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Full-Text Articles in Law
Loopholes For Circumventing The Constitution: Unrestrained Bulk Surveillance On Americans By Collecting Network Traffic Abroad, Axel Arnbak, Sharon Goldberg
Loopholes For Circumventing The Constitution: Unrestrained Bulk Surveillance On Americans By Collecting Network Traffic Abroad, Axel Arnbak, Sharon Goldberg
Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review
This Article reveals interdependent legal and technical loopholes that the US intelligence community could use to circumvent constitutional and statutory safeguards for Americans. These loopholes involve the collection of Internet traffic on foreign territory, and leave Americans as unprotected as foreigners by current United States (US) surveillance laws. This Article will also describe how modern Internet protocols can be manipulated to deliberately divert American’s traffic abroad, where traffic can then be collected under a more permissive legal regime (Executive Order 12333) that is overseen solely by the executive branch of the US government. Although the media has reported on some …
Voluntary Disclosure Of Information As A Proposed Standard For The Fourth Amendment's Third-Party Doctrine, Margaret E. Twomey
Voluntary Disclosure Of Information As A Proposed Standard For The Fourth Amendment's Third-Party Doctrine, Margaret E. Twomey
Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review
The third-party doctrine is a long-standing tenant of Fourth Amendment law that allows law enforcement officers to utilize information that was released to a third party without the probable cause required for a traditional search warrant. This has allowed law enforcement agents to use confidential informants, undercover agents, and access bank records of suspected criminals. However, in a digital age where exponentially more information is shared with Internet Service Providers, e-mail hosts, and social media “friends,” the traditional thirdparty doctrine ideas allow law enforcement officers access to a cache of personal information and data with a standard below probable cause. …
Holding Up And Holding Out, Colleen V. Chien
Holding Up And Holding Out, Colleen V. Chien
Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review
Patent “hold-up” and patent “hold-out” present important, alternative theories for what ails the patent system. Patent “hold-up” occurs when a patent owner sues a company when it is most vulnerable—after it has implemented a technology—and is able wrest a settlement because it is too late for the company to change course. Patent “hold-out” is the practice of companies routinely ignoring patents and resisting patent owner demands because the odds of getting caught are small. Hold-up has arguably predicted the current patent crises, and the ex ante assertion of technology patents whether in the smartphone war, standards, or patent “troll” context. …
District Courts Versus The Usitc: Considering Exclusionary Relief For F/Rand-Encumbered Standard-Essential Patents, Helen H. Ji
District Courts Versus The Usitc: Considering Exclusionary Relief For F/Rand-Encumbered Standard-Essential Patents, Helen H. Ji
Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review
Technological standards allow manufacturers and consumers to rely upon these agreed-upon basic systems to facilitate sales and further invention. However, where these standards involved patented technology, the process of standard-setting raises many concerns at the intersection of antitrust and patent law. As patent holders advocate for their patents to become part of technological standards, how should courts police this activity to prevent patent holdup and other anti-competitive practices? This Note explores the differing approaches to remedies employed by the United States International Trade Commission and the United States District Courts where standard-essential patents are infringed. This Note further proposes that …
Wireless Localism: Beyond The Shroud Of Objectivity In Federal Spectrum Administration, Olivier Sylvain
Wireless Localism: Beyond The Shroud Of Objectivity In Federal Spectrum Administration, Olivier Sylvain
Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review
Recent innovations in mobile wireless technology have instigated a debate between two camps of legal scholars about federal administration of the electromagnetic spectrum. The first camp argues that the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) should define spectrum use rights more clearly and give spectrum licensees broad property rights in frequencies. The second camp argues that, rather than award exclusive licenses to the highest bidder, the FCC ought to open much, if not most, of the spectrum to unlicensed use by smartphones and tablets equipped with the newest spectrum administration technology. First, this Article shows that both of these camps comprise a …
Geographically Restricted Streaming Content And Evasion Of Geolocation: The Applicability Of The Copyright Anticircumvention Rules, Jerusha Burnett
Geographically Restricted Streaming Content And Evasion Of Geolocation: The Applicability Of The Copyright Anticircumvention Rules, Jerusha Burnett
Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review
A number of methods currently exist or are being developed to determine where Internet users are located geographically when they access a particular webpage. Yet regardless of the precautions taken by website operators to limit the locations from which they allow access, it is likely that users will find ways to gain access to restricted content. Should the evasion of geolocation constitute circumvention of access controls so that § 1201 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act ("DMCA") applies? Because location data can properly be considered personally identifiable information ("PII"), this Note argues that § 1201 should not apply absent a …
High-Frequency Trading: Should Regulators Do More, Matt Prewitt
High-Frequency Trading: Should Regulators Do More, Matt Prewitt
Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review
High-Frequency Trading ("HFT") is a diverse set of algorithmic trading strategies characterized by fast order execution. Its importance in international markets has increased vastly in recent years. From a regulatory perspective, HFT presents difficult and partially unresolved questions. The difficulties stem partly from the fact that HFT encompasses a wide range of trading strategies, and partly from a dearth of unambiguous empirical findings about HFT's effects on markets. Yet certain important conclusions are broadly accepted. HFT can increase systemic risk by causing or exacerbating events like the "Flash Crash" of May 6, 2010. HFT can also enable market manipulators to …
No Cause Of Action: Video Surveillance In New York City, Olivia J. Greer
No Cause Of Action: Video Surveillance In New York City, Olivia J. Greer
Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review
In 2010, New York City Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly announced a new network of video surveillance in the City. The new network would be able to prevent future terrorist attacks by identifying suspicious behavior before catastrophic events could take place. Kelly told reporters, "If we're looking for a person in a red jacket, we can call up all the red jackets filmed in the last 30 days," and "[w]e're beginning to use software that can identify suspicious objects or behaviors." Gothamist later made a witticism of Kelly's statement, remarking, "Note to terrorists: red jackets are not a good look for …
Creating A Plug-In Electric Vehicle Industry Cluster In Michigan: Prospects And Policy Options, Thomas P. Lyon, Russell A. Baruffi Jr.
