Dr Christophe Germann
Avocat - Rechtsanwalt

Attorney at law admitted to the bar of Geneva and authorized
to practise in Switzerland and in the European Union.

   
 

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Dr Christophe Germann's publications

Papers & Conference Presentations

A. Books (as author or editor)

  1. Diversité culturelle et libre-échange à la lumière du cinéma – Réflexions critiques sur le droit naissant de la diversité culturelle sous les angles du droit du commerce international, de la concurrence et de la propriété intellectuelle [doctoral thesis on cultural diversity and free trade in the light of cinema from the perspective of culture, international trade, competition and intellectual property laws and policies], Bern 2008, 450 pages, publishers: Helbing Lichtenhahn (Basel), LDGD (Paris) and Bruylant (Brussels); series of international public law.
  2. As editor and contributor: Intellectual property, contract, international and regional culture and trade laws and policies [a selection of legal texts and summaries of lectures in Russian given in the South Caucasus in the context of the “Avanti” Legal Training Programme; approx. 400 pages], publication by the Swiss Development and Cooperation Agency DEZA scheduled for 2010.

B. Chapters in books as author or co-author

  1. Teaching intellectual property, unfair competition and anti-trust law (with Thomas Cottier), in: Yo Takagi / Larry Allman / Mpazi A. Sinjela (editors), Teaching of Intellectual Property, Principles and Methods, Cambridge University 2008.
  2. Towards a Cultural Contract to counter trade related cultural discrimination - “Cultural Treatment” and “Most-Favoured-Culture” to promote cultural diversity vis-à-vis international trade regulations, in Nina Obuljen / Joost Smiers (editors), UNESCO Convention on the protection and promotion of the diversity of cultural expressions – Making it work, Culturelink, Zagreb 2006.
  3. Intellectual Property Rights, Plant Genetic Resources, and Traditional Knowledge (chapter III) and Management and enforcement of IPRs and Traditional PGRs: Institutional Design (chapter VII), in: Thomas Cottier/Susette Biber-Klemm (editors), Rights to Plant Genetic Resources and Traditional Knowledge: Basic Issues and Perspectives, CABI, Wallingford 2006.
  4. Commentary at the Preamble, art. 1 – 8 et 40 TRIPS (with Thomas Cottier), in: Concise International and European IP Law - TRIPS, Paris Convention, European Enforcement and Transfer of Technology, Kluwer, London 2008.
  5. Bedeutung und Wirkung der Staatsverträge im Immaterialgüterrecht [Meaning and effect of international agreements in the area of intellectual property] (with Thomas Cottier), in: Roland von Büren/Lucas David (editors), Schweizerisches Immaterialgüter- und Wettbewerbsrecht I/1 [Swiss commentary on intellectual property and competition law], Helbing & Lichtenhahn, Basel/Geneva/Munich 2002, pp. 35–122.

