Law Commons^™

The Pros And Cons Of Gene Patents, Chester S. Chuang, Denys T. Lau

Publications

The debate over human gene patents was recently reignited by New York federal Judge Robert Sweet, when he found isolated human gene sequences unpatentable in Association for Molecular Pathology v. U.S. Patent and Trademark Office , 702 F.Supp.2d 181 (S.D.N.Y. 2010). An appeal of the decision is pending, and in October, the U.S. Department of Justice filed an amicus curiae brief in the case arguing that such gene sequences should not be patentable, contradicting long-standing practices of the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Given the potent impact of a possible gene patent ban on gene-based medical therapies and the …

The Legal-Political Barriers To Ramping Up To Hydro, Dan Tarlock

Chicago-Kent Law Review

Hydroelectric energy is the oldest major source of non-carbon, renewable energy and is the only conventional renewable resource in the current energy mix. Increased hydro capacity would seem to be a key element of any United States energy policy designed to promote the greater use of renewable resources. However, for several decades hydro has been perceived as a mature, fully developed technology. This article argues that any effort to stimulate substantial new hydro capacity will face a series of environmental legal and policy constraints. Efforts to adapt to global climate change will further complicate efforts to increase hydro electric generation. …

New Energy Geopolitics?: China, Renewable Energy, And The "Greentech Race", Joel B. Eisen

Chicago-Kent Law Review

Commentators believe that programs in China promoting development of new renewable energy capacity have produced astonishing achievements in a short period of time. Evoking the "space race" between the United States and the U.S.S.R. after the launch of the Sputnik satellite in 1957, observers contend that the United States and China are in a "greentech race" to secure international leadership in the development and deployment of renewable energy. As U.S. Energy Secretary Chu has put it, many believe this is a modern "Sputnik moment." This Article finds that China's programs and initiatives are indeed leading to considerable success, but, using …

Biotech Biofuels: How Patents May Save Biofuels And Create Empires, Adam Wolek

Chicago-Kent Law Review

The United States' primary transportation energy sources are fossil fuels, namely, gasoline and diesel. These products have high environmental, security, and financial costs. A strong emphasis has been placed on biofuels, especially ethanol and biodiesel, to lessen reliance on fossil fuels. Historically, high production costs, lack of infrastructure, return on investment anxieties, and concerns about scaling-up production have slowed the development of these alternative technologies. Today, biotechnological solutions are lowering productions costs and making large scale production more economically feasible. Patents can lessen anxieties about investment as they can provide longer-term protection and market exclusivity for patented technologies. As biofuels …

Privacy Implications Of Smart Meters, Cheryl Dancey Balough

Chicago-Kent Law Review

Many people worry about the erosion of privacy in our society given developments in technology, but that loss of privacy may take a quantum leap as electric "smart meters" make it possible for strangers to know on a real-time basis what is occurring in our houses and apartments. Perhaps the greatest concern is that current laws and regulations do not fully protect us from this unprecedented threat to two of our most basic rights—to be left alone in our own homes and to control personal information. Utility companies across the country are replacing conventional electric meters with smart meters designed …

Smart-Grid: Technology And The Psychology Of Environmental Behavior Change, Stephanie M. Stern

Chicago-Kent Law Review

There is a schism in the legal scholarship between scholars who argue that value, norm, and information campaigns can induce pro-environmental behavior and those who contend that structural, psychological, and social forces sharply constrain behavior change. Both sides of this debate have neglected the critical and ever-increasing role of technology in addressing residential pollution. The example of electricity "smart grids" illustrates how technology engineered to override cognitive and behavioral limitations can comprehensively reduce household consumption and emissions. Electricity conservation suffers from multiple barriers to collective action, including large numbers of geographically dispersed polluters, low financial payoffs, and, the contribution of …

Of Nesting Dolls And Trojan Horses: A Survey Of Legal And Policy Issues Attendant To Vehicle-To-Grid Battery Electric Vehicles, Bryan Lamble

