Law Commons^™

Intentional Parenthood: A Solution To The Plight Of Same-Sex Partners Striving For Legal Recognition As Parents, Yehezkel Margalit

Hezi Margalit

One significant ramification of the plight of same-sex partners attempting to receive legal recognition of their non-“traditional” family structure is their inability to be recognized as the legal and/or additional parent of a non-biologically related child either by adoption or following fertility treatments. It is a fact that gay partners are not legally recognized as married, therefore they are not granted the same legal recognition as their heterosexual peers. In this research, I will explore the main approaches available today to same-sex partners to acquire legal parentage and their inherent difficulties. I will suggest a way to circumvent those difficulties …

Guidelines To Limit Criminal Prosecutions Of Filesharing Services, Benton C. Martin, Jeremiah R. Newhall

Benton C. Martin

This short essay acknowledges certain efficiencies in enforcing copyright law against "secondary" infringers like filesharing services through criminal proceedings, but it proposes guidelines for prosecutors to use in limiting prosecutions against this type of infringer.

E-Commerce And Electronic Payment System Risks: Lessons From Paypal, Lawrence J. Trautman

Lawrence J. Trautman Sr.

What are the major risks perceived by those engaged in e-commerce and electronic payment systems? What development risks, if they become reality, may cause substantial increases in operating costs or threaten the very survival of the enterprise? This article utilizes the relevant annual report disclosures from eBay (parent of PayPal), along with other eBay and PayPal documents, as a potentially powerful teaching device. Most of the descriptive language to follow is excerpted directly from eBay’s regulatory filings. My additions include weaving these materials into a logical presentation and providing supplemental sources for those who desire a deeper look (usually in …

Privacy Issues In The Age Of Social Media M&A, Amy A. Hinkler

Amy A. Hinkler

No abstract provided.

Flawed Transparency: Shared Data Collection And Disclosure Challenges For Google Glass And Similar Technologies, Jonathan I. Ezor

Jonathan I. Ezor

Current privacy law and best practices assume that the party collecting the data is able to describe and disclose its practices to those from and about whom the data are collected. With emerging technologies such as Google Glass, the information being collected by the wearer may be automatically shared to one or more third parties whose use may be substantially different from that of the wearer. Often, the wearer may not even know what information is being uploaded, and how it may be used. This paper will analyze the current state of U.S. law and compliance regarding personal information collection …

Anonymity Is The Battlefield: Practical And Legal Considerations In The Fight For Free Expression On The Web, Dan Massoglia

Dan Massoglia

No abstract provided.

Lawyering In The Shadow Of Data, Dru Stevenson, Nicholas J. Wagoner

Dru Stevenson

Attorney bargaining has traditionally taken place in the shadow of trial, as litigants alter their pretrial behavior—including their willingness to negotiate a settlement – based on perceptions of likely outcomes at trial and anticipated litigation costs. Lawyers practicing in the shadow of trial have, in turn, traditionally formed their perception of the likely outcome at trial based on their knowledge of case precedents, intuition, and previous interactions with the presiding judge and opposing counsel in similar cases. Today, however, technology for leveraging legal data is moving the practice of law into the shadow of the trends and patterns observable in …

U.S. Government Counterterrorism Asset Freezes: Regulatory Seizures In A Digital Age Of Terrorism, Adam S. Wallwork

Adam S Wallwork

This Article addresses the question of when, if ever, the Department of the Treasury’s counterterrorism asset freezes against US persons (US citizens, resident aliens, and US-based organizations) violate the Fourth Amendment. It addresses two questions that currently divide the federal courts: (1) whether OFAC blocking orders are seizures subject to the Fourth Amendment and (2) whether the Fourth Amendment’s warrant and probable-cause requirements apply to OFAC counterterrorism blocking orders if these orders are in fact seizures.

My Originalist analysis of OFAC counterterrorism blocking orders draws on evidence of the Framers’ original understanding of “unreasonable . . . seizures,” including the …

Legal Mirrors Of Entrepreneurship, Mirit Eyal-Cohen

Mirit Eyal-Cohen

Small businesses are regarded the engine of the economy. But just what is a “small” business? Depending on where one looks in the law, the definitions vary and they differ from one section to another. Unfortunately, what these various size classifications fail to assess, are the policy considerations and the legislative intent for granting regulatory preferences to small concerns to begin with.

