Law Commons^™

Intellectual Property Through A Non-Western Lens: Patents In Islamic Law, Tabrez Y. Ebrahim

Faculty Scholarship

The intersection of secular, Western intellectual property law and Islamic law is undertheorized in legal scholarship. Yet the nascent and developing non-Western law of one form of intellectual property—patents—in Islamic legal systems is profoundly important for transformational innovation and economic development initiatives of Muslim-majority countries that comprise nearly one-fifth of the world’s population.

Recent scholarship highlights the tensions of intellectual property in Islamic law because religious considerations in an Islamic society do not fully align with Western notions of patents. As Islamic legal systems have begun to embrace patents in recent decades, theories of patents have presented conceptual and theological …

Remedial Payments In Agency Enforcement, Seema Kakade

Faculty Scholarship

During the Obama Administration, the government settled many enforcement cases involving alleged violations of the nation’s federal statutes. The settlements have several requirements, including that the defendants pay money for beneficial projects to mitigate or offset harm directly or indirectly caused by defendant’s actions. For example, the government settled an environmental enforcement case against Volkswagen that included payments for environmental projects, and a mortgage enforcement case against Bank of America that included payments for housing education projects. These payments have spawned renewed criticism amongst conservative groups who have long claimed that payments for projects are mechanisms for agencies to get …

Interpreting Contracts In A Regulatory State, Aditi Bagchi

Faculty Scholarship

Some scholars would limit courts to the text of written agreements when interpreting contracts on the theory that parties meant what they said, and said what they meant. Other scholars would have courts take into account the factual context surrounding contract formation. Both sides of this debate assume that contract interpretation is largely limited to reconstructing contracting parties’ intentions.

This assumption is mistaken. Since the overturning of Lochner v New York, contracting parties no longer have exclusive authority over contracts. State authority to regulate contract came at the expense of unbridled private authority. A more limited conception of contracting …

Requirements For A Renewables Revolution, Felix Mormann

Faculty Scholarship

This Article identifies and analyzes the obstacles presently barring the rise of renewables, evaluates the role of the current policy favorite emission pricing, and offers design recommendations for a comprehensive U.S. renewables policy.

Successful climate change mitigation requires a timely shift to renewable sources of energy, such as sunlight, wind or tides, to decarbonize today’s high-carbon electricity sector. But market pull alone is not strong enough. This Article discusses the most widely cited economic barriers and identifies and evaluates additional obstacles related to the electricity sector’s regulatory framework.

Emission pricing is largely considered the most efficient policy to drive the …

Trusting (And Verifying) Online Intermediaries' Policing, Frank A. Pasquale

Faculty Scholarship

All is not well in the land of online self-regulation. However competently internet intermediaries police their sites, nagging questions will remain about their fairness and objectivity in doing so. Is Comcast blocking BitTorrent to stop infringement, to manage traffic, or to decrease access to content that competes with its own for viewers? How much digital due process does Google need to give a site it accuses of harboring malware? If Facebook censors a video of war carnage, is that a token of respect for the wounded or one more reflexive effort of a major company to ingratiate itself with the …

Hormone Replacement Therapy, Or Just Eat More Meat: The Technological Hare Vs. The Regulatory Tortoise, Leticia M. Diaz

Faculty Scholarship

Is meat with its high fat content the real culprit, or is it the FDA-approved growth hormones, the same hormones that have been rejected in Europe, that should bear the blame? Why is eating less meat associated with a lower incidence of many types of cancer? Could it be chemical overload? American women are about five times more likely to develop breast cancer than are women in less developed countries.

Review Of Why Things Bite Back: Technology And The Revenge Of Unintended Consequences By Edward Tenner, Jay D. Wexler

Faculty Scholarship

Historian of science Edward Tenner begins his book with a typical example of what he sees as the irony of modern life in a technological society. With the advent of electronic mail and inter-office networking, one would expect that the amount of paper used in offices would markedly decline, but in fact, notes Tenner, paper recycling bins are more full than ever before. People do indeed communicate through e-mail, but since they mistrust the permanence of electronic transmissions, they also back them up with an ever increasing amount of paper communication. In his typically amusing way, Tenner notes that when …