Digital Commons Network^™

Un©Ertainty And Dis©Omfort, Richard H. Chused

Articles & Chapters

This essay explores creative works that produce powerful reactions of discernment, hostility, or deep uncertainty from mysterious forms of "blankness." They all use silence or similarly ineffable qualities to challenge the thoughtfulness and tolerance of audience members. They force us to understand that creativity sometimes manifests itself in strange and bizarre ways that test not only our viewing tolerance, but also our traditional notions of creativity and of intellectual property boundary lines. It is like forcing fully sensory-enabled people to think about creativity in ways that may mimic a small fragment of the daily experience of those with limited sight …

Preventing Unjust Enrichment And Copyright Opportunism: An Equitable Interpretation Of Section 103(A), Pamela Samuelson, Jessica Silbey

Faculty Scholarship

A stealth issue in many close copyright fair use cases is the potential invalidity of second comers’ copyrights under 17 U.S.C. § 103(a) if the secondary use is ultimately held to infringe the derivative work right. Section 103(a) of the Copyright Act says, in effect, that no copyright exists in any part of a derivative work in which the first work’s expression was “used unlawfully.” Courts have largely ignored § 103(a). But recent cases, such as Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. v. Goldsmith (2023), have raised the profile of § 103(a). This Article traces the origins, history, …

Josef Bohatec: The First Historian Of The Calvinist Reformation Of Rights, John Witte Jr., Thomas Jared Farmer

Emory International Law Review

This Article analyzes the pioneering work of the first great historian of Calvinist rights talk, Josef Bohatec (1876–1954), a Moravian-born and Vienna-based church historian. Bohatec built on the earlier efforts of several German scholars who were excavating pre-Enlightenment sources of human rights going back to antiquity. But Bohatec placed strong new emphasis on the original rights contributions of sixteenth-century Protestant reformer John Calvin (1509-1564) and his followers. Bohatec showed how Calvin’s legal training shaped the many new statutes and rights ordinances that he crafted for Geneva. He also showed how Calvin’s theological training shaped his highly innovative Protestant legal and …

The "Casserole" Constitution: The South African Constitution And International Law, Penelope Andrews

Articles & Chapters

No abstract provided.

“Whoever Invents Or Discovers”: Artificial Intelligence And The Case For Joint Inventorship, Seth F. Littleford

BYU Law Review

Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly important in the modern world. Given its fidelity to—and, in some cases, its surpassing of—human performance, people rely upon AI in myriad settings. The AI era is already here, and the technological advancements to come are even more mind-boggling. The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has seen a significant increase in patent applications claiming inventions pertaining to AI, but how does the patent system handle when AI invents?

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit recently held in Thaler v. Vidal that the Patent Act requires inventors listed on patent applications …

After Impunity: The Anti-Impunity Norm, The Colombian Special Jurisdiction For Peace, And The Future Of International Criminal Law, Max Pensky

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

The predominance of international criminal law as a frontline response to atrocity crimes prioritizes the countering of impunity as an overarching goal. A corresponding “anti-impunity norm” identifies the legal punishment of individual perpetrators as a core requirement in legal responses to atrocities. This anti-impunity norm – the requirement to prosecute and punish – is also a legal obligation for state parties to the International Criminal Court. But the anti-impunity norm equates impunity’s opposite – accountability – with the imposition of legal punishment. This narrow interpretation of impunity places limits on states’ ability to craft context-specific responses to atrocities while also …

Volume 7 (2024) Artificial Intelligence And Responsibility, Arwa Alnajashi, Danielle Derise, Philip L. Frana, David Mcgraw, Amanda Sawyer, Tatjana Titareva, Raafat Zaini, Allie Zombron

International Journal on Responsibility

The seventh volume of the International Journal on Responsibility (IJR) arrives at a crucial moment in the evolution of artificial intelligence and its integration into our academic and social fabric. As we witness the rapid advancement and deployment of AI systems across various domains, this special issue examines the multifaceted dimensions of responsibility surrounding AI technology, with a particular focus on its role in higher education and broader societal implications.

