Law Commons^™

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 …

Learning From Mistakes: A Guide To Expanding The Oversight Board, Kevin Frazier

Catholic University Journal of Law and Technology

More than 4.4 billion people use social media. A few platforms attract a significant number of those users—for example, 2.9 billion people use Facebook, 2.3 billion use YouTube, and 1.2 billion use WeChat. How these major platforms govern themselves with respect to content moderation has an impact on billions of users and may lead to policy changes across other platforms that affect billions more. That is why it is so important to analyze Meta’s Oversight Board—an independent body created for the purpose of “promot[ing] free expression by making principled, independent decisions regarding content on Facebook and Instagram by issuing recommendations …

Zeroing In On Net-Zero: From Soft Law To Hard Law In Corporate Climate Change Pledges, Daniel C. Esty, Nathan De Arriba-Sellier

University of Colorado Law Review

One hundred and ninety-seven nations endorsed a target of net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by midcentury in the 2021 Glasgow Climate Pact. As countries around the world have begun to develop their plans for deep decarbonization, it has become evident that the private sector will need to deliver much of what is required for the transition to an environmentally sustainable economy. The commitment to net-zero emissions by the year 2050 has therefore cascaded to the corporate world, leading hundreds of major companies to make their own net-zero GHG pledges. What constitutes a meaningful net-zero corporate pledge, however, remains unclear—and what …

The Judicial System’S Unjust Relationship With Attorney-Client Privilege: How Judges Knowingly (And Erroneously) Abrogate Important Contractual Arrangements In Corporate Transactions, Edward S. Adams

Michigan Business & Entrepreneurial Law Review

A Delaware court has recently recognized the need to enforce contracts that delineate where the attorney-client privilege rests after an asset transfer. This Article will argue that courts across the country should recognize the important and legitimate reasons for this type of decision. Part I will review how the attorney-client privilege functions for corporations and how courts respect the importance of the privilege in other contexts. Part II will review the fundamental corporate changes in which these questions can arise and situations in which courts choose to recognize the importance of protecting the attorney-client privilege. Part III will argue that …

Environmental Governance By Contract: The Growing Role Of Supply Chain Contracting, Michael P. Vandenburgh, Patricia A. Moore

Michigan Journal of Environmental & Administrative Law

Corporate net zero climate commitments and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) policies have the potential to bypass barriers to international, national, and subnational government action on climate change and other environmental issues. This Article presents the results of a new empirical study that demonstrates the remarkably widespread use of environmental supply chain contracting requirements. The study finds that roughly 80% of the ten largest firms in seven global sectors include environmental requirements in supply chain contracting, a substantial increase over the 50% reported by a comparable study fifteen years ago. The Article concludes that the prevalence of environmental supply chain …

The Rise Of Environmental, Social And Corporate Governance Disclosures In The United States And Mandatory Human Rights Due Diligence In Europe: Implications For U.S. Lawyers, Marie-Claude Jean-Baptiste

Global Business Law Review

Over the past decade, due in part to the devastating impact of the global financial crisis of 2008 and growing awareness of climate change, the world witnessed increasing interest on the part of society in general, and investors in particular, for responsible business. “Responsible business” is the concept that business should be conducted in a way that 1) does not violate fundamental rights of the people affected by the business activity; 2) does not exacerbate environmental harm; and 3) complies with basic principles of good governance. Society’s interest in responsible business has been reflected in growing pressure on businesses to …

Dentistry And The Law: Can Dental Plan Ratings Be Defamatory?, Dan Schulte Jd

The Journal of the Michigan Dental Association

This article discusses the legal implications of dental plan ratings for dentists. If a dental plan assigns a rating to dentists and publishes it to patients without providing specific information about the rating's basis or an opportunity for dentists to contest it, legal recourse may be limited. Currently, no statutory law regulates such ratings, leaving dentists potentially vulnerable to defamatory ratings. Under Michigan law, dentists could sue for defamation, but proving the rating's falseness and the resulting loss of patients may be challenging. Federal regulation is suggested to ensure fairness, transparency, and protection for dentists subjected to involuntary ratings.

