Digital Commons Network^™

Platforms As Blackacres, Thomas E. Kadri

Articles

While writing this Article, I interviewed a journalist who writes stories about harmful technologies. To do this work, he gathers information from websites to reveal trends that online platforms would prefer to hide. His team has exposed how Facebook threatens people's privacy and safety, how Amazon hides cheaper deals from consumers, and how Google diverts political speech from our inboxes. You'd think the journalist might want credit for telling these important stories, but he instead insisted on anonymity when we talked because his lawyer was worried he'd be confessing to breaking the law-to committing the crime and tort of cyber-trespass. …

Uncovering Patent Prosecution: An Obvious(Ness) Negotiation, Orit Fischman-Afori, Yifat Nahmias, Iris Soroker

Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal

Because a patent is a license for a monopoly affecting the public good, the process of patent prosecution deserves close scrutiny. Yet, significant aspects of this process remain unexplored. In particular, two central thresholds for patent eligibility, "novelty" and "nonobviousness," regarded as the bedrock of patent law worldwide, have rarely been examined on an empirical basis. Investigating how these requirements are invoked during the patent prosecution process is critical to understanding how the application of patent law's central tenets affects the quantity and quality of the resulting patents and, ultimately, the public interest.

In this empirical study, we examine a …

Panel 3: The Universal Museum Myth, Irini Stamatoudi, Patty Gerstenblith, Elena Korka, Joe Baker

Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal

The article critiques the concept of the "universal museum," arguing that it often justifies the removal of cultural heritage from its origin communities under the guise of public education and universal access. The discussion emphasizes the ethical and legal issues surrounding colonial-era acquisitions and advocates for a shift towards restitution and collaboration with source communities to address historical injustices.

Panel 4: Cultural Property And International Human Rights Trends, Sandy Cobden, Leila Amineddoleh, Kristen A. Carpenter, Lawrence Kaye

Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal

The article examines the challenges and trends in recognizing the human rights dimension of cultural property claims, particularly for Indigenous Peoples. It highlights the intersection of social, ethical, and legal dynamics in repatriation efforts, emphasizing the need for international cooperation and the development of effective mechanisms to address these claims. The analysis underscores the importance of considering Indigenous Peoples' laws, traditions, and customs in repatriation processes and advocates for diplomatic approaches over litigation.

Interconstituted Legal Agents, Christian Turner

Scholarly Works

Legal theory and doctrine depend on underlying assumptions about human nature and sociality. Perhaps the most common and basic assumption is that we are separate persons who communicate imperfectly with one another. While this separation thesis has been questioned, it still dominates legal theory. However, I show that understanding separation and connection as alternative perspectives, rather than as ontologically true or false, reveals that legal conflict often arises when these perspectives give rise to clashing intuitions concerning the meaning of community and what constitutes goals and harms. This Article organizes perspectives on social relationships in increasing order of intersubjectivity: isolation, …

The Enduring Role Of Conflict In The Perpetuation Of Famine: Advancing 'The Right To Adequate Food' For Sustainable Peace, Robert M. Bane

Dissertations and Theses

The present thesis evaluates developments and trends in global conflict dynamics, global systems of governance, and global hunger. Together, the thesis investigates and upholds the notion that famine is a ‘man-made’ phenomenon and explains how famine persists in a world abundant with food. Through analysis and research the following is found: the occurrence of global conflict is accelerating alongside an increase in the severity of organized violence dynamics; global authoritarianism is expanding presenting a threat to global freedoms and liberal democracy; as these trends are occurring, world hunger is steadily on the rise reflecting a significant backsliding of progress achieved …

The Criticism Of Eurocentrism And International Law: Countering And Pluralizing The Research, Teaching, And Practice Of Eurocentric International Law, Makane Moïse Mbengue, Olabisi D. Akinkugbe

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

This Chapter draws on Third World Approaches to International Law (TWAIL) in examining the question: how does the research and teaching of international law in the Global South challenge Eurocentrism in international law. The Chapter focuses on the emergent activities within Global South that pluralize Eurocentric international law’s dominance in the research production, teaching, and practice arenas. The Chapter pushes against the unfair over-representation of European countries in the scholarly production and institutions of international law. To illustrate the often-underexplored regional diversity of international law outside Europe, the Chapter reflects on the contemporary roles of critical Global South scholars and …

The (Pfas)T And The Furious: Applying Hazardous Waste Management Frameworks To The Global Presence Of Pfas, Maggie Clark

Journal of Air Law and Commerce

International treaties governing transboundary hazardous waste are a result of the theory of sustainable development. These conventions have developed over several decades but still lack authority over one of the biggest waste exporters: the United States. As forever chemicals like GenX become a spotlight for future waste regulation, can these conventions project a framework to apply to the currently unregulated chemical that predominantly travels across the Atlantic Ocean between the Netherlands and the United States? This Article seeks to apply various transboundary waste international laws to the market for GenX, identify problems, and propose solutions.

