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Full-Text Articles in Law

Media Subpoenas: Impact, Perception, And Legal Protection In The Changing World Of American Journalism, Ronnell Andersen Jones Aug 2009

Media Subpoenas: Impact, Perception, And Legal Protection In The Changing World Of American Journalism, Ronnell Andersen Jones

Washington Law Review

Forty years ago, at a time when the media were experiencing enormous professional change and a surge of subpoena activity, First Amendment scholar Vincent Blasi investigated the perceptions of members of the press and the impact of subpoenas within American newsrooms in a study that quickly came to be regarded as a watershed in media law. That empirical information is now a full generation old, and American journalism faces a new critical moment. The traditional press once again finds itself facing a surge of subpoenas and once again finds itself at a time of intense change—albeit on a different trajectory—as …

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The Cost Of Doing Business: Corporate Vicarious Criminal Liability For The Negligent Discharge Of Oil Under The Clean Water Act, Katherine A. Swanson Aug 2009

The Cost Of Doing Business: Corporate Vicarious Criminal Liability For The Negligent Discharge Of Oil Under The Clean Water Act, Katherine A. Swanson

Washington Law Review

In response to massive oil spills that damaged America’s waters, devastated local economies, killed wildlife, and cost taxpayers millions in clean-up costs, Congress passed the Oil Pollution Act of 1990. The Act amended the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to allow for criminal prosecution of negligent oil discharges. This Comment argues that although the plain language of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act’s negligent discharge provision is silent regarding corporate vicarious criminal liability, courts should give full effect to Congress’s intent—to protect the health and safety of the public and the environment and to stop corporations from accepting oils spills …

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Electronic Money And The Law: Legal Realities And Future Challenges, Nobuhiko Sugiura, Jean J. Luyat Aug 2009

Electronic Money And The Law: Legal Realities And Future Challenges, Nobuhiko Sugiura, Jean J. Luyat

Washington International Law Journal

The following is a translation of Electronic Money and the Law: Legal Realities and Future Challenges, an essay written by Professor Nobuhiko Sugiura in the August 1, 2008 issue of the Japanese periodical Jurisuto. Stored-value cards are growing rapidly in urban areas in Japan, to a degree where they are beginning to challenge cash as a primary method of payment. In this article, Professor Sugiura outlines the growth of stored-value cards, how stored-value cards should be defined, legal structures that currently regulate stored-value cards, and how growth and technological development are likely to affect that legal structure. As Japan’s takes …

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Australia's Heritage Protection Act: An Alternative To Copyright In The Struggle To Protect Communal Interests In Authored Works Of Folklore, Jake Phillips Aug 2009

Australia's Heritage Protection Act: An Alternative To Copyright In The Struggle To Protect Communal Interests In Authored Works Of Folklore, Jake Phillips

Washington International Law Journal

Australian indigenous communities are vulnerable to communal harm inflicted by the unauthorized, derogatory use of their works of folklore. Such works are often considered sacred to indigenous communities and are granted significant protection under customary law. However, under many circumstances, the 1968 Copyright Act, the Australian law governing authored works, fails to protect works of indigenous folklore. While an amendment to the Copyright Act appears a likely next step in Australia’s efforts to recognize a community’s interest in communal works of folklore, Australia’s Heritage Protection Act represents a more appropriate and efficient vehicle for addressing unique communal interests in these …

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Reaching Back To Move Forward: Using Adverse Possession To Resolve Land Conflicts In Timor-Leste, Charlotte C. Williams Aug 2009

Reaching Back To Move Forward: Using Adverse Possession To Resolve Land Conflicts In Timor-Leste, Charlotte C. Williams

Washington International Law Journal

Like many post-conflict countries, Timor-Leste grapples with land conflicts that resulted from successive waves of property dispossession. Colonized by the Portuguese, invaded and occupied by the Indonesians, and briefly administered by the United Nations, Timor-Leste’s history has produced disjointed patterns of land tenure. These land tenure systems have given rise to five separate categories of land claimants, each of whom often have conflicting interests in property. While the newly independent country has taken steps to resolve conflicting land claims through legislation, existing law does not address the longstanding tensions underlying these conflicts, making it difficult for the courts to reach …

