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Articles 1 - 30 of 63
Full-Text Articles in Law
Illuminating Regulatory Guidance, Cary Coglianese
Illuminating Regulatory Guidance, Cary Coglianese
Michigan Journal of Environmental & Administrative Law
Administrative agencies issue many guidance documents each year in an effort to provide clarity and direction to the public about important programs, policies, and rules. But these guidance documents are only helpful to the public if they can be readily found by those who they will benefit. Unfortunately, too many agency guidance documents are inaccessible, reaching the point where some observers even worry that guidance has become a form of regulatory “dark matter.” This article identifies a series of measures for agencies to take to bring their guidance documents better into the light. It begins by explaining why, unlike the …
The Lottery Docket, Daniel Epps, William Ortman
The Lottery Docket, Daniel Epps, William Ortman
Michigan Law Review
We propose supplementing the Supreme Court’s caseload with a “lottery docket” of cases selected at random from final judgments of the circuit courts. The Court currently possesses almost unfettered authority to set its own agenda through its certiorari jurisdiction. By rule and custom, the Court exercises that discretion by selecting cases that it sees as important, in a narrow sense of that term. The Court’s free hand in agenda setting has obvious benefits, but it has drawbacks as well. It deprives the Court of critical information about how the law operates in ordinary cases. It signals to circuit courts that …
Automating Threat Sharing: How Companies Can Best Ensure Liability Protection When Sharing Cyber Threat Information With Other Companies Or Organizations, Ari Schwartz, Sejal C. Shah, Matthew H. Mackenzie, Sheena Thomas, Tara Sugiyama Potashnik, Bri Law
Automating Threat Sharing: How Companies Can Best Ensure Liability Protection When Sharing Cyber Threat Information With Other Companies Or Organizations, Ari Schwartz, Sejal C. Shah, Matthew H. Mackenzie, Sheena Thomas, Tara Sugiyama Potashnik, Bri Law
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
This Article takes an in-depth look at the evolution of cybersecurity information sharing legislation, leading to the recent passage of the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA) and offers insights into how automated information sharing mechanisms and associated requirements implemented pursuant to CISA can be leveraged to help ensure liability protections when engaging in cyber threat information sharing with and amongst other non-federal government entities.
Privacy Almighty? The Cjeu's Judgment In Google Spain Sl V. Aepd, David J. Stute
Privacy Almighty? The Cjeu's Judgment In Google Spain Sl V. Aepd, David J. Stute
Michigan Journal of International Law
The Internet has matured into an unprecedented repository of data, retrievable through myriad unique “links,” or Uniform Resource Locators. Yet, this wealth of information only became broadly accessible through the invention and continual development of algorithm-based search engines. Keyword searches empowered search-engine users to find—and sometimes stumble upon—information with great ease. Indeed, search-engine indices arguably have become the most comprehensive catalogues of information the world has ever seen. This wealth of accessible information poses challenges to traditional notions of privacy: aspects of our private and public lives, which previously would have rarely left the vicinities of our immediate social or …
Forcing Patent Claims, Tun-Jen Chiang
Forcing Patent Claims, Tun-Jen Chiang
Michigan Law Review
An enormous literature has criticized patent claims for being ambiguous. In this Article, I explain that this literature misunderstands the real problem: the fundamental concern is not that patent claims are ambiguous but that they are drafted by patentees with self-serving incentives to write claims in an overbroad manner. No one has asked why the patent system gives self-interested patentees the leading role in delineating the scope of their own patents. This Article makes two contributions to the literature. First, it explicitly frames the problem with patent claims as one of patentee self-interest rather than the intrinsic ambiguity of claim …
The Tools Of Political Dissent: A First Amendment Guide To Gun Registries, Thomas E. Kadri
The Tools Of Political Dissent: A First Amendment Guide To Gun Registries, Thomas E. Kadri
Michigan Law Review First Impressions
