Law Commons^™

Databases Lie! Successfully Managing Structured Data, The Oft-Overlooked Esi, Conrad Jacoby, Jim Vint, Michael Simon

Richmond Journal of Law & Technology

Legal professionals regularly advise clients to ensure that the storage, retention, and accessibility of their Electronically-Stored Information (“ESI”) is in full compliance with all legal and regulatory requirements in the event this information becomes relevant in civil, criminal, or regulatory disputes. However, what many practitioners may not realize is that the ESI that clients are required to produce for e- discovery includes both “unstructured” and “structured” data. Searching and producing only one of these types of ESI may well not fully satisfy a client’s full discovery obligations. Even worse, it might not present a full understanding of the factual issues …

E-Discovery As Quantum Law: Clash Of Cultures-What The Future Portends, Michael Yager

Richmond Journal of Law & Technology

Early in the twentieth century, the phenomenon that is the “quantum” stormed the fortress of classical physics, causing Albert Einstein, one of science's greatest thinkers, to opine, “[i]t was as if the ground had been pulled out from under one, with no firm foundation to be seen anywhere, upon which one could have built.” The theoretical laws associated with looking at reality on the quantum level violently collided with those related to looking at the same reality on the macro level. The application of quantum theory to the mathematically pure and proven classical laws of physics introduced a cultural clash …

Social Media Evidence In Government Investigations And Criminal Proceedings: A Frontier Of New Legal Issues, Justin P. Murphy, Adrian Fontecilla

Richmond Journal of Law & Technology

As the newest pillar of communication in today’s society, social media is revolutionizing how the world does business, discovers and shares news, and instantly engages with friends and family. Not surprisingly, because social media factors into the majority of cases in some respect, this exploding medium significantly affects government investigations and criminal litigation. Social media evidence includes, among other things, photographs, status updates, a person’s location at a certain time, and direct communications to or from a defendant’s social media account. This Article will examine the importance of social media in government investigations and criminal litigation, including access to and …

Snapchat And Sexting: A Snapshot Of Baring Your Bare Essentials, Nicole A. Poltash

Richmond Journal of Law & Technology

The usurpation of personal pictures posted on social media websites is not uncommon.

Cover Letter, Benjamin R. Fox

Richmond Journal of Law & Technology

The Richmond Journal of Law and Technology is proud to present its first issue of the 2013-2014 academic year. First published in 1995, JOLT is the world’s first exclusively online law review. JOLT strives to discuss new and emerging issues that fall squarely at the intersection of technology and the law. Today, with the publication of Issue One of its Twentieth Volume, JOLT aims to continue this tradition by providing relevant, insightful, and well-written articles that will drive discussion on these topics.

Roadblocks To Remedies: Recently Developed Barriers To Relief For Aliens Injured By U.S. Officials, Contrary To The Founders' Intent, Gwynne L. Skinner

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Taking Note: On Copyrighting Students’ Lecture Notes, Matthew M. Pagett

Richmond Journal of Law & Technology

An essential element of individual property is the legal right to exclude others from enjoying it. If the property is private, the right of exclusion may be absolute; if the property is affected with a public interest, the right of exclusion is qualified. But the fact that a product of the mind has cost its producer money and labor, and has a value for which others are willing to pay, is not sufficient to ensure to it this legal attribute of property. The general rule of law is, that the noblest of human productions— knowledge, truths ascertained, conceptions, and ideas— …

Exposing Latent Patent Infringement, Bryan Blumenkopf

Richmond Journal of Law & Technology

Consider the following canonical patent infringement scenario. A

[1] plaintiff owns a patent with one or more claims to the patent’s underlying technology. Under 35 U.S.C. § 271(a), this plaintiff has the rights to manufacture, sell, use, or import the technology delineated by those claims.1 The defendant manufactures, sells, uses, or imports what appears to be the same technology. Because the claim language is not entirely clear, a judge construes the exact meaning of the claims in a preliminary hearing.2 Assuming that the patent is upheld as valid, a jury then determines whether the defendant’s device meets the limitations of …

Local Rules, Standing Orders, And Model Protocols: Where The Rubber Meets The (E-Discovery) Road, Thomas Y. Allman

Richmond Journal of Law & Technology

[District Courts], impatient with the failure of the national system to solve pressing, indeed urgent, procedural problems, utilize local rules in an effort to shape pragmatic solutions . . . . [as] one route to procedural change.