C. Papers as author or co-author

  1. Legal action against asserted cultural genocide and piracy in China: the strength of the WTO and the weakness of the UNESCO, to be published in: Int. J. Intellectual Property Management, Vol. 4 Nos. 1/2, 2010.
  2. La diversité humaine à l'appel du minaret [Article on the ban of minarets in Switzerland], in: Le Courrier (Geneva), 8 December 2009.
  3. Concurrences entre diversité culturelle et commerce international [Forms of competition between cultural diversity and international trade], in: Hélène Ruiz Fabri (ed.), Convention de l'UNESCO sur la diversité culturelle : Premier bilan et défis juridiques pour réaliser les objectifs dans les pays économiquement démunis, Paris (to be published in 2010).
  4. Selective aid for cultural industries: The “Rougemarine Dilemma”, in: European University Institute, Max Weber Working Papers, Florence 2008: www.eui.eu
  5. La culture est morte, vive le commerce! in: Le Temps, Geneva, 12 June 2008.
  6. The Doha development round and TRIPS: A new paradigm to negotiate special and differential treatment?, in: NCCR International Trade Regulations, Working Paper IP3, Berne (www.nccr-trade.org; publication scheduled for 2010).
  7. The Swiss Approach to Compulsory Licensing for Diagnostic Products and Processes, in: CIR Centre for Intellectual Property Rights, Geertrui van Overwalle (ed.), Gene Patents and Public Health, Bruylant, Brussels 2007.
  8. Culture in times of cholera, A vision for a new legal framework promoting cultural diversity, in: ERA Rechtszeitschrift der Europäischen Rechtsakademie Trier, ERA-Forum 1/2005, pp. 109 - 130.
  9. Diversité culturelle à l’OMC et l’UNESCO à l’exemple du cinema [Cultural diversity at the WTO and the UNESCO after Cancun], dans : Revue Internationale de Droit Economique (RIDE), Cahier à thème : L’OMC après Cancún, 2004/3, pp. 325–354.
  10. Content Industries and Cultural Diversity: The Case of Motion Pictures, in: Culturelink, Network of Networks for Research and Cooperation in Cultural Development, Cultural Diversity and Sustainable Development, Special Issue 2002/2003, Zagreb, 97 – 140 [also published in: VII Congresso "Cultura Europea", Pamplona 2003, and as an updated version in: Bernd Hamm / Russell Smandych (editors), Cultural Imperialism. Essays on the Political Economy of Cultural Domination, Ontario 2004, pp. 93 – 113].
  11. Meinungsfreiheit in Zeiten der "Blockbusters" – Das neue Filmgesetz und die kulturelle Vielfalt in der Informationsgesellschaft [Competition law and freedom of expression in the light of the new Swiss film legislation], in: Revue du droit de la propriété intellectuelle, de l'information et de la concurrence sic! 7/8 2002, Stämpfli, pp. 481–492.
  12. The WTO and EU Distributive Policy: the Case of Regional Promotion and Assistance (with Thomas Cottier), in: Gráinne de Búrca/Joanne Scott, The EU and the WTO, Legal and Constitutional Issues, Hart Publishing, Oxford 2001, pp.185–210.
  13. Die Partizipation bei der Aushandlung neuer völkerrechtlicher Bindungen: verfassungsrechtliche Grundlagen und Perspektiven [Participation in elaborating and negotiating new international agreements from the perspective of Swiss constitutional law] (with Thomas Cottier), in: Daniel Thürer/Jean-François Aubert/Jörg Paul Müller, Verfassungsrecht der Schweiz - Droit constitutionnel suisse [Swiss constitutional law], Schulthess, Zürich 2001, pp.77–96.
  14. Staats(leitungs)reform als Schöpfungsakt (Postulat für eine Reform der politischen Institutionen der Schweiz in Richtung Konkurrenzdemokratie) [political and constitutional aspects of the reform of the Swiss government], in: Administration, gouvernement et constitution en transformation – Hommage en mémoire de Raimund E. Germann, Peter Knoepfel und Wolf Linder (editors), Helbing & Lichtenhahn, Basel/München 2000, pp. 389–403.
  15. Enjeux binaires à l'aube du nouveau millénaire: En cinéma aussi, le thon, c'est les dauphins [International trade and cultural laws and policies], in: Revue du droit de la propriété intellectuelle, de l'information et de la concurrence sic! 1999/6 [a German translation of this article was published in: Cinebulletin, April 2000].
  16. Zur Diskussion über die Urheberschaft beim Film: Film- und Rechtsfiktionen [Copyright for films and State aid], In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 26 September 1997.
  17. Handlungsbedarf für Unternehmen: Das neue schweizerische Datenschutzgesetz [Swiss personal data protection law for corporations], in: Schweizerische Zeitschrift für Wirtschaftsrecht, 1994/2.

D. Presentations at conferences and book reviews

I was invited as expert and speaker at many conferences and hearings addressing cultural diversity and international trade laws and policies that were organized by UNESCO, the Council of Europe, Culturelink, the Federation of European Film Directors (FERA), the International Network for Cultural Policies (INCD), Cultural Information and Research Centres Liaison in Europe (CIRCLE), the Universal Forum for Cultures of Monterrey, Mexico, and various universities. He also contributed as an expert invited by UNESCO Switzerland to the consultation of the civil society on the draft convention on cultural diversity in 2004 and 2005.

For further details on recent presentations, please see the “News” section on this website.

Book review on Alesh Staehelin’s law book on the TRIPs Agreement, Das TRIPs-Abkommen: Immaterialgüterrechte im Licht der globalisierten Handelspolitik, in: Zeitschrift für Immaterialgüter-, Informations- und Wettbewerbsrecht, second edition, Bern 2000.

E. Interviews

Sandra Vinciguerra, “Hollywood pratique une discrimination culturelle à l'échelle planétaire” [“Hollywood culturally discriminates on a global scale”], in: Le Courrier, Geneva, 13 October 2003, pp. 8 and 9.

Radio interview with Michael Sennhauser on the complaint filed with the Swiss Press Council regarding free advertisement of “blockbusters” by film reviewers in the subsidized press, broadcast “Reflexe”, Swiss Radio DRS 2, 1 September 2003.