On December 23, 2012, a newspaper in upstate New York published a provocative map. On it appeared the names and addresses of thousands of gun owners in nearby counties, all precisely pinpointed for the world to browse. The source of this information: publicly available data drawn from the state’s gun registry. Legislators were quick to respond. Within a month, a new law offered gun owners the chance to permanently remove their identities from the registry with a simple call to their county clerk. The map raised interesting questions about broadcasting personal information, but a more fundamental question remains: Are these …
Responding To Independent Juror Research In The Internet Age: Positive Rules, Negative Rules, And Outside Mechanisms, Robbie Manhas
Responding To Independent Juror Research In The Internet Age: Positive Rules, Negative Rules, And Outside Mechanisms, Robbie Manhas
Michigan Law Review
Independent juror research is an old problem for jury trials. It invites potentially prejudicial, irrelevant, and inaccurate information to guide jury decisionmaking. At the same time, independent juror research compromises our adversarial system by preventing parties from responding to all the evidence under consideration and obfuscating the record on which the jury’s decision is made. These threats have only increased in the internet age, where inappropriate sources of information are ubiquitous and where improper access is hard to detect. Nevertheless, courts and parties continue to engage in the same inhibitory measures they have employed for decades. This Note argues for …
Tollbooths And Newsstands On The Information Superhighway, Brad A. Greenberg
Tollbooths And Newsstands On The Information Superhighway, Brad A. Greenberg
Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review
Countering the perception that speech limitations affecting distribution necessarily reduce access to information, this Essay proffers that copyright expansions actually can increase access and thereby serve important copyright and First Amendment values. In doing so, this discussion contributes to the growing literature and two recent Supreme Court opinions discussing whether copyright law and First Amendment interests can coexist.
Fracking Patents: The Emergence Of Patents As Information-Containment Tools In Shale Drilling, Daniel R. Cahoy, Joel Gehman, Zhen Lei
Fracking Patents: The Emergence Of Patents As Information-Containment Tools In Shale Drilling, Daniel R. Cahoy, Joel Gehman, Zhen Lei
Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review
The advantages of new sources of energy must be weighed against environmental, health, and safety concerns related to new production technology. The rapid development of unconventional oil and gas fields, such as the Barnett and Marcellus Shales, provide an excellent context for these contrasting goals. Information about extraction hazards is an extremely important issue. In general, patents are viewed as a positive force in this regard, providing a vehicle for disseminating information in exchange for a limited property right over an invention. However, by limiting the evaluation of an invention by third parties, patents might also be used to control …
Surrender And Subordination: Birth Mothers And Adoption Law Reform, Elizabeth J. Samuels
Surrender And Subordination: Birth Mothers And Adoption Law Reform, Elizabeth J. Samuels
Michigan Journal of Gender & Law
For more than thirty years, adoption law reform advocates have been seeking to restore for adult adoptees the right to access their original birth certificates, a right that was lost in all but two states between the late 1930s and 1990. The advocates have faced strong opposition and have succeeded only in recent years and only in eight states. Among the most vigorous advocates for access are birth mothers who surrendered their children during a time it was believed that adoption would relieve unmarried women of shame and restore them to a respectable life. The birth mother advocates say that …
A New Prescription To Balance Secrecy And Disclosure In Drug-Approval Processes, Gerrit M. Beckhaus
A New Prescription To Balance Secrecy And Disclosure In Drug-Approval Processes, Gerrit M. Beckhaus
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
To obtain approval to market a drug, a manufacturer must disclose significant amounts of research data to the government agency that oversees the approval process. The data often include information that could help advance scientific progress, and are therefore of great value. But current laws in both the United States and Europe give secrecy great weight. This Article proposes an obligatory sealed-bid auction of the sensitive information based on the experience with similar auctions in mergers and acquisitions, to balance manufacturers' interest in secrecy and the public interest in disclosure.