Creating A Plug-In Electric Vehicle Industry Cluster In Michigan: Prospects And Policy Options, Thomas P. Lyon, Russell A. Baruffi Jr.
Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review
This Article seeks to examine how policy can be used strategically to foster the development of a plug-in electric vehicle ("PEV") industry cluster in Michigan. The tendency for certain industries to localize in particular regions has captured the interest of much economic research and policy discussion in recent years. The trend toward the clustering of new industries has stayed strong despite the acceleration of globalization. Attention to clusters has proven to be an enduring theme in economic development circles for nearly thirty years. Clusters generate synergies that make industrial activity greater than the sum of contributions by individual players. In …
The Case For Clean Energy Technology Manufacturing: Ten Steps Business And Industry Must Take To Optimize Opportunities In The Emerging Clean Energy Economy, Stanley Pruss
Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review
Clean energy policy choices will be critical both for economic vitality within the United States and for international competitiveness in the race to improve clean energy technology and capture emerging markets. With legislative solutions losing momentum, business and industry leaders will be the key drivers in reorienting American policy, discourse, and economics in the clean energy economy. The problem, however, is that many political and business leaders are unaware of the job-creating potential and economic benefits in the clean energy sectors. These benefits could be realized if we made a serious, strategic effort to align our latent strengths in manufacturing …
Information Anxieties, G. S. Hans
Information Anxieties, G. S. Hans
Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review
The constant access and instant publication that the Internet allows have given every pundit an online soapbox. This content explosion has created two related problems for consumers and industry: how to find valuable content online (whatever "valuable" means) and how to moderate the flow of the content itself. Tim Wu argues in The Master Switch that the second issue of content control and mediation has been fiercely debated in the United States as far back as the invention of the telephone in the late nineteenth century. Consumers, creators, companies, and government officials have disputed the appropriate regulations for the devices …
Media-Rich Input Application Liability, David R. Krohn, Pekarek
Media-Rich Input Application Liability, David R. Krohn, Pekarek
Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review
Until recently, media-rich online interactions were mostly unidirectional: multimedia content was delivered by the service provider to the user. Input from the user came almost exclusively in the form of text. Even when searching the Internet for images or audio, a user typically entered text into a search engine. In addition, search engines indexed multimedia content by analyzing not the content itself but the text surrounding it. This is rapidly changing. With the rise of multimedia-capable smartphones and wireless broadband, applications that allow users to search using non-textual inputs are quickly becoming popular. These applications go much further than simply …
Not So Technical: An Analysis Of Federal Circuit Patent Decisions Appealed From The Itc, Holly Lance
Not So Technical: An Analysis Of Federal Circuit Patent Decisions Appealed From The Itc, Holly Lance
Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review
A widespread perception among the patent law community is that the patent system would be more effective if judges with technical backgrounds and patent law experience decided patent disputes. Proponents believe that if judges all had similar baseline knowledge of technological analysis, there would be more consistency in decision-making, leading to more predictability for parties. Some district courts have unofficially become semi-specialized in patent law disputes, and Congress is debating whether to institute a more formalized Patent Pilot Program in which district court judges specialize in patent law cases. This Note joins the debate and examines patent law cases at …
Patenting By Entrepreneurs: An Empirical Study, Ted Sichelman, Stuart J.H. Graham
Patenting By Entrepreneurs: An Empirical Study, Ted Sichelman, Stuart J.H. Graham
Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review
[T]he Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation--an organization that studies and promotes entrepreneurship in the United States--funded an effort at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law, to undertake the first comprehensive survey of the relationship between patenting and entrepreneurship in the United States. The authors, along with other investigators, administered the survey in 2008 to approximately 15,000 startup and early-stage companies in the biotechnology, medical device, information technology (IT) hardware, and software and Internet sectors. A portion of the survey examined why entrepreneurs, startups, and early-stage companies do (and do not) seek patents. This Article reports and analyzes results from …
Wireless Net Neutrality Regulation And The Problem With Pricing: An Empirical, Cautionary Tale, Babette E.L. Boliek
Wireless Net Neutrality Regulation And The Problem With Pricing: An Empirical, Cautionary Tale, Babette E.L. Boliek
Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review