Chicago-Kent Law Review

2010 will not be remembered as the year when the domestic energy landscape changed, dominated as it was by environmental catastrophe and human calamity and tragedy caused by the search for and extraction of traditional fossil fuels. In fact, clean(er) energy and greater efficiency seem, in some ways, to be less of a reality at the beginning of the second decade of the twenty-first century than many would have predicted (and hoped). Furthermore, a contentious mid-term election season (stoked by fears of massive deficits, rising national debt and ballooning government) dominated the headlines at the expense of what could prove …

Exhausted Or Unlicensed: Can Field-Of-Use Restrictions In Biotech License Agreements Still Prevent Off-Label Use Promotion After Quanta Computer?, Kristal M. Wicks

The University of New Hampshire Law Review

[Excerpt] “In the biotechnology (biotech) industry, companies must be increasingly aware of their intellectual property and how their licensing strategies can impact their rights. When licensing patented technology, it is common practice for biotech companies to include restricted field-of-use provisions in their license agreements. Such provisions permit a licensee to only use licensed technology in a defined field and restrict use or development in another field. This licensing strategy plays an important role within the biotech industry because it allows companies to more effectively control their intellectual property and to more efficiently research and develop pharmaceutical products.

A problem that …

Standards × Patents ÷ Antitrust = ∞: The Inadequacy Of Antitrust To Address Patent Ambush, Jonathan Hillel

Duke Law & Technology Review

"Patent ambush" describes certain rent-seeking behavior by the owner of patent rights to a technology that is essential to an industry standard. Two cases, Qualcomm and Rambus, represent attempts of the Third and D.C. Circuits, respectively, to address patent ambushes using federal antitrust statutes. In both cases, antitrust law proves inadequate to the task. Under Qualcomm, licensees gain too much power to extort undervalued royalty rates from patent holders who have disclosed their rights during standard-setting. Under Rambus, coupled with the dearth of other options to combat patent ambushes, non-disclosing patent holders are given free reign over standardized markets, to …

Limitation Of Sales Warranties As An Alternative To Intellectual Property Rights: An Empirical Analysis Of Iphone Warranties’ Deterrent Impact On Consumers, Marc L. Roark

Duke Law & Technology Review

Apple's success with the Apple iPhone has brought with it certain problems. Its success has engendered a community that has attempted to circumvent Apple's exclusive service agreement with AT&T. Unfortunately for Apple (and similarly situated manufacturers), intellectual property law allows consumers to alter their products so as to circumvent relationships that manufacturers may have with others. The patent and copyright law first sale doctrine allows consumers to manipulate a product after it is purchased. As a result, manufacturers are increasingly turning to alternatives to intellectual property to secure control over the device after the sale. One such alternative is the …

Slides: Development Of Shale: Water Resource Concerns And Policy Considerations, Katy Dunlap

Shale Plays in the Intermountain West: Legal and Policy Issues (November 12)

Presenter: Katy Dunlap, Eastern Water Project Director, Trout Unlimited, Inc., Burdett, NY

24 slides

Slides: Water And Development Of Unconventional Oil And Gas Resources, Judy Jordan

Shale Plays in the Intermountain West: Legal and Policy Issues (November 12)

Presenter: Judy Jordan, Oil & Gas Liaison, Garfield County, Rifle, CO

21 slides

Slides: Shale Drilling And Completions, William Fleckenstein

Shale Plays in the Intermountain West: Legal and Policy Issues (November 12)

Presenter: William Fleckenstein, BP Adjunct Professor in the Petroleum Department and Director of PERFORM Research, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO, and Managing Partner of Fleckenstein, Eustes & Associates

20 slides

Slides: U.S. Shale Gas: Resources, Reserves And $$$, John B. Curtis

Shale Plays in the Intermountain West: Legal and Policy Issues (November 12)

Presenter: John B. Curtis, Professor of Geology and Geological Engineering and Director of the Potential Gas Agency, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO

17 slides

Slides: The Here And Now Of U.S. Nat Gas, Michelle Michot Foss

Shale Plays in the Intermountain West: Legal and Policy Issues (November 12)

Presenter: Michelle Michot Foss, Chief Energy Economist, Center for Energy Economics, Bureau of Economic Geology, University of Texas, Austin, TX

12 slides

Pooling For Horizontal Wells: Can They Teach An Old Dog New Tricks?, Bruce M. Kramer

Shale Plays in the Intermountain West: Legal and Policy Issues (November 12)

74 pages.