Staff Matters: Independent Contractor Or Temporary Employee?, Jodi Schafer Sphr, Shrm-Scp

The Journal of the Michigan Dental Association

Determining whether temporary hygienists should be classified as independent contractors or employees requires careful consideration. While treating them as independent contractors offers advantages, such as avoiding payroll taxes and paperwork, it must align with specific IRS criteria. The classification hinges on the degree of control the practice exerts over their work, encompassing behavioral and financial control. If the practice significantly controls aspects like duties, hours, and business aspects, it may be wiser to classify them as employees. The IRS provides a form (SS-8) to assess the relationship in-depth. Additionally, if hygienists request employee status and you cannot definitively prove otherwise, …

Dentistry And The Law: Risk Of Employment Discrimination In Job Advertisements, Dan Schulte Jd

The Journal of the Michigan Dental Association

Employment discrimination in job advertisements that include religious references, such as statements like "faith-based practice" or symbols like crosses, is a legal concern. Federal and Michigan state laws, particularly the Elliot Larson Civil Rights Act (ELCRA), prohibit discrimination in employment, encompassing various protected classes. ELCRA applies to all employers in Michigan, regardless of their size. Violating ELCRA can lead to legal consequences, including injunctive relief and compensatory damages. Including such references or symbols in job ads can be used as evidence against employers in discrimination claims, even if rejected candidates have lesser qualifications. Publishers of these ads are also at …

J Mich Dent Assoc July 2022

The Journal of the Michigan Dental Association

Monthly, The Journal of the Michigan Dental Association brings news, information, and feature articles to our state's oral health community and the MDA's 6,200+ members. No publication reaches more Michigan dentists! In this July 2022 issue, the reader will find the following original content:

• A cover feature on negotiating reimbursement rates with PPO contracts.
• A cover feature on guarding against employee embezzlement.
• A 10-Minute EBD on rampant caries management and prevention with ADHD patients taking stimulant medications.
• A Back Page look at the 2022 MDA award winners.
• News you need: an Editorial, guidance on dental practice cybersecurity, and regular department …

Late To The Crowd: How Ohio's Crowdfunding Bill Fails To Achieve Inclusiveness And Efficiency, Nathan E. Hill

Cleveland State Law Review

Almost half of all small and medium sized businesses within the United States fail within the first five years. One of the main contributing factors to that failure is the inability to raise enough money to operate. While there are many ways for businesses to raise operating capital, the most accessible and sometimes the most efficient way is through a process called equity-based crowdfunding—the offering of shares in exchange for an investment raised through an online portal. In 2012, after seeing the success of equity-based crowdfunding in other countries, the United States passed the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act (JOBS …

Small Business Cybersecurity: A Loophole To Consumer Data, Matthew R. Espinosa

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

Small businesses and small minority owned businesses are vital to our nation’s economy; therefore legislation, regulation, and policy has been created in order to assist them in overcoming their economic stability issues and ensure they continue to serve the communities that rely on them. However, there is not a focus on regulating nor assisting small businesses to ensure their cybersecurity standards are up to par despite them increasingly becoming a victim of cyberattacks that yield high consequences. The external oversight and assistance is necessary for small businesses due to their lack of knowledge in implementing effective cybersecurity policies, the fiscal …

The Determinants Of Banking Regulation In The Mena Region, Hanene Ksiaa Dr, Mohamed Imen Gallali Professor

The Journal of Entrepreneurial Finance

Theoretical foundations in banks' response to capital settlement suggest that the systems proposed by Basel are not sound. It is conceivable that regulators will consider alternative approaches to enhance the safety and soundness of the banking system. The regulation includes several decrees and ratios; the areas of interest encompassing the areas are subject to principal component analysis (PCA).The paper aims to present a regulatory framework based on balance sheet ratios, such as Capital requirements (equity ratio; Tier 1 ratio; Total Equity/Net Loans; Total Equity/Deposits); for liquidity needs (liquidity/deposits; liquidity/total assets; liquidity/deposits and loans, and net loans/total assets); for leverage requirements …

Staff Matters: Employees On Military Leave, Jodi Schafer Sphr, Shrm-Scp

The Journal of the Michigan Dental Association

This Staff Matters column addresses an employer's concern about an employee being deployed for military service and explores options for managing the situation. The response emphasizes the application of the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 (USERRA) and the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). The article highlights that USERRA, applicable to all employers regardless of size, mandates unpaid leave for military service members and outlines re-employment rights. Practical suggestions for coping with the absence, including hiring temporary staff and having a clear policy in the employee handbook, are provided. The column also hints at future articles …

Corporate Directors: Who They Are, What They Do, Cyber Risk And Other Challenges, Lawrence J. Trautman, Seletha Butler, Frederick R. Chang, Michele Hooper, Rom Mccray, Ruth Simmons

Buffalo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Corporations As Private Regulators, Wentong Zheng