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A Tale Of Regulation In The European Union And Japan: Does Characterizing The Business Of Stored-Value Cards As A Financial Activity Impact Its Development?, Jean J. Luyat Aug 2009

A Tale Of Regulation In The European Union And Japan: Does Characterizing The Business Of Stored-Value Cards As A Financial Activity Impact Its Development?, Jean J. Luyat

Washington International Law Journal

The use of stored-value cards is growing rapidly in urban areas in Japan and gaining acceptance as a major means of payment. While institutional and cultural factors as well as business strategies go far in explaining the rapid growth of stored-value cards in Japan, regulation has also played an important role in enabling their use. In Japan, the regulation of stored-value cards has been mostly left to the Prepaid Card Law, which provides a comparatively simple regulatory framework with flexible capital requirements. The European Union (“EU”) and France provide a compelling counter-example to Japan; the EU has pursued a different …

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Depoliticizing Judicial Review Of Agency Rulemaking, Scott A. Keller Aug 2009

Depoliticizing Judicial Review Of Agency Rulemaking, Scott A. Keller

Washington Law Review

Administrative law doctrines for reviewing agency rulemaking, such as the Supreme Court’s dicta in Motor Vehicle Manufacturers Ass’n v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. and the D.C. Circuit’s hard look doctrine, give judges significant discretion to invalidate agency rules. Many commentators recognize that this discretion politicizes judicial review of agency rulemaking, as judges appointed by a president of one political party are more likely to invalidate agency rules promulgated under the presidential administration of a different political party. Unelected judges, though, should not be able to use indeterminate administrative law doctrines to invalidate agency rules on the basis …

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Urbanites Versus Rural Rights: Contest Of Local Government Land-Use Regulations Under Washington Preemption Statute 82.02.020, Donya Williamson Aug 2009

Urbanites Versus Rural Rights: Contest Of Local Government Land-Use Regulations Under Washington Preemption Statute 82.02.020, Donya Williamson

Washington Law Review

In Citizens’ Alliance for Property Rights v. Sims, the Court of Appeals of Washington held that King County clearing and grading regulations—recently enacted pursuant to the Washington State Growth Management Act—constitute an unlawful “tax, fee, or charge” on the development of land, thereby violating a Washington excise tax preemption statute. The court ruled that the clearing limitations do not qualify under the statutory exception for mitigation of development impacts since they are not calculated on a site-by-site basis. This Note argues that the ruling greatly expands the scope of this statutory limitation on local land-use regulation, compromises Growth Management …

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Ninth Circuit V. Board Of Immigration Appeals: Defining "Sexual Abuse Of A Minor" After Estrada-Espinoza V. Mukasey, Enoka Herat Aug 2009

Ninth Circuit V. Board Of Immigration Appeals: Defining "Sexual Abuse Of A Minor" After Estrada-Espinoza V. Mukasey, Enoka Herat

Washington Law Review

Under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), lawful permanent residents are rendered removable if they commit an “aggravated felony” at any time after they are admitted into the United States. Significant interpretive issues arise in determining whether a non-citizen’s state-based criminal conviction meets the INA’s definition of an aggravated felony. One aggravated felony enumerated in the INA is “sexual abuse of a minor.” The Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) has interpreted the phrase using a broad federal definition as a guide. In Estrada-Espinoza v. Mukasey, however, the Ninth Circuit declined to defer to the BIA’s interpretation because the BIA’s …

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Getting Property Right: "Informal" Mortgages In The Japanese Courts, Frank G. Bennette Jr. Aug 2009

Getting Property Right: "Informal" Mortgages In The Japanese Courts, Frank G. Bennette Jr.

