Despite an ongoing drive by organizations around theworld to improve the sophistication of their riskmitigation measures, cyber-attacks are continuallyincreasing. A study by Panda Labs shows in Q3 in2016 alone, 18 million new malware samples werecaptured.2 Another study from Computer Crime andIntellectual Property Section (CCIPS) shows morethan 4,000 ransomware attacks occurred daily in2016. That's a 300% increase over 2015, where 1,000ransomware attacks were seen per day.3 These studies reflect the double effect oftechnology—connecting the world and facilitatingcyber-attacks simultaneously.

Coco Channel, Yves Saint Laurent, Gianni Versace, andThomas Burberry, all iconic names that aresynonymous with fashion and the fashion industry.Further, they are all European designers. From ParisFashion Week to Milan Fashion Week, Europe isarguably the center of emerging fashion. It can betheorized that the reason for strong intellectualproperty rights within the European Union (EU), inthe area of fashion design, is due to thesignificance of the fashion industry within Europe.Within the EU, there has long been a recognition ofthe significance of design protection, which setsits IP protection apart from other places in theworld. Several of the protections that the EU hasimplemented can be traced back historically toattempts by the countries in the region to protecttheir textile markets, and to protect regionalinnovations which were being developed within earlytextile industries. Even in the early stages of theEU's history, there were attempts to createuniformity within the area of design. The desire tocreate uniformity in this area is continuous, butBrexit threatens a path towards uniformity.

Most legal scholars assume that there are only two“families” of legal systems in the world: common lawand civil law. Briefly, common law is applied in allcountries that speak the English language and hasits origination from the “habits of society.” On theother hand, civil law is applied just abouteverywhere else, with a few exceptions, such as intribal law areas, jurisdictions that follow Islamiclaw, and a few other smaller legal systems. Brazil'sNew Code of Civil Procedure was promulgated in 2015and brought innovations to Brazilian law. Elementsof common law were incorporated into the Brazilianlegal system, particularly that of using precedent.The application of common law elements in Brazilianlaw is being studied by various legal specialists.This present study explains how common law can beapplied in civil law jurisdictions, similar to theway it is being adapted and applied in Brazil.

This article discusses web-based sources of interest toscholars and practitioners in the area ofinternational investment law and disputeresolution.