Law Commons^™

Developments In The Jurisprudence On The Use Of Experts, Marilyn L. Huff

Washington Journal of Law, Technology & Arts

No abstract provided.

Tuning The Obviousness Inquiry After Ksr, Mark D. Janis

Washington Journal of Law, Technology & Arts

One of the most important and delicate judicial tasks in patent law is to keep the obviousness doctrine in reasonable working order. There are several reasons why the obviousness doctrine has been the subject of frequent judicial tinkering. First, patentability doctrines interact with each other, so doctrinal alterations that seem to be entirely external to the obviousness doctrine frequently have ripple effects on obviousness. The interaction between the utility and obviousness doctrines provides one good example. Second, the obviousness doctrine is internally complex. Cases in the chemical and biotechnology areas over the past several decades have amply illustrated this point. …

Chief Judge Rader's Contribution To Comparative Patent Law, Toshiko Takenaka

Washington Journal of Law, Technology & Arts

Chief Judge Rader influences patent jurisprudence in other nations through his interaction with judges and lawyers from these jurisdictions. He also uses the comparative method to gain insights from experiences in these jurisdictions to improve U.S. patent jurisprudence. This Article discusses opinions authored by Chief Judge Rader from the comparative law perspective. It discusses his influence on European and Japanese patent jurisprudence in the three areas: the (I) patent eligibility, (II) nonobviousness, and (III) enablement-written description requirements. Judge Rader likewise used his knowledge of foreign jurisprudence to interpret U.S. patent statutes and to develop doctrines in these areas.

Celebrating Contributions Of Chief Judge Rader To Patent Infringement Jurisprudence, Katherine E. White

Washington Journal of Law, Technology & Arts

Chief Judge Rader’s judicial opinions contribute significantly to patent infringement jurisprudence. He writes from a teacher’s perspective, providing context and a clear lens through which legal issues may be examined. His deep reverence for the rule of law pervades his opinions, as he injects a cadre of principles governing his approach. Each opinion builds a foundation made of consistency and clarity in upholding the fundamental purposes underlying the patent grant.

Influencing The Evolving Ip System And Law Of China Through International Outreach, Esther H. Lim

Washington Journal of Law, Technology & Arts

No individual U.S. judge has influenced the evolving IP system and law of China through international outreach more than Chief Judge Rader of the Federal Circuit. Through tireless efforts, he has made an indelible footprint in the history of Chinese IP law as a judge, a professor, and an author. Chief Judge Rader has garnered rock-star status in China through dedication and commitment to contribute to, and to be a part of, China’s IP system and law. He has secured a legendary standing and will be long remembered by the Chinese IP community as an ambassador of IP and judicial …

Efforts To Establish Clear Standards For Exhaustion In Japan, Kaoru Kuroda, Eiji Katayama

Washington Journal of Law, Technology & Arts

The Honorable Chief Judge Rader has often emphasized the importance of establishing clear standards in the field of patent law. Similarly, Japanese courts in this field seem to make an effort to present a clear rule in their holdings. Patent exhaustion theory is one of the fields where a clear and concrete standard by the courts is especially needed. This Article explains several clear standards held by Japanese courts regarding this issue. It then discusses a problem raised by establishing clear standards by courts in a civil law country like Japan and also presents the Japanese Government’s efforts to ensure …

They Saw A Protest: Cognitive Illiberalism And The Speech-Conduct Distinction, Dan M. Kahan, David A. Hoffman, Donald Braman, Danieli Evans, Jeffrey J. Rachlinski, Jeffrey J. Rachlinski, Jeffrey J. Rachlinski, Jeffrey J. Rachlinski

Articles

“Cultural cognition” refers to the unconscious influence of individuals’ group commitments on their perceptions of legally consequential facts. We conducted an experiment to assess the impact of cultural cognition on perceptions of facts relevant to distinguishing constitutionally protected “speech” from unprotected “conduct.” Study subjects viewed a video of a political demonstration. Half the subjects believed that the demonstrators were protesting abortion outside of an abortion clinic, and the other half that the demonstrators were protesting the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy outside a campus recruitment facility. Subjects of opposing cultural outlooks who were assigned to the same experimental condition …

Graham On The Ground, Cara H. Drinan

Washington Law Review

In Graham v. Florida, the U.S. Supreme Court held that it is unconstitutional to sentence a non-homicide juvenile offender to life in prison without parole. While states need not guarantee release to these juvenile offenders, they cannot foreclose such an outcome at the sentencing phase. Scholars have identified several long-term ramifications of Graham, including its likely influence on juvenile sentencing practices and on retributive justice theory. As yet unexamined, though, are the important and thorny legal questions that Graham raises for state judges and lawmakers in the very short term. To whom does the Graham decision apply? What …

