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Duke Law

Faculty Scholarship

Empirical

2013

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Full-Text Articles in Law

Do Bad Things Happen When Works Enter The Public Domain?: Empirical Tests Of Copyright Term Extension, Christopher Buccafusco, Paul J. Heald Jan 2013

Do Bad Things Happen When Works Enter The Public Domain?: Empirical Tests Of Copyright Term Extension, Christopher Buccafusco, Paul J. Heald

Faculty Scholarship

According to the current copyright statute, copyrighted works of music, film, and literature will begin to transition into the public domain in 2018. While this will prove a boon for users and creators, it could be disastrous for the owners of these valuable copyrights. Therefore, the next few years will likely witness another round of aggressive lobbying by the film, music, and publishing industries to extend the terms of already-existing works. These industries, and a number of prominent scholars, claim that when works enter the public domain, bad things will happen to them. They worry that works in the public …


How Jurors Evaluate Fingerprint Evidence: The Relative Importance Of Match Language, Method Information, And Error Acknowledgment, Brandon L. Garrett, Gregory Mitchell Jan 2013

How Jurors Evaluate Fingerprint Evidence: The Relative Importance Of Match Language, Method Information, And Error Acknowledgment, Brandon L. Garrett, Gregory Mitchell

Faculty Scholarship

Fingerprint examiners use a variety of terms and phrases to describe a finding of a match between a defendant's fingerprints and fingerprint impressions collected from a crime scene. Despite the importance and ubiquity of fingerprint evidence in criminal cases, no prior studies examine how jurors evaluate such evidence. We present two studies examining the impact of different match phrases, method descriptions, and statements about possible examiner error on the weight given to fingerprint identification evidence by laypersons. In both studies, the particular phrase chosen to describe the finding of a match-whether simple and imprecise or detailed and claiming near certainty-had …