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Climate migration raises both justice and human rights concerns, yet no existing treaty explicitly addresses it, leaving climate migrants in a legal limbo. This study assesses how the European Union's international protection system can evolve to effectively mitigate the vulnerability of climate migrants. The analysis incorporates the principle of non-refoulement from the European Convention on Human Rights and the principle of Common but Differentiated Responsibilities and Respective Capabilities in climate agreements. Using a legal doctrinal approach, the study analyses existing legal frameworks, uniquely integrating the perspective of vulnerability theory. This ethical framework emphasizes the universal vulnerability of individuals and seeks strategies to reduce vulnerability, rooted in societal structures and legal constructs. The study applies vulnerability theory specifically to the context of climate migration. Vulnerability analysis reveals that both the vulnerabilities driving migration and the uncertain legal status of climate migrants are products of the international community necessitating a collective response. The study centers on the 1951 Refugee Convention and the interpretation of the principle of non-refoulement by the European Court of Human Rights. It examines the right to life in the context of environmental disasters and its application to socio-economic rights. The research investigates the compatibility of the European Union’s international protection residence permit system with the non-refoulement principle and climate agreement burden-sharing principles. Relevant sources include recommendations from the United Nations Refugee Agency, decisions from the European Court of Human Rights and the Court of Justice of the European Union, along with existing scholarly literature. The Qualification Directive (2011/95/EC) mirrors the refugee definition of the Refugee Convention. The study reveals that individuals seeking international protection due to the adverse effects of climate change may have legitimate fears of persecution when addressing climate change's adverse effects in the broader social policy framework. Additionally, the study argues that adopting a vulnerability-based approach, especially under Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights, can broaden the scope of the non-refoulement principle in the context of climate change and enhance substantive equality, addressing climate migrants' material deprivation in their countries of origin. However, the European Convention on Human Rights does not regulate residence permits; instead, they fall under European Union law. The Court of Justice of the European Union has clarified that subsidiary protection necessitates the deliberate infliction of severe harm by a specific actor and cannot be attributed to general deficiencies in the country of origin. This perspective diverges from the interpretation of the European Court of Human Rights. To bridge the gap in current protections, the European Union should introduce a new category of residence permits for climate migrants, humanitarian protection, recognizing the connection between human rights and the environment. Such humanitarian protection would reflect fair burden-sharing, safeguard against refoulement, and address the vulnerability experienced by climate migrants within the framework of international human rights law.

The aim of this Thesis is to evaluate the underlying access regulation pertaining to LNG terminals resulting in the coexistence of unregulated and regulated LNG terminals. Correspondingly comparing the situation on liberalised markets with the proposed regulation in Finland. There are two ground presumptions that lays down the frame for the Thesis. The first presumption believes that a liberalised market model is better for Finland compared to the current isolated market status. The rationale is based on the common targets set by the EU supporting the full implementation of the Third Gas Directive and opening the market for competition. Although the argumentation of the Thesis support a liberalised market, there are certain concerns lingering in the legislative air pertaining to the LNG terminal access regime. In light of these the Thesis’s discussion is built around these possible shortcomings. As the thesis concludes that a well-formulated, thoughtful and comprehensive liberalisation will bring about more advantages than disadvantages, a thoroughly discussion on the market triggers will be given. The second presumption is that regulated and unregulated regimes are not good or bad per se, the decision to choose between them by regulators should take into account the characteristics of the market. As will be later demonstrated, many regulatory schemes are hybrid, showing features of both access regimes. These two presumptions embodies the supporting pillars of this Thesis, the theme of which is the relationship between and the evaluation of unregulated and regulated access to LNG terminals. The object is to discuss and evaluate the legal framework around access regimes pertaining to LNG terminals and consequently add content to the presumptions. The complexity of the questions is demonstrated by the opinions given by market participants during the comment round of the proposal. There is a visible opposition to apply the reformed NGMA to off-grid terminals. These opinions, the opposition and the arguments surrounding the proposed legislation, gives this Thesis its core. However, this is not only a national resistance but a commonly discussed question: whether the access regime, where a coexistence of both unregulated and regulated access regimes is applicable, fully serve the intention of a liberalised LNG market?