Trust And Distrust Across Constitutional Law, R. George Wright

Notre Dame Journal of Law, Ethics & Public Policy

No abstract provided.

Scandal And Due Process: A Canonical Response To The Mccarrick Case, Fr. John P. Kimes

Notre Dame Journal of Law, Ethics & Public Policy

No abstract provided.

Social Movement Theory And The Role Of Qualified Immunity In Increasing Political Violence, Cesar M. Estrada

Notre Dame Journal of Law, Ethics & Public Policy

No abstract provided.

Structural Biases In Structural Constitutional Law, Jonathan S. Gould, David E. Pozen

Faculty Scholarship

Structural constitutional law regulates the workings of government and supplies the rules of the political game. Whether by design or by accident, these rules sometimes tilt the playing field for or against certain political factions – not just episodically, based on who holds power at a given moment, but systematically over time – in terms of electoral outcomes or policy objectives. In these instances, structural constitutional law is itself structurally biased.

This Article identifies and begins to develop the concept of such structural biases, with a focus on biases affecting the major political parties. Recent years have witnessed a revival …

The Banker Removal Power, Da Lin, Lev Menand

Faculty Scholarship

The Federal Reserve (“the Fed”) can remove bankers from office if they violate the law, engage in unsafe or unsound practices, or breach their fiduciary duties. The Fed, however, has used this power so rarely that few even realize it exists. Although major U.S. banks have admitted to repeated and flagrant lawbreaking in recent years, the Fed has never removed a senior executive from one of these institutions.

This Article offers the first comprehensive account of the banker removal power. It makes four contributions. First, drawing on a range of primary sources, it recovers the power’s statutory foundations, showing that …

Social Justice As Desistance: Rethinking Approaches To Gender Violence, Deborah M. Weissman

Faculty Publications

Part I of this Article describes most domestic violence intervention programs (DVIPs) as they currently function with regard to gender violence. It critiques the structure of these programs, their close partnership with criminal legal system actors, perceived deficiencies, and it identifies missed opportunities to provide meaningful intervention strategies with those who have harmed. It demonstrates the ways that laws, regulations, and policies governing DVIPs constrain most programs from moving beyond established practices informed by punitive approaches to address the structural conditions that situate gender violence within a political economic framework.

Part II begins with a brief overview of the research …

The Political Economy Of Wto Exceptions, Timothy Meyer

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

In a bid to save the planet from rising temperatures, the European Union is introducing a carbon border adjustment mechanism-essentially a levy on imports from countries with weak climate rules. The United States, Canada, and Japan are all openly mulling similar proposals. The Biden Administration is adopting new Buy American rules, while countries around the world debate new supply chain regulations to address public health issues arising from COVID-19 and shortages in critical components like computer chips. These public policy initiatives-addressing the central environmental, public health, and economic issues of the day-all likely violate World Trade Organization (WTO) rules governing …

Unauthorized And Unwise: The Lawful Use Requirement In Trademark Law, Robert A. Mikos

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

For decades, the United States Patent and Trademark Office ("PTO") has required trademark owners to comply with sundry nontrademark laws governing the sale of their trademarked goods and services. Pursuant to this "lawful use requirement," the Agency has refused or even cancelled registration of thousands of marks used on everything from Schedule 1 controlled substances to mislabeled soap. This Article subjects the Agency's lawful use requirement to long-overdue scrutiny. It suggests that in requiring compliance with other laws for registration, the PTO has lost sight of the one statute it is supposed to administer. In the process, the Agency has …

What Property Does, Christopher Serkin

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

For centuries, scholars have wrestled with seemingly intractable problems about the nature of property. This Article offers a different approach. Instead of asking what property is, it asks what property does. And it argues that property protects people’s reliance on resources by moderating the pace of change. Modern scholarly accounts emphasize voluntary transactions as the source and purpose of reliance in property. Such “transactional reliance” implies strong, stable, and enduring rights. This Article argues that property law also reflects a very different source of reliance on resources, one that rises and falls simply with the passage of time. This new …

