Law Commons^™

Copyright's Illogical Exclusion Of Conceptual Art That Changes Over Time, Zahr K. Said

Articles

This Essay argues that copyright illogically excludes conceptual art from protection on the basis of fixation, given that well-settled case law has interpreted the fixation requirement to reach works that contain certain kinds of change so long as they are sufficiently repetitive to be deemed permanent. While conceptual art may perhaps be better left outside the scope of copyright protection on the basis of its failure to meet copyright’s other requirements, this Essay concludes that fixation should not be the basis on which to exclude conceptual art from protection.

There are of course both normative and descriptive questions around the …

Patented Electric Guitar Pickups And The Creation Of Modern Music Genres, Sean M. O'Connor

Articles

This Essay provides an overview of how patents played a core role in developing world-changing musical genres. This may be surprising, as normally copyright law is associated with incentivizing advances in the creative arts. But as this Conference’s theme [The IP Platform: Supporting Invention and Inspiration] and presentations emphasize, the whole range of intellectual property (“IP”), especially when viewed as a platform, supports innovation across the spectrum of human ingenuity and creativity.

This Essay is also intended to be read in conjunction with a viewing of the live-music demonstration of how pickups transformed popular music, delivered at the Conference and …

The Risks Of Clouded Property Title For Cannabis Business Owners, Investors, And Creditors, Sean M. O'Connor, Jason Liu

Articles

This Article provides a brief primer on the surprising range of assets that the Controlled Substances Act forfeiture provisions govern for the state-legal cannabis businesses. It outlines these provisions for tangible as well as intangible property, with an emphasis on risks to state-legal cannabis businesses’ intellectual property and issued securities.

We argue that these forfeiture risks create clouded title for all subject tangible and intangible property—not only for the state-legal businesses and their proprietors, but also for those businesses’ outside investors, creditors, and suppliers/contractors.

The Revival Of Climate Change Science In U.S. Courts, William H. Rodgers, Jr., Andrea K. Rodgers

Articles

Science never has been the obstacle to the recognition of climate change. Since Arhennius did his original calculations in 1896, the scientific world was quite aware of the prospect that industrial-age levels of carbon dioxide pollution would result in increasing global temperatures and acidification of the world’s oceans. The brilliant—and striking—graphical display that we know today as the Keeling Curve started in 1957, and year after year it records the relentless upward march of these atmospheric pollutant loadings.

Through the years, necessarily, a vast number of scientific warnings, publications, findings, and predictions would be offered to the public at large, …

Commentaries On The Model Rules Of Professional Conduct, Thomas Andrews, Karen Boxx

Books

This Fifth Edition of the ACTEC Commentaries continues the tradition of providing guidance on the Model Rules of Professional Conduct particular to estate and trust practitioners. The Fifth Edition update to the Commentaries takes account of amendments to the Model Rules adopted since the 2005 Fourth Edition, including those proposed by the American Bar Association Commission on Ethics 20/20 as adopted by the ABA in 2012 and 2013. It is current through August 31, 2015 as there have been no amendments to the Model Rules since 2013.

In addition to these updates, we have added Commentary and Annotations to four …

Interpretation Of The Supreme People's Court On Several Issues Concerning The Application Of "Administrative Ligitation Law Of The People's Republic Of China", Benjamin Minhao Chen, Zhiyu Li

Washington International Law Journal

For the proper application of the “Administrative Litigation Law of the People’s Republic of China” amended at the 11th session of the Standing Committee of the Twelfth National People's Congress, in consideration of the actual circumstances of the people’s courts, the interpretation on the application of the relevant provisions is hereby issued as follows:

Managing Boundary Management: A Reply To Professor Kaminski, Ryan Calo

Washington Law Review Online

This piece is a response to Margot Kaminski, https://digitalcommons.law.uw.edu/wlr/vol90/iss3/3/">Regulating Real-World Surveillance, 90 Wash. L. Rev. 1113 (2015).

