Digital Commons Network^™

Not For Human Consumption: How To Alleviate The Cruelty Plaguing The Pet Food Industry In The United States, Bailey Frank

Animal Law Review

More than 37 billion dollars of pet food was sold in 2019, a sum that increased to approximately 42 billion dollars in 2020. In fact, forty-two of the fifty states have pet food facilities producing more than 3 million tons of animal-based pet food ingredients. Yet, in the last decade, multiple pet food brands have been found to contain trace amounts of euthanasia ‘death drugs’ and are made from 3D or 4D animals — those that are dead, dying, diseased, or disabled. While this can often cause sickness or death in companion animals, an equally urgent issue is the welfare …

Four Perspectives On A Sustainable Future In Nosara, Costa Rica, Greg Munno, Álvaro Salas Castro, Tina Nabatchi, Christian M. Freitag

Articles by Maurer Faculty

The town of Nosara on Costa Rica’s Nicoya peninsula is home to a vibrant community of diverse residents and is adjacent to an important turtle nesting site. However, tensions between lifelong residents, more recent transplants, visitors, and developers have increased as more of the world discovers this once-isolated haven. Climate change, income inequality, and alienation from a distant government apparatus have further complicated effective land-use planning and fractured social cohesion. Using a mixed-method approach of in-depth interviews (n = 67), Q methodology (n = 79), and public deliberation (n = 88), we explored residents’ priorities for the future of their …

Immigration Reforms As Health Policy, Medha D. Makhlouf, Patrick J. Glen

Faculty Scholarly Works

The 2020 election, uniting control of the political branches in the Democratic party, opened up a realistic possibility of immigration reform. Reform of the immigration system is long overdue, but in pursuing such reform, Congress should cast a broad net and recognize the health policies embedded in immigration laws. Some immigration laws undermine health policies designed to improve individual and population health. For example, immigration inadmissibility and deportability laws that chill noncitizens from enrolling in health-promoting public benefits contribute to health inequities in immigrant communities that spill over into the broader population—a fact highlighted by the still-raging COVID-19 pandemic. Restrictions …

The Clean Water Act And The Ocean: An Unfulfilled Promise, Robin Kundis Craig

Kentucky Journal of Equine, Agriculture, & Natural Resources Law

No abstract provided.

Compulsory Licensing Of Trade Secrets: Illegality Under International And Domestic Laws, Eric M. Solovy, Deepak Raju

The International Lawyer

No abstract provided.

K Is For Contract--Why Is It, Though? A K'S Study On The Origins, Persistence And Propagation Of Legal Konventions, Hanjo Hamann

Minnesota Law Review Headnotes, Vols. 94-106 (2009-2022)

No abstract provided.

Patent Reality Checks: Eliminating Patents On Fake, Impossible And Other Inoperative Inventions, Jorge L. Contreras

Utah Law Faculty Scholarship

The recent assertion of patents originally held by Theranos, the defunct blood analysis company whose founders are under federal indictment for fraud, highlights the existence of patents that might claim non-existent or inoperative inventions. While such patents may ultimately be subject to validity challenges in court, their issuance nevertheless has harmful effects on markets and innovation. I propose several administrative and legislative measures directed toward the elimination of patents claiming inoperative inventions including (1) increasing USPTO efforts to detect potentially inoperable inventions, (2) heightening examination requirements, including a certification of enablement, for certain inventions, (3) enabling greater public input into …

Beyond Compulsory Licensing: Pfizer Shares Its Covid-19 Medicines With The Patent Pool, Chenglin Liu

Faculty Articles

On March 15, 2022, the United States, European Union, India, and South Africa reached an agreement on the waiver of intellectual property rights (IP rights) for COVID-19 vaccines. The waiver agreement has rekindled the debate on the balance between IP rights protection and equitable access to medicines during a public health crisis. India, South Africa, and other developing countries maintain that a waiver was the only way to make vaccines affordable and accessible. Leading pharmaceutical companies argue that the waiver will stifle innovation and make lifesaving medicines less accessible. Both sides have seemingly overlooked Pfizer's voluntary agreement with the Medicines …

Coming Full Circle On Human Rights In The Global Economy: International Economic Law Tools To Realize The Right To Development, Diane A. Desierto

Loyola University Chicago International Law Review

This article argues that the discipline and profession of international economic law has undergone a significant architectural change to focus on human rights law as both the premise and promise of the international economic system. Contrary to prevailing currents that focus on the irrelevance of the global economic system to realize human rights, this article argues that international economic law tools have already been converging within the last decade to authentically realize the Right to Development of individuals, groups, and populations. The Draft Convention on the Right to Development defines the right as the enjoyment, participation, and contribution of individuals, …