This paper was originally published as:

Bruce M. Kramer, “Pooling for Horizontal Wells: Can They Teach an Old Dog New Tricks?,” 55 Rocky Mt. Min. L. Inst. 8-1, § 8.05 (2009).

Slides: Shale And Air Quality: The View From The Other Side, Jeremy Nichols

Shale Plays in the Intermountain West: Legal and Policy Issues (November 12)

Presenter: Jeremy Nichols, Climate & Energy Program Director, WildEarth Guardians, Denver, CO

18 slides

Slides: Transforming And Disrupting: Shale Gas And Oil In U.S. Energy Supply, Richard Nehring

Shale Plays in the Intermountain West: Legal and Policy Issues (November 12)

Presenter: Richard Nehring, Nehring Associates, Colorado Springs, CO

15 slides

Slides: Evolving Policy On Shale Plays, John Martin

Shale Plays in the Intermountain West: Legal and Policy Issues (November 12)

Presenter: John Martin, Crowell & Moring, LLP, Washington, DC

17 slides

Agenda: Shale Plays In The Intermountain West: Legal And Policy Issues, University Of Colorado Boulder. Natural Resources Law Center

Shale Plays in the Intermountain West: Legal and Policy Issues (November 12)

This one-day symposium to be held at the Grand Hyatt hotel in Denver will address the technology, economics, environmental impacts, and regulatory issues associated with shale gas development in the Rocky Mountain region. The purpose of this event is to facilitate productive dialogue among a wide range of stakeholders and interested parties to guide policy decisions.

Uso Social Del Suelo Ejidal Y Comunal Para El Desarrollo Equilibrado De Las Áreas Urbanas Del Estado De Puebla, Bruno L. Costantini García

Bruno L. Costantini García

De origen, difundir los diversos esquemas permitidos por la Ley para posibilitar la realización de proyectos con fines inmobiliarios, a efecto de que los núcleos agrarios y sus integrantes se beneficien equitativamente de la urbanización de sus tierras, coadyuvando con ello al desarrollo urbano planificado y ordenado de los centros de población del Estado de Puebla; como consecuencia, impulsar el desarrollo habitacional equilibrado de éste. Eliminar el circulo.- “necesidad de tierra – asentamiento irregular – solución de conflicto”, mediante la planeación socioeconómico de los núcleos agrarios ejidales y comunales, a fin de diseñar un mecanismo eficaz que satisfaga las necesidades …

Agenda: 2010 World Energy Justice Conference: Emerging Solutions For The Energy Poor: Technological, Entrepreneurial And Institutional Challenges, University Of Colorado Boulder. Center For Energy & Environmental Security, Colorado Journal Of International Environmental Law And Policy

2010 World Energy Justice Conference (November 5)

This conference is a sequel to the 2009 World Energy Justice Conference (WEJC 2009) which began examining ways of mainstreaming safe, clean, and efficient energy for the world's Energy Poor (EP). The EP number two and a half billion people living on less than $1-2 a day who have no access to modern energy services. WEJC 2010 more fully develops these themes. WEJC 2010 will explore how the next round of global warming meetings in Cancun could design new flexibility mechanisms that give credits, for example, for the reduction of black carbon by the adoption of cookstoves, and embrace small …

Why Aren't We Using That Intel Stuff? Using Reconnaissance Satellite Imagery In Domestic Disaster Prevention And Response, Carla Crandall

