Law Commons^™

The Panhandlers’ Dialogue: Are Restrictions On Panhandling Content-Neutral Under The First Amendment?, Jing Zhang

Seventh Circuit Review

One of the defining characteristics of the U.S. Constitution is its guarantee of certain enumerated rights, including the right to free speech. The First Amendment guards against governmental regulations that infringe on the right to free speech. In recent years, local governments across the nation have enacted local laws and ordinances that regulate or prohibit panhandling in certain areas. In Norton v. City of Springfield, the Seventh Circuit reviewed and upheld one such ordinance prohibiting panhandling in the downtown historic areas. The Springfield ordinance defined panhandling as an oral request for immediate donation of money. The downtown historic district …

Mj Still Winning In Chicago: The Seventh Circuit Correctly Holds That Jewel-Osco’S Use Of Michael Jordan’S Likeness In Its Advertisement Constituted Commercial Speech, Michael A. Albert

Seventh Circuit Review

Sometimes businesses advertise offers for particular products or services. In addition to product advertising, businesses frequently engage in “image” advertising, where they promote their brand generally rather than a specific product. Both types of advertising may constitute commercial speech. The U.S. Supreme Court commonly defines commercial speech as “speech that proposes a commercial transaction.” Although the Court has addressed this phrase’s meaning, it has never provided a comprehensive method for determining whether a given expression constitutes commercial speech. As a result, some courts interpret this phrase to apply narrowly in scope, while others find that it can be applied broadly. …

Voter Id In Wisconsin: A Better Approach To Anderson/Burdick Balancing, Matthew R. Pikor

Seventh Circuit Review

In 2011, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker enacted 2011 Wisconsin Act 23. This law required that most of the state's voters show an acceptable form of photo identification to cast a ballot. State officials contended the regulation was necessary to detect and prevent fraud, promote public confidence in the electoral process, and improve election administration. On the other hand, critics of the law argued it was merely a partisan attempt by Republican legislators to suppress the turnout of various subgroups that overwhelmingly tend to vote Democratic.

In Frank v. Walker, voters and advocacy organizations sued, claiming the requirement placed an …

British Cures For American Foreclosure Woes, Nicholas Krebs

Chicago-Kent Journal of International and Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Case: Trout Point Lodge, Ltd. V. Handshoe, Kelsey Bates

Chicago-Kent Journal of International and Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Italy, Mexico, And The Legal Framework For Clientelism, Christopher L. Henry

Chicago-Kent Journal of International and Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Have We Gone Too Far: Does The Seventh Amendment Compel Fact-Finding Before Reaching A Decision On Patent-Eligible Subject Matter?, Jesse D.H. Snyder

Chicago-Kent Journal of Intellectual Property

No abstract provided.

A Path Toward An Increased Role For The United States In Patent Infringement Litigation, Caroline M. Turner

Chicago-Kent Journal of Intellectual Property

A number of major statutory schemes implicate federal interests but do not provide for explicit authority for the United States to bring lawsuits for damages or to obtain injunctive relief. The patent statutes provide that the patentee may sue in the case of infringement, and court decisions have extended that right to certain licensees. Accordingly, the United States has participated in cases in which it is not a co-patentee or licensee only as an amicus. Yet the government arguably has an interest in intervening in or instituting, as a co-plaintiff, infringement cases involving certain patents. Recent scholarship has renewed attention …

Enabling Access To Clinical Trial Data: When Is Unfair Use Fair?, Daria Kim

Chicago-Kent Journal of Intellectual Property

This inquiry is prompted by the unprecedented policy of the European Medicines Agency that enables the disclosure of clinical trial reports submitted for drug marketing authorization, effective as of January 1, 2015. It addresses the question whether such practice is in compliance with the international standard of clinical data protection under Article 39.3 of the TRIPS Agreement. Most scholarly and policy debate regarding this provision analyzes whether it precludes the referential use of data to facilitate the approval of a generic drug. Rather than focusing on a particular use, this Article seeks to identify the principle underlying the protection obligation …

Biosociality, Reimagined: A Global Distributive Justice Framework For Ownership Of Human Genetic Material, David J. Jefferson

Chicago-Kent Journal of Intellectual Property

No abstract provided.

The Effect Of Economic Crises On Patenting Activity Across Countries, Daniel Benoliel, Michael Gishboliner

Chicago-Kent Journal of Intellectual Property

This article offers a conceptual and empirical contribution regarding the effect of economic crises on patenting activity across countries. It does so in the midst of the predominant general view that economic crises flatly chill patenting activity for all countries alike.

Financial crisis literature commonly assumes that, during global financial crises, private enterprises consequently tend to retreat to the safety of their domestic markets. These enterprises presumably react this way because of the lesser familiarity of foreign markets, the currency risks involved in international investment, and the uncertainties regarding the issue of how states will treat foreign assets.