The topic of the thesis is the enforcement of Article 102 TFEU, focussing on the IT sector specifically, and on the use of commitments in particular, from the point of view of games of strategy. The approach of the present endeavour is thus one of law and economics. The paper focusses on the following issues: Are Article 9 commitments an appropriate way of dealing with abuse of dominance in dynamic markets? Is this option being applied adequately at present? Can a game theoretical model such as a two-by-two matrix game enhance our understanding of the value of commitment decisions in competition enforcement cases concerning abuse of dominance in dynamic markets? So-called new markets or technology-enabled markets are developing at a pace no regulator seems to be able to keep up with. The subject is important considering the economic significance of the markets involved, but also from a practical point of view. The Commission’s approach seems dramatically different from the approach of undertakings competing for new markets. It seems, however, to be a difference in more than just pace; objectives are of course different for the Commission and the undertakings, but is it a game of Battle of the Sexes, or are the two playing entirely different games? Even in more traditional markets, judgments often take so long that the market in question has gone through an irreversible change by the time the case is closed. This may be problematic in any market, but the issue is more pronounced in markets dynamic by nature. It is possible to argue that the judgment is of value primarily as a legal precedent. One should, however, bear in mind that specific goals have been set for competition regulation and enforcement. Especially following the implementation of Regulation 1/2003, effectiveness of intervention should be a priority. The European Commission's right to intervene in volatile market situations is not, and ought not to be, a given, and any intervention should either achieve the goals set for such interventions, or at the very least be more likely than not by reasonable assessment to achieve said goals. In technology-enabled markets, one practical solution that has been proposed to the problem of prolonged proceedings failing to address the underlying issues has been favouring commitments over more time-consuming procedural options. The thesis discusses the pros and cons, the possibilities and limits of this option.

The OECD Model Tax Convention contains a beneficial owner requirement for the taxation of dividend, interest and royalty income. The purpose of the requirement is to prevent improper use of tax treaties, and consequently counteract abusive treaty shopping structures that aim at gaining tax treaty benefits that would not otherwise be achievable. As the beneficial owner requirement is included in the OECD Model Tax Convention, it is consequently included in tax treaties that are concluded by Member States of the European Union. From the perspective of the EU law, the requirement may, however, constitute as a restriction on free movement. As there is not significant harmonization of direct taxation within the European Union, nationals of Member States are able to use the different tax systems of different Member States to minimize their tax burden by exercising the freedom of establishment. The structures that make use of the disparities in the national tax systems of Member States can be view as abusive on national level, but they may be protected by the fundamental freedoms that the EU treaties provide for. Therefore, anti-abusive legislation that a Member State has introduced may create a restriction on free movement. The freedom of establishment ensures that a national of a Member States has the right to move freely within the EU without being subject to excessive measures, which are not applied in purely domestic but comparable situations. This gives an EU national the possibility to choose to establish an entity in a Member State where the taxation of dividend, interest and royalty income on source is most favourable for the tax payer. However, in order to invoke the freedom of establishment, the company in question must pursuit effective and genuine economic activities in the state of establishment. This thesis examines whether the structures that are used by Member State nationals to gain tax treaty benefits are protected by the EU law, and if the application of the beneficial ownership concept that is included in the tax treaties that are concluded between different Member States, is in fact against EU law, and particularly against the freedom of establishment. Furthermore, the thesis examines the potential justifications for the restriction that the beneficial ownership requirement might create on the freedom of establishment. The thesis aims to conclude how the beneficial ownership provisions in tax treaties should be interpreted so that the interpretation is essentially in compliance with EU law. When examining the case law of the European Court of Justice, it seems evident that the beneficial owner requirement can create a restriction on the freedom of establishment. Nevertheless, this restriction may be justified, to some extent, by the necessity to prevent tax avoidance. The European Court of Justice has developed in its practice a doctrine of abuse, under which the Member States are allowed to introduce national anti-abuse legislation to counteract tax avoidance. It is established in the case law of the European Court of Justice that while national anti-abusive legislation may create a restriction on the freedom of establishment, the restriction may be justified on the grounds of prevention of abusive practices. The national anti-abusive legislation must be, however, designed exclusively to prevent the use of wholly artificial arrangements, and therefore establishments that entail effective and genuine economic activities cannot be excluded from obtaining tax treaty benefits. Consequently, the beneficial owner requirement must be applied in such manner that it only excludes purely artificial arrangement from attaining the benefits of a tax treaty.

