally attractive; meaning picture perfect. For example if the magazine was an fashion magazine there will normally be an dominant image on the front cover of an celebrity or an actor that is well respected, good-looking and an ideal role-model for the target audience of the magazine. The same will occur in a videogame magazine where there will be a dominant image of a famous footballer promoting a football game or a male-oriented figure that is conventionally attractive and is seen as a role model or that the magazines intended target audience can aspire to. Womens magazines were run by men for the consumption of women in the early days. Today the majority of magazine editors and writers are now women. Local magazines targeted to a community tend to have more stories about womens achievements and experiences than any other magazines. Contemporary magazines targeted to women have moved on from its historical backgrounds. Nowadays womens magazines offer visions of feminism that involves independence and confidence towards women. However in a majority of magazines women are encouraged to look good in order to attract men and male audiences I am going to analyse two magazines to help me discover what the stereotypical view of gender is in two different types of magazines. The two magazines that I have chosen are Marie Claire (a fashion magazine, which targets females aged 16 and over) and Playstation 2 UK (a videogame magazine, which is targeted to males aged 16 and over). On the title page of the Marie Claire magazine there is a 1 iconic dominant image of a conventionally attractive women actress Scarlett Johansson. This image will attract women as Scarlett Johansson is well-respected and is seen as a role-model for women. This image can be a symbol of independence as Scarlett is not put on the front cover to be objectified. She is dressed respectively and she is not half-naked for sexual fragmentation. The image may attract men readers for her beauty and sexuality. There is a grey background with little gradient behind the dominant image of the actress. This makes the image of Scarlett Johansson stand out and get noticed by readers. The title of the magazine Marie Claire is printed in bright orange small case letters. So that it can be seen from the grey background and it is in a light female-oriented colour. The front cover consists of 2 colour texts white and orange. Again brightly lit colours used to catch readers eye and also suggests female content. Whereas on the title page of the Playstation 2 UK magazine there are two dominant images of two famous footballers; the two footballers (Wayne Rooney and Ronaldinho) are promoting the videogame FIFA 2006 and appear to be in god-like light colour suggesting the game is holy and has a special prophecy.

The Electoral College

The Electoral College The United States has a system which is use to elect an American president that lasted for over two hundred years, although this system did not stay up to date especially the Electoral College. The Electoral College is one of the most significant political systems ever created in the United States, this system determines who will become the president, and runs on a winner-take-all system. For the reasons of it creating complications in the election process, it decreasing the chance of a third party existing, and lowering public opinion, it should be abolished since its clearly an unfair system. The Electoral College was framed during the Constitutional Convention by the Founding Fathers, as they attempted to create a system that would resolve the United States problem during that time. Several ideas were encountered such as; Congress being the one responsible for choosing the President, State legislatures being responsible for it, the idea to choose a President through popular vote, and finally, they came up with College of Electors. There were two designs of the Electoral College the first one was not that successful because it was not supposed to work with political parties and national campaigns. So then as the political parties had parties had emerged the design had to adapt, this was the catalyst of the two party system era. The Electoral College runs in a system of Winner takes- all where the candidate with the majority vote receives all the votes for that particular state. The Electoral College does have some exception such as Nebraska and Maine, these two states are under the proportional representation which is the basic principles underlying proportional representation elections are that all voters deserve representation and that all political groups in society deserve to be represented in our legislatures in proportion to their strength in the electorate (www.mtholyoke.edu). And to illustrate the difference of the two. Lets say that a certain party wins 15% of the national vote but have no seats in individual elections. Under the winner take all system earns any seat in the legislature, while in the proportional representation that party 15% of the seats. Voting privileges in the District of Columbia differ from the ones in the 50 states of the United States, it being the capital of the U.S. it is not viewed as a state but a special federal district, this revoked its privilege to have a voting representation until the 23rd amendment which states Th e District constituting the seat of Government of the United States shall appoint in such manner as the Congress. Although D.C. is represented by a delegate in the United States House of Representation. There are some advantages and disadvantages of having the feature of the winner-takes-all system. Some of the advantages are to earn votes by persuading the majority of a state to have the same political perspective as the candidate. For example, California is considered to be a democratic state due to the majority of the people who live there being Democrat. Als, the Electoral College promotes centrism and discourages extremism to appeal a wide enough cut of the electorates, and this system also promote political stability which often results to economic growth. Several flaws are the controversies between the Electoral College and the Popular system (implying to the Gore v. Bush court case); it is difficult to have or even create a third party, because Third Parties usually end up being scavenged and absorb by the two major parties such as the Democrats and Republicans. The complication that the Electoral College contains is its exceptions to having a single proper voting system suc h as winner-take-all. During the time that the Electoral College was created there really wasnt a base government to compare with, making it difficult to face and find its own solutions. And the fact that this system encourages a two party system which discourages cooperation due to coalition and disagreements. During the election of the year two thousands the United States had two candidates that were running for the presidency, Albert Gore, Jr. and George W. Bush. This election is salient among the others because it revealed several complications about the Electoral College system. In this presidential candidate Al Gore had 266 Electoral votes and 50,992,335 popular votes, while