The articles in this volume contribute to our understanding of responsibility through diverse lenses, from classroom implementation to ethical design considerations. Together, they fulfill IJR’s central mission of exploring “Who …

To Surmount Paramount Decrees By Degrees, Harry Kazenoff

Catholic University Law Review

The United States Supreme Court in United States v. Paramount and the subsequent Paramount Decrees in 1948 were the federal government’s original attempt to address the consolidation and concentration of the movie production, distribution, and exhibition markets. The government reversed its decision in 2020 because of both changes in the film industry and a change in the legal application of antitrust law. There are two schools of antitrust law thought: structuralism and the consumer welfare standard. The former is concerned with market concentration and supports the Paramount Decrees, and the latter is concerned with prices for consumers and is skeptical …

A Structural Approach To The Application Of Section One Of The Sherman Act To Oligopolistic Interdependence, Annmarie Levins

Maine Law Review

A central tenet of American economic thought is that markets in which many producers compete for business are preferable to those in which one or a few sellers dominate. The conventional wisdom underlying this preference is that competitive markets produce more of the goods consumers want at lower prices than do noncompetitive markets. Oligopolies are markets in which there are few sellers. Oligopolistic markets are characterized frequently by higher prices and lower outputs than competitive markets. Many sectors of the American economy are oligopolistic. For example, the American automobile industry is dominated by "the big three," General Motors, Ford, and …

Publicity Rights And Copyright Law: Conjoined Authorship As A Red Herring, Mira Moldawer

Loyola of Los Angeles Entertainment Law Review

No abstract provided.

Home Rule And The Pre-Emption Doctrine: The Relationship Between State And Local Government In Maine, Robert W. Bower Jr.

Maine Law Review

The legal relationship between a state government and a municipal government determines the powers and responsibilities of these two political entities. In Maine this relationship is complex and uncertain due to ambiguities in the constitutional and statutory scheme governing it and due to the Maine Supreme Judicial Court's narrow and inconsistent interpretation of that scheme. This Comment discusses the various methods for delegating power to municipalities, including the traditional method which was used in Maine prior to 1970. In addition, this Comment examines the "home rule" scheme enacted in 1970 and its subsequent judicial interpretation and application. Any statutory or …

The Right To Record: First Amendment Victory Or The End Of Privacy?, Elizabeth Lesso

Seton Hall Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Evolving Role Of Copyright Law In The Age Of Ai-Generated Works, James Hutson

Faculty Scholarship

Objective: to identify the prospects and directions of copyright law development associated with the increasing use of generative artificial intelligence.

Methods: the study is based on the formal-legal, comparative, historical methods, doctrinal analysis, legal forecasting and modeling.

Results:the article states that the emergence of generative artificial intelligence makes one rethink the processes occurring in the field of creative activity and the traditional copyright system, which becomes inadequate to modern realities. The author substantiates the necessity of legal reassessment of copyright and emphasizes the urgent need for updated means of copyright protection. Unlike previous digital tools, which expanded …

Premises Liability And Third-Party Attacks: A Path Forward, Pamela A. Wilkins

Mercer Law Review

Recently, in Georgia CVS Pharmacy, LLC v. Carmichael, the Supreme Court of Georgia recognized a totality of circumstances approach for determining whether a landowner owes a duty to protect patrons from third-party attacks. So right now, in Georgia, the poor lighting, high-crime surroundings, and absence of functioning panic boxes are relevant considerations for the duty calculus.

Many members of the Georgia General Assembly find this outcome intolerable. Only months after the court’s ruling in Georgia CVS Pharmacy, several state senators, focusing on the supposed “unfriendliness to business” of the current totality of circumstances rule, introduced a bill that …

The Grapes Of Roth, Bruce E. Boyden

Washington Law Review

Shortly after Roth Greeting Cards was decided in 1970, its offhand reference to the “total concept and feel” of the cards at issue became the dominant standard in copyright law for determining whether two works were substantially similar. That is a remarkable achievement for a phrase that, in the words of the influential Nimmer treatise, “threatens to subvert the very essence of copyright.” It nevertheless had enormous appeal for federal judges, and the reason extends well beyond copyright law. “Total concept and feel” appeared at a critical juncture for the federal judiciary, as an older model of decision-making, based on …

The Rule Is A Mess, So It Needs Amendments: Reexamining And Revising The Religious Exemption Of The Copyright Act, Toniann Pasqueralle Sheridan

Hofstra Law Review

No abstract provided.