Jail (E)Mail: Free Speech Implications Of Granting Inmates Access To Electronic Messaging Services, Brennen J. Johnson

Washington Journal of Law, Technology & Arts

The First Amendment protects not only our right to share ideas, but also to some extent, our right to choose the specific method by which we share them. Generally speaking, these protections apply to inmates’ rights to communicate with those outside of prison. However, the protection of those rights must be balanced with the penological interests of prisons and jails. Electronic messaging has now become a standard form of communication within most American homes and businesses. Accordingly, the Federal Bureau of Prisons has implemented the TRULINCS program, a program which allows inmates to communicate with those outside of prison through …

Much Ado About Transformativeness: The Seventh Circuit And Market-Centered Fair Use, Aaron B. Wicker

Washington Journal of Law, Technology & Arts

In Kienitz v. Sconnie Nation LLC, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit ultimately rejected the concept of transformative use having a central role within the doctrine of fair use. In doing so, the Seventh Circuit broke with judicial precedent, namely the Supreme Court’s holding in Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc., where the Court unanimously held that the inquiry for the first factor of fair use is whether, and to what extent, the work is transformative. The Seventh Circuit’s 2014 decision raises questions about the scope of the holding in Campbell and about whether this holding …

Justice Robert Utter, The Supreme Court Of Washington, And The New Judicial Federalism: Judging And Teaching?, Robert F. Williams

Washington Law Review Online

This is an expanded version of a talk given at a conference in Seattle, Washington organized by Professor Hugh Spitzer, an accomplished state constitutional law scholar, to honor the contributions of Justice Robert Utter to the field of state constitutional law, both in Washington State and the nation.

The Once And Future Promise Of Access To Justice In Washington's Article I, Section 10, Debra Stephens

Washington Law Review Online

This Essay is part of the Symposium on State Constitutional Law in Honor of the late Washington State Supreme Court Justice Robert F. Utter that was held on October 23, 2015.

End Of The Parallel Between Patent Law's § 284 Willfullness And § 285 Exceptional Case Analysis, Don Zhe Nan Wang

Washington Journal of Law, Technology & Arts

Patent law’s “willful infringement” analysis under 35 U.S.C. § 284 and the “exceptional case” analysis under 35 U.S.C. § 285 are largely considered parallel, and essentially identical. In 2014, the Supreme Court of the United States drastically changed the standards for the § 285 exceptional case analysis in its Octane Fitness, LLC v. ICON Health & Fitness, Inc. and Highmark Inc. v. Allcare Health Management System, Inc. decisions. This prompted two federal circuit judges to call for similar changes to the § 284 willful infringement analysis. On October 19, 2015, the Supreme Court granted certiorari to review whether such a …

Data, Data, Data, Mary Whisner

Librarians' Articles

The legal profession often requires extensive data for everything from simple statistical questions to large-scale empirical research projects. Ms. Whisner discusses some of her favorite sources for finding and evaluating statistics.

On Specialized Legal Research, Mary Whisner

Librarians' Articles

Ms. Whisner describes what specialized legal research is and how students are initially exposed to the various topics that fall within the category, including taxation, intellectual property, and health law. She then provides strategies for learning about specific bibliographic sources and about the specialized vocabulary used to perform the necessary research.

Augmented Reality: A Technology And Policy Primer, Ryan Calo, Tamara Denning, Batya Friedman, Tadayoshi Kohno, Lassana Magassa, Emily Mcreynolds, Bryce Clayton Newell, Jesse Woo

Tech Policy Lab

The vision for AR dates back at least until the 1960s with the work of Ivan Sutherland. In a way, AR represents a natural evolution of information communication technology. Our phones, cars, and other devices are increasingly reactive to the world around us. But AR also represents a serious departure from the way people have perceived data for most of human history: a Neolithic cave painting or book operates like a laptop insofar as each presents information to the user in a way that is external to her and separate from her present reality. By contrast, AR begins to collapse …

Judicial Wisdom Or Patent Envy? The Eleventh, Seventh And Federal Circuits’ Patent Jurisdictional Battle, Xuan-Thao Nguyen