George W. Bush had 271 Electoral votes and 50,455,156 popular votes. This election was a close call but George W. Bush ended up winning because of the court case Gore v. Bush. Due to Florida not having a statewide standard that each county board could use to determine whether a given ballot was a legal vote, George W. Bush argued that the recounts had violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Why does the Electoral College still exist? Despite its mockery to the views of freedom and the power to vote, the Electoral College has remain because of several reasons which are; it having a surprising amount of followers which is unlikely to assume but over a third of the country actually support this system, in belief of it having a cohesiveness of the country, enhances minority issues, contributes to the stability of encouraging a two party system. it has also been the reason why our elections are still active. The Electoral College was really unique considering the fact that it did not have a similar political base when it was founded. The question of The Electoral College whether to stay or not is very debatable, but most context leans on it not being so stabled for future generations. The popular vote system is an ideal system for democracy because it will then actually apply peoples power, also this will promote the idea of one popular vote does matter, this was originally rejected and was over ruled by the Electoral College mainly because of the 3/5 clause, this wouldve affected the South devastatingly and couldve made them a minority. The Electoral College greatly affects American society, this system has been a tradition to American society, and people look forward to this event every four years, if compared with the Olympics it would be similar most Americans look forward for this because its the time for them to have a political reconciliation, and realize what they need and what will benefit them. The United States government has evolved around the elements of pluralism and individualism. The election occurs every fourth years each American that has the eligibility to vote may cast their vote for an elector, who pledge to vote for a certain party. The Electoral College functions with 538 electors and a majority of 270 votes required on electing a President, it consist of two systems the winner-take-all and proportional representation. Each representatives used for the two systems are determined using the popular vote system. This system isnt perfect due to its complications listed above; this system mainly res ulted in dividing the United States government, and because of that it promotes the idea of votes for Third parties often go to waste. This system is not that productive due to disagreements, because not everyone will follow your perspective. In conclusion the question of whether the Electoral College system must remain or not comes up. And a clear answer would be no, it shouldnt be allowed to continue. The Electoral College is a system that at some point may have been effective and necessary but not anymore. This must be abolished considering the fact that it takes away the actual power of the people and the thought of the importance of their power to vote. Work Cited Gehard, Peters The American Presidency Project 2000-2012 George C. Edwards III/Martin P. Government in America textbook/tenth Edition/ by Wattenberg/ Robert L. Lineberry 2012, National Cable Satelite Corporation 1995-2010, Craig Walenta The Proceedings of the Electoral Commission of 1877

Analysis of Singapores Intellectual Property Laws

Analysis of Singapores Intellectual Property Laws The Issue of Intellectual Property Protection From the previous assignment, we have look into the cases involving McDonald Corporation and Future Enterprise PTE LTD, we have also introduced the basic intellectual property laws and how they are inter-related to one another. In this assignment, we will analyze the Singapore Laws that is related to the cases involved, and then we will provide recommendation to give our client a better idea of the rules and regulations they should abide. Summary of the cases McDonald Corporation and Future Enterprise PTE LTD, core-operating unit of Food Empire Holding Limited, are involved in two law cases during the period of 2003 to 2007. McDonald lost the first case in 2003 as the mark used by Future Enterprise is visually different from McDonald Corporation. Furthermore, Future Enterprise has its eagle device while McDonald Corporation has its golden archer. Therefore, the color scheme, font, and typeface on the mark of the Future Enterprise is very different from the one used by McDonald Corporation. McDonald Corporation sued Future Enterprise again in 2005 for amending the logo of MacCoffee by dropping the eagle device. McDonald Corporation has won this court case against Future Enterprise as there is a higher chance of confusion that will occur in the public and both products names are relate to coffee beverages. Both cases mentioned above are inter-related with each other as both cases involved the Intellectual Property Law of Trade Mark Act (TMA) where s15 of the TMA is highly emphasized. In the midst of both cases, both McDonald Corporation and Future Enterprise have made various appeals to the cases and this shows that both companies have the great intention and desires to protect their own trademarks. The connection between both cases shows that McDonald wanted to monopolize their trademark as far as food and beverages were concerned. Future Enterprise which also wanted to conserve its right of the prefix Mac in the same industry tried its best to maintain its position. Description and Analyze of the Singapore Law Involved In the case study, the Singapore Law that involved is mainly the Trademark and Passing off laws under the Intellectual Property Law. The laws involved can be classified into two main categories of Common Law and Statute Law. Statute Law Involved: (Refer to appendices Section A, A: 1 for definition of Statute Law) The Statute Laws that are applicable in the following case are Section 12(1), Section 15 and Section 23(1) of the Trade Marks Act (Cap 332, 1992 Rev Ed). Below are the descriptions of the different section of laws involved and the reasons why it is involved: Section 12(1): Any person claiming to be the proprietor of a trade mark used or proposed to be used by him who is desirous of registering it shall apply in writing to the Registrar in the prescribed manner for registration in Part A or B of the register. Reason: McDonald Corporation claims that Future Enterprises marks were not made in good faith as it has adopted a naming convention of using the prefix Mac follows by a food or beverage descriptive. This is similar to McDonald Corporation naming convention for their products, which McDonald Corporation feels that Future Enterprise is making use of similar naming convention to promote their products. Section 15: It shall not be lawful to register as a trade mark or part of a trade mark any matter the use of which would, by reason of its being likely to deceive or cause confusion or otherwise, be disentitled to protection in a court of justice, or would be