Discernable Differences: A Survey Of Civil Jury Demands, M. Michelle Dunning

Washington Law Review

Under Washington State’s historic default rules, the civil jury consisted of twelve persons unless both parties expressly consented to a “less number.” The Washington Legislature reversed this presumption in 1972. Washington’s civil jury now consists of six persons, unless one of the parties files a specific demand for twelve. It appears, however, that litigants have refused to embrace this change; a survey of 2883 civil jury demands filed in King County Superior Court in 2009 to 2010 demonstrates that litigants overwhelmingly prefer twelve-member juries. This paper presents this survey’s results and explores what they might mean, positing seven considerations that …

High-Tech Harassment: Employer Liability Under Title Vii For Employee Social Media Misconduct, Jeremy Gelms

Washington Law Review

Workplace harassment has traditionally occurred within the “four walls” of the workplace. In Faragher v. City of Boca Raton and Burlington Industries, Inc. v. Ellerth the U.S. Supreme Court recognized that employers are liable under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act for harassment that is sufficiently severe or pervasive to alter the employee’s work environment. The rise in social media, however, has created a new medium through which harassment occurs. Courts are just beginning to confront the issue of if and when to consider social media harassment as part of the totality of the circumstances of a Title …

Independence For Washington State's Privileges And Immunities Clause, P. Andrew Rorholm Zellers

Washington Law Review

Article I, section 12 of the Washington State Constitution prohibits special privileges and immunities. It provides: “No law shall be passed granting to any citizen, class of citizens, or corporation other than municipal, privileges or immunities which upon the same terms shall not equally belong to all citizens, or corporations.” Since the 1940s, the Washington State Supreme Court has analogized article I, section 12 to the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. As a result, it has treated claims under article I, section 12 and the Equal Protection Clause as a single inquiry and applied …

Separation Of Religion And State In Japan: A Pragmatic Interpretation Of Articles 20 And 89 Of The Japanese Constitution, Andrew B. Van Winkle

Washington International Law Journal

Article 20 of Japan’s Constitution establishes freedom of religion. To protect this freedom, the provisions of Articles 20 and 89 separate religion from the state to prevent the return of State Shintō. Despite this separation, the Japanese Supreme Court has consistently upheld instances where state entities interact with religious groups. These decisions have raised the ire of numerous academics and legal professionals in and out of Japan who believe that Japan’s constitutional separation requires absolute separation, or at least something more stringent than the Supreme Court has been willing to find. Although this comment rejects the approach taken by the …

Why Land Tenure Reform Is The Key To Political Stability In Tonga, Kersti Harter Kennedy

Washington International Law Journal

The Kingdom of Tonga, a South Pacific country, erupted in violent pro-democracy riots in late 2006 after decades of political unease. Tonga’s people are divided into two main classes: the nobles and the commoners. These two classes have long differed in political and land rights in a hierarchy that is typical of chiefdoms such as Tonga. Tonga’s government has attempted to deal with the sometimes violent, commoner-led pro-democracy movement by amending its Constitution to allow commoners to vote for more of the members of the Legislative Assembly. The resulting government and the noblemen have not, however, shown a commitment to …

Panopticism For Police: Structural Reform Bargaining And Police Regulation By Data-Driven Surveillance, Mary D. Fan

Washington Law Review

Spurred by civil rights investigations, police departments across the nation, including in Washington State, are engaging in structural reform bargaining and collaborative design of institutional reforms. Often before any complaint is filed in court or a judge makes any findings of unconstitutionality, police—and the groups threatening to sue the police—are cooperating to fashion remedies for the biggest concerns that have shadowed the law of criminal procedure, such as excessive force and the disproportionate targeting of people of color. Prominent scholars have expressed concern over settlement of civil rights suits outside the arena of the courtroom and without legal clarification. This …

Recalibrating Constitutional Innocence Protection, Robert J. Smith

Washington Law Review

This Article examines the constitutional nature of the right of a prisoner to receive post-conviction relief based solely on the claim that he is innocent. Part I explores innocence protection as an animating value of constitutional criminal procedure (Part I.A) and describes how developments in the way that crimes are investigated, proved, and reexamined have dislodged the trial from its place at the center of the constitutional criminal procedure universe (Part I.B). Part II explores how realigning the importance of innocence protection with the practical realities of our criminal justice system would impact the regulation of post-conviction procedures. It also …

The Brave New World Of Lawyers In Japan Revisited: Proceedings Of A Panel Discussion On The Japanese Legal Profession After The 2008 Financial Crisis And The 2011 Tōhuku Earthquake, Bruce E. Aronson