The False Allure Of The Anti-Accumulation Principle, Kevin Stack, Michael Herz

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

Today the executive branch is generally seen as the most dangerous branch. Many worry that the executive branch now defies or subsumes the separation of powers. In response, several Supreme Court Justices and prominent scholars assert that the very separation-of-powers principles that determine the structure of the federal government as a whole apply with full force within the executive branch. In particular, they argue that constitutional law prohibits the accumulation of more than one type of power-—legislative, executive, and judicial—-in the same executive official or government entity. We refer to this as the anti-accumulation principle. The consequences of this principle, …

Secularism, Religion, And The State In A Time Of Global Crisis: Theoretical Reflections On The Work Of Abdullahi An-Na'im, Rohit Chopra

Emory International Law Review

This Essay presents a primarily theoretical examination of critical aspects of Abdullahi An-Na’im’s body of work. Drawing on my earlier work, the essay describes the current historical moment as one of “crisis globalization,” a normative condition characterized by the rise of authoritarianism and erosion of democracy across the globe, a backlash against religious and other kinds of minorities, as well as by a general sense of existential uncertainty stemming from the impact of climate change, terrorism, and our vulnerability to pandemics like Covid-19. I argue that An-Na’im’s work speaks especially powerfully to several aspects of this new condition. An-Na’im’s theorization …

Interpreting The Understanding Of Human Rights Implicit In The U.N. Declarations, Nicholas Wolterstorff

Emory Law Journal

Among my most treasured memories are those of the meetings in which Michael Perry and I, along with others, have commented on each other’s writings. These have been, for me, memorable learning experiences. Time and again, Perry has approached the issues being discussed from an angle that had not occurred to me. That is true, once again, for the issues that I will discuss in this Essay.[1]

Roundtable Two: Environmental Law Education: New Techniques In The Classroom And Beyond, Lincoln Davies, Karrigan Bork, Sarah Krakoff

Publications

No abstract provided.

Essential But Ignored: Covid-19 Litigation And The Meatpacking Industry, Alexia Brunet Marks

Publications

The spread of the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) among meatpacking employees forced closures and slowdowns at many plants across the United States. As the meatpacking giants JBS, Smithfield, and Tyson became hotbeds for COVID-19, national meat production plummeted. To forestall further supply chain disruptions, former President Trump passed an Executive Order compelling plants to continue operating as “essential businesses.” As work continued, employees reported that social distancing and mask-wearing were not being enforced, managers were pressuring sick employees to work and not revealing co-worker’s infections, and an overall lack of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) or training to reduce the risk …

Blind Justice: Algorithms And Neutrality In The Case Of Redistricting, Douglas M. Spencer, Moon Duchin

Publications

In several areas of law and public policy, there have been longstanding dreams that computers can secure decisionmaking that takes only some things into account, while remaining demonstrably neutral to other factors. In 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court will consider mandating race-neutrality in multiple domains, notably in college admissions and redistricting. In this piece, we clarify the real and imagined uses of computers in redistricting, considering their application for optimization approaches and, more recently, for representative sampling. The current pitch to the Court for a race-blind Voting Rights Act is discussed at length.

The Problems, And Positives, Of Passives: Exploring Why Controlling Passive Voice And Nominalizations Is About More Than Preference And Style, Jacob M. Carpenter

Faculty Publications

As professional writers, attorneys should understand and have command of two of “the worst writing weaknesses”—passive voice and nominalizations. Studies show that compared to active voice, passive voice and nominalizations can make writing slower to read, harder to read, harder to comprehend, harder to remember, less concise, less familiar feeling, and less engaging. However, passive voice isn’t always bad. Expert writers can use passive voice to create cohesion, shift emphasis, imply objectivity, and make readers feel more distant and less emotional about an event. The problem is that attorneys commonly use passive voice indiscriminately, unknowingly, and excessively, amplifying its negative …