contrary to law or morality, or any scandalous design. Reason: McDonald Corporation claims that the naming convention and the using of the prefix Mac adopted by Future Enterprise would likely to deceive or cause confusion among the public. McDonald Corporation feels that the consumers may be misled thinking that Future Enterprises mark is a series of mark belonging to McDonald Corporation. Section 23(1): Except as provided by section 25, no trade mark shall be registered in respect of any goods or description of goods that is identical with or nearly resembles a trade mark belonging to a different proprietor and already on the register in respect of: The same goods; The same description of goods; or Services or a description of services, which are associated with those goods or goods of that description. Reason: McDonald Corporation claims that Future Enterprises mark is identical and has a near resembled to their trademark. McDonald Corporation also claims that Future Enterprises marks are associated with their goods in respect of restaurant and catering services as McDonald Corporation regards Food and Beverages is associated with hotel or restaurant service. Common Law Involved: (Refer to appendices Section A, A: 2 for definition of Common Law) There are quite a number of Common Laws involved in our case study, we will look into the major cases that are referred to in corresponding to the different sections of Trade Mark Act that are involved. (Refer to appendices Section A, A: 3 for other cases referred (Common Laws)) Case refers corresponding to Section 12: (Refer to appendices Section A, A: 4 for the summary of the case) Tiffany Co v Fabriques de Tabac Reunies SA [1999] 3 SLR 147 (folld) McDonald Corporation referred to the mentioned case as a support to enhance the claim that Future Enterprises mark is not made in good faith, claiming that Future Enterprise was making use of the prefix Mac to promote their products to the public through the association to McDonald Corporation. Case refers corresponding to Section 15: (Refer to appendices Section A, A: 4 for the summary of the case) McDonalds Corporation v McBagels Inc (85 Civ 7868, 10 December 1986) (refd) McDonald Corporation referred to the mentioned case as a support to enhance the claim that using the prefix Mc or Mac as a naming convention will result confusion in the public to think that Future Enterprises products that has the name mark of Mac is associated to McDonald. Dispute and Resolution Mechanism: Singapore has its own hierarchy of Courts when dealing with Criminal and Civil Law. (Refer to appendices Section A, A: 5 for the diagram of Singapores hierarchy of Courts) Singapore Law system is very strict and serious to trade mark offences, it has imposed a fine of up to $100,000 and/or imprisonment for a maximum term of 5 years for criminal liability in infringement act. For civil infringement, the court can award statutory damages of up to $1million. Usually, the High Court in the hierarchy of Singapore Court system will deal with intellectual property disputes and infringement. Referring to the Case Study, the case is dealt in High Court but due to appeal, the case is later brought into the Court of Appeal in resolving the case. Laws and their relevancy to the case Relevant laws and their application: Under s12(1) of the Act that the respondents claim to proprietorship of the three marks was not made in good faith as it had copied the common distinctive prefix of the appellants family of marks, namely, Mc; Under s15 of the Act that the registration of the three marks would likely deceive or cause confusion to the public; and Under s23(1) of the Act that the application marks were identical with or nearly resembled the trade marks belonging to the appellant. Fairness and unfairness: First case: (Refer to appendices Section B, B: 1 for Scenario of first case) It was decided in the first case that McDonald was unable to stop Future Enterprise form producing their products due to infringements of trademarks. I believed that the decision was fair as many evidence was provided to prove that Future Enterprise had made an effort to make their products distinctive to prevent confusion to the public. The evidence, from the article says that the products Future Enterprise produced were packaged with an eagle logo and it was sold mainly at NTUC FairPrice and Mustafa supermarkets in Singapore. This evidence enhances the point that Future Enterprise and McDonald were selling products targeted at different audiences from different markets. Furthermore, the article also showed that Future Enterprise has had its own product logos and color schemes different from McDonald. This point further showed that the marks were different whether it is in the aspects of appearance, sound or concept. Thus, it proves that customers/consumers had more ways to differentiate between the products of these 2 organizations, which further enhance the fairness of the judgment for this case. Last but not least, McDonald further protested that it had spent millions of dollars to create goodwill for it Mc series of marks, but evidence showed from the article says that Future Enterprise had also spent substantial time and resources in order to gain recognition from global market leaders. Therefore, it is fair to say that Future Enterprise did not cause loss whether in goodwill or financial damages, thus I think it is fair to say that fair judgment were made in this case. Second case: (Refer to appendices Section B, B: 2 for Scenario of second case) In the second case, Future Enterprise was brought up to court by McDonald again as they wanted to update their product design by dropping off their eagle logo. McDonald felt that their marks and naming conventions would be relatively similar which could cause confusion if Future Enterprise were to take out the distinctive eagle logo. Evidence from the article says that the two names sounded and looked too alike, and a substantial amount of average Singaporean would be confused with these two products. And also, the concept too was proved to be similar whether it is the products they are selling or the locations that they are selling the products. But, in our own opinion, we felt that there was unfairness presented in this judgment. In the first Court case between McDonald and Future Enterprise, it was judged that there were too many differences between McDonald and Future Enterprise whether it is in their logo, the products they sells or the audience they targeted. Thus, MacCoffee was able to be registered as a trademark and McDonalds appeal were dismissed. Yet, in the second court case, Future Enterprise loses the chance for its MacCoffee to be registered as a trademark name as they decided to drop their distinctive eagle logo. The first case stated that there were unanimous decisions in believing that products from Future Enterprise were not similar, whether in visual, sounds or concept, in comparison with products from McDonald. And also, evidence from the first case stated that the audience they targeted was remarkably different and the products they sold were also different. The judgment of the second case said that their