Law Commons^™

Digital First Sale: Friend Or Foe?, Eurie Hayes Smith Iv

Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

A Comment: Riaa V. Verizon And How The Dmca Subpoena Power Became Powerless, Katherine Raynolds

Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Leveraging Knowledge Assets: Can Law Reform Help?, Margaret Ann Wilkinson, Mark Perry

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

This paper asks whether there is a need for law-makers to aid in the efficient transition to a new knowledge-based economic and social environment through the use of intellectual property devices. The use of such devices was effective in assisting with the transition to an industrial society that, combined with developments in commercial law and secured transactions, further fuelled economic growth in Canada. Can these disparate areas of law be brought together to provide opportunities for the growth of knowledge-based business? The Law Commission of Canada instigated a two-part investigation into these questions. The investigation culminated in the Commission's report …

"Tpms": A Perfect Storm For Consumers: Replies To Professor Geist, Barry Sookman

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

This article has its origins in an article written by Professor Michael Geist and published in the Toronto Star entitled ‘‘‘TPMs’: A perfect storm for consumers’’. Following the publication of the article, John Gregory made a posting to the e-commerce listserv he moderates asking if anyone had any comments to the article. I responded on February 13, 2005 with a reply to John’s request. Professor Geist replied to my comments on February 17, 2005. On March 9, 2005 I posted a further reply to Professor Geist. The article set out below is based substantially on my two postings to John …

New Federal And Provincial Personal Information Protection Legislation And Its Impact On Physicians And Public Hospitals, Evguania Prokopieva

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

The focus of this article is to examine the implications of the new federal and Ontario personal data protection legislation for physicians and public hospitals. This article also inquires into whether the new legislation will contribute to the protection of patient privacy. By ‘‘physician’’ I mean a doctor in a broad sense – i.e., ‘‘a person who has been educated, trained, and licensed to practice the art and science of medicine’’. This will include family doctors, paediatricians, psychiatrists, surgeons, and other medical doctors covered by the Regulated Health Professions Act. By the term ‘‘public hospitals’’ I will refer to not-for-profit …

Genetic Use Restriction (Or Terminator) Technologies (Gurts) In Agricultural Biotechnology: The Limits Of Technological Alternatives To Intellectual Property, Chidi Oguamanam

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

This article examines the adequacy of terminator technology as a potential substitute for traditional intellectual property. It acknowledges that the technology provides a stronger protection and reward mechanism than that offered by the traditional intellectual property rights regime. However, terminator technology or any other technology for that matter, is outside the pantheon of intellectual property regimes. Fundamentally, terminator is a technological answer to the quest by private sector interests to improve appropriability of returns on investments in agrobiotech. It potentially represents a panacea to the long standing industry struggle over the profitability of private research in agrobiotech and the need …

Whazup With The Whois?, Sheldon Burshtein

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

The WHOIS is a database directory of domain names and relevant contact information maintained by each top-level domain (TLD) registry, which lists all relevant registrant contact information for each domain name registration. Through its contracts, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) requires registries and registrars to collect and display technical information and contact details for all registrants. The WHOIS is an important component of the domain name system (DNS). The WHOIS is used for a wide variety of purposes by registries, registrars, registrants, law enforcement authorities, consumers, and the general public. The WHOIS may enable identification of …

A Review Of Canadian Radiocommunications Law Around "Jammers", Tyson Macauley

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

This comment argues that the Radiocommunications Act should be amended to relax the prohibition on specific types of ‘‘smart’’ jamming in the Industry Science Medicine (ISM) bands. Specifically, the legislation requires increased flexibility and granularity to accom- modate new wireless technologies in the ISM bands — particularly wireless LAN (WLAN) technologies like IEEEE 802.11b/IEEE 802.11g (WiFi), and IEEE 802.11a (henceforth collectively know as ‘‘ISM radios’’).

The availability of cheap, mass-produced ISM radios hardware and the proliferation of applications using the ISM spectrum bands of 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz present a variety of security and privacy concerns that cannot be effectively addressed …

Fundamentals Of Information Technology By Sunny Handa (Markham: Lexisnexis Canada Inc., 2004), Barbara Darby

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

In the early 1990s, I purchased my first stereo with a CD player. I found myself trapped in a conversation with someone who tried to convince me that it was utter folly not to buy a turntable, because CD technology simply couldn’t replicate the ‘‘warmth’’ of vinyl. Had I only Handa’s book to hand, I could have provided a straight- forward and understandable explanation for why my records were well enough left in my parents’ basement; although ‘‘digitization . . . fails to record all characteristics of analog data, even at the highest finite sampling rate . . . Complete …

The Future Of Citizen Participation In The Electronic State, Beth Simone Noveck

Articles & Chapters

Agencies, not Congress, are the primary lawmakers in the American federal legal system. By law, the public has a right to participate in the making of agency rules. With the passage of the E-Government Act, administrative agencies are now required to use information and communication technologies to promulgate their rulemakings and to afford the public the opportunity to participate via the Internet. As currently envisioned, however, the move from rulemaking to electronic rulemaking will not realize the opportunity to improve participation to the full extent. Instead, the design of the screens through which people will interact with government are likely …

Trademark Law And The Social Construction Of Trust: Creating The Legal Framework For On-Line Identity, Beth Simone Noveck

Articles & Chapters

Trust is the foundation of society for without trust, we cannot cooperate. Trust, in turn, depends upon secure, reliable, and persistent identity. Cyberspace is thought to challenge our ability to build trust because the medium undermines the connection between online pseudonym and offline identity. We have no assurances of who stands behind an online avatar; it may be one person, it may be more, it may be a computer. The legal debate to date has focused exclusively on the question of how to maintain real world identity in cyberspace. But new "social software" technology that enables communities from eBay to …

Table Of Contents

Computer Law Review and Technology Journal

No abstract provided.