In the last century, the U.S. government has been cultivating one such policy of fiscal and economic growth. Consequently, Congress and private institutions have been acting to incentivize, support and reward entrepreneurship through the law in order to …

Internet Control Or Internet Censorship? Comparing The Control Models Of China, Singapore, And The United States To Guide Taiwan’S Choice, Jeffrey Li

Jeffrey Li

Internet censorship generally refers to unjustified online speech scrutiny and control by the government or government-approved measures for Internet control. The danger of Internet censorship is the chilling effect and the substantial harm on free speech, a cornerstone of democracy, in cyberspace. This paper compares China’s blocking and filtering system, the class license system of Singapore, and the government-private partnership model of the United States to identify the features, and pros and cons of each model on the international human rights. By finding lessons from each of the model, this paper suggests Taiwan should remain its current meager internet control …

R2dford: Autonomous Vehicles And The Legal Implications Of Varying Liability Structures, Alexander P. Herd

Alexander P Herd

The World Health Organization estimates that by 2030, traffic accidents will be the fifth leading cause of death in the world. Thus when Google announced that it had designed an autonomous car which could reduce traffic accidents by as much as ninety percent, there was cause for excitement. Some states have already started legislation to permit the use of autonomous cars in anticipation of the release later this decade. Courts and lawmakers need to consider who will be liable when the car that drives itself crashes. Standards used in aviation and naval cases regarding auto-pilot can be applied to the …

Rediscovering Cumulative Creativity From The Oral Formulaic Tradition To Digital Remix: Can I Get A Witness?, Giancarlo Francesco Frosio

Giancarlo Francesco Frosio

For most of human history the essential nature of creativity was understood to be cumulative and collective. This notion has been largely forgotten by modern policies regulating creativity and speech. As hard as it may be to believe, the most valuable components of our immortal culture were created under a fully open regime with regard to access to pre-existing expressions and reuse. From the Platonic mimēsis to the Roman imitatio, from Macrobius’ Saturnalia to the imitatio Vergili, from medieval auctoritas and Chaucer the compilator to Anon the singer and social textuality, from Chrétien’s art of rewriting to Shakespeare’s “borrowed feathers,” …

Digital Piracy Debunked: A Short Note, Giancarlo Francesco Frosio

Giancarlo Francesco Frosio

In the last two decades, the industry has endlessly deployed the rhetoric of the “digital threat” in order to demand harsher measures against digital piracy, peer-to-peer file sharing and the like. In fact, the uneasiness in sharing the view that harsher measures are an adequate response to copyright infringement in the digital environment comes from the uncertain grounds on which the heavy-handed reaction against digital piracy has been based. Two related arguments might run against this heavy-handed approach. First, market conditions might incentivize piracy. Additionally, there are raising doubts over the argument that piracy is a threat to creativity, especially …

What May Lead Behind Odr Rapid Step ? (Indonesia’S Information Technology Law Perspective Study), Patricia Ruslijanto

patricia ruslijanto

No abstract provided.

Comparative Studies On Isps' Secondary Copyright Liability In China And The Us, Hong Lou

Hong Lou

In China, the amount of copyright infringement disputes cases related to ISPs is rapid increasing, and current legislation seems to be insufficient to regulate these problems. Moreover, there is a chaos in different courts around China using different approaches and standards on search engines' secondary liability.Therefore, how to improved Chinese copyright legislation and unite relevant judgments with reasonable approaches has become an urgent task. The purpose of this essay is to compare legislation and legal practice in China and the US, to point out the tendency of ISPs' secondary copyright liability in these two countries, and to make useful suggestions …

Privacy, Transparency & Google's Blurred Glass, Jonathan I. Ezor

Jonathan I. Ezor

No matter the context or jurisdiction, one concept underlies every view of the best practices in data privacy: transparency. The mandate to disclose what personal information is collected, how it is used, and with whom and for what purpose it is shared, is essential to enable informed consent to the collection, along with the other user rights that constitute privacy best practices. Google, which claims to support and offer transparency, is increasingly opaque about its many products and services and the information they collect for it, posing a significant privacy concern.

Testing The Social Media Waters - First Amendment Entanglement Beyond The Schoolhouse Gates, Lily M. Strumwasser

Lily M Strumwasser

Dear Editor:

I am a third-year student at The John Marshall Law School in Chicago, Illinois, where I serve as the executive student publications editor of The John Marshall Law Review. In September 2013, I will work as an associate at Seyfarth Shaw in its labor and employment practice group. I am writing to submit my article, "Testing The Social Media Waters - First Amendment Entanglement Beyond The Schoolhouse Gates" My article considers the contours of student free speech rights within the context of public schools. I think and hope you will find it to be interesting and …

Holy Internet, Bringer Of Truth, Pray For The Church’S Sinners, Now And At The Hour Of It’S Death…: The Internet’S Impact On The Priest Abuse Crisis, Joanne E. Wilson