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

The growing trend of corporations imposing restrictions on suppliers, contractors, and customers beyond the requirements of existing laws requires rethinking the nature and impact of corporations’ private regulatory power. This trend, which this Article refers to as “Corporations as Private Regulators” (CPR), represents a paradigmatic shift in how corporations participate in the making of public policies. This Article conceptualizes the corporate CPR power as the exercise of a right of refusal to deal with counterparties. This right of refusal could be theorized as a new form of property right, whose allocation has important implications for both rights and wealth. The …

News You Need: Reminder: What You Must Know About Antitrust Law, Dan Schulte Jd

The Journal of the Michigan Dental Association

This reminder emphasizes the critical importance for dentists, particularly members of organizations like the Michigan Dental Association, to understand antitrust laws and their implications. The U.S. Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission actively pursue antitrust violations among physicians and dentists. The article outlines key aspects of the Sherman Antitrust Act, emphasizing that joint activities among independent dentists that restrain competition may lead to violations. The concept of joint action and the restraint on competition are explored, with a focus on potential pitfalls, such as price-fixing and group boycotts. Dentists are urged to stay informed to avoid legal consequences.

Dentistry And The Law: Responding To Internet Criticism And Hipaa Considerations, Dan Schulte Jd

The Journal of the Michigan Dental Association

This Dentistry and the Law column addresses the challenge of responding to online criticism as a healthcare professional, particularly dentists. The question involves a patient posting false and damaging information online, leading to concerns about reputation and the desire to set the record straight. The response outlines the limitations imposed by HIPAA on using patient information for such purposes and explores the legal complexities in pursuing recourse. The column advises against responding directly to negative online posts, emphasizing proactive reputation management through online advertising and patient testimonials.

Misreading Menetti: The Case Does Not Help You Avoid Liability For Your Own Fraud, Val D. Ricks

St. Mary's Law Journal

Several decades ago, an incorrect legal idea surfaced in Texas jurisprudence: that business entity actors are immune from liability for fraud that they themselves commit, as if the entity is solely responsible. Though the Supreme Court of Texas has rejected that result several times, it keeps coming back. The most recent manifestation is as a construction of Texas’s unique veil-piercing statute. Many lawyers have suggested that this view of the veil-piercing statute originated in Menetti v. Chavers, a San Antonio Court of Appeals case decided in 1998. Menetti has in fact played a prominent role in the movement to …

The Long-Term Problem With Electric Vehicle Batteries: A Policy Recommendation To Encourage Advancement For Scalable Recycling Practices, Lauren Fricke

Seattle Journal of Technology, Environmental & Innovation Law

With the growing popularity of electric vehicles, the demand for lithium ion (Li-ion) batteries, which are the dominant energy source for electric vehicles, are skyrocketing. By default, this means a growing demand for the raw materials needed to manufacture these complex batteries such as lithium, cobalt, and nickel. Economic, environmental, and political supply chain factors bring into question the sustainability of these batteries as a solution to the issues surrounding gasoline powered transportation, creating a need for large scale Li-ion battery recycling. By 2030, 140 million EVs are predicted to be on the road worldwide. In that time, eleven million …

Chief Loophole Officer Or Chief Legal Officer: Inside Lehman Brothers—A Film Case Study About Corporate And Legal Ethics, Garrick Apollon

St. Mary's Journal on Legal Malpractice & Ethics

This Article discusses the continuing legal education (CLE) visual advocacy documentary-style program, which Garrick Apollon (author of this Article) researched and developed. The case study for this CLE documentary-style program is the film Inside Lehman Brothers—a documentary film by Jennifer Deschamps which chronicles the story of the Lehman whistleblowers. The film presents Mathew Lee, former senior vice president overseeing Lehman’s global balance sheet; Oliver Budde, former in-house counsel (associate general counsel) of the Lehman Brothers; and the racialized female mid-tier manager whistleblowers, who all paid a steep price in the 2008 American subprime mortgage crisis, while many of the …

The Application Of The Right To Be Forgotten In The Machine Learning Context: From The Perspective Of European Laws, Zeyu Zhao

Catholic University Journal of Law and Technology

The right to be forgotten has been evolving for decades along with the progress of different statutes and cases and, finally, independently enacted by the General Data Protection Regulation, making it widely applied across Europe. However, the related provisions in the regulation fail to enable machine learning systems to realistically forget the personal information which is stored and processed therein.