marks were too similar and it would cause confusion after they drop the eagle logo. The appeals were dismissed with $10,000 payment made from Future Enterprise to McDonald. We felt that this judgment were unfair as there were contradictions which existed within this two cases. The products they sold were relatively different, ready-to-drink beverages from McCafe, and 3-in-1 coffee mix from MacCoffee. This presented a huge contrast between the products sold by the 2 organizations. Also, since it was decided in the first court case that the logos, type font, color schemes and targeted audiences were different for products of this 2 organizations, it should be brought up in the second case too in order to ensure fairness in this case. Thus they should take it into consideration of all these differences in the second court case rather than just concentrating on the similarities caused by the removed logos. Steps to further protect intellectual property rights For McDonald Corporation: Increase the monopolization of the prefix Mc into other service area that their business might want to expand into or have influence on. This is because the use of Mc is only subjected to McDonald in hotel and restaurant service and they might consider the use of this prefix into other service area thus, McDonald can maintain the rights of this prefix in other areas and future companies wont make use of the prefix in the same service area. For Food Empire Holdings: Food Empire Holdings could distinguish itself to McDonalds on the MacCoffee and McCafe by using back their earlier registered mark which appears below an eagle device, on its coffee products. This eagle device can play a part in determining whether the application mark is the same as McDonalds. (Refer to appendices Section B, B: 1 for the picture of Food Empire packaging) Recommendation As a consultant engaged by a big advertising company Do-It-Right Limited, we are responsible to report on the state of intellectual property protection in Singapore and to generally advise them whether there is an inherent and prevailing culture that respects other persons intellectual property rights. Thus, to start with it, we will recommend Do-It-Right Limited Company to advice their multinational clients to understand their own country intellectual property laws and the procedures of registering the trademark. In Singapore Intellectual Property Law, it is categorized into 6 main areas of: Copyright and Neighboring Rights, Industrial Designs, Patents, Confidential Information/Trade Secrets, Trade Marks and Passing Off. These are the 6 main areas under that Intellectual Property Law where the client ought to have a general knowledge of as understanding the laws in each area will be able to help clients to know the ways or methods to safeguard their intellectual properties by knowing which the areas of laws they should look into. To further protect clients intellectual property rights, it is a best advice for client to register their product. For Example: If an organization know that their property or design can be register under the Trademark protection, it is best to register in order to be under law of protection instead of limited protection. This is to ensure when an issue arise of a rival company copying the organization product or design. Organization in this case can use passing off law to protect their rights but this will result them to have limit law of protection if they fail to register their product design. Moreover, Trademark Law offer a great degree of protection comparing to Passing Off Law as Passing off Law require the breaching of Goodwill, Misrepresentations and Damage in order for the Law to take into consideration or effect. Thus in conclusion, it is important for Client to register their product or design under the Intellectual Property Law of protection to have more coverage of protection Lastly, we will also advice them to research on their competitors logo and name to avoid any misinterpretation and misunderstand of their own logo and name to their competitors. It is strongly recommended to use a unique and distinct design for their logo and name, which will lessen the chances of their competitors imitating their name and logo. Conclusion Through our case study on Mc Donald Corporation and Future Enterprise, we have a deep understanding about Intellectual Property Law in Singapore and how it can truly save guard our own personal property. We are also able to analyze the cases and discuss whether the Singapore Courts had made a right judgment. We had gained knowledge of Singapore Courts dealing with cases that involved the Intellectual Property Rights and know the importance of Intellectual Property that under the coverage of law to protect the important asset of an organization. References 1McDonalds Corp v Future Enterprises Pte Ltd 2Food Empire Holdings Ltd 3 McDonalds Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 4 Welcome to McDonalds 5 McDonalds Singapore 6 Singapore Intellectual Property Law#section5 7 Trademark Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 8 Passing off Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 9 McDonalds Corp v Future Enterprises Pte Ltd 10 Rules of Court Appendices Extra Information Section A: A: 1 Statute Law Statue Law is written law that is created by governing authority like the parliament in the form of legislation to state out the civil order of the country and to implement and clarify the policies and operations of the government. Statute Law is also the law that state the consequences or punishments for committing a certain criminal or civil crime such as the Trademark Act or Passing off Act; new law can be introduced and existing law can be taken away in order to accommodate to the nation. A: 2 Common Law Common Law is unstated or unwritten law that is created by judges through court decisions. The decisions made by the judges on current case will depend on the decisions made in similar previous cases that took place. In other word, similar infringements and disputes, that have taken place in previous cases, will result the current case to follow the decisions and reasoning that being used. Common Law system is complicated, as the de cisions made in previous cases will affect the law in future cases and is totally distinguish from Statute Law. Moreover, the decisions made are bounded within a limited given jurisdiction. E.g. Decisions made in higher court such as Court of Appeal will affect the decisions in lower court. A: 3 Case(s) referred to (Common Law): Australian Woollen Mills Limited v F S Walton and Company Limited [1937] 58 CLR 641 (refd) Auvi Pte Ltd v Seah Siew Tee [1992] 1 SLR 639 (folld) Bali Trade Mark [1969] RPC 472 (refd) Beck Koller Company (England) Limited, In the Matter of an Application by [1947] 64 RPC 76 (fold) Brown Shoe Company Inc, Application by [1959] RPC 29 (folld) Carnival Cruise Lines Inc v Sitmar Cruises Ltd [1994] 120 ALR 495 (folld) Compatibility Research Ltd v Computer Psyche Company Ltd [1967] FSR 63 (refd) Future enterprise Pte Ltd v Tong Seng Produce Pte Ltd [1998] 1 SLR 1012 (refd) Genette Trade Mark [1968] RPC 148 (folld) Harrods Limited v Harrodian School