This article …

The Constitutionality Of Design Patents, Ralph D. Clifford, Richard J. Peltz-Steele

Chicago-Kent Journal of Intellectual Property

Design patents have been part of American law since 1842. In that time, only just over 600,000 design patents have been issued, with more than half of these being granted in the last twenty years. This quantity is dramatically fewer than the number of utility patents issued which is rapidly approaching 9,000,000 issued patents. Possibly because of the low usage of design patents over time, no case law and little literature address the constitutional issues raised by them. This article intends to overcome that shortcoming. Two constitutional aspects of design patents will be examined.

First, congressional authority to adopt the …

Open Source Business Models And Synthetic Biology, Tej Singh

Chicago-Kent Journal of Intellectual Property

The software industry has successfully utilized open source business models namely with software such as Android and Linux. Open source business models allow individuals to collaborate and share information without fear that the shared information will be commercially misused. Given the similarities between software source code and genetic sequences, innovators in the field of synthetic biology feel that open source business models can help further innovation for synthetic biology in a similar manner. However, when determining whether to join an open source project, practitioners must first identify if such a project will be beneficial to their goals. This Comment discuss …

Aspex Eyewear, Inc. V. Marchon Eyewear, Inc. And Brain Life, Llc. V. Elekta, Inc.: Irreconcilable Conflict In The Law Governing Claim Preclusion In Patent Cases, Christopher Petroni

Chicago-Kent Journal of Intellectual Property

In 1991, the Federal Circuit held that a judgment on the merits in a patent infringement action bars future claims based on products that are “essentially the same” as the product at issue in the former suit. This rule governed claim preclusion in patent actions until at least 2009. Then, in 2012, the Federal Circuit upended the apple cart with Aspex Eyewear, Inc. v. Marchon Eyewear, Inc., 672 F.3d 1335 (Fed. Cir. 2012), holding that a judgment in an infringement suit never bars future claims against products that could not have been accused in the former litigation, essentially the …

The 101 Conundrum: Creating A Framework To Solve Problems Surrounding Interpretation Of 35 U.S.C. § 101, Robert Mazzola

Chicago-Kent Journal of Intellectual Property

No abstract provided.

Nafta: Testing Ricardo’S Theory Of Comparative Advantage, Bruce D. Fisher

Chicago-Kent Journal of International and Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Conceptualizing The Schmittian Exception In The European Union, Luca Siliquini-Cinelli, Beatrice Schutte

Chicago-Kent Journal of International and Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Evolving Standards Of Domination: Abandoning A Flawed Legal Standard And Approaching A New Era In Penal Reform, Spearit

Chicago-Kent Law Review

This article critiques the evolving standards of decency doctrine as a form of Social Darwinism. It argues that evolving standards of decency provided a system of review that was tailor-made for Civil Rights opponents to scale back racial progress. Although as a doctrinal matter, evolving standards sought to tie punishment practices to social mores, prison sentencing became subject to political agendas that determined the course of punishment more than the benevolence of a matur-ing society. Indeed, rather than the fierce competition that is supposed to guide social development, the criminal justice system was consciously deployed as a means of social …

Table Of Contents, Chicago-Kent Law Review

Chicago-Kent Law Review

No abstract provided.

Towards An Outcrit Pedagogy Of Anti-Subordination In The Classroom, Sheila I. Velez Martinez

Chicago-Kent Law Review

This Article discusses how traditional teaching practices can reinforce systemic discrimination, exclusion, subordination and oppression within the classroom in particular detriment to women and students of color. The Article traces the discussions about pedagogy in Outcrit literature and proposes that Outcrit scholars teaching techniques within the classroom should reflect anti-subordination praxis in teaching. Drawing from the work of Paulo Freire, Derrick Bell and others, the Article proposes that teaching from an anti-subordination perspective requires a praxis of collaborative, non-hierarchical teaching that calls for an epistemological shift. A pedagogy that frees the student to think independently and leads to an experience …

Crisis And Trigger Warnings: Reflections On Legal Education And The Social Value Of The Law, Kim D. Chanbonpin

Chicago-Kent Law Review

In the same moment that law schools are embracing neoliberal strategies in response to the economic crisis caused by declining admissions, students in the classroom have begun to agitate for advance content notices (or “trigger warnings”) to alert them to any potentially trauma-inducing course materials. For faculty who have already adopted a defensive posture in response to threats to eliminate tenure, this demand feels like an additional assault on academic freedom; one that reflects a distressing student-as-consumer mentality. From this vantage point, students are too easily cast as another group of adversaries when, in actuality, students are straw targets who …

Latcrit Praxis @ Xx: Toward Equal Justice In Law, Education And Society, Tayyab Mahmud, Athena Mutua, Francisco Valdes

Chicago-Kent Law Review

No abstract provided.

