• THE INTERNATIONAL COMMERCE & LAW REVIEW
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• v.29
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• pp.197-223
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• 2006

Uniform Computer Information Transactions Act (UCITA) is the first legislative attempt in the world that deals with transaction of digital information. This however gave rise to endless controversies and as of February 10, 2003, its life as the uniform law has expired. There are four kinds of relationships that UCITA regulates for the entities involved in information trading namely, 1) Relationship between licenser and licensee 2) The triangle relationship between dealers, end-user and publisher 3) Relationship between information right transferor and transferee 4) Relationship between financier, licenser and licensee. Amongst these, the most significant one is the triangle relationship amongst the publisher, commonly known as the licenser in the mass market, end-user and dealer. At the essence of the relationship is that the dealers is liable to refund the payment for the information regarding the end user if he/she does not agree with the publisher on the license of the common market. Looking at the relationship between license transferor and transferee, the transfer of license may be prohibited but the special contract must be conspicuously carried out. The relationship financier, licenser and licensee is unique to the United States and is rather unfamiliar to us. UCITA has been criticized for preferentially protecting the benefits of licensers especially when it comes to the specific regulations for the relationship. Therefore, it is not advisable to blindly accept UCITA regulations. However, UCITA does have components that we can utilize in formulating our own digital information trade regulations, save its proprietary nature as an American law and its preferential treatment for licensers.

• Journal of Arbitration Studies
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.145-167
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• 2007

Digital goods are defined as intangible and non-physical goods, composed of a combination of digital signals, electronically represented as 0 and 1. They are also called as digital products, electronic transmissions, information goods, digital contents, computer information, etc. Digital goods are now traded both domestically and internationally as well as on-line and off-line. Korean government revised the Basic Law on Foreign Trade to include digital goods and services as the scope of foreign trade in 2001. Trade volume of digital goods are increasing in Korea. The supply chains of digital goods from producing the components to selling globally to consumers are different from conventional physical goods. Mostly, digital goods are traded on the license basis rather than ownership contract. End User License Agreements(EULAs), such as shrink-wrap, click- wrap, or browser-wrap licenses are very popular in online transactions. Unlike conventional physical goods. the breach of license contract is closely linked with the infringement of intellectual property rights. Digitalized intellectual property is easy to copy and transmit in the cyber space. In cases of legal disputes from the breach of license contract, commercial arbitration or on-line alternative dispute resolutions(ADRs) are regarded as better approach to solve them rather than court sues. For promoting more secure and reliable international trade of digital goods. arbitration clauses should be included in most of license contracts.

• THE INTERNATIONAL COMMERCE & LAW REVIEW
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• v.20
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• pp.129-150
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• 2003

Software license agreements, to be useful in the mass market, could not be individually negotiated, and had to be standardized and concise. The software license agreement needs to be presented to the licensee-users in a fashion that would allow for mass distribution of software, also for it to enforceable, that would draw the users' attention to the terms and conditions under which the publisher allowed the use of the software. These needs have been accomplished, with or without fail, through so called the "shrink-wrap licenses" Shrink-wrap licenses purpose to transfer computer softwares to their users by defining the terms and conditions of use of the software without implicating the "first sale doctrine" of the Copyright Act. These shrink-wrap licenses have become essential to the software industry. However, in USA, the law applicable to these licenses has been unclear and unsettled. Courts have struggled to develop a coherent framework governing their enforceability. Meanwhile, the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws ("NCCUSL") in USA promulgated the Uniform Computer Information Transaction Act ("UCITA") governing contracts for computer information transaction on July 29, 1999. One clear objective of UCITA was to settle the law governing the enforceability of shrink-wrap licenses. In these respects, this paper first introduces the various forms that shrink-wrap licenses take(at Part II. Section 1.), and explains the main advantages of them(at Part II. Section 2.) Here it shows how shrink-wrap licenses value themselves for both software publishers and users, including that shrink-wrap licenses are a valuable contracting tool because they provide vital information and rights to software users and because they permit the contracting flexibility that is essential for today's software products. Next, this paper describes the current legal framework applicable to shrink-wrap licenses in USA(at Part III). Here it shows that in USA the development of case law governing shrink-wrap licenses occurred in two distinct stages. At first stage, judicial hostility toward shrink-wrap licenses marked such that they were not enforced pursuant to Article 2 of the Uniform Commercial Code. At second stage, courts began to recognize the pervasiveness of shrink-wrap licenses, their indispensability to the rapidly expanding information technology industry, and the urgent need to enforce such licenses in order to maintain low prices for consumers of computer hardware or software, resulting in the recognition of shrink-wrap licenses. Finally, in view of the importance of UCITA, this paper examines how it will affect the enforceability of shrink-wrap licenses(at Part IV). The drafters of UCITA, as well as the scholars and practitioners who have criticized it, agree that it validates shrink-wrap licenses, provided certain procedural protections are afforded to purchasers. These procedural protections include the licensee end-user must (i) manifest his assent to the shrink-wrap license, (ii) have an opportunity to review the shrink-wrap license, (iii) have a right to return the product without costs.