I present here a unique empirical analysis of the consumer welfare benefits of prior regulation in the mobile telecommunications industry. In particular, I analyze the relative consumer benefits of state rate regulation and federal entry regulation. The institution of filing requirements and FTC review and approval of various consumer pricing regimes is highly analogous to the consumer price controls imposed by various state level public utility commissions in the past. Furthermore, the imposition of a zero-price rule is analogous to past rate regulation; in particular it is similar to past wholesale regulation with its underlying principles of open access and …
The General Public License Version 3.0: Making Or Breaking The Foss Movement, Clark D. Asay
The General Public License Version 3.0: Making Or Breaking The Foss Movement, Clark D. Asay
Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review
Free and open source software (FOSS) is a big deal. FOSS has become an undeniably important element for businesses and the global economy in general, as companies increasingly use it internally and attempt to monetize it. Governments have even gotten into the act, as a recent study notes that FOSS plays a critical role in the US Department of Defense's systems. Others have pushed for the adoption of FOSS to help third-world countries develop. Given many of its technological and developmental advantages, FOSS's use, adoption, and development are only projected to grow.[...] The FSF created the most popular version of …
When Mobile Phones Are Rfid-Equipped - Finding E.U.-U.S. Solutions To Protect Consumer Privacy And Facilitate Mobile Commerce, Nancy J. King
When Mobile Phones Are Rfid-Equipped - Finding E.U.-U.S. Solutions To Protect Consumer Privacy And Facilitate Mobile Commerce, Nancy J. King
Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review
New mobile phones have been designed to include delivery of mobile advertising and other useful location-based services, but have they also been designed to protect consumers' privacy? One of the key enabling technologies for these new types of phones and new mobile services is Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), a wireless communication technology that enables the unique identification of tagged objects. In the case of RFID-enabled mobile phones, the personal nature of the devices makes it very likely that, by locating a phone, businesses will also be able to locate its owner. Consumers are currently testing new RFID-enabled phones around the …
What Is Hiding In The Bushes - Ebay's Effect On Holdout Behavior In Patent Thickets, Gavin D. George
What Is Hiding In The Bushes - Ebay's Effect On Holdout Behavior In Patent Thickets, Gavin D. George
Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review
Importantly, at least a few relevant patent holders are inevitably left out of an industry organization's collection of patents. These left-out patent holders, known as "holdouts," can undermine the collective arrangement with demand letters and infringement suits.[...] The first part of this Note explains why holdouts exist in the first place, given the benefits of joining an organization of collected patents. In the second part of this Note, I explore the lack of legal protections against holdout demands offered by pre-eBay patent law. The third part of this Note introduces the eBay decision as revolutionary addition to list of legal …
Biometrics: Weighing Convenience And National Security Against Your Privacy, Lauren D. Adkins
Biometrics: Weighing Convenience And National Security Against Your Privacy, Lauren D. Adkins
Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review
The biometric identifier relies on an individual's unique biological information such as a hand, iris, fingerprint, facial or voice print. When used for verification purposes, a "one-to-one" match is generated in under one second. Biometric technology can substantially improve national security by identifying and verifying individuals in a number of different contexts, providing security in ways that exceed current identification technology and limiting access to areas where security breaches are especially high, such as airport tarmacs and critical infrastructure facilities. At the same time, a legitimate public concern exists concerning the misuse of biometric technology to invade or violate personal …
Technology Wars: The Failure Of Democratic Discourse, Gregory N. Mandel
Technology Wars: The Failure Of Democratic Discourse, Gregory N. Mandel
Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review
Conflicts over the use and regulation of various technologies pervade public discourse and have dramatic implications for the public interest. Controversies over the regulation of genetically modified products, nuclear power, and nanotechnology, among others, provoke some of the most socially and politically volatile debates of our time. These technology conflicts extract a substantial price from society--they create costly inefficiencies, prevent society from optimally managing new technologies, consume vast resources, and retard technological growth. This Article develops a framework for understanding technology controversies, and consequently proposes new means for resolving or ameliorating a variety of seemingly intractable legal and regulatory standoffs. …
Fair's Fair: An Argument For Mandatory Disclosure Of Technological Protection Measures, Robert C. Denicola
Fair's Fair: An Argument For Mandatory Disclosure Of Technological Protection Measures, Robert C. Denicola
Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review