Information Governance: It’S A Duty And It’S Smart Business, Charles R. Ragan

Richmond Journal of Law & Technology

A scant generation ago (twenty-five years), the World Wide Web—“an internet-based hypermedia initiative for global information sharing” —was largely a laboratory phenomenon. In 1994, the Clinton Administration urged world leaders to develop a global information superhighway, and the Information Age raced upon us. Now, Facebook has more than one billion accounts and most of us are constantly deluged by volumes of electronic information through e-mail, texts, social media, the Internet, cable systems, and others.

No Implied Effect: The ‘Safe’ Fcc Cell Phone Radiation Standard And Tort Immunity By Implied Conflict Preemption, Sean M. Sherman

Richmond Journal of Law & Technology

Cell phones emit low-level radiation. Constantly.

Not-So-Open Access To Legal Scholarship: Balancing Stakeholder Interests With Copyright Principles, Christopher J. Ryan Jr.

Richmond Journal of Law & Technology

Last February, John P. Holdren, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, issued a new policy designed to increase open access to federally-financed research. The memorandum, covering federal agencies with annual expenditures in excess of $100 million for scientific research and development, requires, inter alia, that: (1) agencies develop “clear and coordinated policies” to make federally- funded studies freely available to the public within one year of publication, and (2) researchers account for and manage the digital data resulting from federally-funded scientific research. In addition, the policy requires data from publicly-funded research to be stored for …

When Tigers Bare Teeth: A Qualitative Study Of University Patent Enforcement, Jacob H. Rooksby

Law Faculty Publications

The pursuit of patents is a key avenue of economic development and revenue generation for American research universities, and one with significant policy implications for higher education. In a time of shifting funding models for higher education, the $1.8 billion dollars American universities generated in revenues in 2011 from licensing their patents makes patenting an attractive candidate for further university attention and resource investment. Spurred in part by the Bayh-Dole Act of 1980, research universities across the country have created vast institutional  apparatuses—typically centered in technology transfer offices (“TTOs”)—to help move ideas invented in the laboratory and classroom into commercial …

Myriad Choices: University Patents Under The Sun, Jacob H. Rooksby

Law Faculty Publications

How universities handle potentially patentable discoveries made by their faculty reflects important policy decision that affect the greater public. While few research administrators in higher education would dispute that any university-owned patent should be used for society's benefit, the relationship between patents and the public good may be less apparent to those whose primary familiarity with patents stems from recent news reports of "patent trolls" and billion-dollar battles in the smartphone industry. ...

Passive-Aggressive Executive Power, Corinna Barrett Lain

Law Faculty Publications

My contribution to the 2013 Constitutional Law Schmooze poses a question about the downside of executive power, at least in the enforcement context. If executive power to enforce the law presupposes the duty to use it, what happens when the executive branch would rather not? Perhaps reframing the question will help. What do the death penalty, driving violations, drugs, deportation, and the Defense of Marriage Act (“DOMA”) have in common, besides the letter “d”? The answer is passive-aggressive executive power, and in the brief discussion that follows, I use these five factual contexts to illustrate five variations of what I …

In Defense Of Implied Injunctive Relief In Constitutional Cases, John F. Preis

Law Faculty Publications

If Congress has neither authorized nor prohibited a suit to enforce the Constitution, may the federal courts create one nonetheless? At present, the answer mostly turns on the form of relief sought: if the plaintiff seeks damages, the Supreme Court will normally refuse relief unless Congress has specifically authorized it; in contrast, if the plaintiff seeks an injunction, the Court will refuse relief only if Congress has specifically barred it. These contradictory approaches naturally invite arguments for reform. Two common arguments-one based on the historical relationship between law and equity and the other based on separation of powers principles--could quite …

