African Americans, its past time to wake up. The three-hundred-year curse has been broken. The door to the cell that has held you hostage is unlocked. Even though the door is still closed, its not locked! It is time to push the door open and step out to your freedom. It requires an effort. It will not be opened for you. It is past time for you to love yourself and your heritage and no longer allow yourself to be denied whatever your hearts desire. Learn your history. Learn it for yourself. Then teach it to your children and their children. Let the truth be told from generations to generations to all, just like our ancestors passed the legends down from generations to generations. Know that our ancestors were the origin of creation/civilization here in this earth realm. Know that our heritage and history were stripped from us by design. We all have suffered from post-traumatic slave syndrome that was pasted down from our slave ancestors; understand that no one escaped from it. The curse of slavery has had a boomerang effect on whites and other cultures all over the world called racism. Its past time to understand why we do the things we do. We need to break the consistency that is not a benefit to our lives and the future generations to come. Understand we, as a people, were divided by design. Its time for our people to unite. Understand that it is only through uniting the African Americans here in these United States today that we can cause a change that will affect people of color all over the world, including the motherland Africa. It is the vices of racism, hatred, lies, and deception that keep the world in bondage. Understand that there has been a shift from ole-school slavery to modern-day slavery. Our objective is to recognize it and no longer allow it to enslave us. Freedom starts with freeing the psyche first. Allow truth to set your mind free.

African Americans, it's past time to wake up. e three-hundred-year curse has been broken. The door to the cell that has held you hostage is unlocked. Even though the door is still closed, it's not locked! It is time to push the door open and step out to your freedom. It requires an eff ort. It will not be opened for you. It is past time for you to love yourself and your heritage and no longer allow yourself to be denied whatever your heart's desire. Learn your history. Learn it for yourself. Then teach it to your children and their children. Let the truth be told from generations to generations to all, just like our ancestors passed the legends down from generations to generations. Know that our ancestors were the origin of creation/civilization here in this earth realm. Know that our heritage and history were stripped from us by design. We all have suffered from post-traumatic slave syndrome that was pasted down from our slave ancestors; understand that no one escaped from it. e curse of slavery has had a boomerang effect on whites and other cultures all over the world called "racism." It's past time to understand why we do the things we do. We need to break the consistency that is not a benefit to our lives and the future generations to come. Understand we, as a people, we're divided by design. It's time for our people to unite. Understand that it is only through uniting the African Americans here in these United States today that we can cause a change that will affect people of color all over the world, including the motherland Africa. It is the vices of racism, hatred, lies, and deception that keep the world in bondage. Understand that there has been a shift from ole-school slavery to modern-day slavery. Our objective is to recognize it and no longer allow it to enslave us. Freedom starts with freeing the psyche first. Allow truth to set your mind free.

Increasingly, firms use licensing to exploit and commercialize trademarks internationally. In a globalized market, the free flow of goods and services by means of licensing requires detailed knowledge of national legal provisions and principles that apply to agreements of this type. This chapter-by-chapter comparative overview on the law and application of trademark licensing worldwide – including chapters on such key commercial jurisdictions as the EU Member States, the United Kingdom, the United States, Brazil, and Japan – is written by a team of experienced and distinguished attorneys, each representing a particular country. Each contributor describes and analyses legal challenges and offers practical guidance on licensing issues in his or her national jurisdiction. Within this framework, each chapter discusses such issues and topics as the following: country-specific regulations on trademark licensing; particular legal requirements to be complied with prior to entering into a license agreement; antitrust legislation affecting the scope of a license agreement; breach of a trademark licensing agreement; circumstances under which a breach of contract also constitutes a trademark infringement; permitted extent of non-compete or non-challenge clauses; licensee’s standing to sue third parties for trademark infringement; effect of invalidation or expiry of the licensed trademark on the agreement; and licensee’s right to claim entitlement to goodwill in the trademark, or a right to compensation, for investments made in the trademark. Because of the broad range and variety of countries covered, the book will be welcomed by legal practitioners dealing or coming into contact with trademark licensing in practically any jurisdiction. Taken together, the chapters provide invaluable insights into the similarities and differences among the covered jurisdictions, helping trademark holders and their counsel to understand the particulars of a specific market and deciding whether to enter it or not. It will also be valuable as a comprehensive resource for academic researchers or policymakers interested in the international harmonization of intellectual property licensing law.

This book delves into the origins and evolution of trademark and branding practices in a wide range of geographical areas and periods, providing key knowledge for academics, professionals, and general audiences on the complex world of brands. The volume compiles the work of twenty-five prominent worldwide scholars studying the origins and evolution of trademarks and branding practices from medieval times to present days and from distinct European countries to the USA, New Zealand, Canada, Latin America, and the Soviet Union. The first part of the book provides new insights on pre-modern craft marks, on the emergence of trademark legal regimes during the nineteenth century, and on the evolution of trademark and business strategies in distinct regions, sectors, and contexts. As industrialisation and globalisation spread during the twentieth century, trademarking led to modern branding and international marketing, a process driven by new economic, but also cultural factors. The second part of the book explores the cultural side of the brand and offers challenging studies on how luxury, fashion, culture associations, and the consolidation of national identities played a key role in nowadays branding. This edited volume will not only be of great value to scholars, students and policymakers interested in trademark/branding research, but to marketing and legal practitioners as well, aiming to delve into the origins of modern brand strategies. The chapters in this book were originally published as two special issues of the journal, Business History.