Damned Causation, Elissa Philip Gentry

Scholarly Publications

The inherent mismatch between the questions law asks and the answers statistics provides has led courts to create arbitrary rules for statistical evidence. Adherence to these rules undermines deterrence goals and runs the risk of depriving recovery for whole categories of injuries. In response, some courts adopt new theories of recovery, relying on the loss of chance doctrine to provide some relief to injured plaintiffs. These solutions, however, only serve to exacerbate the fundamental misunderstanding of probabilities. While these doctrines largely operate within the context of medical malpractice, the increased ability to capture more statistical data may prompt courts to …

The Legal Role In Building Sustainable Public Health (Symposium Transcript), Joanna K. Sax

Faculty Scholarship

The article presents a discussion of food as a public health issue, beginning with why science matters and utilizing science to solve food as a public health issue, especially as it relates to sustainability and climate change. Consumer misperceptions of the risk created by new scientific technologies (e.g., GMOs), or even older scientific technologies, may thwart use of such technologies to solve sustainability problems. The talk addresses why consumers might inappropriately assign risk to certain scientific applications and ways that we might want to think about resolving that issue or closing the divide between consumer misperception of risk and evidence-based …

Driving Diverse Representation Of Diverse Classes, Alissa Del Riego

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Why have federal courts overwhelmingly appointed white men to represent diverse consumer classes? Rule 23(g) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure requires courts to appoint the attorneys “best able to represent the interests of class members” to serve as class counsel. But courts’ recurrent conclusion that white men best fit the federally mandated job description not only gives the appearance of discrimination, but harms class members that suffer from outcomes plagued by groupthink and cognitive biases. This Article sets out to uncover why white male repeat players continue to dominate class counsel appointments and proposes a practical and immediately …

Cash Substitution And Deferred Consumption As Data Breach Harms, Lior Strahilevitz, Lisa Yao Liu

Coase-Sandor Institute for Law & Economics Research Paper Series

In a series of federal court cases, judges have debated whether data breaches that expose consumer information satisfy Article III of the United States Constitution’s requirement that plaintiffs suffer an “injury in fact.” Judicial opinions find no constitutional standing in a narrow majority of such cases, and plaintiffs are likely to lose absent causal links to subsequent identity theft or the disclosure of embarrassing information. Consumers whose data are breached thus are left without a federal remedy, and firms’ incentives to invest in data security are diminished. Our paper identifies a novel injury that results from data breaches. Upon learning …

Problematic Private Immigration Detention Centers And The Lack Of Ice Oversight, Khou Yang

Mitchell Hamline Law Journal of Public Policy and Practice

No abstract provided.

Immigration Reforms As Health Policy, Medha D. Makhlouf, Patrick J. Glen

Saint Louis University Journal of Health Law & Policy

The 2020 election, uniting control of the political branches in the Democratic party, opened up a realistic possibility of immigration reform. Reform of the immigration system is long overdue, but in pursuing such reform, Congress should cast a broad net and recognize the health policies embedded in immigration laws. Some immigration laws undermine health policies designed to improve individual and population health. For example, immigration inadmissibility and deportability laws that chill noncitizens from enrolling in health-promoting public benefits contribute to health inequities in immigrant communities that spill over into the broader population—a fact highlighted by the still-raging COVID-19 pandemic. Restrictions …

“Woman Enough” To Win? An Analysis Of Sex Testing In College Athletics, Brenna M. Moreno

Saint Louis University Journal of Health Law & Policy

In recent years, dozens of bills restricting the rights of transgender, or trans, individuals have been introduced in state legislatures throughout the country. To date, ten states have successfully passed laws prohibiting trans athletes from competing on teams in accordance with their gender identities. For its athletes, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the United States’ largest intercollegiate athletic organization, has pursued a compromise to balance trans inclusion and fair competition. Established in 2011, the NCAA’s conditionally inclusive policy permits trans women—meaning those who were assigned the sex of male but identify as women—to compete on a women’s team only …

Bring Americans Home: Establishing A Rights- Based Framework At The State Level, Ying Chen, Paul Mcdonough

Seattle Journal for Social Justice

No abstract provided.

The Importance Of The Clean Water Act And Current Attacks On Its Layers Of Oversight And Effectiveness Under Sections 401 And 404, C. Scott Kunde

Kentucky Journal of Equine, Agriculture, & Natural Resources Law

No abstract provided.

Deficiencies In The Disclosures Of Privacy Policies And In User Choice, Scott Jordan, Siddharth Narasimhan, Jina Hong

Loyola Consumer Law Review

Development of a comprehensive legal privacy framework in the United States should be based on identification of the common deficiencies of privacy policies. We attempt to delineate deficiencies by critically analyzing the privacy policies of mobile apps, application suites, social networks, Internet Service Providers, and Internet-of- Things devices. Whereas many studies have examined readability of privacy policies, few have specifically identified the information that should be provided in privacy policies but is not.