Washington International Law Journal

In Japan’s civil law property system, courts recognize a form of extra-statutory security, the jōto tanpo or “title-transfer security interest,” that is created by conveying legal title to the creditor, with a promise to restore it to the debtor upon repayment. Although best known today as a means to providing security in movables, jōto tanpo was originally an alternative means of mortgaging real estate, and this latter use of the interest is the subject of this Article. The two early attractions of the jōto tanpo interest to creditors were 1) the ability to avoid inefficient procedures for the enforcement of …

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The Federal Circuit's Licensing Law Jurisprudence: Its Nature And Influence, Robert W. Gomulkiewicz May 2009

The Federal Circuit's Licensing Law Jurisprudence: Its Nature And Influence, Robert W. Gomulkiewicz

Washington Law Review

The Federal Circuit serves as the central appellate court for U.S. patent law appeals. Outside of patent law, scholars have noted the Federal Circuit’s distinct lack of influence on the law. Thus, unnoticed, the Federal Circuit has become one of the most influential actors in the creation of intellectual property licensing law. Its influence reaches across all areas of intellectual property, industries, and all federal circuits and state courts. But the Federal Circuit’s influence on licensing law is more than just a matter of academic interest: licensing is critical to innovation in the information economy. Licenses underlie the creation and …

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Balancing Interests Under Washington's Statute Governing The Admissibility Of Extraneous Sex-Offense Evidence, Blythe Chandler May 2009

Balancing Interests Under Washington's Statute Governing The Admissibility Of Extraneous Sex-Offense Evidence, Blythe Chandler

Washington Law Review

American courts traditionally exclude evidence that a defendant has committed crimes other than the crime with which the defendant is charged. This rule, with exceptions, is codified as Federal Rule of Evidence 404(b) and Washington Evidence Rule 404(b). However, courts and legislatures have increasingly adopted the view that evidence of other sex offenses should be admissible in sex-offense prosecutions. The Washington State Legislature recently adopted a statute, RCW 10.58.090, which governs the admissibility of evidence of other sex offenses. This Comment argues that Washington courts should use precedent applying Rule 404(b) as a guide in applying robust Rule 403 balancing …

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Code, Crash, And Open Source: The Outsourcing Of Financial Regulation To Risk Models And The Global Financial Crisis, Erik F. Gerding May 2009

Code, Crash, And Open Source: The Outsourcing Of Financial Regulation To Risk Models And The Global Financial Crisis, Erik F. Gerding

Washington Law Review

The widespread use of computer-based risk models in the financial industry during the last two decades enabled the marketing of more complex financial products to consumers, the growth of securitization and derivatives, and the development of sophisticated risk-management strategies by financial institutions. Over this same period, regulators increasingly delegated or outsourced vast responsibility for regulating risk in both consumer finance and financial markets to these privately owned industry models. Proprietary risk models of financial institutions thus came to serve as a “new financial code” that regulated transfers of risk among consumers, financial institutions, and investors. The spectacular failure of financial-industry …

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Preempting State E-Verify Regulations: A Case Study Of Arizona's Improper Legislation In The Field Of "Immigration-Related Employment Practices", Rachel Feller May 2009

Preempting State E-Verify Regulations: A Case Study Of Arizona's Improper Legislation In The Field Of "Immigration-Related Employment Practices", Rachel Feller

Washington Law Review

In 1996, Congress established E-Verify, a program that allows employers to confirm the employment eligibility of new hires by using a federal electronic database. Although the federal government makes the program voluntary for employers, some states and municipalities have enacted legislation requiring the program’s use to prevent the employment of undocumented workers. Some of these state laws have been challenged in federal court on the grounds that they are preempted by federal law, particularly the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA). Courts have divided on this issue. This Comment explains the boundaries of preemption in the context of …

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Willful Infringement After Seagate: How The Willfulness Standard Has Changed And What Attorneys Should Know About It, Kevin Raudebaugh Apr 2009

Willful Infringement After Seagate: How The Willfulness Standard Has Changed And What Attorneys Should Know About It, Kevin Raudebaugh