Market Reaction To Business Method Patents: An Empirical Analysis, Charles Holoubek, Timothy M. Shaughnessy

Computer Law Review and Technology Journal

Patents on methods of conducting business have received abundant press since the recent decisions in State Street Bank & Trust Co. v. Signature Financial Group, Inc. and AT&T Corp. v. Excel Communications, Inc. Indeed, the number of patent applications categorized as Business Method Patents ("BMPs") increased from 165 in 1995 to over 7,800 in 2000, more than a 47-fold jump in just five years. In light of State Street's wide-reaching ramifications, both the court's legal reasoning for and the policy implications of allowing the United States Patent and Trade Office ("USPTO") to extend patent rights to business methods …

Contributory And Vicarious Copyright Infringement As Applied To Auctions, Flea Markets, And Swap Meets: How Fonovisa And Napster Have Set The Standard, Laura E. Hancock

Computer Law Review and Technology Journal

Merriam-Webster's Dictionary defines a flea market as an "open-air market for secondhand articles and antiques." Although its origin is nearly impossible to trace, it is commonly believed that the flea market first appeared during the 1960s, in Paris, France. The term itself is translated from the French phrase, marchi aux puces.

Generally, a flea market has been described as a venue renting "space to anyone [offering for sale to the public] merchandise, products, items, services and all other legal needs of the buying public." Individuals renting space and selling within these venues are known as vendors. Flea markets are truly …

Site-Specific Art Parks On Moral Ground: Distilling Old Whine In New Battles Over The Visual Artists Rights Act, Carrie Jones

Computer Law Review and Technology Journal

Having passed by unanimous vote at the Second Continental Congress, the new Constitution duly declared that "Congress shall have the power [t]o promote the Progress of Science and the useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors rt]he exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries." Pursuant to that power, Congress enacted the Nation's first copyright law in 1790, intending to promote the artistic progress through a grant of exclusive monopoly for a limited time to the authors of new works. Since then, the United States has successfully urged invention and creation through the full commitment to a comprehensive …

The Chinese Approach To Electronic Transactions Legislation, Zhang Chu, Lingfei Lei

Computer Law Review and Technology Journal

Ecclesiastes reminds us that there is nothing new under the sun, and this may be equally true when it comes to electronic transactions. In the electronic world, agreements are still embodied in contracts, contracts are still entered into when two parties reach an enforceable agreement on terms, and objective evidence still determines whether an agreement has been reached. Fraud and piracy are no less illegal because they happen online. In other words, laws governing the physical world are also relevant in the virtual world. Nevertheless, despite all the similarities, there may still be some differences in form, and there are …

You Can't Say That!: Enjoining Publication Of Trade Secrets Despite The First Amendment, Brooks W. Taylor

Computer Law Review and Technology Journal

Enjoining publication of trade secrets is certainly restraint of speech, but is it invalid under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution? Different courts have answered that question in different ways. Some courts have applied strict scrutiny and found preliminary injunctions against the publication of trade secrets to be unconstitutional prior restraint of free speech. Most recently, the California Supreme Court, applying intermediate scrutiny, found such an injunction against the re-publication of computer code on the Internet to be a content-neutral restraint not barred by the prior restraint doctrine.

For a number of reasons, corporations are relying increasingly on …

The Illegal Art Exhibit: Art Or Exploitation? A Look At The Fair Use Doctrine In Relation To Corporate Degenerate Art, Kimball Tyson

Computer Law Review and Technology Journal

A gas mask in the shape of Mickey Mouse's head; fake stamps with photographs of Viagra and Prozac pills that actually duped the postal system; Pez candy dispensers with dispenser heads of dead rappers such as Biggie Smalls, Tupac Shakur, and Eazy-E; a recreation of a portrait of Mao using U.S. currency; the use of the Beatle's Meet the Beatles LP cover by a musical group entitled the Residents; a series of violent, disturbing drawings featuring famous cartoon characters such as Mickey Mouse, Goofy, Barney from the Flintstones, and Bert from Bert and Ernie being hung from nooses or sprawled …

Developmental Incompetence, Due Process, And Juvenile Justice Policy, Elizabeth S. Scott, Thomas Grisso

Faculty Scholarship

In 2003, the Florida District Court of Appeal reversed the murder conviction and life sentence imposed on Lionel Tate, who was twelve years old when he killed his six-year-old neighbor. Since Lionel was reported to be the youngest person in modern times to be sent to prison for life, the case had generated considerable debate, and the decision was appealed on several grounds. What persuaded the appellate court that the conviction could not stand, however, was the trial court's rejection of a petition by Lionel's attorney for an evaluation of his client's competence to assist counsel and to make a …

The Future Of Copyright, Lawrence B. Solum

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Review of Free Culture: How Big Media Uses Technology and the Law to Lock Down Culture and Control Creativity by Lawrence Lessig (2004).