The thesis is a comparative study of capital systems and protection of creditors. This comparative study was conducted on legal systems of two Member States of the European Union – the Slovak Republic and Finland. Difference between the capital system of these two countries is so extensive, that it makes a perfect ground for comparative problem oriented study of creditor protection. My goal was not to analyse the capital doctrine under the Capital Directive as (i) the minimum legal capital rules are negligible if we are taking into consideration substantial companies, (ii) if the company falls into insolvency the minimum legal capital will definitely not fulfil the claims of creditors and (iii) this legal capital is not locked on a separate bank account as it is possible to use it for the business after incorporation of the company. Thus, my analysis was focusing on the structure of capital systems of these two countries – the Slovak Republic having the traditional capital system with nominal value of shares and Finland, which introduced a capital system with shares without nominal value in 2006. Finnish reform of company law in 2006 circumvented the traditional capital system with shares with nominal value, as the legislator used the concept of accountable par under Article 8 of the Capital Directive in a unique way. This reform restructured the concept of capital system in Europe with a direct impact on the level of creditor protection. Hypothesis of the study was formulated as following: Capital system with shares without nominal value that allows flexible allocation of equity and distribution, and efficiently maintains the solvency of the company is the key element of the creditor protection as it mitigates the conflict of interests between shareholders (by allocating the equity flexibly) and creditors (by keeping the company solvent). These are the following research questions, which were discussed in the thesis: (i) Why do creditors need to be protected?, (ii) How can creditors be harmed by shareholders?, (iii) What kind of protection is provided to creditors through different capital systems?, (iv) Is there any correlation between capital systems and level of creditor protection? Thesis consists of eight chapters. Chapter 1 is an introduction to the thesis, which stipulates the topic and the research questions of the thesis. Moreover, this chapter deals with the scope of the thesis, theoretical framework, methodology of the thesis and importance of the research. Chapter 2 of the thesis elaborates the research question “Why should corporate law deal with creditor protection?” This chapter elaborates the specificities of the agency problem between creditors and shareholders. Moreover, this chapter analyses the reduction of agency problems via covenants and especially imperfections and drawbacks of covenants. Chapter 3 of the thesis deals with the capital systems in the European Union under the Capital Directive. This chapter elaborates the issue of capital system on these two main notions: price of shares and equity. These notions are analysed under the light of concepts of restricted and unrestricted equity in both of the capital systems – capital system with nominal value of shares and capital systems with shares without nominal value. Chapter 4 of the thesis deals with the regulation of the legal capital, especially formation of legal capital and minimum amount of capital. This chapter serves as a quick excursus into the main concepts of legal capital doctrine under the Capital Directive. Chapter 5 of the thesis analyses the distribution of assets from the company. It focuses mainly on the mechanisms of distribution of restricted and unrestricted equity under the both capital systems. Moreover, this chapter deals with a disguised distribution of assets, which is harmful for creditor. Chapter 6 examines the rules regulating the maintenance of the capital, especially the balance sheet test and solvency test. Additionally, rules on specific protection of creditors, when restricted equity is distributed, are examined as well as actions in a serious loss of capital. Chapter 7 elaborates the unlawful distribution of assets and its consequences. This chapter focuses on the liability issues in connection with unlawful distribution of assets from the company. Liability concepts are crucial for well functioning creditor protection within the capital system. Chapter 8 stipulates conclusions of the conducted research. First of all, the main outcome of my research is that the unique application of the accountable par concept under the FLLCA offers a flexible allocation of equity. Secondly, distribution of assets from the company is connected under the FLLCA with solvency test. This test secures the basic interest of creditors – keeping the company solvent. Moreover, this test is directly linked to strong liability consequences, which makes it an effective tool. Thirdly, due to flexible allocation of equity (which favours the shareholders) and keeping the company solvent (which favours the creditors) agency problem between shareholders and creditors is effectively mitigated.