Property As Control: The Case Of Information, Jane B. Baron
Property As Control: The Case Of Information, Jane B. Baron
Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review
If heath policy makers' wishes come true, by the end of the current decade the paper charts in which most of our medical information is currently recorded will be replaced by networked electronic health records ("EHRs").[...] Like all computerized records, networked EHRs are difficult to secure, and the information in EHRs is both particularly sensitive and particularly valuable for commercial purposes. Sadly, the existing federal statute meant to address this problem, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 ("HIPAA"), is probably inadequate to the task.[...] Health law, privacy, and intellectual property scholars have all suggested that the river …
A Global Panopticon - The Changing Role Of International Organizations In The Information Age, Jennifer Shkabatur
A Global Panopticon - The Changing Role Of International Organizations In The Information Age, Jennifer Shkabatur
Michigan Journal of International Law
The outbreaks of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in 2002-2003 and Swine Flu (H1N1) in 2009 captured a great deal of global attention. The swift spread of these diseases wreaked havoc, generated public hysteria, disrupted global trade and travel, and inflicted severe economic losses to countries, corporations, and individuals. Although affected states were required to report to the World Health Organization (WHO) events that may have constituted a public health emergency, many failed to do so. The WHO and the rest of the international community were therefore desperate for accurate, up-to-date information as to the nature of the pandemics, their …
Protecting Anonymous Expression: The Internet's Role In Washington State's Disclosure Laws And The Direct Democracy Process, Karen Cullinane
Protecting Anonymous Expression: The Internet's Role In Washington State's Disclosure Laws And The Direct Democracy Process, Karen Cullinane
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
This Note proposes that the Washington State Legislature amend its Public Records Act to exempt from public disclosure personal information legally required to be disclosed by signers of referendum petitions. This Note also proposes that the Washington State Legislature designate an electronic system, to be detailed in its election law, by which referendum petitions can be checked for fraud without violating the right to anonymous expression protected by the First Amendment. Part I describes Washington State's referendum process and the path of Doe v. Reed, the case animating the reform presented in this Note. Part II illustrates how the rise …
Databases And Dynamism, Michal Shur-Ofry
Databases And Dynamism, Michal Shur-Ofry
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
Databases are generally perceived in legal scholarship as static warehouses, storing up valuable facts and information. Accordingly, scholarship on copyright protection of databases typically concentrates on the social need to access their content. This Article seeks to shift the focus of the debate, arguing that the copyrightdatabases debate is not merely a static "access to information" story. Instead, it is a dynamic story of relations, hierarchies, and interactions between pieces of information, determined by database creators. It is also a story of patterns, categories, selections, and taxonomies that are often invisible to the naked eye, but that influence our perceptions …
The People's Trade Secrets, David S. Levine
The People's Trade Secrets, David S. Levine
Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review
The content of administered public school exams, modifications made by a government to its voting machines, and the business strategies of government corporations should be of interest to the public. At a minimum, they are the kinds of information that a government should allow its citizens to see and examine. After all, the public might have some legitimate questions for its government: Is that public school examination fair and accurate? Is that voting machine working so that my vote gets counted? To whom or what is that government agency marketing and are kickbacks involved? One would think that the government …
There Is A Time To Keep Silent And A Time To Speak, The Hard Part Is Knowing Which Is Which: Striking The Balance Between Privacy Protection And The Flow Of Health Care Information, Daniel J. Gilman, James C. Cooper
There Is A Time To Keep Silent And A Time To Speak, The Hard Part Is Knowing Which Is Which: Striking The Balance Between Privacy Protection And The Flow Of Health Care Information, Daniel J. Gilman, James C. Cooper
Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review
Health information technology (HIT) has become a signal element of federal health policy, especially as the recently enacted American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act or ARRA) comprises numerous provisions related to HIT and commits tens of billions of dollars to its development and adoption. These provisions charge various agencies of the federal government with both general and specific HIT-related implementation tasks including, inter alia, providing funding for HIT in various contexts: the implementation of interoperable HIT, HIT-related infrastructure, and HIT-related training and research. The Recovery Act also contains various regulatory provisions pertaining to HIT. Provisions of the …
It Is Time: Why The Fda Should Start Disclosing Drug Trial Data, Mustafa Ünlü