Limited [1996] RPC 697 (refd) Karu Pty Ltd v Jose [1994] 30 IPR 407 (folld) Kellogg Co v Pacific Food Products Sdn Bhd [1999] 2 SLR 651 (folld) Lever Brothers Ltd v Bedingfield [1899] 16 RPC 3 (folld) Lifestyle 1.99 Pte Ltd v S$1.99 Pte Ltd [2000] 2 SLR 766 (folld) McDonalds Corporation v McBagels Inc (85 Civ 7868, 10 December 1986) (refd) McIndians, In the matter of an application to register the mark (UK Patent Office 16 August 1996)(refd) McMint, Opposition by McDonalds Corporation to the registration of the trademark (Australian Trade Mark Office, 7 November 1997) (folld) McSalad and McFresh, Opposition by McDonalds Corporation to the registration of the trademark (Australian Trade Mark Office, 1 May 2000) (not folld) McVeg, Opposition by McDonalds Corporation to the registration of the trademark (Australian Trade Mark Office, 10 November 1997) (folld) PB Foods Ltd v Malanda DairyFoods Ltd (1999) 47 IPR 47 (distd) Pianotist Company, In the Matter of an Application by (1906) 23 RPC 774 (folld) SEMIGRES Trade Mark [1979] RPC 330 (folld) Shell Co of Australia Ltd v Esso Standard Oil (Australia) Ltd (1963) 109 CLR 407 (folld) Shell Co of Australian Ltd v Rohm Haas Co (1949) 78 CLR 601 (refd) Smith, Hayden Coy Ld, In the Matter of an Application by (1946) 63 RPC 97 (refd) Soldan Holding + Bonbonspezialitaeten GmbH, Re Application by (Singapore Trade Marks Registry, 20 July 2001) (refd) Sports Cafà © Ltd b Registrar of Trade Marks (1998) 42 IPR 552 (folld) Super Coffeemix Manufacturing Ltd v Unico Trading Pte Ltd [2000] 3 SLR 145 (folld) Tiffany Co v Fabriques de Tabac Reunies SA [1999] 3 SLR 147 (folld) UNIMAX Trade Mark [1979] RPC 469 (folld) Vitamins Lds Application, In the Matter of [1956] RPC 1 (folld) Wagamama Ltd v City Center Restaurants plc [1995] FSR 713 (refd) Yuen Yu Kwan Frank v McDonalds Corporation [2001] WL 1422899 (refd) A:4 Summary of cases for Common Laws Summary of Case refers corresponding to Section 12: Tiffany Co opposed the registration of the mark Tiffany by Fabriques de Tabac Reunies SA on cigarettes though; Tiffany Co has no monopoly in cigarettes industries. This may results in confusion as the entire word mark Tiffany was being copied over and the public might think that the cigarettes sold is produced or has connection to Tiffany Co upon seeing the Tiffany band of cigarettes. Summary of Case refers corresponding to Section 15: McDonald Corporation objected the use of McBagel in bagel bakery restaurant, as it would create confusion in public that people might think that McBagel is somehow associated with McDonald Corporation. Moreover, a survey was conducted and numerous people believed that McBagel was associated to McDonald Corporation due to the use of the prefix Mc. A.5 Diagram of Singapores hierarchy of Courts Section B: B: 1 Scenario of first case: McDonald had wanted to stop listed Future Enterprises from distributing products named MacNoodles, MacTea and MacChocolate. However, the court of appeal decided in a unanimous decision that the three trademarks were not deceptively similar to McDonalds Mac or Mc prefix. Thus in this case, the laws of protecting trademarks did not help McDonald to stop Future Enterprise from distributing their products, and also Future Enterprise were able to win this case as they did not breach the law of passing off. B: 2 Scenario of Second case: The dispute continues as Future Enterprise, a subsidiary and core unit of listed Food Empire Holding decided to updates it product design, MacCoffee to drop its original eagle design. McDonald objected as the similarity now existed when Future Enterprise decides to take out its distinct eagle design. After objection arose, Future Enterprise appealed for the MacCoffee brand to be registered as trademark, which in the end the appeal was dismissed. The laws of protecting trademark in this case were being carried out. MacCoffee were not distinct enough to be registered as a trademark, thus the appeal was dismissed. Also, after removing the eagle design, it was judged that goodwill was breach in terms of causing confusion to the public with similar products. Thus McDonald had successfully won this case with the appeal and Future Enterprise appeals were all dismissed and they were to pay a sum of $10,000 to McDonald to cover their loss. Section C: C: 1 Pictures of Food Empire MacCoffe packaging Old Packaging New Packaging Schedule of Meeting Date Discussion 28th May 2008 Analyze the cases Facts Inter-relationship Tasks allocated to each of the members 30th May 2008 Discuss the research done Singapore Laws (Statute Law Common Law) Singapore Courts Intellectual Property Rights Started the report writing 5th June 2008 Continuation of the report Modification of report Error Checking Rephrasing 9th June 2008 Finalization of the report Work Plan 3.1 Description of Assignment The objective for this final report gives us more understanding of the Singapore Laws that can be applied to these two cases. We are able to apply our basic knowledge learned in the lecture to discuss whether the cases had been judge fairly. 3.2 Team Members Nur Afidah Binte Afandi, Mark Heng Kok Hoong, Teo Lay Hoon, Goh Kok Jui Kelvin, Chai Guo Wei Problems encountered and Solutions 4.1 Problem: Time Consume Solution: Planning out the schedule what we should do first and what should we do next helps to cut down the time wastage. Analysis of Singapores Intellectual Property Laws Analysis of Singapores Intellectual Property Laws The Issue of Intellectual Property Protection From the previous assignment, we have look into the cases involving McDonald Corporation and Future Enterprise PTE LTD, we have also introduced the basic intellectual property laws and how they are inter-related to one another. In this assignment, we will analyze the Singapore Laws that is related to the cases involved, and then we will provide recommendation to give our client a better idea of the rules and regulations they should abide. Summary of the cases McDonald Corporation and Future Enterprise PTE LTD, core-operating unit of Food Empire Holding Limited, are involved in two law cases during the period of 2003 to 2007. McDonald lost the first case in 2003 as the mark used by Future Enterprise is visually different from McDonald Corporation. Furthermore, Future Enterprise has its eagle device while McDonald Corporation has its golden archer. Therefore, the color scheme, font, and typeface on the mark of the Future Enterprise is very different from the one used by McDonald Corporation. McDonald Corporation sued Future Enterprise again in 2005 for amending the logo of MacCoffee by dropping the eagle device. McDonald Corporation has won this court case against Future Enterprise as there is a higher chance of confusion that will occur in the public and both products names are relate to coffee beverages. Both cases mentioned above are inter-related with each other as both cases involved the Intellectual Property Law of Trade Mark Act (TMA) where s15 of the TMA is highly emphasized. In the midst of both cases, both McDonald Corporation and Future Enterprise have made various appeals to the cases and this shows that both companies have the great intention and desires to