Law Commons^™

How The United States Stopped Being A Pirate Nation And Learned To Love International Copyright, John A. Rothchild

Pace Law Review

From the time of the first federal copyright law in 1790 until enactment of the International Copyright Act in 1891, U.S. copyright law did not apply to works by authors who were not citizens or residents of the United States. U.S. publishers took advantage of this lacuna in the law, and the demand among American readers for books by popular British authors, by reprinting the books of these authors without their authorization and without paying a negotiated royalty to them.

This Article tells the story of how proponents of extending copyright protections to foreign authors—called international copyright—finally succeeded after more …

Lodging The Sustainable Development Goals In The International Trade Regime: From Trade Rhetoric To Trade Plethoric, Nasser Alreshaid

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

Special Economic Zones In The United States: From Colonial Charters, To Foreign-Trade Zones, Toward Ussezs, Tom W. Bell

Tom W. Bell

In Praise Of Faction: How Special Interests Benefit Constitutional Order, Jide Nzelibe

Northwestern University Law Review

Political factions are rarely treated as normatively desirable entities in constitutional or international law. On the contrary, they are either regarded as forces that thwart the general welfare or as sources of chronic political instability. Thus, the conventional wisdom often focuses on how to deploy institutional or legal structures that minimize the influence of faction. By contrast, this Essay argues that the institutions of constitutional and international law that are forged by self-interested factions can create significant side benefits for the rest of the society. At bottom, such institutions are likely to be more durable and energetic than those created …

Private Governance Of Knowledge: Societally-Crafted Intellectual Properties Regimes, Dan Wielsch

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

The evolutionary challenge global society faces is the decentralized development of legal rules that multilaterally protect social autonomies from violating each other. At the national level, democratic constitutions provide for the resolution of conflicts between different normative worlds, although the focus here is certainly on the protection of autonomies from political encroachment. However, political constitutions make sure that legal orders consider a plurality of normative perspectives. In contrast, international lawmaking can exclusively link to a specific social rationality, lacking any impartial forum for normative reconciliation. This is of special importance for the governance of intellectual resources. The incorporation of international …

Acta's Constitutional Problems: The Treaty Is Not A Treaty, Sean Flynn

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

On the eve of the United States’ entry into the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (“ACTA”), there is considerable confusion as to just what legal effect the agreement will have. In written answers to Senator Ron Wyden, the United States Trade Representative (“USTR”) went to lengths to describe ACTA as non-binding, asserting that “ACTA does not constrain Congress’ authority to change U.S. law,” and that it would operate only as an “Executive Agreement” that “can be implemented without new legislation.” But European negotiators have described the agreement to their legislature in very different terms, asserting that ACTA is “a binding international agreement …

A Theoretical And Political Analysis Of The Wto Appellate Body, Shoaib A. Ghias

Shoaib A. Ghias

Economic liberalization not only requires rules goveming economic exchange (such as multilateral trade agreements), but also institutions (such as courts) goveming how rules are enforced. However, once courts are established to govem economic exchange, they tend to expand their competence to political and social policy. Political scientists have used this theoretical framework to explain the evolution of national (for example the U.S. Supreme Court) and quasi-intemational (for example the European Court of Justice) judicial institutions. In this article, I explain how this model can be extended to a truly intemational "judicial" institution, the WTO's Appellate Body. In short, the Appellate …

Sovereignty, Compliance, And The World Trade Organization: Lessons From The History Of Supreme Court Review, Mark L. Movsesian

Faculty Publications

One of the World Trade Organization’s (WTO's) more remarkable and controversial innovations is its mechanism for resolving trade disputes among member states. Traditionally, states have resolved such disputes in "pragmatic" fashion, through negotiation and compromise informed by the relative power of the parties involved. But no longer: the WTO's Understanding on Rules and Procedures Governing the Settlement of Disputes (the DSU) provides that disputes between member states are to be resolved in adversary proceedings before impartial panels of experts." Under the DSU, panels have authority to decide whether members' laws violate international trade norms; panel decisions are essentially binding, though …

Globalization And The United States Constitution: How Much Can It Accommodate, James M. Boyers

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

No abstract provided.

Off The Precipice: Massachusetts Expands Its Foreign Policy Expedition From Burma To Indonesia, David R. Schmahmann, James Finch, Tia Chapman

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

This Article considers the wisdom and constitutionality of a proposed Massachusetts law penalizing companies that do business with Indonesia. In the March 1997 issue of the Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law, two of the authors expressed concerns about the constitutionality of state and local restrictions on business ties with Burma (Myanmar). This Article applies a similar analysis to conclude that the proposed legislation is an unconstitutional violation of the Supremacy Clause and the Foreign Commerce Clause. The authors also argue that the federal government has clearly preempted action by Massachusetts: first by providing aid to Indonesia under the generalized system …

Appointments Clause Problems In The Dispute Resolution Provisions Of The United States-Canada Free Trade Agreement, Alan B. Morrison

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Appointments Clause And International Dispute Settlement Mechanisms: A False Conflict, Wiliam J. Davey

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Appointments With Disaster: The Unconstitutionality Of Binational Arbitral Review Under The United States-Canada Free Trade Agreement, Jim C. Chen

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.