It Is Time: Why The Fda Should Start Disclosing Drug Trial Data, Mustafa Ünlü
Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review
Although [drug] manufacturers bear the cost of research data generation, it is oftentimes a worthwhile investment that also confers significant commercial advantages. Consequently, they have argued that research data should be considered a trade secret and kept confidential. The FDA's longstanding position has been to accept this proposition. Even when Congress appeared to mandate disclosure or weaken the underlying rationale for secrecy, the FDA has continued to treat research data as confidential. A strong argument against a default posture of confidentiality is that research data disclosure would promote broad public interests by eliminating the societal costs brought about by keeping …
New Pleading, New Discovery, Scott Dodson
New Pleading, New Discovery, Scott Dodson
Michigan Law Review
Pleading in federal court has a new narrative. The old narrative was one of notice, with the goal of broad access to the civil justice system. New Pleading, after the landmark Supreme Court cases of Twombly and Iqbal, is focused on factual sufficiency, with the purpose of screening out meritless cases that otherwise might impose discovery costs on defendants. The problem with New Pleading is that factual insufficiency often is a poor proxy for meritlessness. Some plaintifs lack sufficient factual knowledge of the elements of their claims not because the claims lack merit but because the information they need is …
Corporate Cooperation Through Cost-Sharing, Nicola Faith Sharpe
Corporate Cooperation Through Cost-Sharing, Nicola Faith Sharpe
Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review
Applying a game-theoretic approach based on the classic prisoners' dilemma provides valuable insights into corporate managers' decision-making incentives under existing discovery rules. It demonstrates that the fee structure imposed by current discovery rules leads to inefficiency and motivates corporate litigants on either side of a controversy to employ abusive discovery practices, although each party would benefit from cooperation. Using this framework, this Article shows how a cost-sharing regime can motivate litigants to engage in cooperative discovery and, as a consequence, facilitate more efficient and less abusive discovery practices. To date, scholars, who have posited that cooperative behavior in the discovery …
Fcc Jurisdiction Over Isps In Protocol-Specific Bandwidth Throttling, Andrew Gioia
Fcc Jurisdiction Over Isps In Protocol-Specific Bandwidth Throttling, Andrew Gioia
Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review
Over the past decade, the Internet has matured from its dial-up infancy into the nation's dominant communications infrastructure. Such rapid growth and accessibility--while fostering free speech and innovation like nothing before--has nonetheless created complex regulatory and policy questions for both the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the cable companies providing the nation's broadband Internet access. For instance, Comcast, one such Internet provider, has recently brought to the fore the question of how, and to what extent, the FCC can ensure an open and accessible Internet through the company's recent actions in selectively targeting and interfering with the connections of certain …
The E.U. Leniency Program And U.S. Civil Discovery Rules: A Fraternal Fight?, Roberto Grasso
The E.U. Leniency Program And U.S. Civil Discovery Rules: A Fraternal Fight?, Roberto Grasso
Michigan Journal of International Law
This Note provides a European perspective on the issues raised by In re Rubber Chemicals Antitrust Litigation (Rubber Chemicals), and expresses concern regarding the inconsistent approach taken by U.S. courts to the discoverability of the Leniency submissions. This Note also warns that this inconsistency may have a chilling effect on participation in the E.U. Leniency Program and may thus impede enforcement of European anti-cartel law.
Access To Information, Access To Justice: The Role Of Presuit Investigatory Discovery, Lonny Sheinkopf Hoffman
Access To Information, Access To Justice: The Role Of Presuit Investigatory Discovery, Lonny Sheinkopf Hoffman
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
What is the relationship between access to information and access to justice? Private parties obviously have many publicly available points of access to the information they seek in order to file a lawsuit. Lawyers can talk to their clients and other willing witnesses. Documents can be gathered. Specific statutes may sometimes permit information to be obtained before a formal lawsuit is brought. On other occasions, however, information needed or desired will lie solely within the exclusive knowledge and control of another The ability of private parties to compel the production of information, documents, or testimony before litigation rarely has been …
Constitutional Etiquette And The Fate Of "Supreme Court Tv", Bruce Peabody
Constitutional Etiquette And The Fate Of "Supreme Court Tv", Bruce Peabody
Michigan Law Review First Impressions
In traditional media outlets, on the Internet, and throughout the halls of Congress, debate about whether the Supreme Court should be required to televise its public proceedings is becoming more audible and focused. To date, these discussions have included such topics as the potential effects of broadcasting the Court, the constitutionality of Senator Arlen Specter’s current congressional initiative, S. 344, and how the public would use or abuse televised sessions of our highest tribunal.
