Finding A Fit: Gene Patents And Innovation Policy, 2012 UC Law SF
Finding A Fit: Gene Patents And Innovation Policy, Erica L. Anderson
UC Law Science and Technology Journal
The district court's decision in Ass'n for Molecular Pathology v. U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (the Myriad litigation) that isolated DNA does not constitute patentable subject matter because the isolated DNA is not markedly different from the naturally occurring DNA sequence redrew the lines of patentable subject matter. The Federal Circuit has subsequently overturned that holding; however, it remains unclear whether gene patents serve the patent system's underlying objective to encourage innovation. For the most part, courts have defined what constitutes patentable subject matter, but as the Myriad litigation demonstrates, courts may not be the best institution to consider these …
Customers, Co-Workers And Competition: Employee Covenants In California After Edwards V. Arthur Andersen, 2012 UC Law SF
Customers, Co-Workers And Competition: Employee Covenants In California After Edwards V. Arthur Andersen, David L. Simson
UC Law Science and Technology Journal
California law is well settled that most contractual provisions prohibiting competing with or soliciting customers of a former employer are unenforceable under California Business and Professions Code 16600, unless the activity involves misappropriation of trade secrets or confidential information. Nonetheless, case law appears to hold that a restriction on one type of post-employment activityhiring away former co-workers-might still be permitted. In 2008, the California Supreme Court once again addressed the scope of section 16600. This Note examines employee nonsolicitation covenants in light of that decision, including whether they remain legally defensible, and whether they retain any value for the employer …
Student Intellectual Property Issues On The Entrepreneurial Campus, 2012 University of Michigan Law School
Student Intellectual Property Issues On The Entrepreneurial Campus, Bryce C. Pilz
Michigan Business & Entrepreneurial Law Review
This article examines issues that are more frequently arising for universities concerning intellectual property in student inventions. It seeks to identify the issue, explain the underlying law, identify actual and proposed solutions to these issues, and explain the legal ramifications of these potential solutions.
Energy Subsidies, Market Distortion, And A Free Market Alternative, 2012 University of Michigan Law School
Energy Subsidies, Market Distortion, And A Free Market Alternative, Hans Biebl
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform Caveat
Gas and coal are cheap. They are cheap because the U.S. government subsidizes their production. The result is that the marketplace does not recognize the true cost of fossil fuels. Without the subsidies, Americans—for the first time in nearly a hundred years—would experience the cost of unsubsidized fossil fuels. In a newly competitive marketplace, renewable sources of energy would be in a better position to compete. Without gas and coal subsidies, clean energy producers, who have not been able to compete with the low price of fossil fuels, might be more willing to invest in “clean, renewable, and more energy …
"Like" Your President: A Case For Online Voting, 2012 University of Michigan Law School
"Like" Your President: A Case For Online Voting, Jeremy Garson
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform Caveat
In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, New Jersey allowed displaced residents to vote in the 2012 elections by email. The option to vote online has been available to military members stationed overseas since 2009. New Jersey’s decision to open online voting to civilians raises the question of why this shift didn’t take place sooner. Assuming New Jersey’s system holds up under post-election scrutiny, why not utilize it to the fullest extent possible? Online voter registration is already permitted by eleven states, including the liberal, infrastructure-rich, population-heavy California and the conservative, sparsely populated Alaska. Extending the registration system to voting itself …
One More Good Reason For In-Car Videotaping Of Traffic Stops: An Accurate Assessment Of "Consent", 2012 University of Michigan Law School
One More Good Reason For In-Car Videotaping Of Traffic Stops: An Accurate Assessment Of "Consent", Robert L. White
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform Caveat
There are a number of reasons why legislative reform mandating the use of in-car cameras in police cruisers would benefit the criminal justice system in Illinois. In-car cameras provide evidence for cases involving traffic violations or intoxicated motorists. They produce instantly available training materials. They also assist victims of police misconduct, as well as officers defending themselves against misconduct claims. This Comment looks to add to this list of benefits the role in-car cameras can play in assessing the validity of consents to search that officers obtain during traffic stops.