Articles

This article observes a startling new appellate jurisdictional battle waged by regional circuit courts to chip away the Federal Circuit's exclusive jurisdiction in patent cases. The Eleventh Circuit took an unprecedented step by engaging in patent claim construction and infringement under literal infringement analysis and the doctrine of equivalents analysis. In a case of first impression, the Eleventh Circuit asserted that it legitimately has appellate jurisdiction to decide cases involving substantive patent law. Instead of grabbing jurisdiction, the Seventh Circuit, through its Chief Judge, grabbed public attention by advocating for the abolishment of the Federal Circuit's exclusive jurisdiction over patent …

"The More Things Change . . .": New Moves For Legitimizing Racial Discrimination In A "Post-Race" World, Mario L. Barnes

Articles

No abstract provided.

Privacy, Public Disclosure, Police Body Cameras: Policy Splits, Mary D. Fan

Articles

When you call the police for help—or someone calls the police on you—do you bear the risk that your worst moments will be posted on YouTube for public viewing? Police officers enter some of the most intimate incidences of our lives—after an assault, when we are drunk and disorderly, when someone we love dies in an accident, when we are distraught, enraged, fighting, and more. As police officers around the nation begin wearing body cameras in response to calls for greater transparency, communities are wrestling with how to balance privacy with public disclosure.

This Article sheds light on the balances …

Regulating Unicorns: Disclosure And The New Private Economy, Jennifer S. Fan

Articles

“Unicorns” are private companies with valuations of a billion dollars or more. As their name indicates, unicorns were originally so rare as to be almost mythical. But Uber and other technology companies have ushered in a new era: we now have a blessing of unicorns, each one of which has the potential to transform financial and cultural norms.

Yet from a legal perspective, these behemoths are regulated just like their much smaller, non-mythical counterparts. Unicorns’ dizzying valuations have not been matched with any expansion or recalibration of regulation. As a result, vital information about these companies remains secret, perhaps for …

Actic Law & Policy Year In Review: 2015, Craig H. Allen, Bridgette J. Cooper, Adam Murray

Articles

A review of significant legal developments affecting the Arctic, including treaties and other international agreements; actions by the U.S. Congress, President, and other federal agencies; developments from the European Union and ten foreign countries; and several international organizations. Also addressed are themes including arctic marine shipping; indigneous residents; marine resources; military activities; polar icebreakers; pollution prevention, response, and liability; and scientific research.

The Secession Of The Successful: The Rise Of Amazon As Private Global Consumer Protection Regulator, Jane K. Winn

Articles

In 2005, the Americans for Fair Electronic Commerce Transactions (“AFFECT”) coalition issued a list of 12 principles it hoped would contribute to a new consensus about what constitutes fairness in online consumer transactions. A decade later, a cursory review of different jurisdictions indicates that, while there has been little discernable progress in the direction of the principles in the United States, other jurisdictions such as the European Union have made more progress.

However, the one jurisdiction in the world that comes closest to implementing all 12 principles across the full spectrum of consumer transactions is not a government at all, …

Until The Client Speaks: Reviving The Legal-Interest Model For Preverbal Children, Lisa Kelly, Alicia Levezu

Articles

This article seeks to revive and develop further the concept of legalinterest advocacy, which was first introduced by the American Bar Association in 1996. This overlooked model offers a workable alternative to both the best-interest and substituted-judgment representation models for preverbal clients. Through legal-interest advocacy, attorneys for preverbal children are charged with ensuring that the many rights given to infants are enforced, while withdrawing from attorneys the ability to impose their values on the child client. This article outlines how legal-interest advocacy representation can ensure that a child's legal rights are protected and preserved until the child client can speak …

Why Law Matters, Kellye Y. Testy

Articles

Presidential address given at the Association of American Law Schools annual meeting, Jan. 9, 2016.