The Right Legislation For The Wrong Reasons, Tony Mauro
The Right Legislation For The Wrong Reasons, Tony Mauro
Michigan Law Review First Impressions
Senator Arlen Specter took a bold and long-overdue step on January 22, 2007, when he introduced legislation that would require the Supreme Court to allow television coverage of its proceedings. But instead of making his case with a straightforward appeal to the public’s right to know, Specter has introduced arguments in favor of his bill that seem destined to antagonize the Court, drive it into the shadows, or both. Chances of passage might improve if Specter adjusts his tactics.
Justice, And Only Justice, You Shall Pursue: Network Neutrality, The First Amendment And John Rawls's Theory Of Justice, Amit M. Schejter, Moran Yemini
Justice, And Only Justice, You Shall Pursue: Network Neutrality, The First Amendment And John Rawls's Theory Of Justice, Amit M. Schejter, Moran Yemini
Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review
As broadband becomes the public's technology of choice to access the Internet, it is also emerging as the battlefield upon which the struggle for control of the Internet is being fought. Operators who provide physical access to the service claim the right to discriminate among the content providers who use the infrastructure in which the operators have invested. In contrast, content providers warn that exercising such a policy would "undermine the principles that have made the Internet such a success."[...] For academic observers, analysis of this issue has thus far been confined to the areas of property law, innovation, and …
Fair Use And The Digital Millennium Copyright Act, Thomas J. Loos
Fair Use And The Digital Millennium Copyright Act, Thomas J. Loos
Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review
In the last decade of the 20th Century, more than 200 years after the first Copyright Act of 1790, the rights of copyright owners have increased relative to those of the public. The Visual Artists Rights Act of 1990 provided a limited right to visual artists to control their work; even after sold, limiting first use rights. The first copyright act had a 28 year term; in 1998, the term of copyright was increased to the life of the author plus 70 years. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) of 1998 dramatically shrank the fair use rights provided under 17 …
Granting Certiorari To Video Recording But Not To Televising, Scott C. Wilcox
Granting Certiorari To Video Recording But Not To Televising, Scott C. Wilcox
Michigan Law Review First Impressions
Cameras are an understandable yet inapt target for Supreme Court Justices apprehensive about televising the high Court’s proceedings. Notwithstanding Justice Souter’s declaration to a congressional subcommittee in 1996 that cameras will have to roll over his dead body to enter the Court, the Justices’ public statements suggest that their objections are to televising—not to cameras. In fact, welcoming cameras to video record Court proceedings for archival purposes will serve the Justices’ interests well. Video recording can forestall legislation recently introduced in both houses of Congress that would require the Court to televise its proceedings. The Court’s desired result—the legislation disappearing …
Trends In Protection For Informational Works Under Copyright Law During The 19th And 20th Centuries, Miriam Bitton
Trends In Protection For Informational Works Under Copyright Law During The 19th And 20th Centuries, Miriam Bitton
Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review
The debate over databases protection has failed to identify and discuss some of its most basic and preliminary assumptions, accepting instead many of the historical aspects involved as given. This Article therefore seeks to challenge these underlying assumptions by providing a fresh look at the historical dimension of the debate. One common argument regarding database protection is that the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Feist v. Rural Publications Inc. brought about a dramatic change in the legal landscape, displacing the then-accepted "sweat of the brow" rationale for protecting rights in databases. This Article's historical analysis therefore thoroughly examines the treatment …
To Surf And Protect: The Children's Internet Protection Act Policies Material Harmful To Minors And A Whole Lot More, Michael B. Cassidy
To Surf And Protect: The Children's Internet Protection Act Policies Material Harmful To Minors And A Whole Lot More, Michael B. Cassidy
Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review
This Note will examine the constitutional issues raised by installing Internet filtering software in public libraries. Part I explores the First Amendment, the standard of review for restricting Internet material, and the government's role in protecting minors and regulating speech. Part II discusses library patrons' First Amendment rights in public libraries. Part III provides the statutory framework of the E-rate and LSTA programs, as well as the Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA). Part IV examines the effectiveness of current Internet filtering technology and provides the American Library Association's policies on Internet filtering in public libraries. Part V discusses the district …