Section 1201(a)(1) of the Copyright Act prohibits the act of "circumvent[ing] a technological measure that effectively controls access to a work," including, for example, by-passing password protection or encryption intended to restrict access to paying customers. Section 1201(a)(2) prohibits the manufacture or sale of "any technology, product, service, device, component, or part thereof" primarily designed for the purpose of circumventing access controls on copyrighted works. Additionally, § 1202(b) prohibits the manufacture or sale of products, devices or services primarily designed to circumvent "a technological measure that effectively protects a right of a copyright owner"--for example, a technological measure intended to …
Better, Faster, Cheaper - Later: What Happens When Technologies Are Suppressed, Kurt M. Saunders, Linda Levine
Better, Faster, Cheaper - Later: What Happens When Technologies Are Suppressed, Kurt M. Saunders, Linda Levine
Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review
Some inventions never see the light of day. Others enter the spotlight after long delays and the factors that slowed the arrival of that innovation are ignored. Technology suppression is a real occurrence involving well known and widely used products. In this Article, we examine the topic of technology suppression, seeking to reveal the tactics of suppression and the patterns and conditions under which it occurs. Current examples of US technologies are used to highlight the significance of this phenomenon. We consider related factors, including market and innovation forces, and we identify suppressive tactics, using illustrative cases where patent nonuse …
Life Sciences, Technology, And The Law - Symosium Transcript - March 7, 2003, Philip R. Reilly, David H. Kaye, Jonathan J. Koehler, Richard O. Lempert
Life Sciences, Technology, And The Law - Symosium Transcript - March 7, 2003, Philip R. Reilly, David H. Kaye, Jonathan J. Koehler, Richard O. Lempert
Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review
Life sciences, Technology, and the Law Symposium held at the University of Michigan Law School Friday, March 7, 2003
Government Preferences For Promoting Open-Source Software: A Solution In Search Of A Problem, David S. Evans, Bernard J. Reddy
Government Preferences For Promoting Open-Source Software: A Solution In Search Of A Problem, David S. Evans, Bernard J. Reddy
Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review
Governments around the world are making or considering efforts to promote open-source software (typically produced by cooperatives of individuals) at the expense of proprietary software (generally sold by for-profit software developers). This article examines the economic basis for these kinds of government interventions in the market. It first provides some background on the software industry. The article discusses the industrial organization and performance of the proprietary software business and describes how the open-source movement produces and distributes software. It then surveys current government proposals and initiatives to support open-source software and examines whether there is a significant market failure that …
Taking A Bite Out Of Circumvention: Analyzing 17 U.S.C. 1201 As A Criminal Law, Jason M. Schulz
Taking A Bite Out Of Circumvention: Analyzing 17 U.S.C. 1201 As A Criminal Law, Jason M. Schulz
Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review
...information content providers who depend heavily on copyright law are growing increasingly wary of advances in digital technology that allow manipulation of their content and potentially diminish the effectiveness of their copyright protection. Technology firms, on the other hand, are looking more and more at developing products which provide low-cost, high quality access to content without restriction. Thus, as technologists work feverishly to find new ways to free up information, content providers are fighting just as hard to constrain access in order to prevent market-killing duplication and distribution of their works. These two codependent yet clashing interest groups recently met …
Antitrust Enfocement And High-Technology Markets, William J. Baer, David A. Balto
Antitrust Enfocement And High-Technology Markets, William J. Baer, David A. Balto
Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review
Although the antitrust laws apply to all industries, the application must be tempered in each case by the myriad ways in which competition can be modified by structural, behavioral, technological, regulatory, and other characteristics. The Commission applies the antitrust laws with sensitivity to the special characteristics of high-tech industries and of intellectual property, but also with the recognition that--as in other industries--competition plays an important role in spurring innovation and in spreading the benefits of that innovation to consumers. This focus is not new. This balanced approach has roots that go back at least to the 1977 Antitrust Guide to …
Telecommunications In Transition: Unbundling, Reintegration, And Competition, David J. Teece
Telecommunications In Transition: Unbundling, Reintegration, And Competition, David J. Teece
Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review
The world economy is experiencing a technological revolution, fueled by rapid advances in microelectronics, optics, and computer science, that in the 1990s and beyond will dramatically change the way people everywhere communicate, learn, and access information and entertainment. This technological revolution has been underway for about a decade. The emergence of a fully-interactive communications network, sometimes referred to as the "Information Superhighway," is now upon us. This highway, made possible by fiber optics and the convergence of several different technologies, is capable of delivering a plethora of new interactive entertainment, informational, and instructional services that are powerful and user-friendly. The …