Tiered Personhood And The Excluded Voter, Atiba R. Ellis

Chicago-Kent Law Review

The modern discourse critiquing vote denial policies in the United States has taken two distinct paths. The first and more recent path has been to critique the effects of legislation like voter identification laws, narrowed early voting opportunities, and similar enactments to hyper-regulate the voting process, effecting, as some argue, the ability for the poor, the elderly, and minorities to vote. The second strain of this voter suppression discourse relates to the express exclusion of persons who have been convicted of felonies from the exercise of the franchise. While both vote denial by effect or by express disenfranchisement have raised …

Citizenship For The Guest Workers Of The Commonwealth Of The Northern Mariana Islands, Rose Cuison Villazor

Chicago-Kent Law Review

This essay explores an underexamined yet compelling immigration issue: whether Congress should confer to long-term guest workers in the Common-wealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) a path to lawful permanent residence and citizenship. The issue has led to contentious debates between groups arguing for a fair and equitable result for the guest workers and groups advocating for the indigenous peoples of the CNMI who fear loss of political power. Contend-ing that both arguments raise important anti-subordination claims, this essay argues that resolution of the issue requires a close examination of the historical, cultural and economic factors that led to …

Adaptive Law In The Anthropocene, Shalanda H. Baker

Chicago-Kent Law Review

The sky has fallen. We are now firmly rooted in a new epoch scientists have named the Anthropocene, where the activities of humans will most certainly negatively impact the trajectory of Earth and its inhabitants. What the Anthropocene fully holds is uncertain, but there are a few clues. The global ecology is shifting. The oceans are dying. The planet is getting hotter and drier, and its storms increasingly volatile.

Amidst this changing climate is evidence of a failed approach to economic development in the Global South. Globally, the poor are becoming poorer. Inequality reigns as the global economy shrinks. This …

The Conflict Between Forum-Selection Clauses And State Consumer Protection Laws: Why Illinois Got It Right In Jane Doe V. Match.Com, Marty Gould

Chicago-Kent Law Review

To what extent can companies “contract out” of state consumer protection statutes through the use of choice of law and forum selection clauses in standard form adhesion contracts? The only court in Illinois to rule on the issue, a state court case dealing with Match.com, held that the Illinois Dating Referral Services Act (IDRSA) voids forum-selection clauses contrary to stated Illinois public policy, as declared by Illinois statutes. Outside of Illinois, however, federal courts have held that the exact same Match.com forum-selection clause was valid and enforceable despite being in direct conflict with similar statutes in other states. These cases …

A Quantum Congress, Jorge R. Roig

Chicago-Kent Law Review

This article tries to address the problem of a corrupt and broken electoral system that has been captured by special interests through big money spending in political campaigns, while at the same time preserving the spirit of the Free Speech Clause of our Constitution. In doing so, this article first reviews and summarizes the different alternatives proposed as potential fixes for the campaign finance problem. It then explains why none of the proposed alternatives can accomplish the dual goals set out above. Finally, the article briefly sketches a proposal for a fundamental reworking of our representative democracy by substituting legislative …

Habeas Data: Comparative Constitutional Interventions From Latin America Against Neoliberal States Of Insecurity And Surveillance, Marc Tizoc Gonzalez

Chicago-Kent Law Review

To cultivate the next twenty years of LatCrit theory, praxis, and community, the afterword looks back to LatCrit’s Critical Global Classroom (2003–04) (CGC), an ABA-accredited summer study-abroad program. The CGC invited U.S. law students to study comparative constitutionalism, law and society, and truth and reconciliation movements while sojourning Chile, Argentina, and South Africa under the question: “Shall the recent history of the Global South become the imminent fate of the Global North?” While enrolled in the 2004 CGC, the author learned about the extraordinary constitutional writ of habeas data, which various Latin American countries adopted as they reconstituted their …

More Than A Piece Of Paper: Same-Sex Parents And Their Adopted Children Are Entitled To Equal Protection In The Realm Of Birth Certificates, Shohreh Davoodi

Chicago-Kent Law Review

In Adar v. Smith, the Fifth Circuit held that Louisiana’s policy of refusing to issue accurate birth certificates to the children of out-of-state, same-sex adoptive parents does not deny those families equal protection of the law. This comment demonstrates that Louisiana’s policy does in fact violate the Equal Protection Clause. There are two ways Louisiana’s policy infringes on the rights of these families. First, the policy burdens fundamental rights stemming from the family autonomy of both parents and children. Second, the policy discriminates against out-of-state same-sex parents, treating them like second-class citizens. These concerns are strong enough that the …

The Scramble To Promote Egg Donation Through A More Protective Regulatory Regime, Jacob Radecki

Chicago-Kent Law Review

Egg “donation” is a burgeoning industry in the United States. Fertility clinics capitalize on financially needy college students by advertising substantial financial benefits; particularly gifted women may receive thousands of dollars for selling their eggs. Rosy advertisements portray a well-paying procedure that also helps bring a child to a loving parent. Yet these descriptions mask significant potential harms. With respect to known problems, hormone regimens may cause ovarian hyper-stimulation syndrome, which in the most severe cases can lead to infertility. In terms of unknown risks, anecdotal evidence suggests that the long-term side effects of egg extraction may include cancer. The …