Washington Journal of Law, Technology & Arts

In In re Seagate Technology, LLC, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit changed the standard for willful patent infringement from one akin to negligence, to one more aligned with recklessness. While the general standard is set forth in the decision, the Seagate Court stated that it would leave the development of the new standard’s meaning to future cases. This Article surveys cases applying Seagate to determine the meaning of this novel standard, and explores what evidence courts have considered relevant to the willfulness inquiry. This Article also discusses how Seagate has affected the desirability of opinions of …

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Modernizing Charity Law In China, Rebecca Lee Apr 2009

Modernizing Charity Law In China, Rebecca Lee

Washington International Law Journal

In recent years, the cultivation of domestic charities has been an important item on the development agenda of the Chinese government. In pursuit of this end, China has attempted to modernize its laws governing charitable organizations. Despite these welcome attempts and a rich tradition of philanthropy, China’s existing legal framework still fails to support an effective charitable sector. The government, noting the crucial role of the charitable sector, has begun drafting a comprehensive statute that will govern charities. In light of these emergent trends, this paper critically examines the inadequacies of the existing legal structure, highlighting the need to devise …

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Safe Haven No More: How Online Affiliate Marketing Programs Can Minimize New State Sales Tax Liability, Jennifer Heidt White Apr 2009

Safe Haven No More: How Online Affiliate Marketing Programs Can Minimize New State Sales Tax Liability, Jennifer Heidt White

Washington Journal of Law, Technology & Arts

Affiliate marketing has become a popular and profitable way for online merchants to access potential buyers, especially where those merchants lack a physical presence in the buyer’s home state. By increasing market penetration and brand recognition, affiliates have contributed to the growth of e-commerce and, consequently, the growth of untaxed electronic purchases. As a result, affiliates recently became the focus of states looking to capture lost sales tax revenue from online sales. In 2008, New York became the first state to target affiliate marketing programs with a tax amendment that requires out-of-state vendors that solicit more than $10,000 worth of …

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Invalidity Of Covenants Not To Compete In California Affects Employers Nationwide, Sheri Wardwell Apr 2009

Invalidity Of Covenants Not To Compete In California Affects Employers Nationwide, Sheri Wardwell

Washington Journal of Law, Technology & Arts

In Edwards v. Arthur Andersen LLP, the Supreme Court of California rejected the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals’ “narrow restraint” exception to California Business and Professional Code section 16600 regarding the unenforceability of covenants not to compete (CNCs). Edwards affirms that, unless the agreement falls within a statutory exception, CNCs in employment agreements are invalid as a matter of law in California because of California's strong interest in protecting employee mobility as codified in section 16600. Despite California’s strong public policy against CNCs, an employee who wins the race to a California courthouse may not necessarily benefit from section …

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Evaluating Columbia Pictures Industries V. Bunnell And The Role Of Ram Under The Federal Rules Of Civil Procedure On E-Discovery, Loren M. Hall Apr 2009

Evaluating Columbia Pictures Industries V. Bunnell And The Role Of Ram Under The Federal Rules Of Civil Procedure On E-Discovery, Loren M. Hall

Washington Journal of Law, Technology & Arts

In 2007, the District Court for the Central District of California required the preservation of data stored in random access memory (RAM), which sparked significant commentary about the rapidly expanding realm of electronically-stored discoverable information. This Article addresses the impact of Columbia Pictures Industries v. Bunnell in the context of the duty to preserve and produce documents, and the scope of information that can be subject to e-discovery obligations. This Article also describes how the 2006 amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure provide a necessary limitation—reasonableness—on the costly and unrealistic preservation, and subsequent production, of electronic information. Furthermore, …

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Intellectual Property Protection For Fashion Design: An Overview Of Existing Law And A Look Toward Proposed Legislative Changes, N. Elizabeth Mills Apr 2009

Intellectual Property Protection For Fashion Design: An Overview Of Existing Law And A Look Toward Proposed Legislative Changes, N. Elizabeth Mills

Washington Journal of Law, Technology & Arts

Intellectual property distinguishes a protected work’s aesthetic value from its functionality. In so doing, intellectual property law prevents fashion designers from asserting their rights over entire garments. Apparel industry leaders have repeatedly proposed legislation that would overcome this limitation, and the latest in a succession of draft bills is the Design Piracy Prohibition Act. In critiquing the Design Piracy Prohibition Act, this Article surveys fashion designers’ existing federal intellectual property rights, particularly trade dress. In the most recent Supreme Court exposition of the elements of a trade dress action, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Samara Bros., Inc., the Court clarifies …

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Uwlaw, Spring 2009, Vol. 59 Apr 2009

Uwlaw, Spring 2009, Vol. 59

Alumni Magazines

No abstract provided.