Regulatory Approaches To Consumer Protection In The Financial Sector And Beyond: Toward A Smart Disclosure Regime?, Nydia Remolina Leon, Yvonne Ai-Chi Loh, David R. Hardoon

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Traditionally, consumer and data protection policies evolved from issues of consent and information disclosure. The purpose of these regulatory approaches is the protection of consumers by reducing some contracting failures, such as asymmetries of information and a lower bargaining power, especially in transactions involving complex issues such as financial products and sensitive personal data. In the past, regulators have responded to privacy and consumer protection by adopting what this paper refers to as an “imperfectly informed regime”, in which consumers do not receive full information about the risks associated with their decisions, even if they are still protected through a …

Getting It Right The First Time: Making Child Sex Offender Sentencing In The Fourth Circuit More Efficient With A New Methodology For Crafting Content- Based Special Conditions Of Supervised Release, Nicholas S. Curcio

Vanderbilt Law Review En Banc

Defendants convicted of child-sex crimes across the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit have brought a number of appeals in recent years claiming that portions of their sentences must be vacated. They assert that the district court judges that sentenced them failed to abide by their statutory obligations under 18 U.S.C. § 3583(d) to appropriately impose certain restrictions on their ability to consume pornographic material or use the internet following their release from prison. While the Fourth Circuit tried to address this issue in 2020, appeals in the following years revealed that some district court judges were still …

The Seventh Amendment Right To Jury Trial In The Administrative State: Recognizing The Dangers Of The Constitutional Moment, Martin H. Redish, Samy Abdelsalam

Notre Dame Law Review

One prominent constitutional scholar has sought to legitimize this constitutional transformation through resort to a strange and controversial analytical model he describes as the “constitutional moment.” In this Article, we plan to establish two important points: (1) there exists no principled mode of analysis of the Seventh Amendment right to jury trial that justifies the Court’s categorical dichotomy between Article III and non–Article III forums for purposes of the right’s applicability, and (2) while the theory of the “constitutional moment” would in fact justify the Court’s insulation of the administrative state from Seventh Amendment applicability, reliance on such a theory …

Protection In A Virtual Reality: The Dire Need For Trademark And Copyright Law Expansion To Encompass Digital Content Within The Metaverse, Amber N. Roibu

Touro Law Review

The Metaverse has gained much popularity in recent years, leaving some people with a feeling of uncertainty, but all the while intriguing many others. The multifaceted interactions and activities that take place within the Metaverse have made it a virtual world fertile for not only creative expression but also infringement of existing trademark and copyright protected works. Hand-in-hand with the development of the Metaverse has come the fast-growing interest in buying and selling virtual goods, properties, and non-fungible tokens. To preserve their reputation, avoid costly litigation, and ultimately uphold the exclusive rights allotted to them as intellectual property owners, trademark …

Some More For Samoa: The Case For Citizenship Uniformity, Benjamin S. Morrell

Tennessee Journal of Law and Policy

No abstract provided.

The Necessary Opportunism Of The Common Law First Amendment, Chris Stangl

Tennessee Journal of Law and Policy

The First Amendment historically has been interpreted to provide greater and greater protection to more and more forms of expression. The notion of an originalist First Amendment has never commanded a majority of the Supreme Court and is unlikely to do so. Instead the development of the First Amendment has followed a common law trajectory. As the reach of its protections expands, so to do its attractiveness for arguments that may be more accurately located elsewhere in the Constitution's text. Such opportunism is a predictable, even necessary consequence of the First Amendment's common law development, and the Supreme Court tacitly …

Separation Of Powers Restrictions On Judicial Rulemaking: A Case Study Of Federal Rule 4, Ralph U. Whitten

Maine Law Review

Debates over the validity of Federal Rules of Civil Procedure have historically centered on the "substantive rights" restriction of the Rules Enabling Act of 1934. While Supreme Court decisions from Sibbach v. Wilson & Co. through Hanna v. Plumer and beyond have arguably deprived the restriction of any practical force, scholars have consistently favored a more rigorous interpretation of the directive that federal rules not "abridge, enlarge, or modify any substantive rights." Despite the historic impotence of the substantive rights restriction, discussions of the validity of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure continue, even today, to center on the substantive …

Scotus At The Bat: Touching Base With Baseball’S Antitrust Exemption, Porter Y. Schenewark

BYU Law Review

In the longstanding debate surrounding Major League Baseball’s exemption from federal antitrust laws, recent legal developments and Supreme Court dynamics call for a reexamination of the Supreme Court’s 1922 Federal Baseball decision. Drawing parallels between the Court’s landmark decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization and the potential reconsideration of Baseball’s exemption, this paper explores the factors at play and the implications for the future of the sport.