This thesis aims to study in depth the the German Antitrust Office’s (Bundeskartellamt) decision that was published in February 2019 in order to answer the main research questions, which are; could the case be a template for the rest of the Europe too? What implications the case has for the future of privacy/data and competition law? Bundeskartellamt released an initial press release in 2016 regarding the investigation on whether Facebook has abused its dominant position in the market of social networking platforms by infringing data protection rules with its terms and conditions. In February 2019 the Bundeskartellamt prohibited Facebook Inc., Menlo Park, USA, Facebook Ireland Ltd., Dublin, and Facebook Germany GmbH, Hamburg, Germany from making the use of Facebook social network conditional on the collection of user and device-related data and combining that information with the Facebook.com user account without users’ consent. Furthermore, the consent given was not effective according to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The decision applied German law and the GDPR but in order to answer the research questions, also the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) rules will be applied. The conclusion of the research is that the rest of the EU could apply TFEU in order to establish that Facebook has indeed a dominant position in the EU too regarding the social network market and it has abused its market position with the terms and conditions it has imposed to its consumers. These terms and conditions can be found abusive based on the argument that they are exploitative regarding the excessive price (data) they impose for the use of the social network platform and because the users were not fully informed by this price. As a dominant company, Facebook has a special obligation not to violate competition regulations and therefore it should have paid special attention to make sure that the terms and conditions are fair and not exploitative but also readable and understandable for the user. Moreover, as the user has difficulties to understand what he or she is consenting to, the consent cannot be regarded as given voluntarily pursuant to the GDPR. As this research involves several fields of law, this thesis will also examine the interplay between data protection provision, consumer protection and competition law generally. Finally, the future of Facebook and the relationship between big data, privacy, data protection and competition law will be assessed. The German case has implications on the future because it was the first time competition authority decided of an abuse of dominant position applying the GDPR. The link between competition law application on data/privacy matters is established and therefore the future will require clear guidelines on how cases like these are divided between the data protection and competition authorities. Companies will have to pay more attention to their terms and conditions and more awareness must be raised amongst consumers.

Ilmiö joukkoviestintämarkkinoiden keskittymisestä ja uusien teknologien aiheuttamista muutoksista media-alalle on maailmanlaajuinen; osa mediataloista on lakkauttanut toimintansa kokonaan, kun taas osa yrityksistä on myyty suuremmille kilpailijoille tai muille alan toimijoille. Tämä on johtanut suurien, eri aloilla toimivien monialayritysten syntymiseen ja vähentänyt markkinoilla toimivia yrityksiä. Kehitys on havaittavissa myös Suomessa: esimerkiksi vuonna 2016 päivälehtiä oli 30 vähemmän kuin kymmenen vuotta aikaisemmin. Maaliskuussa 2020 sanomalehtien keskittymiskehitys kulminoitui, kun Sanoma Oyj osti Alma Media Oyj:n paikallislehdet, mikä herätti julkista keskustelua siitä, uhkaako yrityskauppa Suomen median monimuotoisuutta. Kilpailu- ja