Foundations of Business Law

An arbitration clause usually contains the appointment of one or more arbitrators, but not the appliance of a specific set of rules of arbitration.

Private International Law always applies when at least one party in a contractual relationship has foreign nationality.

Litigation is a form of Alternative Dispute Resolution.

Mediation is a form of Alternative Dispute Resolution. The result is always legally non-binding.

A court faced with a cross-border private law case must decide which law has to be applied. Important criteria are the factors connecting the legal issue to the laws of potentially relevant states: basically, the court applies the laws with the greatest connection.

If both parties to a cross-border contract agree, they may submit any legal dispute arising out of the contract to arbitration, even if there is no arbitration clause in the contract.

The Federal Supreme Court is the highest court in Switzerland.

Copyright law protects intellectual creations that have a technical character.

The Swiss writer Friedrich Dürrenmatt died in 1990. You want to reprint his book “Romulus the Great”, which was published in 1950. Anyone is allowed to reprint this book without paying copyright fees, because it is more than 70 years after the date of publication.

Dana Dancer is instructor for group fitness courses in Fitboxing. She develops her own course program using various songs that she already has in her private playlists. By using these songs without the permission of the provider or without purchasing a license, she is committing a copyright infringement.

Under a franchise agreement, the franchisee is granted the right to use not only certain intellectual property rights, but a whole business system. In return, the franchisee is generally obliged to follow standardized methods of operation.

The owner of a patent has the exclusive right to the industrial use of the registered invention. This means that the patent owner can prohibit imitation or reproduction of the patented product or process, but not claim civil or criminal remedies.

A person must protect its copyrighted work by placing a © or "Copyright" on his work.

Legal protection of Intellectual Property (IP) may not only be achieved through formal registration, such as trademarks or patents. Legislation such as Competition Law can also provide legal protection for IP.

A registered trademark (Swiss law) grants protection for an initial period of 5 years, but can be renewed after this period at the request of the trademark owner.

A patent is a right granted to the inventor of a technical invention. “Technical” means that only inventions in the field of mechanical engineering can be patented.

The word mark “Munich 4Ever” for beer brewed in Olten cannot be registered as a trademark in Switzerland, because the sign is misleading

EU law always replaces the national laws of the EU Member states.

Preliminary Rulings of the European Court of Justice are legally binding.

For a state, a violation of Public International Law means that it must face political and/or economic, rather than legal consequences.

Supranational Private Law is national law which applies when a legal dispute has a foreign element. It determines the applicable law and the place of jurisdiction.

The European Union would most likely be described as a confederation with a federalist state organization.

The four freedoms of the European Unions’ Single Market are the freedoms of goods, services, people and thoughts.

International law is the body of law that governs legal relations among residents of different nations.

Check which statement(s) is/are true.

The International Court of Justice is the principal judiciary organ of the UN (United Nations).

What is/are the main differences between a branch and a subsidiary?

The agent representing the seller in a foreign country bears the risk....

A company may set up a subsidiary in a foreign country by acquiring a branch office of another company.

A purchase in an Web-Shop of a company is a typical example of direct sale.

Under a distribution agreement with a distributor abroad, the exporter usually relinquishes control over the marketing and promotion of the exporter’s product.

The Incoterm clause “DAT” (Delivered at Terminal) hasn’t changed from the Incoterms 2010 to the Incoterms 2020.

EXW is the Incoterm the most favourable for the buyer, DDP is the Incoterm  the most favourable for the seller.

Unlike an equity joint venture, the parties to a contractual joint venture enter into a contract with each other, without the need for a separate corporate structure.

If two companies set up an equity venture for the marketing and provision of services in a third country, the newly formed company will be liable for any claims by its customers arising from the misperformance of such services.

The sole distributor of a product in a foreign country carries the risk that the buyers do not pay the goods sold.

If the sales agreement provides for liquidated damages in case of late delivery of the goods, the buyer can claim them even if he has not suffered any actual damages.

Tort Law...

In Civil Law Systems, the main objective of tort law is compensation, combined with aspects of prevention and deterrence. Punishment is not part of tort law.

The concept of contributory negligence in tort law states that if the injured party has been negligent to a degree that contributed to the harm they suffered, the liability of the tortfeasor may be reduced.