ความสามารถในการให้ความยินยอมของผู้เยาว์ในฐานะเจ้าของข้อมูลส่วนบุคคล, ดลญา แสงดาว

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

ผู้เยาว์เป็นบุคคลเปราะบาง เนื่องจากมีความสามารถอย่างจำกัดในการให้ความยินยอมอย่างอิสระ ซึ่งการให้ความยินยอมในการประมวลข้อมูลส่วนบุคคลเป็นเรื่องที่มีความซับซ้อน ฉบับนี้จึงมีวัตถุประสงค์ที่จะศึกษาว่า กิจกรรมใดที่ผู้เยาว์สามารถให้ความยินยอมในการประมวลข้อมูลส่วนบุคคลได้โดยลำพัง รวมถึงความเหมาะสมของกำหนดอายุของผู้เยาว์ที่สามารถให้ความยินยอมด้วยตนเอง ตามมาตรา 20 ของพระราชบัญญัติคุ้มครองข้อมูลส่วนบุคคล พ.ศ. 2562 ตลอดจนการนำบทบัญญัติเรื่องนิติกรรมที่ผู้เยาว์สามารถทำได้โดยลำพัง ตามประมวลกฎหมายแพ่งและพาณิชย์ มาตรา 22 มาตรา 23 และมาตรา 24 มาใช้เป็นข้อยกเว้นกรณีที่ผู้เยาว์สามารถให้ความยินยอมในการประมวลข้อมูลส่วนบุคคลด้วยตนเองได้ ผลการศึกษาพบว่า กิจกรรมที่ผู้เยาว์สามารถให้ความยินยอมได้โดยลำพัง ได้แก่ การให้ความยินยอมแก่ผู้ควบคุมข้อมูลส่วนบุคคลในการอนุญาตให้ผู้ปกครองเข้าถึงหรือขอสำเนาข้อมูลส่วนบุคคลแทนผู้เยาว์ ในขณะที่กำหนดอายุของผู้เยาว์ยังมีความไม่สอดคล้องกับหลักการศึกษาทางการแพทย์เกี่ยวกับพัฒนาการด้านความคิดสติปัญญาของผู้เยาว์ และการตีความและปรับใช้ประมวลกฎหมายแพ่งและพาณิชย์ มาตรา 22 มาตรา 23 และมาตรา 24 ยังมีความไม่ชัดเจนอยู่มาก ผู้เขียนจึงเห็นควรให้มีการนำหลักการของกฎหมายคุ้มครองข้อมูลส่วนบุคคลของประเทศสหรัฐอเมริกา สหภาพยุโรป ประเทศอังกฤษ ประเทศจีน และประเทศญี่ปุ่น ในเรื่องความสามารถและกำหนดอายุในการให้ความยินยอมของผู้เยาว์ ตลอดจนมาตรฐานในการตรวจสอบความยินยอมของผู้ปกครอง มาพัฒนาและปรับปรุงพระราชบัญญัติคุ้มครองข้อมูลส่วนบุคคล พ.ศ. 2562 ของประเทศไทยต่อไป

ปัญหากฎหมายลิขสิทธิ์กรณีผู้ใช้งานในโลกอินเตอร์เน็ตสร้างสรรค์ผลงานโดยการทำซ้ำ ดัดแปลง หรือรวบรวมผลงานของผู้อื่น, พรกรัณย์ เลิศธนพาณิชย์