protect their own trademarks. The connection between both cases shows that McDonald wanted to monopolize their trademark as far as food and beverages were concerned. Future Enterprise which also wanted to conserve its right of the prefix Mac in the same industry tried its best to maintain its position. Description and Analyze of the Singapore Law Involved In the case study, the Singapore Law that involved is mainly the Trademark and Passing off laws under the Intellectual Property Law. The laws involved can be classified into two main categories of Common Law and Statute Law. Statute Law Involved: (Refer to appendices Section A, A: 1 for definition of Statute Law) The Statute Laws that are applicable in the following case are Section 12(1), Section 15 and Section 23(1) of the Trade Marks Act (Cap 332, 1992 Rev Ed). Below are the descriptions of the different section of laws involved and the reasons why it is involved: Section 12(1): Any person claiming to be the proprietor of a trade mark used or proposed to be used by him who is desirous of registering it shall apply in writing to the Registrar in the prescribed manner for registration in Part A or B of the register. Reason: McDonald Corporation claims that Future Enterprises marks were not made in good faith as it has adopted a naming convention of using the prefix Mac follows by a food or beverage descriptive. This is similar to McDonald Corporation naming convention for their products, which McDonald Corporation feels that Future Enterprise is making use of similar naming convention to promote their products. Section 15: It shall not be lawful to register as a trade mark or part of a trade mark any matter the use of which would, by reason of its being likely to deceive or cause confusion or otherwise, be disentitled to protection in a court of justice, or would be contrary to law or morality, or any scandalous design. Reason: McDonald Corporation claims that the naming convention and the using of the prefix Mac adopted by Future Enterprise would likely to deceive or cause confusion among the public. McDonald Corporation feels that the consumers may be misled thinking that Future Enterprises mark is a series of mark belonging to McDonald Corporation. Section 23(1): Except as provided by section 25, no trade mark shall be registered in respect of any goods or description of goods that is identical with or nearly resembles a trade mark belonging to a different proprietor and already on the register in respect of: The same goods; The same description of goods; or Services or a description of services, which are associated with those goods or goods of that description. Reason: McDonald Corporation claims that Future Enterprises mark is identical and has a near resembled to their trademark. McDonald Corporation also claims that Future Enterprises marks are associated with their goods in respect of restaurant and catering services as McDonald Corporation regards Food and Beverages is associated with hotel or restaurant service. Common Law Involved: (Refer to appendices Section A, A: 2 for definition of Common Law) There are quite a number of Common Laws involved in our case study, we will look into the major cases that are referred to in corresponding to the different sections of Trade Mark Act that are involved. (Refer to appendices Section A, A: 3 for other cases referred (Common Laws)) Case refers corresponding to Section 12: (Refer to appendices Section A, A: 4 for the summary of the case) Tiffany Co v Fabriques de Tabac Reunies SA [1999] 3 SLR 147 (folld) McDonald Corporation referred to the mentioned case as a support to enhance the claim that Future Enterprises mark is not made in good faith, claiming that Future Enterprise was making use of the prefix Mac to promote their products to the public through the association to McDonald Corporation. Case refers corresponding to Section 15: (Refer to appendices Section A, A: 4 for the summary of the case) McDonalds Corporation v McBagels Inc (85 Civ 7868, 10 December 1986) (refd) McDonald Corporation referred to the mentioned case as a support to enhance the claim that using the prefix Mc or Mac as a naming convention will result confusion in the public to think that Future Enterprises products that has the name mark of Mac is associated to McDonald. Dispute and Resolution Mechanism: Singapore has its own hierarchy of Courts when dealing with Criminal and Civil Law. (Refer to appendices Section A, A: 5 for the diagram of Singapores hierarchy of Courts) Singapore Law system is very strict and serious to trade mark offences, it has imposed a fine of up to $100,000 and/or imprisonment for a maximum term of 5 years for criminal liability in infringement act. For civil infringement, the court can award statutory damages of up to $1million. Usually, the High Court in the hierarchy of Singapore Court system will deal with intellectual property disputes and infringement. Referring to the Case Study, the case is dealt in High Court but due to appeal, the case is later brought into the Court of Appeal in resolving the case. Laws and their relevancy to the case Relevant laws and their application: Under s12(1) of the Act that the respondents claim to proprietorship of the three marks was not made in good faith as it had copied the common distinctive prefix of the appellants family of marks, namely, Mc; Under s15 of the Act that the registration of the three marks would likely deceive or cause confusion to the public; and Under s23(1) of the Act that the application marks were identical with or nearly resembled the trade marks belonging to the appellant. Fairness and unfairness: First case: (Refer to appendices Section B, B: 1 for Scenario of first case) It was decided in the first case that McDonald was unable to stop Future Enterprise form producing their products due to infringements of trademarks. I believed that the decision was fair as many evidence was provided to prove that Future Enterprise had made an effort to make their products distinctive to prevent confusion to the public. The evidence, from the article says that the products Future Enterprise produced were packaged with an eagle logo and it was sold mainly at NTUC FairPrice and Mustafa supermarkets in Singapore. This evidence enhances the point that Future Enterprise and McDonald were selling products targeted at different audiences from different markets. Furthermore, the article also showed that Future Enterprise has had its own product logos and color schemes different from McDonald. This point further showed that the marks were different whether it is in the aspects of appearance, sound or concept. Thus, it proves that customers/consumers had more ways to differentiate between the products of these 2 organizations, which further enhance the fairness of the judgment for this case. Last but not least, McDonald further protested that it had spent millions of dollars to create goodwill for it Mc series of marks, but evidence showed from the article says that Future Enterprise had also spent substantial time and resources in order to gain recognition from global market leaders. Therefore, it is fair to say that Future Enterprise did not cause loss whether