Through the Court’s framework of five factors as used in Dobbs, the paper evaluates the nature of the Court’s error, the quality of reasoning, workability, effect on other areas of law, …

Author Remuneration In The Streaming Age – Exploitation Rights And Fair Remuneration Rules In The Eu, Martin Senftleben, Elena Izyumenko

Joint PIJIP/TLS Research Paper Series

The transition from linear to on-demand consumption of music, films and other copyrighted content on platforms like Spotify, Netflix and YouTube has given rise to the question whether authors and performers receive a fair share of streaming revenues. While these revenues are substantial and right holders may have the opportunity to control access to copyright-protected content on the basis of copyright protection, it is often not the creators themselves who benefit from growing streaming revenue and reinforced access controls. The issue has a global dimension. The Group of Latin American and Caribbean Countries (GRULAC) proposed that the World Intellectual Property …

Art And Climate : A Creative Awareness, Michel Abou Khalil

BAU Journal - Society, Culture and Human Behavior

The growing engagement of artists with ecological challenges is a significant trend in the Anthropocene era. Most often, some of them feel driven by a sense of responsibility regarding the impact of industry and consumer society on the environment. Their commitment becomes a form of activism, mobilization or even a simple commercial niche to exploit. By observing this enthusiasm in the art world for environmental issues, we can ask ourselves the following questions: despite their sometimes lack of in-depth knowledge, where does the role of artists begin and end in this complex universe? Does their commitment have real power to …

“A New World And A New Society Challenged By A Problematic Character In La Compagnie Des Glaces By G.J. Arnaud”, Sophie Nicolaïdès Salloum

BAU Journal - Society, Culture and Human Behavior

The Ice Company, a dystopian novel, is the first volume of a 64-volume saga which met with great success among readers. It was adapted into a comic strip by the JOTIM group and also into a television series. On an earth invaded by ice, the survival of the human species is ensured by the large railway companies which share the globe. They provide warmth and food, but also exercise a ruthless dictatorship. Involuntarily involved in the intrigues of the Company, the glaciologist Lien Rag rebels against the power of the Company and the ostracism suffered by the Red Men, a …

World Without End: The Alliance Of Science, Fiction, And Images In Warning Of Global Warming, Soumaya Al Jarrah

BAU Journal - Society, Culture and Human Behavior

Our planet is currently experiencing a climate crisis due to global warming. Scientists have begun to sound the alarm about this phenomenon, which will have disastrous consequences at every level. Literature is also affected by this phenomenon. As a result, we are witnessing an influx of literary works of all kinds with the aim of warning people of the dangers of this phenomenon and explaining its causes and impacts. And comics are no exception. In a hugely successful comic book, not only in France but worldwide, comic book artist Christophe Blain teams up with engineer Jean-Marc Jancovici to create Le …

Fake Drake? Ai Music Generation Implicates Copyright And The Right Of Publicity, Hope Juzon

Washington Law Review

Artificial intelligence has contributed to music composition since the 1950s. Its contributions evolved from machines that produced simple melodies to programs that generate accurate vocal imitations of singers. Modern artificial intelligence relies on pre-existing—and often copyrighted—songs to create new music, the most common of which include vocal imitations of popular singers. Copyright law in the United States has yet to address how copyright holders’ rights are implicated when artificial intelligence programs are trained on protected works. As a result, these rights holders across disciplines and sectors have filed complaints alleging infringement of their works. While copyright holders await their fate, …

Empowering Survivors Of Child Sexual Abuse: How Maryland Should Amend The Child Victims Act To Survive Constitutional Review, Raquel Hyatt

University of Baltimore Law Forum

No abstract provided.