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

จากสภาพสังคมปัจจุบันที่มีการใช้อินเตอร์เน็ตอย่างแพร่หลาย และเทคโนโลยีต่าง ๆ ที่พัฒนาอย่างรวดเร็ว ทำให้ผู้ใช้งานหรือบุคคลทั่วไปมีส่วนร่วมในการสร้างสรรค์ผลงานและเผยแพร่ลงบนโลกอินเตอร์เน็ต โดยเฉพาะอย่างยิ่งผลงานที่ผู้ใช้งานดัดแปลงจากผลงานอันมีลิขสิทธิ์อื่น (User-Derived Content)(“UDC”) ที่มักนำผลงานอันมีลิขสิทธิ์มาใช้โดยไม่ได้รับอนุญาตอันเป็นการละเมิดลิขสิทธิ์ และผู้ทำผลงาน UDC ส่วนมากไม่อาจอ้างข้อยกเว้นการละเมิดลิขสิทธิ์ตามพระราชบัญญัติลิขสิทธิ์ พ.ศ. 2537 เพื่อให้รับความคุ้มครองได้ จึงเป็นประเด็นที่ควรศึกษาหาแนวทางการแก้ไขกฎหมายเพื่อให้ความคุ้มครองแก่ผู้ทำผลงาน UDC อย่างเหมาะสม เมื่อศึกษาถึงข้อยกเว้นการละเมิดลิขสิทธิ์ในกฎหมายต่างประเทศ ได้แก่ สหรัฐอเมริกา แคนาดา และสาธารณรัฐเกาหลี พบว่า สหรัฐอเมริกาและสาธารณรัฐเกาหลีกำหนดข้อยกเว้นการละเมิดลิขสิทธิ์ที่มีลักษณะเป็นการทั่วไป ซึ่งสามารถปรับใช้เพื่อให้ความคุ้มครองกับ UDC เป็นรายกรณีได้ หากพิจารณาแล้วว่าเป็นการใช้งานที่เป็นธรรม ในขณะที่แคนาดากำหนดข้อยกเว้นการละเมิดลิขสิทธิ์เป็นกรณีเฉพาะสำหรับการทำผลงานสร้างสรรค์ของผู้ใช้งานอินเตอร์เน็ต (User-Generated Content)(“UGC”) ซึ่งหากผลงาน UDC ได้ปฏิบัติตามเกณฑ์ที่กำหนดไว้แล้วย่อมได้รับความคุ้มครอง วิทยานิพนธ์นี้จึงเสนอให้ประเทศไทยแก้ไขเพิ่มเติมข้อยกเว้นการละเมิดลิขสิทธิ์ของพระราชบัญญัติลิขสิทธิ์ พ.ศ. 2537 เพื่อให้ความคุ้มครองแก่ผู้ทำผลงาน UDC โดยการแก้ไขมาตรา 32 ให้เป็นบทบัญญัติข้อยกเว้นการละเมิดลิขสิทธิ์ที่มีลักษณะเป็นการทั่วไป โดยนำแนวทางของสหรัฐอเมริกาและสาธารณรัฐเกาหลีมาปรับใช้ ประกอบกับการนำแนวทางการกำหนดข้อยกเว้นการละเมิดลิขสิทธิ์ของประเทศแคนาดามาปรับใช้ เพื่อให้ความคุ้มครองการสร้างสรรค์ของผู้ทำ UDC อันสอดคล้องกับวัตถุประสงค์ของกฎหมายลิขสิทธิ์และเพื่อรองรับความก้าวหน้าของเทคโนโลยีต่อไป

"Second-Class" Rhetoric, Ideology, And Doctrinal Change, Eric M. Ruben, Joseph Blocher

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

A common refrain in current constitutional discourse is that lawmakers and judges are systematically disfavoring certain rights. This allegation has been made about the rights to free speech and free exercise of religion, but it is most prominent in debates about the right to keep and bear arms. Such “second-class” treatment, the argument goes, signals that the Supreme Court must intervene aggressively to police the disrespected rights. Past empirical work casts doubt on the descriptive claim that judges and policymakers are disrespecting the Second Amendment, but that simply highlights how little we know about how the second-class argument functions as …

Power, Primacy, And The Corporate Law Pivot, Grant M. Hayden, Matthew T. Bodie

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

As a Vice Chancellor, Chancellor, Chief Justice, and now a private citizen, Leo Strine has consistently recognized the shape of power relations within corporate law. With his wry wit and sharp prose, he has cut to the quick on issues such as director independence, shareholder rights, and the separation of ownership from ownership. Underlying these decisions are both the recognition of the underlying power dynamics at play and the pursuit of fairness under the law. As the Chief Justice has gone from lawmaker to commentator, his perspective has shifted on the role of corporate law in shaping society. Like him, …

An Objective-Chance Exception To The Rule Against Character Evidence, Hillel J. Bavli

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

A central principle of U.S. law is that individuals should be judged in court based on their actions and not on their character. Rule 404 of the Federal Rules of Evidence therefore prohibits evidence of an individual’s previous acts to prove that the individual acted in accordance with a certain character or propensity. But courts regularly deviate from or altogether ignore this rule, resulting in arbitrariness and judgments based on an individual's prior acts rather than on evidence regarding the events at issue in a case.

In this Article, I argue that at the center of the unpredictability surrounding the …

Extraterritoriality And Conflict Of Laws, Anthony J. Colangelo

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

This Article views the modern federal presumption against the extraterritoriality of U.S. law through the lens of conflict of laws. It argues that the presumption makes many of the same mistakes that conflict methodologies have already made, and sometimes the mistakes are worse. It then proposes a way to harmonize federal extraterritoriality and state choice of law to identify a superior approach to both.