in goodwill or financial damages, thus I think it is fair to say that fair judgment were made in this case. Second case: (Refer to appendices Section B, B: 2 for Scenario of second case) In the second case, Future Enterprise was brought up to court by McDonald again as they wanted to update their product design by dropping off their eagle logo. McDonald felt that their marks and naming conventions would be relatively similar which could cause confusion if Future Enterprise were to take out the distinctive eagle logo. Evidence from the article says that the two names sounded and looked too alike, and a substantial amount of average Singaporean would be confused with these two products. And also, the concept too was proved to be similar whether it is the products they are selling or the locations that they are selling the products. But, in our own opinion, we felt that there was unfairness presented in this judgment. In the first Court case between McDonald and Future Enterprise, it was judged that there were too many differences between McDonald and Future Enterprise whether it is in their logo, the products they sells or the audience they targeted. Thus, MacCoffee was able to be registered as a trademark and McDonalds appeal were dismissed. Yet, in the second court case, Future Enterprise loses the chance for its MacCoffee to be registered as a trademark name as they decided to drop their distinctive eagle logo. The first case stated that there were unanimous decisions in believing that products from Future Enterprise were not similar, whether in visual, sounds or concept, in comparison with products from McDonald. And also, evidence from the first case stated that the audience they targeted was remarkably different and the products they sold were also different. The judgment of the second case said that their marks were too similar and it would cause confusion after they drop the eagle logo. The appeals were dismissed with $10,000 payment made from Future Enterprise to McDonald. We felt that this judgment were unfair as there were contradictions which existed within this two cases. The products they sold were relatively different, ready-to-drink beverages from McCafe, and 3-in-1 coffee mix from MacCoffee. This presented a huge contrast between the products sold by the 2 organizations. Also, since it was decided in the first court case that the logos, type font, color schemes and targeted audiences were different for products of this 2 organizations, it should be brought up in the second case too in order to ensure fairness in this case. Thus they should take it into consideration of all these differences in the second court case rather than just concentrating on the similarities caused by the removed logos. Steps to further protect intellectual property rights For McDonald Corporation: Increase the monopolization of the prefix Mc into other service area that their business might want to expand into or have influence on. This is because the use of Mc is only subjected to McDonald in hotel and restaurant service and they might consider the use of this prefix into other service area thus, McDonald can maintain the rights of this prefix in other areas and future companies wont make use of the prefix in the same service area. For Food Empire Holdings: Food Empire Holdings could distinguish itself to McDonalds on the MacCoffee and McCafe by using back their earlier registered mark which appears below an eagle device, on its coffee products. This eagle device can play a part in determining whether the application mark is the same as McDonalds. (Refer to appendices Section B, B: 1 for the picture of Food Empire packaging) Recommendation As a consultant engaged by a big advertising company Do-It-Right Limited, we are responsible to report on the state of intellectual property protection in Singapore and to generally advise them whether there is an inherent and prevailing culture that respects other persons intellectual property rights. Thus, to start with it, we will recommend Do-It-Right Limited Company to advice their multinational clients to understand their own country intellectual property laws and the procedures of registering the trademark. In Singapore Intellectual Property Law, it is categorized into 6 main areas of: Copyright and Neighboring Rights, Industrial Designs, Patents, Confidential Information/Trade Secrets, Trade Marks and Passing Off. These are the 6 main areas under that Intellectual Property Law where the client ought to have a general knowledge of as understanding the laws in each area will be able to help clients to know the ways or methods to safeguard their intellectual properties by knowing which the areas of laws they should look into. To further protect clients intellectual property rights, it is a best advice for client to register their product. For Example: If an organization know that their property or design can be register under the Trademark protection, it is best to register in order to be under law of protection instead of limited protection. This is to ensure when an issue arise of a rival company copying the organization product or design. Organization in this case can use passing off law to protect their rights but this will result them to have limit law of protection if they fail to register their product design. Moreover, Trademark Law offer a great degree of protection comparing to Passing Off Law as Passing off Law require the breaching of Goodwill, Misrepresentations and Damage in order for the Law to take into consideration or effect. Thus in conclusion, it is important for Client to register their product or design under the Intellectual Property Law of protection to have more coverage of protection Lastly, we will also advice them to research on their competitors logo and name to avoid any misinterpretation and misunderstand of their own logo and name to their competitors. It is strongly recommended to use a unique and distinct design for their logo and name, which will lessen the chances of their competitors imitating their name and logo. Conclusion Through our case study on Mc Donald Corporation and Future Enterprise, we have a deep understanding about Intellectual Property Law in Singapore and how it can truly save guard our own personal property. We are also able to analyze the cases and discuss whether the Singapore Courts had made a right judgment. We had gained knowledge of Singapore Courts dealing with cases that involved the Intellectual Property Rights and know the importance of Intellectual Property that under the coverage of law to protect the important asset of an organization. References 1McDonalds Corp v Future Enterprises Pte Ltd 2Food Empire Holdings Ltd 3 McDonalds Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 4 Welcome to McDonalds 5 McDonalds Singapore 6 Singapore Intellectual Property Law#section5 7 Trademark Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 8 Passing off Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 9 McDonalds Corp v Future Enterprises Pte Ltd 10 Rules of Court Appendices Extra Information Section A: A: 1 Statute Law Statue Law is written law that is created by governing authority like the parliament