kuluttajavirasto kuitenkin (KKV) jätti kysymykset median monimuotoisuudesta huomioimatta vedoten kilpailulain asettamien toimivaltarajojen lisäksi Euroopan komission viimeaikaiseen tapauskäytäntöön, jossa kysymyksiä yrityskauppojen vaikutuksista median monimuotoisuudelle pidetään kilpailuoikeuden alaan kuulumattomina. Tämä opinnäytetyö tutkii Euroopan unionin (EU) kilpailuoikeuden suhdetta median monimuotoisuuteen liittyviin kysymyksiin. Tutkimus osoittaa, että vaikka komission viimeaikainen tapauskäytäntö on keskittynyt yrityskauppojen taloudellisiin vaikutuksiin – antaen painoarvoa erityisesti hintakilpailulle – komissio on aikaisemmin antanut painoarvoa myös median monimuotoisuutta käsitteleville seikoille. Koska EU:lla ei ole toimivaltaa antaa kulttuurialaan liittyviä säännöksiä, on ensisijainen vastuu median monimuotoisuuden suojelusta kuitenkin jäsenvaltioilla. Kun huomioon otetaan kilpailusääntöjen joustavuus ja monimuotoisen median merkitys demokratialle, joka on yksi EU:n perusarvoista, tukee teleologinen laintulkinta kuitenkin myös median monimuotoisuusnäkökulmien huomioonottamista myös kilpailuanalyysissä. Lisäksi EU:n kilpailusäännöissä huomioidaan hinnan olevan vain yksi kilpailuparametreistä mm. tuotteen laadun ohella. Tämä puolestaan mahdollistaisi sen arvioimisen, heikentääkö yrityskauppa mediamarkkinoilla olevien tuotteiden laatua. Opinnäytetyö ottaa myös kantaa laajempaan keskusteluun siitä, tulisiko niin kutsuttuun yleiseen etuun (public interest) liittyviä kysymyksiä käsitellä kilpailuoikeudellisessa analyysissä. Keskeinen argumentti on, että vaikka nykyinen, vahvasti hintakilpailuun perustuva analyysi ei palvele kuluttajia parhaalla mahdollisella tavalla, ei kilpailuoikeutta ole tarkoituksenmukaista käyttää ensisijaisena keinona median monimuotoisuuden suojelussa. Kilpailuoikeuden vallalla olevia menetelmiä ja käytäntöjä olisi kuitenkin suotavaa uudistaa siten, että ne ottavat jokaisen markkinan erityispiirteet huomioon. Media-alalla tämä tarkoittaa esimerkiksi sen huomioimista, ettei hinta ole keskeinen kuluttajaa ohjaava tekijä. Tämä tukisi mahdollisesti myös median monimuotoisuuden säilymistä ja palvelisi kuluttajien hyvinvointia nykyistä staattista analyysiä paremmin. Media-ala tarvitsee kuitenkin säilyäkseen tuekseen myös erityislainsäädäntöä, mikä on kilpailuoikeutta tarkoituksenmukaisempi keino vastata median monimuotoisuutta koskeviin uhkiin, vaikka kilpailuoikeutta voidaan käyttää erityislainsäädännön tukena.

Tuottamuksellinen toiminta ilmentää moitittavaa riskinottoa ja rikkoo toimijalle asetettavaa huolellisuusvaatimusta. Yrityksen vahingonkorvausvastuun perusteena voi olla sen johtoon kuuluvan henkilön tai työntekijän tuottamus. Oikeushenkilön vastuun yhteydessä voidaan puhua myös kumuloidusta ja anonyymistä tuottamuksesta, joista erityisesti kumuloitu tuottamus ottaa huomioon kaikkien osapuolten ja tekijöiden yhteisvaikutuksen. Yritys voi pyrkiä kontrolloimaan vahingonkorvausvastuuriskiä monella eri tavalla, kuten sopimusehdoin ja vastuuvakuutuksella. Compliance-toiminta on kokonaisvaltaista riskienhallintaa, jolla pyritään siihen, että yrityksen toiminta vastaa siihen kohdistuvan oikeudellisen sääntelyn ja sidosryhmien asettamia velvoitteita. Asianmukaisella compliance-ohjelmalla voidaan pyrkiä sekä ehkäisemään riskien realisoitumista että lieventämään tai poistamaan toiminnasta mahdollisesti aiheutuneita seuraamuksia. Ohjelma voidaan laatia esimerkiksi kilpailuoikeuteen, ympäristövastuuseen tai tuotevastuuseen liittyvien riskien hallitsemiseksi. Ohjelman tulisi sisältää yrityksen toimintaa koskeva riskianalyysin, ohjeet ja prosessit, jatkuvan koulutuksen ja ohjelman toteutumisen seurannan sekä toimenpiteet mahdollisten havaittavien väärinkäytösten varalta. Avainasemassa