Sometimes technological change is so profound that it rocks the foundations of an entire body of law. Peer-to-peer (P2P) filesharing systems--Napster, Gnutella, KaZaA, Grokster, and Freenet3--are mere symptoms of a set of technological innovations that have set in motion an ongoing process of fundamental changes in the nature of copyright law. The video tape recorder begat the Sony substantial noninfringing use defense. The digital cassette recorder begat the Audio Home Recording Act. The internet begat the Digital …

Maximizing Scientific Integrity In Environmental Regulations: The Need For Congress To Provide Guidance When Scientific Methods Are Inadequate Or When Data Is Inconclusive, Mariyetta Meyers

Animal Law Review

A “best science available” directive appears in a variety of environmental law statutes. Although seemingly clear, this directive has created an abundance of litigation with various plaintiffs challenging agency decisions under the Administrative Procedure Act’s (APA) arbitrary and capricious standard of review. The courts’ review of the agency decisions based on such science largely depends on the various ways in which the “best science available” directive is written in the particular statute. That is, the more specific the congressional mandate, the less latitude the agency has in implementing congressional will; the broader the statutory language, the more breathing space the …

Proprietary Rights And Collective Action: The Case Of Biotechnology Research With Low Commercial Value, Arti K. Rai

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Protecting The Future: A Strategy For Creating Laws Not Constrained By Technological Obsolescence, Jay Campbell

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

This note will examine the obsolescence of laws through the lens of recent cases relating to "wiretapping laws" and propose the creation of laws that protect certain rights independent of technology. Recently, a number of courts have held that laws created in the mid-1980's to protect communications do not apply to Internet-related communications, reasoning that the method of transmission falls outside the language of the statutes. As a result, e-mail and other forms of Internet-based communications are treated differently from older forms of communication such as telephone conversations. This note will propose a broad legislative solution with the aim of …

Preparing The Groundwork For A Responsible Debate On Stem Cell Research And Human Cloning, O. Carter Snead

Journal Articles

The debate over both cloning and stem cell research has been intense and polarizing. It played a significant role in the recently completed presidential campaign, mentioned by both candidates on the stump, at both parties' conventions, and was even taken up directly during one of the presidential debates. The topic has been discussed and debated almost continuously by the members of the legal, scientific, medical, and public policy commentariat. I believe that it is a heartening tribute to our national polity that such a complex moral, ethical, and scientific issue has become a central focus of our political discourse. But, …

A New Framework: Post-Kyoto Energy And Environmental Security, Lakshman D. Guruswamy

Publications

In this article Professor Guruswamy advances an argument for new energy agreements that address the immense global environmental challenge presented by the increasing global energy demands of both the developed and developing world. Arguing that new energy accords are needed to meet this challenge, he identifies and describes the decidedly interdisciplinary knowledge base and analytics required to negotiate such international instruments. The construction of these knowledge bases call for scientific, engineering, technological, legal, social, economic and behavioral expertise. Professor Guruswamy identifies pragmatic steps--including a targeted research agenda--that will contribute to such an undertaking and begin the arduous process of addressing …

Sustainable Energy: A Preliminary Framework, Lakshman Guruswamy

Publications

No abstract provided.

Energy, Environment & Sustainable Development, Lakshman D. Guruswamy

Publications

No abstract provided.

Not The Evil Twen: How Online Course Management Software Supports Non-Linear Learning In Law Schools, Marie Stefanini Newman

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

In this article, I will discuss both how today's law students learn through technology, and also theories of personality types and learning styles. I will first review the few existing empirical studies on the subject. Next, I will discuss course Web sites and how they can support, not replace, what happens in the traditional law school classroom. Then, I will discuss how my law school implemented TWEN course Web pages, and discuss the results of a survey of TWEN usage by faculty members at Pace University School of Law. The survey indicates that although TWEN course Web sites have improved …

Thinking Outside The Pandora's Box: Why The Dmca Is Unconstitutional Under Article I §8 Of The U.S. Constitution, Joshua L. Schwartz

ExpressO

No abstract provided.

Re-Reifying Data, James Gibson

Law Faculty Publications

There's a war on between those who view digital technology as a reason to expand intellectual property law and those who oppose this expansion. One front in the war is technological: the pro-expansionists enclose their products in restrictive code, which the anti-expansionists circumvent and hack. A second is legislative: the pro-expansionists seek extended copyright duration, favorable changes to contract law, and other new legal entitlements, while the anti-expansionists lobby for the opposite. And a third front is a combination of the first two: it is technological. On this battlefield, the pro-expansionists use the law to fortify their technological protections. But …