Privacy legislation invariably starts a definition of personally identifiable information. We find that privacy policies' definitions of personally identifiable information are far too restrictive, excluding information that …

Misplaced Trust, Failure Of Contract, And The Need To Create Robust Options For Consumers, Anjanette H. Raymond, Inna Kouper

Loyola Consumer Law Review

Platform and application 'marketplaces' (app stores) serve an important function for the consumer. The 'marketplace' serves a single point of choice for applications that will be downloaded, and used, on either the apple or android cell phone. Over time, consumers have been reliant- almost dependent on these marketplaces. One can easily imagine, consumers trust the host, they trust the marketplace, they trust the ongoing updates and other technology 'fixes' when their applications begin to fail- one is undoubtedly aware of the loyalty that exists to these brands and marketplace hosts. Exercising full control, app stores engender extreme loyalty and high …

The Intersection Between Animal-Protection Efforts And The Free Exercise Clause, Ginger Pinkerton

Case Western Reserve Law Review

No abstract provided.

Managing And Monitoring The Menopausal Body, Naomi R. Cahn, Bridget J. Crawford, Emily Gold Waldman

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This Essay explores how menopausal bodies are managed and monitored through both menopausal hormone therapy (MHT) and the burgeoning market for technology-driven menopause products and services. While each of these allegedly improves the menopause experience, a closer investigation reveals a more complex interaction of profit motives and traditional notions of gender identity. The Essay identifies problems with—and suggests some solutions for reforming—current practices of monitoring and managing the menopausal body.

Careful consideration of menopause brings this Essay into ongoing conversations about theorizing beyond the gender binary and stereotypical notions of femininity. Purveyors of both MHT and menopause-related digital products and …

Food, Freedom, Fairness, And The Family Farm, Robin M. Rotman, Sophie Mendelson

Faculty Publications

The concept of the “family farm” holds powerful sway within the American narrative, embodying both nostalgia for an imagined past and anxiety for a future perceived to be under threat. Since the founding of the United States, this cultural ideal has been invoked in support of a rosy vision of agrarian democracy while obscuring the ways in which the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s codified definition of “family farm” has unfairly aggregated advantages for the benefit of a particular kind of family (nuclear) and farmer (white, male, straight). At the same time, consumers are misled by an under-interrogated conflation of family …

Eviscerating Patent Scope, 21 Uic Rev. Intell. Prop. L. 121 (2022), Shahrokh Falati

UIC Review of Intellectual Property Law

No abstract provided.

Occupational Segregation As A Driver Of Racial Health Disparities Among Black Women, Pilar C. Whitaker

Saint Louis University Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Illusory Privacy, Thomas Haley

Indiana Law Journal

For decades, regulators, consumer advocates, and privacy theorists have grappled with one of privacy’s most important questions: how to protect private information that consumers unwittingly give away with the click of an “I accept” button. Reform efforts remain mired in a morass of text, focusing on the increasing volume and complexity of firms’ terms of service and privacy policies. This Article moves beyond such existing approaches. By analyzing terms of service and privacy policies from hundreds of top websites—which this Article calls “platform terms”—this Article demonstrates that the prevailing “notice and consent” paradigm of privacy regulation cannot provide meaningful protection. …

Eviction Courts, Kathryn A. Sabbeth

Faculty Publications

This Article examines the legal mechanics of the courts that issue eviction orders. It analyzes these courts in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and the federal eviction moratoria. The eviction phenomenon preceded the pandemic, but the pandemic exaggerated many of its features. How the eviction courts responded to the eviction moratoria reveals a great deal about how these fora have been functioning all along. While the eviction moratoria were important, the design of eviction courts limited their impact.

The Article identifies ten groups of laws that structure critical design features of eviction courts: (1) filing fee statutes that make …

Plotting A Future For Integrated Care, Christina Principe

Student Works

No abstract provided.

Fostering Production Of Pharmaceutical Products In Developing Countries, William Fisher, Ruth L. Okediji, Padmashree Gehl Sampath

Michigan Journal of International Law

The ways in which pharmaceutical products are currently developed, manufactured, and distributed fail to meet the needs of developing countries. The recent emergence of new infectious diseases, the associated surge of healthcare nationalism, and the prevalence of substandard and falsified drugs have strengthened substantially the net benefits of augmenting the capacity of developing countries to produce such products locally. Most previous efforts to do so have foundered. The chance of success in the future would be maximized by the adoption of five strategies : (a) clarifying the zones of discretion created by the relevant treaties to ensure that local firms …

Not So Private, Stacey A. Tovino

Faculty Articles

Federal and state laws have long attempted to strike a balance between protecting patient privacy and health information confidentiality on the one hand and supporting important uses and disclosures of health information on the other. To this end, many health laws restrict the use and disclosure of identifiable health data but support the use and disclosure of de-identified data. The goal of health data de-identification is to prevent or minimize informational injuries to identifiable data subjects while allowing the production of aggregate statistics that can be used for biomedical and behavioral research, public health initiatives, informed health care decision making, …