Filing Status And Today's Families, Erik Baines

Law Student Publications

Section I of this comment considers the early income tax code, its focus on individual filing, and how early decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States led Congress to adopt optional joint filing for married couples. Section II analyzes the joint return, tax norms, and arguments of proponents and opponents of the joint return. Section III analyzes structural issues raised by a return to an individual filing system, as well as why an individual filing system is superior to a joint filing system given the changes in American society. It also discusses a proposal to resolve an inequity …

Keeping The “Free” In Teacher Speech Rights: Protecting Teachers And Their Use Of Social Media To Communicate With Students Beyond The Schoolhouse Gates, Mark Schroeder

Richmond Journal of Law & Technology

Debate is raging within many school districts around the country about public school teachers’ interactions with their students outside of school through social media sites, such as Facebook and MySpace.

Issue 2: Table Of Contents

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Leasing Sovereignty: On State Infrastructure Contracts, Matthew Titolo

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Amending The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act: Should The Bribery Act 2010 By A Guideline?, Michael Peterson

Richmond Journal of Global Law & Business

No abstract provided.

Issuing New Shares And Preemptive Rights: A Comparative Analysis, Marco Ventoruzzo

Richmond Journal of Global Law & Business

No abstract provided.

The Rule Of Law, Constitutional Reform, And The Death Penalty In The Gambia, Andrew Novak

Richmond Journal of Global Law & Business

No abstract provided.

"Ice" Capades: Restitution Orders And The Fcpa, Shane Frick

Richmond Journal of Global Law & Business

No abstract provided.

Eminent Domain: The Solution To The Foreclosure Crisis Or Overstepping Government Boundaries, Anne T. T. Jensen

Richmond Journal of Global Law & Business

No abstract provided.

Back To The Bad Old Days: President Putin's Hold On Free Speech In The Russian Federation, Rebecca Favret

Richmond Journal of Global Law & Business

No abstract provided.

A Tale Of Two Taxes: A Comparative Examination Of The Individual Income Tax In The United States And The People's Republic Of China, Steven J. Arsenault

Richmond Journal of Global Law & Business

No abstract provided.

Legal Stability Contracts In Colombia: An Appropriate Incentive For Investments? Historical Causes And Impact Analysis Of Law 963 To 2005, Alvaro Pereira

Richmond Journal of Global Law & Business

Current global economic order is openly dependent on foreign direct investment (FDI). At least since the 1990’s, developing countries have competed to attract FDI because it is considered the best source of technology, employment, and financial resources. Colombian Law 963 of 2005, which is a response to said competition, allows the signature of Legal Stability Contracts (LSCs) between the State and investors for the purpose of stabilizing the rules guiding investment decisions, for up to 20 years. Legal stabilization has successfully proven to increase FDI inflows. Nevertheless, incentives for FDI have been subject to several critiques that stress the excess …

International Covergence On The Need For Third Parties To Become Internet Copyright Police (But Why?), Dennis S. Karjala

Richmond Journal of Global Law & Business

No abstract provided.

[Introduction To] The Navajo Political Experience, David E. Wilkins

Bookshelf

Native nations, like the Navajo nation, have proven to be remarkably adept at retaining and exercising ever-increasing amounts of self-determination even when faced with powerful external constraints and limited resources. Now in this fourth edition of David E. Wilkins' The Navajo Political Experience, political developments of the last decade are discussed and analyzed comprehensively, and with as much accessibility as thoroughness and detail. The Diné people and their governing leaders have recently experienced a host of events that dramatically affected the shape of the nation—a plethora of effective grassroots organizations that had a profound impact on the structure of …