Changing Course: Revisiting Instream Flow Rulemaking In Washington State Following Swinomish V. Ecology, Haylee J. Hurst

Washington Law Review

Since the adoption of Washington’s Water Resources Act in 1971, legal recognition of instream water uses to preserve fish, wildlife, and other environmental values have become firmly entrenched in Washington water law. By establishing “instream flow rules,” rules that require a certain amount of water to be left in streams before water may be withdrawn for any new uses, the Washington State Department of Ecology (Ecology) must protect the environment while also managing water to achieve “maximum net benefits” for the people of Washington State. Ecology may only allow new withdrawals of water that will impair established instream flows if …

Digital Border Searches After Riley V. California, Thomas Mann Miller

Washington Law Review

The federal government claims that the Fourth Amendment permits it to search digital information on cell phones, laptops, and other electronic devices at the international border without suspicion of criminal activity, much less a warrant. Until recently, federal courts have generally permitted these digital border searches, treating them no differently from searches of luggage. Courts that have limited digital border searches have required only that the government establish reasonable suspicion for the most exhaustive kind of digital search. The Supreme Court has not yet weighed in, but last year it held in Riley v. California that the search incident to …

Energy-Environment Policy Alignments, Todd S. Aagaarad

Washington Law Review

Energy law focuses on making energy widely available at reasonable cost, and environmental law focuses on preventing pollution. As a result of these differences in their respective orientations, the two fields often work incoherently and even in conflict. Historically, federal energy law and environmental law have attempted to manage their interrelationships by imposing negative constraints on each other: Energy policies of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) must comply with requirements set forth in environmental statutes, and the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) statutes contain energy-related requirements and exemptions. More recently, however, FERC and EPA have begun developing policies that create …

Dealing With Ocean Acidification: The Problem, The Clean Water Act, And State And Regional Approaches, Robin Kundis Craig

Washington Law Review

Ocean acidification is often referred to as climate change’s “evil twin.” As the global ocean continually absorbs much of the anthropogenic carbon dioxide produced through the burning of fossil fuels, its pH is dropping, causing a plethora of chemical, biological, and ecological impacts. These impacts immediately threaten local and regional fisheries and marine aquaculture; over the long term, they pose the risk of a global mass extinction event. As with climate change itself, the ultimate solution to ocean acidification is a worldwide reduction in carbon dioxide emissions. In the interim, however, environmental groups such as the Center for Biological Diversity …

The Unwilling Donor, Jennifer Mueller

Washington Law Review

For nearly forty years, the Supreme Court has evaluated campaign finance restrictions by weighing the First Amendment burden they place on a donor eager to engage the political process against the government’s interest in avoiding corruption of that process. Most recently, in McCutcheon v. FEC, the Court struck down aggregate contribution limits, allowing donors to give—and candidates and parties to solicit—millions of dollars directly to candidates, parties, and political action committees. Yet what should have been a significant victory for big donors was greeted with dismay by many of the same. There is growing evidence that the story we …

Coping With Uncertainty: Cost-Benefit Analysis, The Precautionary Principle, And Climate Change, Daniel A. Farber

Washington Law Review

Climate scientists are confident that greenhouse gases are causing climate change, but it is difficult to predict the severity of future climate change or its local impacts. Unfortunately, we cannot wait for these uncertainties to be resolved before addressing the issue of climate change. Policymakers use two different strategies for setting climate policy in the face of this uncertainty: cost-benefit analysis and the precautionary principle. Although there has been much discussion of these strategies in the abstract, there has been less effort to assess them in operation. This Article analyzes these strategies and considers their application to climate risks in …

"Underdog" Arbitration: A Plan For Transparency, Ramona L. Lampley

Washington Law Review

The use of mandatory, pre-dispute arbitration clauses in consumer, employment, health-care, and even nursing home agreements is ever-increasing, even though the general public has distrust and a lack of understanding of the nature of arbitration. The Supreme Court in AT&T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion, and then in American Express Co. v. Italian Colors Restaurant, has signaled firmly that mandatory pre-dispute arbitration is here to stay. This is true even for individual low-value claims in which one party, say the consumer or employee, has little or no bargaining power. I call these claims “underdog claims.” There have been numerous …