Washington International Law Journal

In the United States, the 2008 financial crisis had a serious impact on a legal profession that had been growing strongly for three decades, highlighting fundamental issues concerning the business and educational models of both law firms and law schools. This raises the interesting question of how Japan, with its much shorter history of large law firms and professional law schools, has been affected by the 2008 financial crisis and the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear reactor crisis. At a recent conference sponsored by the University of Washington School of Law and the law firm of Perkins Coie, a …

Preliminary Report On Race And Washington's Criminal Justice System, Research Working Group, Task Force On Race And The Criminal Justice System

Washington Law Review

We are pleased to present the Preliminary Report on Race and Washington’s Criminal Justice System, authored by the Research Working Group of the Task Force on Race and the Criminal Justice System. The Research Working Group’s mandate was to investigate disproportionalities in the criminal justice system and, where disproportionalities existed, to investigate possible causes. This factbased inquiry was designed to serve as a basis for making recommendations for changes to promote fairness, reduce disparity, ensure legitimate public safety objectives, and instill public confidence in our criminal justice system. The Task Force came into being after a group of us …

Driving Dangerously: Vehicle Flight And The Armed Career Criminal Act After Sykes V. United States, Isham M. Reavis

Washington Law Review

The Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA), a federal “three-strikes” recidivist statute, applies a mandatory enhancement to sentences of criminal defendants previously convicted of three qualifying predicate crimes. In Sykes v. United States the U.S. Supreme Court held that a conviction for fleeing police by car counted as a predicate under ACCA’s residual provision for crimes that “otherwise involve conduct that presents a serious potential risk of physical injury to another.” ACCA’s residual provision has produced a confusing series of U.S. Supreme Court decisions, each applying a different method for determining its scope. Though Sykes borrows methods from each of these …

Malaysia's World Trade Organization Challenge To The European Union's Renewable Energy Directive: An Economic Analysis, Michael W. Meredity

Washington International Law Journal

Recent negotiations between Malaysia and the European Union (“EU”), aimed at establishing a free trade agreement, have come to a standstill, due in part to a policy implemented by the EU known as the Renewable Energy Directive. The Renewable Energy Directive grants a tax credit to renewable fuel sources that emit at least 35% less greenhouse gas than traditional fossil fuels. Malaysian officials have criticized the 35% level included in the EU policy because it grants a tax credit to rapeseed oil biofuel, produced mainly in Europe (which emits 38% less greenhouse gas than traditional fossil fuels), but does not …

A Battle Between Law And Society In Micronesia: An Example Of Originalism Gone Awry, Brian Z. Tamanaha

Washington International Law Journal

Two conceptions of the relationship between law and society appear to compete: the idea that law mirrors society and the notion that a gap exists between law and society. Both ideas have some truth—law is an imperfect mirror of society. For various reasons, law and society can fall out of sync or even come into conflict. The 1975 Constitutional Convention, which led to the formation of the Federated States of Micronesia (“FSM”), marked the beginning of a battle between that society and its legal institutions. The Constitution’s framers strove to preserve traditional Micronesian culture by ensuring it a respected place …

U.S. International Tax Reform: What Form Should It Take?, Jeffrey M. Kadet

Articles

This article focuses solely on the big picture issue of whether international tax reform should take the form of a territorial system or an alternative full inclusion system. Of course, it is also necessary to compare these possible new systems with the current hybrid deferral system that has been in place for many years.

With little if any explanation of how it might be better for our nation and society as a whole, many persons and commentators whose companies or clients stand to benefit have called for a territorial system. Such persons have included CEOs, members of the professional tax …

Territorial W&M Discussion Draft: Change Required, Jeffrey M. Kadet

Articles

The House Ways & Means Committee Discussion Draft proposes a territorial taxation system for the United States. This article published in Tax Notes on 23 January 2012 was taken from the author's comments on the Discussion Draft as submitted to the Committee in conjunction with a hearing held on 17 November 2011. See full comments at http://ssrn.com/abstract=1997482. The full comments include many additional issues not covered in this article.