• KDI Journal of Economic Policy
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.1-30
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• 2020

This paper analyzes how injunctions relate to patent hold-up problems. To this end, we present a simple model of licensing negotiations between a patent holder and a downstream firm in the shadow of litigation. More specifically, we consider the situation in which an injunction is granted as a matter of course if a patent is found valid and infringed upon in litigation, but the patent holder may be under-compensated due to aspects of the patent remedy system other than injunctions. We show that if the downstream user is unaware of the patent before any investment in initially designing its product, the patent hold-up problems created by injunction threats are worrisome when (i) the redesign process is costly, (ii) the degree of patent protection (by aspects of the patent remedy system other than injunctions) is sufficiently strong and (iii) the injunction is requested not to practice the patented technology exclusively but to collect excessive patent royalties. Even if the downstream user is aware of the patent before the initial investment, the patent hold-up problems do not disappear. The findings here imply that a discretionary approach is required towards denying injunctions against patent infringement. If the degree of patent protection is not sufficiently strong, denying injunctions can exacerbate the under-compensation problem. However, once patent protection improves enough (not necessarily perfectly), we may see a surge of patent hold-up problems, and it would be better to apply alternative patent remedies in place of injunctions when necessary. Lastly, we discuss several possible alternatives to injunctions and their pros and cons.

• International Journal of Computer Science & Network Security
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.151-155
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• 2021

The article is based on a model, in the context of which there are two fundamental building blocks of basic library skills and skills in the use of information technology. The former are formed within the framework of educational programs for users of academic libraries, the latter are formed within the framework of initiatives such as the European Computer Driving License. Between the basic and the highest levels of the concept of "information literacy" there are seven heading skills and attributes, the repeated practice of which leads from the position of a competent user to an expert level of reflection and critical awareness of information as an intellectual resource. Freshmen will likely be at the beginning of the arrow, probably practicing only the first four skills, while graduate students and young scientists will be closer to the end and will use seven skills.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2017

Background: The use of radiation and radioisotopes in Korea has been increasing each year, and its impact on economy and industry is expected to be increasing progressively following the development of industrial technology and the expansion of their usage. To establish and supporting policies for industries using radiation and radioisotopes, it is necessary to check the status of related industries accurately, as well as to gather data required to establish plans for industrial development by studying both revenues and economic scale (contributing to revenue). Materials and Methods: To analyze the status of utilization, surveys were carried out on 6,621 organizations engaged in nuclear operations handling radiation and radioisotopes pursuant to the Nuclear Safety Act as of end 2014, on 33,471 medical institutions using radiation generators for medical and diagnostic purposes pursuant to the Medical Service Act, and on 2,218 organizations using radiation generators for animal diagnostics pursuant to the Veterinary License Act. Results and discussion: The overall status of the domestic radiation market including the number of user organizations, that of employees, and the size of distributions (imports, productions, and exports) with which the scale of domestic radiation market can be judged showed a growth trend compared to the previous year, though the number of employees for radiation operation in industrial sector, research sector, education sector, military sector, and power plants (nuclear power plants) and the size of imports was reduced somewhat. Conclusion: It is expected that data acquired through periodic surveys on the status of utilization would be utilized practically in establishing governmental policies related to the promotion of usage of radiation and radioisotopes, and also be utilized widely in cultivating and developing the industry efficiently to invigorate the related industries.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.48 no.2
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• pp.90-99
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• 2023

Background: Quantitative risk assessments should be accompanied by uncertainty analyses of the risk models employed in the calculations. In this study, we aim to develop a computational code named SUMRAY for use in cancer risk projections from radiation exposure taking into account uncertainties. We also aim to make SUMRAY publicly available as a resource for further improvement of risk projection. Materials and Methods: SUMRAY has two versions of code written in R and Python. The risk models used in SUMRAY for all-solid-cancer mortality and incidence were those published in the Life Span Study of a cohort of the atomic bomb survivors in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The confidence intervals associated with the evaluated risks were derived by propagating the statistical uncertainties in the risk model parameter estimates by the Monte Carlo method. Results and Discussion: SUMRAY was used to calculate the lifetime or time-integrated attributable risks of cancer under an exposure scenario (baseline rates, dose[s], age[s] at exposure, age at the end of follow-up, sex) specified by the user. The results were compared with those calculated using another well-known web-based tool, Radiation Risk Assessment Tool (RadRAT; National Institutes of Health), and showed a reasonable agreement within the estimated confidential interval. Compared with RadRAT, SUMRAY can be used for a wide range of applications, as it allows the risk projection with arbitrarily specified risk models and/or population reference data. Conclusion: The reliabilities of SUMRAY with the present risk-model parameters and their variance-covariance matrices were verified by comparing them with those of the other codes. The SUMRAY code is distributed to the public as an open-source code under the Massachusetts Institute of Technology license.