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No Room For Dissent: China's Laws Against Disturbing Social Order Undermine Its Commitments To Free Speech And Hamper The Rule Of Law, Mindy Kristin Longanecker Apr 2009

No Room For Dissent: China's Laws Against Disturbing Social Order Undermine Its Commitments To Free Speech And Hamper The Rule Of Law, Mindy Kristin Longanecker

Washington International Law Journal

The term “disturbing social order” appears in several Chinese civil and criminal laws. The vagueness of these three words, combined with the national culture of censorship, undermines various legal provisions that guarantee freedom of speech in China. As a result, laws against disturbing social order suppress nonviolent political speech in this rising world power. This became clear during the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, where both individual protestors and corps of journalists found their work frustrated by laws against disturbing social order. Chinese lawmakers could remedy this conflict of laws by clarifying the term “disturbing social order,” and by creating …

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Safeguarding China's Cultural History: Proposed Amendments To The 2002 Law On The Protection Of Cultural Relics, Amanda K. Maus Apr 2009

Safeguarding China's Cultural History: Proposed Amendments To The 2002 Law On The Protection Of Cultural Relics, Amanda K. Maus

Washington International Law Journal

The 2002 Law on the Protection of Cultural Relics (“2002 Law”) has done little to safeguard cultural property in China. While the statute provides general procedures for relic collection, protection, and cataloging, and sets punishments for individuals and entities that violate the law, it does not furnish funding for the implementation of these measures. Amendments in 2007 failed to address the major problems of the 2002 Law—notably, the lack of incentives to return stolen or looted property and insufficient funding of the law. Due to these problems, the 2002 Law should again be amended to create a fund for the …

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Article 14 Of China's New Labor Contract Law: Using Open-Term Contracts To Appropriately Balance Worker Protection And Employer Flexibility, Jovita T. Wang Apr 2009

Article 14 Of China's New Labor Contract Law: Using Open-Term Contracts To Appropriately Balance Worker Protection And Employer Flexibility, Jovita T. Wang

Washington International Law Journal

China’s economy rapidly developed as it shifted from a planned economy to a market economy. Cheap labor encouraged foreign companies to conduct business in China, but that business came at the expense of labor protection. Workers who had previously enjoyed lifetime employment suddenly faced rampant layoffs, labor abuse, and unemployment. Despite China’s implementation of the Labor Law in 1994, labor abuse continued, especially by employers refusing to follow written contract requests to define the employment relationship. Many workers were left unprotected. In response to these problems, China passed the Labor Contract Law in 2007 to clarify requirements of employment contracts …

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A Study Of Cyber-Violence And Internet Service Providers' Liability: Lessons From China, Anne S.Y. Cheung Apr 2009

A Study Of Cyber-Violence And Internet Service Providers' Liability: Lessons From China, Anne S.Y. Cheung

Washington International Law Journal

Cyber-violence and harassment have been on the rise and have been a worrying trend worldwide. With the rise of blogs, discussion boards, and Youtube, we may become targets of false allegations or our movements and gestures may have been captured by modern technology at any moment to be broadcast on the Internet for a public trial of millions to judge. In China, netizens have resorted to cyber manhunt, known as the “human flesh search engine,” to expose details of individuals who have violated social norms one way or another, achieving social shaming, monitoring and ostracism. Individuals concerned have little legal …

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Internet User Anonymity, First Amendment Protections And Mobilisa: Changing The Cahill Test, Kristina Ringland Mar 2009

