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Full-Text Articles in Business

A Non-Contractual Approach To Smart Contracts, Florian Gamper Sep 2023

A Non-Contractual Approach To Smart Contracts, Florian Gamper

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

This article adds to the debate on what, legally speaking, smart contracts are and what they should be. Currently, much of this debate focuses on the relationship between smart contracts and legal contracts, overlooking that other legal categories may also be appropriate. This article suggests that the concept of abandonment can be fruitfully applied to smart contracts. Using the concept of abandonment has the advantage of allowing smart contracts, as close as legally possible, to be utilized as machines (or using the terminology suggested by Vitalik Buterin, founder of Etherium, as a ‘persistent script’). It would also make other issues, …


Regulatory Sandboxes Enable Pragmatic Blockchain Regulation, Joshua Durham Jan 2023

Regulatory Sandboxes Enable Pragmatic Blockchain Regulation, Joshua Durham

Washington Journal of Law, Technology & Arts

Since blockchain technology supports digitally-native money, the centralized chokepoints that governments have traditionally targeted to regulate commerce no longer apply to our (digital) property. However, competent regulation furthers basic public policy goals and should enable responsible innovation of this promising technology. This Article discusses pragmatic policies that enable responsible innovation by cultivating regulatory expertise required to write enforceable rules. Responsible innovation is necessary because unlike the early internet, where programmers could manipulate simple colors and text on webpages, these same individuals can now create financial services applications that manipulate actual money—we are faced with an inescapable reality that more is …


“This Artwork Is Always On Sale”: The Need For A U.S. Resale Royalty Right For Digital Visual Artists In This Technological Age, And Proof Of Concept Through The Blockchain And Nfts Explosion, Janae Camacho Jan 2023

“This Artwork Is Always On Sale”: The Need For A U.S. Resale Royalty Right For Digital Visual Artists In This Technological Age, And Proof Of Concept Through The Blockchain And Nfts Explosion, Janae Camacho

Washington Journal of Law, Technology & Arts

With the explosion of the internet, social media, non-fungible tokens (“NFTs”), and blockchain technology, there has been a shift in how people consume and commercialize art, thus resulting in the increased use of digital visual mediums to create, purchase, and receive payment for visual artwork. This increase has renewed the question of whether the United States should implement a resale royalty right for visual work artists. This question is of concern, especially in this digital age where it has become more difficult for digital visual artists to receive equitable compensation for their work, like that of their musical and written …


New Frontiers In Technology: Can Traditional Intellectual Property Rights Laws Be Adapted And Applied To Nfts?, Mariyah S. Wakhariya Jan 2023

New Frontiers In Technology: Can Traditional Intellectual Property Rights Laws Be Adapted And Applied To Nfts?, Mariyah S. Wakhariya

Catholic University Journal of Law and Technology

A decade ago, ‘NFTs’ were rarely heard of or known to anyone, unless they worked in or kept up with the tech world. However, they are not new - they have been around for almost two decades. Their popularity has grown over the past few years. ‘NFT’ stands for ‘non-fungible token’. An NFT is a digital file with a unique identity that is verified on a blockchain and is therefore not interchangeable - i.e., a kind of crypto asset, like an authentication certificate for digital artifacts. In theory, NFTs can represent almost any real or intangible property. These days, it …


Can Blockchain Technologies Resolve The U.S. Antitrust Enforcement Problem?, Giovanna Massarotto Jan 2023

Can Blockchain Technologies Resolve The U.S. Antitrust Enforcement Problem?, Giovanna Massarotto

University of Pennsylvania Journal of Business Law

The U.S. antitrust enforcement mechanism is criticized for being ill-adapted to ensuring competition in digital platforms. In the U.S., several bills have been introduced in Congress with the aim to create a new antitrust regulatory framework for digital platforms. This paper proposes a different solution by exploring the adoption of a blockchain system and smart contracts to make the present antitrust enforcement more efficient. In the U.S. approximately ninety percent of no-merger antitrust proceedings are settled by means of consent decrees. However, the consent decree procedure is criticized for a lack of transparency and there is often the need for …