The Discussion Draft importantly includes a dividend-received deduction of 95% instead of 100% as a mechanism to disallow expenses that are attributable to exempt foreign earnings. This mechanism causes the receipt …

The Training, Appointment, And Supervision Of Islamic Lawyers In The Federal Territories Of Malaysia, Amanda Whiting

Washington International Law Journal

Although much has been written about the place of Islam, as law and as religion, in Malaysia, considerably less attention has been paid to Islamic lawyers (“peguam syarie”). This article undertakes a preliminary examination of a topic that demands closer scrutiny, relying chiefly upon parliamentary acts, state enactments and the rules made pursuant to them, as well as in-depth oral history interviews with Islamic and secular lawyers that were recorded from May through August 2010. It describes the training and practice of Islamic lawyers in one jurisdiction of the federation of Malaysia—the Federal Territories of Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya …

The Training, Appointment, And Supervision Of Islamic Judges In Singapore, Muhammad Haniff Hassan, Sharifah Thuraiya Su'ad Ahmad Alhadshi

Washington International Law Journal

Syariah court judges and the decisions they make clearly have an effect on the interpretation and application of Islamic law in contemporary Muslim societies, and the educational background of those who staff these courts obviously informs the way they understand, interpret, and apply the law. To date, however, little research has been done on the educational processes by which Islamic court judges are trained to think about Islamic law. Likewise, the means by which Islamic court judges are appointed and regulated has received little scholarly attention. This article offers a descriptive overview of the training, work, and professional regulation of …

Sources Of Law, Sources Of Authority: The Failure Of The Philippines' Code Of Muslim Personal Laws, Gregory M. Chiarella

Washington International Law Journal

The Code of Muslim Personal Laws of the Philippines (“CMPL”) was established in 1977 as part of an effort to quell longstanding violence between Christians and Muslims in the predominantly Christian country. This codification of Islamic laws in the areas of marriage, divorce, and inheritance provided for a system of Shari‛a courts that would operate within the larger framework of the legal system of the Philippines. Three and a half decades later, the CMPL has had little effect. The Shari‛a courts are understaffed and underutilized, accounting for less than 0.1% of the caseload in the Philippines. The CMPL is plagued …

The Training, Appointment, And Supervision Of Islamic Lawyers In Indonesia, Ratno Lukito

Washington International Law Journal

Lawyers who practice before Islamic courts play a crucial role in framing and presenting the issues for decision and in mediating between the courts that apply Islamic law and the public who have recourse to the state’s official Islamic legal institutions, but research on the professional training and governance of these lawyers is almost entirely lacking at present. This article offers a descriptive overview of the training, work, and professional regulation of Islamic lawyers in contemporary Indonesia. This material is presented in a clear format, structured to highlight key aspects of how these lawyers are trained, accredited, and organized. In …

The Training, Appointment, And Supervision Of Islamic Judges In Malaysia, Najibah M. Zin

Washington International Law Journal

Shari‛a court judges and the decisions they make clearly have an effect on the interpretation and application of Islamic law in contemporary Muslim societies, and the educational background of those who staff these courts obviously informs the way they understand, interpret, and apply the law. To date, however, little research has been done on the educational processes by which judges who serve on Islamic courts are trained to think about Islamic law. Likewise, the means by which Islamic court judges are appointed and regulated has received little scholarly attention. This article offers a descriptive overview of the training, work, and …

The Islamic Legal System In Singapore, Ahmad Nizam Bin Abbas

Washington International Law Journal

In a country that is staunchly secular, it would appear to be an anomaly that the Muslim minority are free to practice their personal law when it comes to marriage, divorce, and to a certain extent inheritance. This article seeks to provide a general overview of the introduction and applicability of Muslim law in Singapore, from the colonial administration of the British to the contemporary period. The article also examines the infrastructure developed for implementing the Muslim law in Singapore and explores conflicts in jurisdiction between the country’s Syariah Court and the civil courts. Written from the perspective of a …

The Training, Appointment, And Supervision Of Islamic Lawyers In Singapore, Nik Hasyila Bte Nik Ibrahim

Washington International Law Journal

This article provides a snapshot of the administration of Muslim law as practiced in Singapore through the prism of the legal profession. In particular, it provides a brief background on the role of the legal profession in the administration of justice at the Syariah Court of Singapore. While it is beyond the scope of this paper to urge for institutional and legal reform, the paper nonetheless highlights the absence of a dedicated and specialized training program that can aid lawyers to be familiar with Muslim law and jurisprudence and provide better representation to their clients at the Syariah Court.

Regulatory Moratoria, Kathryn A. Watts

Articles

Despite significant scholarly attention given to tools that the political branches use to exert control over the administrative state, one emerging tool has gone largely unnoticed: regulatory moratoria. Regulatory moratoria, which stem from legislative or executive action, aim to freeze rulemaking activity for a period of time.

As this Article demonstrates, regulatory moratoria have worked their way into the political toolbox at both the federal and state levels. For example, at least fifteen federal bills proposing generalized regulatory moratoria were introduced in the first session of the 112th Congress, and from 2008 to 2011 alone, no fewer than nine states …