This failure is not only because existing European rules do not stipulate standard codes of conduct and corresponding responsibilities for the parties involved, but they also cannot accommodate themselves to the new environment of machine learning, where specific information can …

À La Carte Cable: A Regulatory Solution To The Misinformation Subsidy, Christopher R. Terry, Eliezer J. Silberberg, Stephen Schmitz, John Stack, Eve Sando

Catholic University Journal of Law and Technology

Although “fake news” is as old as mass media itself, concerns over disinformation have reached a fever pitch in our current media environment. Online media outlets’ heavy reliance on user-generated content has altered the traditional gatekeeping functions and professional standards associated with traditional news organizations. The idea of objectivity-focused informational content has primarily been substituted for a realist acceptance of the power and popularity of opinion-driven “news.” This shift is starkly visible now: mainstream news media outlets knowingly spread hoaxes, conspiracy theories, and the like.

This current state of affairs is not some freak accident. The Supreme Court’s First Amendment …

Lessons From Psychology For Law Practice Management, Peter G. Glenn

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

No abstract provided.

An Innovative Framework: Evaluating The New German Business Stabilization And Restructuring Law (Starug), Andreas Rauch

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

This comment examines the restructuring framework, restrukturierungsgesetz (“StaRUG”), and argues that this new law represents an effective—albeit radical—departure from Germany’s previous, conservative insolvency regime. Passed in response to a 2019 EU Directive aimed at modernizing restructuring law Union-wide, and integrated into the German legal system against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, StaRUG and its ancillary reforms in other areas of German law create a restructuring proceeding that places a premium on a debtor’s continued business operations. Thus, in a striking shift from the traditional German approach to business distress, which strongly emphasized creditor rights, the new StaRUG focuses on …

Married To Sustainability: The Sdg Wedding Cake Framework As A Tool For Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility, Jacob Aubrecht

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

If anything can be said about the future, it is that nothing is certain. In this acceleratingly dynamic reality, stability and certainty are among the greatest assets a leader can have. The opportunity to secure long term stability is something that few would pass up. Broadly speaking, corporate leaders must be acutely aware of global market forces, government regulation, and their own power in the marketplace to create cogent predictions about the future.

This paper is designed for the burgeoning corporate leader that is looking to craft their strategic position on corporate social responsibility (CSR), or the savvy one looking …

Esg Ratings: A Blind Spot For U.S. Securities Regulation, Alexander Coley

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

Providers of “Environmental, Social, and Governance” (ESG) ratings have emerged as prominent informational intermediaries in the sustainable finance ecosystem. The key players are familiar names such as Moody’s, Morningstar, MSCI and S&P. In recent years, investors, financial markets observers and academics have raised serious doubts about the value and integrity of ESG ratings, pointing to lack of reliability and comparability and risks of conflicts of interest and abuse, including the potential for “greenwashing.”

ESG ratings are now in the crosshairs of financial regulators, particularly, in Europe. However, the regulatory discourse has failed to contend with risks arising from the use …

Will Products Liability Litigation Help Protect Iot Users From Cyber-Physical Attacks?, J Royce Fichtner, Troy J. Strader

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

While there is an identifiable trend towards protecting consumers from data breaches and data misuses related to IoT devices through new legislation, new regulations, government enforcement actions, and private lawsuits, there has been little progress towards creating similar legally enforceable standards of care for “cyber-physical device security.” This article explores this underdeveloped area of academic inquiry into cyber-physical device security within the context of product liability litigation in the United States. The two questions addressed in this article are: (1) Have there been any successful products liability court decisions in the United States that have held IoT manufacturers liable for …

J Mich Dent Assoc November 2021

The Journal of the Michigan Dental Association

Every month, The Journal of the Michigan Dental Association brings news, information, and features about Michigan dentistry to our state's oral health community and the MDA's 6,200+ members. No publication reaches more Michigan dentists!

In this issue, the reader will find the following original content:

• Cover stories with a “Focus on Advocacy: Helping Dentistry Succeed”, including “MDA Dental PAC: What It Is and Why It Matters “, “2021 Advocacy Success — and More to Come “, and “Dental Programs Maintained in 2021-22 State Budget”.
• A feature article on “The Anishinaabe Dental Outreach Program”.
• A feature article, “How Your Website and …

Ethical Duty To Investigate Your Client?, Peter A. Joy

St. Mary's Journal on Legal Malpractice & Ethics

Lawyers have been implicated in corporate scandals and other client crimes or frauds all too often, and the complicity of some lawyers is troubling both to the public and to members of the legal profession. This is especially true when the crime involved is money laundering. As a response to attorney involvement in crimes or frauds, some legal commentators have called for changes to the ethics rules to require lawyers to investigate their clients and client transactions under some circumstances rather than remaining “consciously” or “willfully” blind to what may be illegal or fraudulent conduct. The commentators argue that such …