Law Commons^™

Electronic Rights Management And Digital Identifier Systems, Daniel J. Gervais

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

The new world of digital information requires a new way of providing access to that information — while keeping the copyright backbone. It might be technically easier to create a digital infrastructure without copyright: Just throw works up on the Internet, and let anyone get to them for any purposes. But such systems have been suggested and roundly rejected by those who create and own works of value. So we need to build an electronic infrastructure that works with copyright and takes advantage of the digital environment. This paper looks at the attempts to build part of that infrastructure — …

On The Threshold Of The Adoption Of Global Antibribery Legislation, Barbara C. George, Kathleen A. Lacey, Jutta Birmele

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

This Article will (1) briefly discuss domestic U.S. anti-corruption efforts through a review of the substantive content of the 1977 FCPA and its 1988 amendments; (2) evaluate indicators of changes in domestic attitudes and policies toward business corruption as evidenced by the breadth and scope of recent increased enforcement activities of DOJ and the SEC; (3) analyze the factors causing recent changes in international attitudes and policies toward business corruption; and (4) examine the resulting international efforts to combat business corruption by governmental and non-governmental organizations, financial standard setting organizations, and financial institutions.

Where's The Beef? Mad Cows And The Blight Of The Sps Agreement, Ryan D. Thomas

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

This Note will first outline the SPS Agreement itself--specifically, Part II attempts to present the relevant articles in a manner providing the necessary background for understanding the WTO dispute panel and Appellate Body decisions. Next, Part III discuss and critique, the dispute panel and Appellate Body decisions, specifically, noting the shortcomings of these decisions in the context of the SPS Agreement and its utility as a precedent of international dispute resolution in the area of international regulation of drugs and feedstuffs. Next, I will addresses the likely effect of these decisions upon a possible WTO resolution of the SRM dispute …

The Rise Of The International Trust, Jeffrey A. Schoenblum

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

With considerable acuity, Carlyn S. McCaffrey and Elyse G.Kirschner explore the maze created by the new Code and treasury regulation provisions. In addition to affording a fascinating roadmap through the maze, their article, Learning to Live with the New Foreign Nongrantor Trust Rules, demonstrates the difficulty of addressing legislatively the multitude of trust arrangements that can be devised in the struggle between grantors worldwide and the U.S. tax authorities. The article also exposes the inevitable generation of unintended consequences, including new loopholes, that are a product of such legislation.

In a second tax article, Respect for "Form" as "Substance" in …

Recent Developments In Anti-Money Laundering And Related Litigation Traps For The Unwary In International Trust Matters, Bruce Zagaris

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

In 1998, governments and international organizations continued their active efforts to increase regulatory and criminal enforcement of various laws to stem the tide of transnational crime. These efforts were reflected in the criminalization of various business and financial transactions, the imposition of new due diligence measures on the private sector and the concomitant weakening of privacy and confidentiality laws, strengthened penalties for non-compliance with regulatory efforts, and new law enforcement techniques, such as undercover sting operations, wiretapping, expanded powers to search homes and businesses, and controlled deliveries. So obtrusive are many of the law enforcement techniques and the privatization of …

Damned If You Do, Damned If You Don't? The Oecd Convention And The Globalization Of Anti-Bribery Measures, Christopher F. Corr, Judd Lawler

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

This article explores the efforts of the international community to battle corruption by focusing on the recently promulgated Organization of Economic and Cooperative Development (OECD) Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions. For many years the United States battled corruption by prohibiting its domestic businesses from bribing foreign officials. Other countries, however, generally viewed U.S. policy as a form of unilateral commercial disarmament and declined to pass their own anti-bribery legislation. The Convention, therefore, marks a recent shift by the international community, as it requires signatories to enact laws to punish domestic corporations for bribes …

The Innocent Buyer Of Art Looted During World War Ii, Michelle I. Tumer

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

This Note considers the legal issues relating to innocent buyers of looted art. After providing some historical background on the massive displacements of art that took place during World War II, the Note surveys recent developments, including the different types of disputes that have arisen in the past few years. It then provides a legal framework for analyzing one type of dispute, that of the innocent buyer of looted art.

Original owners face difficult evidentiary burdens and other litigation barriers, but law and policy nevertheless favor original owners above innocent buyers. In particular, courts have become increasingly impatient with the …

Symposium: The Rise Of The International Trust, Jeffrey Schoenblum

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

The international trust, the subject of the Symposium, is experiencing an extraordinary reception worldwide. It is being utilized by individuals from countries with legal cultures that traditionally have not known this form of ownership. In fact, there is no formal legal construct known as the "international trust." Rather, the term as used in the Symposium and as used herein, is intended as an organizing principle to explore the various implications of trusts with international or transborder linkages. The focus is on private trusts, those utilized to manage the wealth of individuals and their families, although much of the discussion pertains …