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Pragmatic Incrementalism Of Common Law Intellectual Property, Shyamkrishna Balganesh

All Faculty Scholarship

‘Common law intellectual property’ refers to a set of judge-made legal regimes that create exclusionary entitlements in different kinds of intangibles. Principally the creation of courts, many of these regimes are older than their statutory counterparts and continue to co-exist with them. Surprisingly though, intellectual property scholarship has paid scant attention to the nuanced law-making mechanisms and techniques that these regimes employ to navigate through several of intellectual property law’s substantive and structural problems. Common law intellectual property regimes employ a process of rule development that this Article calls ‘pragmatic incrementalism’. It involves the use of pragmatic and minimalist techniques …

Location-Based Services: Time For A Privacy Check-In, Chris Conley, Nicole Ozer, Hari O'Connell, Ellen Ginsburg, Tamar Gubins

Faculty Scholarship

Need to get directions when you are lost? Want to know if your friends are in the neighborhood? Location-based services – applications and websites that provide services based on your current location – can put this information and more in the palm of your hand.

But outdated privacy laws and varying corporate practices could mean that sensitive information about who you are, where you go, what you do, and who you know end up being shared, sold, or turned over to the government.

Can location-based services protect your privacy? Do they? And what can we do to improve the situation? …

Llm Cyberlaw: Information Technology, Law And Society, Subhajit Basu

Subhajit Basu

LLM in Cyberlaw: information technology, law and society enables you to develop knowledge and skills in relation to the legal rules regulating cyberlaw activity in the UK and Europe, and at a global level.

Nepa In The Hot Seat: A Proposal For An Office Of Environmental Analysis, Aliza M. Cohen

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Judicial deference under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) can be problematic. It is a well-established rule of administrative law that courts will grant a high degree of deference to agency decisions. They do this out of respect for agency expertise and policy judgment. This deference is applied to NEPA lawsuits without acknowledging the special pressures that agencies face while assessing the environmental impacts of their own projects. Though there is a strong argument that these pressures undermine the reasons for deferential review, neither the statute nor the courts have provided plaintiffs with adequate means to remedy this problem. Agency …

Interpreting Copyright Law And Internet Facts, Cameron Hutchison

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

This paper probes interpretation issues elicited by the impact of digital technologies and the Internet on copyright law. The purpose of the paper is to instill a coherent framework for analyzing copyright law when it encounters Internet or digital facts. In part one, I propose a methodology of statutory interpretation that helps suitably adapt statutory language to technological developments. In essence it is this: courts should examine the language of the operative provision in its statutory context and in light of its purpose. A contextual interpretation of a broadly conceived rule can reveal a legislative intention that certain kinds of …

The Regulation Of Personal Health Record Systems In Canada, James Williams, Jens H. Weber-Jahnke

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

This paper analyzes the regulatory regime for PHR systems in Canada. The first part of the paper consists of an introduction to some of the major issues associ- ated with these applications, with a focus on privacy, security, data quality, and interoperability. Following this preliminary discussion, the bulk of the analysis deals with the legal instruments that apply to PHR products developed by private sector organizations. Due to space constraints, the paper concentrates on legislative and regulatory instruments, deferring a discussion of the possible impacts of tort, product liability, and contract law on PHR systems. Despite this omission, it is …

Approval Of New Pharmacogenomic Tests: Is The Canadian Regulatory Process Adequate?, Yann Joly, Emma Ramos-Paque

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

In the first part of our analysis, we will examine the impact which pharmacogenomics is expected to have on drug research and development, on the drug approval process and on post-marketing surveillance and clinical practice. This will allow us to show how pharmacogenomic testing could be beneficial to drug companies, regulatory bodies, and patients. The second part of our analysis will focus on the regulatory framework applicable to the approval of pharmacoge- nomic tests in Canada, although we are aware of the fact that most manufacturers decide to approve their tests outside of Canada. As mentioned, the applicable regu- lations …