Past Its Prime: Why The Clean Air Act Is In Need Of Modification, 2012 University of Michigan Law School
Past Its Prime: Why The Clean Air Act Is In Need Of Modification, Levi Smith
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform Caveat
The Clean Air Act (CAA) is the primary federal statute regulating the emission of air pollutants. First enacted in 1970, the CAA requires, inter alia, the federal government to establish air quality goals and states to develop implementation plans to achieve those goals. The most stringent requirements of the CAA are imposed on “new” or “modified” sources of pollution, such as sulfur dioxide, nitrous oxides, and particulate matter. Sources that were operating when the CAA was enacted are mostly exempt from regulation under the Act. Because of the substantial costs associated with the CAA standards, there is an incentive for …
High-Frequency Trading: Should Regulators Do More, 2012 University of Michigan Law School
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 …
Patents V. Statutory Exclusivities In Biological Pharmaceuticals - Do We Really Need Both, 2012 Georgia State University College of Law
Patents V. Statutory Exclusivities In Biological Pharmaceuticals - Do We Really Need Both, Yaniv Heled
Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review
Over the past decade or so, the United States has been the arena of a boisterous debate regarding the creation of a new regulatory framework for the approval of generic versions of biologics-based pharmaceutical products (also known as "biological products" and "biologics")--an important and increasingly growing class of drugs. The basic purpose of such a framework is to create a fast and less-costly route to FDA approval for biologics that would be similar or identical to already-approved biological products--typically ones that are sold on the market at monopoly rates--thereby allowing cheaper versions of such medicines to enter the market. One …
No Cause Of Action: Video Surveillance In New York City, 2012 Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law
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 …
Res Or Rules - Patents And The (Uncertain) Rules Of The Game, 2012 Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law
Res Or Rules - Patents And The (Uncertain) Rules Of The Game, Emily Michiko Morris
Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review
The Article proceeds as follows. Part I reviews the basics of patent claiming, the traditional view of claims as real property deeds, and why uncertainty as to the boundaries of those deeds is considered undesirable. Part II critiques the analogy between real property deeds and patent claims, highlighting in particular the requisite novelty and conceptual nature of the patent res, the differences between the purposes of the patent system and real property regimes, and the effect of these different purposes on the expected predictability of patent boundaries. Part III then changes the analogy from patent claims as property deeds to …
Enhancing Public Access To Online Rulemaking Information, 2012 University of Pennsylvania Law School
Enhancing Public Access To Online Rulemaking Information, Cary Coglianese
Michigan Journal of Environmental & Administrative Law
One of the most significant powers exercised by federal agencies is their power to make rules. Given the importance of agency rulemaking, the process by which agencies develop rules has long been subject to procedural requirements aiming to advance democratic values of openness and public participation. With the advent of the digital age, government agencies have engaged in increasing efforts to make rulemaking information available online as well as to elicit public participation via electronic means of communication. How successful are these efforts? How might they be improved? In this article, I investigate agencies’ efforts to make rulemaking information available …
It’S My Body: The Biomedical Ethics Of Cell And Organ Harvest, 2012 Providence College
It’S My Body: The Biomedical Ethics Of Cell And Organ Harvest, Christina Perri
Common Reading Essay Contest Winners
First Place
Copy Game For High Score: The First Video Game Lawsuit, 20 J. Intell. Prop. L. 1 (2012), 2012 John Marshall Law School
Copy Game For High Score: The First Video Game Lawsuit, 20 J. Intell. Prop. L. 1 (2012), William K. Ford
UIC Law Open Access Faculty Scholarship
Commentators and industry historians generally agree that the multi-billion dollar video game industry began forty years ago in November 1972 with Atari's release of Pong. Pong is among the simplest of video games: a version of ping pong or tennis requiring little more to play than a ball, two paddles, a scoring indicator, and a couple of memorable sounds. While it was not the first video game, Pong was the first video game hit. With unauthorized copying of a successful product occurring, it is not surprising that a lawsuit resulted in the fall of 1973, one that predates the more …