Internet User Anonymity, First Amendment Protections And Mobilisa: Changing The Cahill Test, Kristina Ringland

Washington Journal of Law, Technology & Arts

The Arizona Court of Appeals recently developed a new test to determine whether an anonymous Internet poster’s identity should be revealed through a subpoena. While the First Amendment protects anonymous speech, this protection does not extend to defamation and other illegal behavior. Courts have balanced these two competing interests—protection of anonymous speech and revelation of a person’s identity via subpoena—by applying varying tests regarding the disclosure of an anonymous poster’s identity. The Arizona Court of Appeals, in Mobilisa, Inc. v. Doe, recently adopted a three-part test that incorporates elements from two, previously distinct lines of cases. This Article explores …

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You Can Send This But Not That: Creating And Enforcing Employer Email Policies Under Sections 7 And 8 Of The National Labor Relations Act After Register Guard, Nicole Lindquist Mar 2009

You Can Send This But Not That: Creating And Enforcing Employer Email Policies Under Sections 7 And 8 Of The National Labor Relations Act After Register Guard, Nicole Lindquist

Washington Journal of Law, Technology & Arts

The National Labor Relations Board’s decision in Register Guard Company (Register Guard) set new precedent regarding employee rights to use employer email systems to discuss protected activities under Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act. The decision established two new rules of law regarding employer email policies: first, employers have a property interest in their email systems, and may, therefore, create email policies prohibiting non-work related emails including Section 7 related communications. Second, employers may enforce email limitations differently between union and non-union related emails, so long as the enforcement is not made “along Section 7 lines.” …

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Where Vernor V. Autodesk Fits Into First Sale Decisions, Thomas A. Hackett Mar 2009

Where Vernor V. Autodesk Fits Into First Sale Decisions, Thomas A. Hackett

Washington Journal of Law, Technology & Arts

Many courts have found that software is licensed rather than sold. As a result, software often falls outside the first sale doctrine; however, Vernor v. Autodesk found with the minority of courts that software is sold rather than licensed, and granted owners of the purchased software first sale rights. This Article examines four pertinent concerns that flow from Vernor v. Autodesk, including: (1) the status of federal copyright law in the context of the first sale doctrine; (2) the judicial split among courts applying the doctrine; (3) where Vernor v. Autodesk fits into this split; and (4) the future …

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User Privacy And Information Disclosure: The Need For Clarity In "Opt-In" Questions For Consent To Share Personal Information, Suzanna Shaub Mar 2009

User Privacy And Information Disclosure: The Need For Clarity In "Opt-In" Questions For Consent To Share Personal Information, Suzanna Shaub

Washington Journal of Law, Technology & Arts

Many company Web sites obtain permission to disclose their users’ private information to third parties through the use of “opt-in” mechanisms, which require consumers to affirmatively grant consent to collect data from the user. These opt-in questions often ask general questions, such as whether the user would like to receive further information about the company or a product. Many companies construe an affirmative answer as consent to disclose personal information in accordance with its privacy policy. Although companies with this practice have generally avoided liability in the past, a recent case raises significant skepticism regarding the practice. In CollegeNET, Inc. …

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Text Message Monitoring After Quon V. Arch Wireless: What Private Employers Need To Know About The Stored Communications Act And An Employee's Right To Privacy, Jennifer Heidt White Mar 2009

Text Message Monitoring After Quon V. Arch Wireless: What Private Employers Need To Know About The Stored Communications Act And An Employee's Right To Privacy, Jennifer Heidt White

Washington Journal of Law, Technology & Arts

In June 2008, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held that public employees have a reasonable expectation of privacy in the content of text messages sent from employer-owned devices. The court concluded that the expectation of privacy arises vis-à-vis the text-message service provider, even where an employee has signed an explicit waiver of such an expectation. The decision, Quon v. Arch Wireless, raises difficult questions about the limitations placed on text-message service providers by the Stored Communications Act, and an employer’s ability to regulate and monitor employee use of technology in the workplace. Although Quon only applies to public …

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