(April 2008)
   

Dr. Delia Ferri's publications

Books

*D. Ferri, La costituzione culturale dell’Unione Europea, CEDAM Publishing, forthcoming (provisional table of contents upon request)

Chapters/Contributions in books

  1. D. Ferri, An Investigation On The (Desirable) Role Of Cultural Diversity in the EU-China Partnership, in Francis Snyder (ed), Europe, India and China: Strategic Partners in a Changing World - L'Europe, l'Inde et la Chine: partenaires stratégiques dans un monde en mutation, Bruylant, Bruxelles, 2008
  2. D. Ferri Il rango delle norme CEDU: tra teorica delle fonti e retorica dei diritti, in All’incrocio tra Costituzione e CEDU. Il rango delle norme della Convenzione e l’efficacia interna delle sentenze di Strasburgo, R. Bin -G. Brunelli-A. Pugiotto- P. Veronesi (eds), Giappichelli, Torino, 2007, pp. 115 ss.
  3. D. Ferri, La questione del crocifisso tra laicita’ e pluralismo culturale, in La laicità crocifissa? Il nodo costituzionale dei simboli religiosi nei luoghi pubblici, R. Bin -G. Brunelli-A.Pugiotto- P. Veronesi (eds), Giappichelli, Torino, 2004, pp. 132 ss.
  4. D. Ferri, La “religione predominante” e l’ordinamento giuridico in Grecia: una differenza persistente , in Diritti religiosi e tradizionali in alcuni ordinamenti contemporanei, S. Baldin (ed), vol. nr. 5, Serie giuridica dell’Università degli Studi di Trieste- Facoltà di Scienze politiche, Trieste, 2005, pp. 117 ss.

Journal Articles

  1. *D. Ferri, La dimensione prescrittiva della cultura. un’analisi comparata tra significante e significato, to be published in Rivista di Diritto pubblico comparato italiano ed europeo forthcoming
  2. D. Ferri, Il riparto di competenze nella Costituzione brasiliana del 1988: valutazioni e prospettive, in Panoptica.org 13/2008 www.panoptica.org
  3. D. Ferri, L’Europa come “spazio culturale diversificato”: gli ultimi sviluppi della normazione e delle politiche culturali comunitarie, in Il Cristallo – Periodico Quadrimestrale 2007, anno XLIX, n. 1, maggio 2007, pp. 28 ss.
  4. D. Ferri, Il riparto di competenze in materia culturale: verso lo stato regionale di cultura?, in Federalismi.it - Rivista di diritto pubblico italiano, comparato e comunitario (www.federalismi.it , 10 jan. 2007)
  5. D. Ferri, ¿Italia Como Estado (Regional) De Cultura? El Ejercicio De Las Competencias En Materia Cultural Tras La Reforma Del Título V De La Parte Ii De La Constitución, in Patrimonio cultural y Derecho (Boletin Oficial del Estrado/ Ministerio della Presidenza del Governo) n. 10/2006, pp. 35 ss.
  6. D. Ferri, L’azione europea in sede UNESCO, in Rivista della Guardia di Finanza n. 5/2006, pp. 646 ss.
  7. D. Ferri, Tanto per cambiare. appunti e spunti a margine della riforma costituzionale, in Scienza e Pace- Rivista del CISP Università di Pisa (www.scienzaepace.unipi.it, june 2006)
  8. D. Ferri, EU Partecipation In The Unesco Convention On The Protection And Promotion Of The Diversity Of Cultural Expressions: Some Constitutional Remarks, in 3 European Diversity and Autonomy Papers, EDAP 3/2005 (www.eurac.edu/edap)

Working Papers

  1. D. Ferri, EU and Cultural Diversity: A Glance at Cultural Diversity as a Constitutional feature in the EU Bollettino del CDE, University of Verona - October 2006 (http://fermi.univr.it/europa/)
  2. D. Ferri, L’azione Negoziale Europea In Sede Unesco: Unità Della Rappresentanza Internazionale Vs. Problematicità Del Riparto di Competenze in Materia Culturale, in Forum dei Quaderni Costituzionali (www.forumcostutuzionale.it)
  3. D. Ferri, La diversità culturale come fattore (potenziale e problematico) di omogeneizzazione giuridica. appunti e spunti a margine dell’approvazione della convenzione UNESCO sulla protezione e promozione della diversità delle espressioni culturali, in Bollettino del CDE - University of Verona, October 2005 (http://fermi.univr.it/europa/)
  4. D. Ferri, La partecipazione dell’UE ai negoziati per la convenzione unesco sulla diversità dei contenuti culturali e delle espressioni artistiche. alcune considerazioni de iure condendo, in Bollettino del CDE — University of Verona, April 2005 (http://fermi.univr.it/europa/)
  5. D. Ferri, Il COREPER come organo cardine del procedimento legislativo comunitario , in Bollettino del CDE - University of Verona, March 2005 (http://fermi.univr.it/europa/)

Translations (English-Italian)

La manutenzione costituzionale in Ungheria” (D. Timea), in F. Palermo (ed.), La manutenzione costituzonale, CEDAM, Padova, 2007, pp. 437

Book Review

C. Germann, Diversité culturelle et libre-échange à la lumière du cinema, Helbing Lichtenhahn, Bale, 2008, pp. 462, to be published in Rivista di Diritto pubblico comparato italiano ed europeo