Incentivizing The Utilization Of Pharmacogenomics In Drug Development, 2012 IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law
Incentivizing The Utilization Of Pharmacogenomics In Drug Development, Valerie Gutmann Koch
All Faculty Scholarship
Pharmacogenomics, the study and development of compounds according to how an individual’s genes affects the body’s response to drugs, holds enormous promise for increasing the safety and efficiency of drug development while decreasing adverse reactions and the trial-and-error nature of drug prescription. However, pharmacogenomics may not be the panacea for all development and prescription problems. This article explores some of the obstacles to pharmacogenomic advancement including industry reluctance to pursue research because of potentially prohibitive costs associated with developing products and legal liability concerns. The implications pharmacogenomics has for drug research and development as well as various areas of law …
Pgtandme: Social Networking-Based Genetic Testing And The Evolving Research Model, 2012 IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law
Pgtandme: Social Networking-Based Genetic Testing And The Evolving Research Model, Valerie Gutmann Koch
All Faculty Scholarship
The opportunity to use extensive genetic data, personal information, and family medical history for research purposes may be naturally appealing to the personal genetic testing (PGT) industry, which is already coupling its direct-to-consumer (DTC) products with social networking technologies, as well as to potential industry or institutional partners. This article evaluates the transformation in research that the hybrid of PGT and social networking will bring about, and – highlighting the challenges associated with a new paradigm of “patient-driven” genomic research – focuses on the consequences of shifting the structure, locus, timing, and scope of research through genetic crowd-sourcing. This article …
Digital Originality, 2012 IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law
Digital Originality, Edward Lee
All Faculty Scholarship
This Article examines the doctrine of originality in U.S. copyright law and proposes a reconfigured, three-part test that can better analyze issues of first impression involving works created with new digital technologies. The proposed test, encapsulated by the concept of digital originality, provides much needed guidance to courts to address the increasing complexities of digital creations in the twenty-first century.
Behavioral Advertising: From One-Sided Chicken To Informational Norms, 2012 IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law
Behavioral Advertising: From One-Sided Chicken To Informational Norms, Richard Warner, Robert Sloan
All Faculty Scholarship
When you download the free audio recording software from Audacity, you agree that Audacity may collect your information and use it to send you advertising. Billions of such pay-with-data exchanges feed information daily to a massive advertising ecosystem that tailors web site advertising as closely as possible to individual interests. The vast majority want considerably more control over our information. We nonetheless routinely enter pay-with-data exchanges when we visit CNN.com, use Gmail, or visit any of a vast number of other websites. Why? And, what, if anything, should we do about it? We answer both questions by describing pay-with-data exchanges …
Technology Drives The Law: A Foreword To Trends And Issues In Techology & The Law, 2012 University of Massachusetts School of Law - Dartmouth
Technology Drives The Law: A Foreword To Trends And Issues In Techology & The Law, Ralph D. Clifford
Faculty Publications
Technology has always been a motivating force of change in the law. The creation of new machines and development of novel methods of achieving goals force the law to adapt with new and responsive rules. This is particularly true whenever a new technology transforms society. Whether it is increasing industrialization or computerization, pre-existing legal concepts rarely survive the transition unaltered - new prescriptions are announced while old ones disappear.
Induced Infringement As A Strict Liability Claim: Abolishment Of The Specific Intent Requirement, 2012 UC Law SF
Induced Infringement As A Strict Liability Claim: Abolishment Of The Specific Intent Requirement, Soonbok Lee
UC Law Science and Technology Journal
This Note argues that the specific intent requirement for § 271(b) should be abolished. It shows that the language of § 271(b) does not provide textual support for the specific intent requirement. Additionally, it argues that the specific intent requirement is contrary to early case law before the enactment of the 1952 Patent Act and is in conflict with many aspects of patent law including the utilitarian policies, the doctrine of equivalents and basic risk allocation. Finally, this Note demonstrates that the overlapping scope of § 271(b) and § 271(c) necessitates the specific intent requirement because Congress intended § 271(b) …