Joanne E Wilson

The Roman Catholic Church is being murdered. Yet, the attempted murderer is still free. The accused attempted murderer is the Internet. Throughout history, the Church has tried to halt communication in order to maintain control of its flock. But inventions in communication have empowered society while loosening the Church’s grip on the lives of its parishioners. A fatal wound was created in the mid fifteenth century with Johannes Gutenberg’s invention of the movable type printing press. An artery of the Church was spliced open in 1517 when Martin Luther nailed his ninety-five page written revolt against the Church on the …

E-Jurors:A View From The Bench, Judge Antoinette Plogstedt

Judge Antoinette Plogstedt

E-JURORS: A View From the Bench

Electronic jurors pose new twists to an old problem. With emerging technology in mobile devices, social media, and internet research, juror misconduct exists in new shapes and forms. Many jurisdictions have made attempts to curb electronic misconduct by modifying standard jury instruction and confiscating juror cell phones. Some judges have implemented jury instructions which remind jurors to refrain from communicating about the case and conducting on-line research. However, their efforts fall short. In previous literature, practicioners, students and a few scholars have offered suggestions on modifying jury instructions to better inform jurors of prohibited …

Criminal Copyright Enforcement Against Filesharing Services, Benton C. Martin, Jeremiah R. Newhall

Benton C. Martin

The high-profile prosecution of the popular online storage website Megaupload for criminal copyright infringement is the latest in a series of recent criminal prosecutions of online filesharing services. But what pushes a legitimate online file-storing business over the edge to criminal enterprise? How might criminal copyright enforcement differ materially from civil enforcement?

This article answers these questions and suggests guidelines for prosecutorial discretion. After a condensed history of criminal copyright law, we explain why "secondary" theories of infringement apply in the criminal, as well as civil, context and why the DMCA "safe harbor" defense is a red herring in criminal …

Rescuing Access To Patented Essential Medicines: Pharmaceutical Companies As Tortfeasors Under The Prevented Rescue Tort Theory, Richard Cameron Gower

Richard Cameron Gower

Despite some difficulties, state tort law can be argued to create a unique exception to patent law. Specifically, the prevented rescue doctrine suggests that charities and others can circumvent patents on certain critical medications when such actions are necessary to save individuals from death or serious harm. Although this Article finds that the prevented rescue tort doctrines is preempted by federal patent law, all hope is not lost. A federal substantive due process claim may be brought that uses the common law to demonstrate a fundamental right that has long been protected by our Nation’s legal traditions. Moreover, this Article …

The Political Feasibility Of A Global E-Commerce Tax, Rifat Azam Dr.

Rifat Azam Dr.

In its strongest statement yet on progressive tax reform, the UN has recently called on countries to introduce a global carbon tax and financial transaction tax (FTT). In my recent article entitled Global Taxation of Cross Border E-commerce Income (31 Virginia Tax Review 639 (Spring 2012)), I proposed to impose a global e-commerce tax on cross border e-commerce income by a new supranational institution, The Global Tax Fund, to be established by countries through international treaty. According to my proposal, the global e-commerce tax revenues shall be spent to fund global public goods. I argued normatively that the proposed regime …

The New Frontier Of Advanced Reproductive Technology: Reevaluating Modern Legal Parenthood, Yehezkel H. Margalit Dr., John D. Loike Dr., Orrie Levy Adv.

Hezi Margalit

Assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs) have challenged our deepest conceptions of what it means to be a parent by fragmenting traditional aspects of parenthood. The law has been slow to respond to this challenge, and numerous academic articles have proposed models for adapting parentage laws to ARTs. In the coming years, however, scientific advancements in reproductive technologies, such as somatic cell nuclear transfer and stem cell technologies, will challenge both parentage laws and proposed legal models for traditional ARTs in new and fascinating ways. For instance, these advanced technologies could allow two women to create a child without any male genetic …

Formalism And Pragmatism In The Analysis Of Damages For Indirect Patent Infringement, Dmitry Karshtedt

Dmitry Karshtedt

No abstract provided.

Do Robomemos Dream Of Electric Nouns?: A Search For The Soul Of Legal Writing, Ian Gallacher

Ian Gallacher

This essay considers the possibility that computers might soon be capable of writing many of the documents lawyers typically write, and considers what qualities of writing are uniquely human and whether those qualities are sufficient to render human written work superior to computer generated work. After noting that despite the claims of rhetoricians and narrative theorists, not all legal writing is persuasive writing, and that it is in the non-persuasive area of prosaic, functional documents that computer generated documents might gain a bridgehead into the legal market, the essay tracks the development of computer-generated written work, particularly in the areas …