in the form of legislation to state out the civil order of the country and to implement and clarify the policies and operations of the government. Statute Law is also the law that state the consequences or punishments for committing a certain criminal or civil crime such as the Trademark Act or Passing off Act; new law can be introduced and existing law can be taken away in order to accommodate to the nation. A: 2 Common Law Common Law is unstated or unwritten law that is created by judges through court decisions. The decisions made by the judges on current case will depend on the decisions made in similar previous cases that took place. In other word, similar infringements and disputes, that have taken place in previous cases, will result the current case to follow the decisions and reasoning that being used. Common Law system is complicated, as the de cisions made in previous cases will affect the law in future cases and is totally distinguish from Statute Law. Moreover, the decisions made are bounded within a limited given jurisdiction. E.g. Decisions made in higher court such as Court of Appeal will affect the decisions in lower court. A: 3 Case(s) referred to (Common Law): Australian Woollen Mills Limited v F S Walton and Company Limited [1937] 58 CLR 641 (refd) Auvi Pte Ltd v Seah Siew Tee [1992] 1 SLR 639 (folld) Bali Trade Mark [1969] RPC 472 (refd) Beck Koller Company (England) Limited, In the Matter of an Application by [1947] 64 RPC 76 (fold) Brown Shoe Company Inc, Application by [1959] RPC 29 (folld) Carnival Cruise Lines Inc v Sitmar Cruises Ltd [1994] 120 ALR 495 (folld) Compatibility Research Ltd v Computer Psyche Company Ltd [1967] FSR 63 (refd) Future enterprise Pte Ltd v Tong Seng Produce Pte Ltd [1998] 1 SLR 1012 (refd) Genette Trade Mark [1968] RPC 148 (folld) Harrods Limited v Harrodian School Limited [1996] RPC 697 (refd) Karu Pty Ltd v Jose [1994] 30 IPR 407 (folld) Kellogg Co v Pacific Food Products Sdn Bhd [1999] 2 SLR 651 (folld) Lever Brothers Ltd v Bedingfield [1899] 16 RPC 3 (folld) Lifestyle 1.99 Pte Ltd v S$1.99 Pte Ltd [2000] 2 SLR 766 (folld) McDonalds Corporation v McBagels Inc (85 Civ 7868, 10 December 1986) (refd) McIndians, In the matter of an application to register the mark (UK Patent Office 16 August 1996)(refd) McMint, Opposition by McDonalds Corporation to the registration of the trademark (Australian Trade Mark Office, 7 November 1997) (folld) McSalad and McFresh, Opposition by McDonalds Corporation to the registration of the trademark (Australian Trade Mark Office, 1 May 2000) (not folld) McVeg, Opposition by McDonalds Corporation to the registration of the trademark (Australian Trade Mark Office, 10 November 1997) (folld) PB Foods Ltd v Malanda DairyFoods Ltd (1999) 47 IPR 47 (distd) Pianotist Company, In the Matter of an Application by (1906) 23 RPC 774 (folld) SEMIGRES Trade Mark [1979] RPC 330 (folld) Shell Co of Australia Ltd v Esso Standard Oil (Australia) Ltd (1963) 109 CLR 407 (folld) Shell Co of Australian Ltd v Rohm Haas Co (1949) 78 CLR 601 (refd) Smith, Hayden Coy Ld, In the Matter of an Application by (1946) 63 RPC 97 (refd) Soldan Holding + Bonbonspezialitaeten GmbH, Re Application by (Singapore Trade Marks Registry, 20 July 2001) (refd) Sports Cafà © Ltd b Registrar of Trade Marks (1998) 42 IPR 552 (folld) Super Coffeemix Manufacturing Ltd v Unico Trading Pte Ltd [2000] 3 SLR 145 (folld) Tiffany Co v Fabriques de Tabac Reunies SA [1999] 3 SLR 147 (folld) UNIMAX Trade Mark [1979] RPC 469 (folld) Vitamins Lds Application, In the Matter of [1956] RPC 1 (folld) Wagamama Ltd v City Center Restaurants plc [1995] FSR 713 (refd) Yuen Yu Kwan Frank v McDonalds Corporation [2001] WL 1422899 (refd) A:4 Summary of cases for Common Laws Summary of Case refers corresponding to Section 12: Tiffany Co opposed the registration of the mark Tiffany by Fabriques de Tabac Reunies SA on cigarettes though; Tiffany Co has no monopoly in cigarettes industries. This may results in confusion as the entire word mark Tiffany was being copied over and the public might think that the cigarettes sold is produced or has connection to Tiffany Co upon seeing the Tiffany band of cigarettes. Summary of Case refers corresponding to Section 15: McDonald Corporation objected the use of McBagel in bagel bakery restaurant, as it would create confusion in public that people might think that McBagel is somehow associated with McDonald Corporation. Moreover, a survey was conducted and numerous people believed that McBagel was associated to McDonald Corporation due to the use of the prefix Mc. A.5 Diagram of Singapores hierarchy of Courts Section B: B: 1 Scenario of first case: McDonald had wanted to stop listed Future Enterprises from distributing products named MacNoodles, MacTea and MacChocolate. However, the court of appeal decided in a unanimous decision that the three trademarks were not deceptively similar to McDonalds Mac or Mc prefix. Thus in this case, the laws of protecting trademarks did not help McDonald to stop Future Enterprise from distributing their products, and also Future Enterprise were able to win this case as they did not breach the law of passing off. B: 2 Scenario of Second case: The dispute continues as Future Enterprise, a subsidiary and core unit of listed Food Empire Holding decided to updates it product design, MacCoffee to drop its original eagle design. McDonald objected as the similarity now existed when Future Enterprise decides to take out its distinct eagle design. After objection arose, Future Enterprise appealed for the MacCoffee brand to be registered as trademark, which in the end the appeal was dismissed. The laws of protecting trademark in this case were being carried out. MacCoffee were not distinct enough to be registered as a trademark, thus the appeal was dismissed. Also, after removing the eagle design, it was judged that goodwill was breach in terms of causing confusion to the public with similar products. Thus McDonald had successfully won this case with the appeal and Future Enterprise appeals were all dismissed and they were to pay a sum of $10,000 to McDonald to cover their loss. Section C: C: 1 Pictures of Food Empire MacCoffe packaging Old Packaging New Packaging Schedule of Meeting Date Discussion 28th May 2008 Analyze the cases Facts Inter-relationship Tasks allocated to each of the members 30th May 2008 Discuss the research done Singapore Laws (Statute Law Common Law) Singapore Courts Intellectual Property Rights Started the report writing 5th June 2008 Continuation of the report Modification of report Error Checking Rephrasing 9th June 2008 Finalization of the report Work Plan 3.1 Description of Assignment The objective for this final report gives us more understanding of the Singapore Laws that can be applied to these two cases. We are able to apply our basic knowledge learned in the lecture to discuss whether the cases had been judge fairly. 3.2 Team Members Nur Afidah Binte Afandi, Mark Heng Kok Hoong, Teo Lay Hoon, Goh Kok Jui Kelvin, Chai Guo Wei Problems encountered and Solutions 4.1 Problem: Time Consume Solution: Planning out the schedule what we should do first and what should we do next helps to cut down the time wastage.