on pysyvän compliance-kulttuurin luominen yritykseen. Yhdysvalloissa yritys voi pyrkiä lieventämään rikosoikeudellisia seuraamuksia tehokkaalla compliance-ohjelmalla. EU:ssa on käytäntöä siitä, toimiiko compliance-ohjelma lieventävänä tai raskauttava seikkana harkittaessa seuraamussakkojen määräämistä kilpailuoikeutta rikkoneille yrityksille. Keskustelua on käyty myös siitä, voisiko compliance-ohjelmalla olla merkitystä arvioitaessa yrityksen tuottamusta vahingonkorvausvastuun yhteydessä. Compliance-toiminnon avulla yritys voisi pyrkiä osoittamaan toimineensa huolellisimmalla mahdollisella tavalla. Toisaalta se voisi toimia myös yrityksen vastuuseen tai ainakin törkeään huolimattomuuteen viittaavana tekijänä osoittaen korostunutta tietoisuutta ja siten mahdollisuutta estää vahinko sekä piittaamattomuutta toiminnan seurauksista. Jotta yritys ei syyllistyisi moitittavaan riskinottoon, tulisi sen panostaa riskienhallintaan. Compliance-ohjelma on osa yrityksen oikeudellista riskienhallintaa ja toisaalta riskienhallinta on välttämättä olennainen osa tehokasta compliance-ohjelmaa. Huolellisella riskiarvioinnilla ja dokumentoinnilla yritys voi pyrkiä osoittamaan riskinoton olevan hyväksyttävää. Erityisesti epäselvässä tai epävarmassa tulkintatilanteessa, jossa tuottamus ei ole selvää, compliance-ohjelma voi osoittaa yrityksen toiminnalle hyväksyttävät perusteet. Huolellisella compliance-toiminnalla voidaan pyrkiä myös esittämään, ettei mahdollisuutta toimia toisin ole ollut. Toisaalta asianmukaisesti rakennettu compliance-ohjelma voi korottaa toimijalle asetettavaa tietoisuusvaatimusta ja siten vaikuttaa tuottamuksen arviointiin yrityksen kannalta kielteisesti; riski vahingosta olisi tullut ennakoida. Yrityksen rikkoessa complianceohjelmaansa, voi tämä myös osoittaa, mikä vaihtoehtoinen toimintatapa olisi ollut olemassa johtaen siihen, että se vaikuttaa yritykselle asetettavaan huolellisuuden mittapuuhun. Compliance-ohjelman vaikutus tuottamusarviointiin voisi pohjautua juuri varautumiseen, eli ennakoivaan ja toimintajärjestelmiin perustuvaan ajatteluun. Sen merkitykseen tuottamusarvioinnissa tulisi kuitenkin suhtautua varovaisesti, sillä tulee aina arvioida, onko ohjelmalla tosiasiallista merkitystä kyseisessä yksittäistapauksessa. Compliance-ohjelman tarkoitus huolellisen toiminnan edistämisessä sopii yhteen vahingonkorvausoikeuden tavoitteiden kanssa ja voisikin olla perusteltua antaa ohjelmalle merkitystä tuottamusarvioinnissa ja tuottamuksen astetta harkittaessa. Compliance-ohjelma voi vaikuttaa myös vastuuvakuutuksesta saatavaan korvaukseen, vastuunrajoitusehtojen pitävyyteen ja vahingonkorvauslain mukaiseen kohtuusperusteiseen korvauksen sovitteluun. Piittaamattomuus riskistä ja tähän liittyvä törkeä huolimattomuus voisivat johtaa vakuutuskorvauksen menettämiseen ja tehdä vastuunrajoitusehdot pitämättömiksi. Jos yritys compliance-ohjelmasta huolimatta toimii sitä vastoin, voisi tämän huomioimatta jättäminen jopa kannustaa yrityksiä välinpitämättömään riskinottoon niiden luottaessa, ettei ohjelmaa voida käyttää niitä vastaan. Kohtuusperusteisen sovittelun edellytysten arviointi tehdään kokonaisharkinnan perusteella. Compliance-ohjelman merkitys voisi olla suurimmillaan tapauksissa, jossa vahingonaiheuttajan varallisuusolot suhteessa vahingonkärsijään puhuisivat sovittelun puolesta ja ohjelma osoittaisi joko selkeää piittaamattomuutta, tai toisaalta yrityksen täyttäneen sille asetettavan toimintavaatimuksen parhain mahdollisin tavoin. Korvauksen sovittelun harkinta on subjektiivisempaa kuin tuottamusharkinta ja antaa lisäksi tuomioistuimelle varsin laajan harkintavallan. Sovitteluharkinnan luonteen vuoksi voisi olla perustelua antaa compliance-ohjelmalle siinä enemmän merkitystä kuin tuottamusarvioinnin yhteydessä.

3D printing has been described as a revolutionary technology challenging copyright law to the core. 3D printing essentially enables the fast reproduction of objects and enables transforming digital items into physical ones effortlessly. This thesis examines the copyright status of a computer-aided design (CAD) file, which functions as the blueprint and instructions for a 3D printer. Such a file carries information about the design it contains, and a 3D printer may read these instructions and produce the digital item in physical, three-dimensional form. The core of this thesis is to examine whether a CAD file fits within the scope of application of copyright law and further inspects the repercussions of copyright protection being granted for such files. Moreover, the writer suggests practical interpretations and changes as to how copyright law should be interpreted for the regime to be better adapted to technological change in the future. In this thesis, the writer concludes that based on the Finnish Copyright Act (404/1961) and Directive 2001/29/EC as well as applicable case law developed by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), there is nothing precluding treating such a file as subject matter which may be protected under the national (and EU) copyright regime. This interpretation is in fact encouraged from the basis of applicable case by the CJEU, such as cases C-5/08 Infopaq, C-355/12 Nintendo, C-310/17 Levola and C‑683/17 Cofemel. For something to constitute protectable subject matter, the focal point is for the expression to be contained with sufficient precision and objectivity and more importantly, that the expression constitutes the intellectual creation of its author. With regard to the repercussions of this protection, it is clear that should a CAD file be protected by way of a copyright, a 3D item produced from such a file should either constitute a reproduction or derivative work of such a file. Further, the writer suggests that in order to provide a clear framework for operators in the field, a position paper similar to the one adopted by the European Communities Trade Mark Association in April 2021 as regards design law and 3D printing should be developed. In addition, it is recommended that rightholders take proactive measures in safeguarding their works by adapting business models so that their authentic products are offered by way of different licensing models to combat piracy, similar to the solution developed in the music industry after peer-to-peer online sharing posed troubles for the industry. In the event of the true mass commercialization of 3DP, a centralized body to monitor the industry should be developed, one that establishes functioning licensing models to benefit rightholders. Finally, the FCA should be interpreted in a truly technologically neutral manner. It is likely that such an interpretation will however not fix all the issues copyright law is posed with, and thus, a cohesive copyright reform may be necessary in the future.

The use of expert evidence in international commercial arbitration has continued to gain traction and is, in practice, considered a fixture of the procedure. It is, thus, undoubted that the role of expert evidence is significant. This role is strengthened by the fact that without experts providing the tribunal with specialized knowledge on empirical rules at issue, the tribunal is not able to resolve complex factual issues that are beyond its expertise. This study examines the means available to assist the tribunal in resolving issues of conflicting expert evidence in international commercial arbitration. It builds upon the crucial fact that the role of experts is to assist, educate and advise the tribunal, and that they are only needed for deciding on matters that are beyond the knowledge and expertise of the tribunal. Before addressing the research questions, the study aims to introduce the reader to expert witnessing in international commercial arbitration by considering the definition and the objectives of it, and by discussing certain leading principles such as party autonomy and the ability to tailor the procedure. Further, the role of the expert, the influence of both common and civil law traditions as well as the appointment of experts are discussed in brief. The principal problem and main question that this thesis aims to resolve is the following: What are the means available that assist the tribunal in disputes where expert evidence given is contradictory? The said main question is approached through two separate research questions that separately, but also in a mutually supportive manner, aim at resolving the core question mentioned before. The said questions are discussed under separate chapters, namely, the first one considering the procedural means (Chapter 3), and the second one focusing on non-procedural measures and the credibility of the evidence (Chapter 4). This division is made for clarity reasons and despite certain, inevitable overlapping of these themes. The first question seeks to define the procedural measures available that may be of assistance for the tribunal as it resolves issues caused by conflicting expert evidence. These measures are discussed under three categories, to say, the available questioning techniques, different approaches that have their ground in cooperation of the experts, and other innovative means. The first category is focused on two main techniques, cross-examination and expert conferencing. The second one, in turn, discusses the use of pre-hearing expert meetings, joint reports, exchange of draft reports and the Sachs Protocol. Finally, the third category considers, for instance, the use of single joint experts and arbitrator consultants. The second research question, in turn, focuses on the role of credibility and the non-procedural means available to evaluate this. This chapter as well is divided into three main categories. The first one considers the use of legal psychology as an assisting approach, whereas the second one focuses on the individual communication skills of an expert, both written expression and oral skills. The third one, in turn, presents different models on credibility assessment and elaborates on the issues with the existing, mainly procedural, means. This thesis aims not only to present and evaluate the use of different techniques, but also the recent trends in international arbitral practice. The focus of the study is mostly on party-appointed experts as the core issues with conflicting expert evidence are typically related to them. Further, as in most international commercial arbitrations the parties have agreed upon applying the arbitration rules of a particular institute or some other set of rules, this study has its focus on institutional rather than ad hoc arbitration.