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Full-Text Articles in Law

What We Don't See When We See Copyright As Property, Jessica Litman Nov 2018

What We Don't See When We See Copyright As Property, Jessica Litman

Articles

For all of the rhetoric about the central place of authors in the copyright scheme, our copyright laws in fact give them little power and less money. Intermediaries own the copyrights, and are able to structure licenses so as to maximise their own revenue while shrinking their pay-outs to authors. Copyright scholars have tended to treat this point superficially, because – as lawyers – we take for granted that copyrights are property; property rights are freely alienable; and the grantee of a property right stands in the shoes of the original holder. I compare the 1710 Statute of Anne, which …


Dueling Denominators And The Demise Of Lucas, Stewart E. Sterk Jan 2018

Dueling Denominators And The Demise Of Lucas, Stewart E. Sterk

Articles

In Murr v. Wisconsin, the Supreme Court outlined a process for ascertaining the denominator in takings cases – an issue that arises both with respect to Penn Central takings claims and Lucas takings claims. The underpinnings of Penn Central claims and Lucas claims are not identical; Penn Central’s primary concern is assuring fairness to landowners, while the focus of Lucas is on restricting government efforts to bypass the condemnation process. Although this difference in focus might suggest a difference in appropriate denominator, the Court’s multi-factor balancing approach apparently applies to all takings claims. Although the Court’s approach is consistent with …


The Federal Law Of Property: The Case Of Inheritance Disclaimers And Tenancy By The Entireties, David G. Carlson Jan 2018

The Federal Law Of Property: The Case Of Inheritance Disclaimers And Tenancy By The Entireties, David G. Carlson

Articles

The Supreme Court has issued two disturbing tax opinions which disrupt the notion that “property” (when used in federal statutes) refers to state-law notions. In Drye v. United States, the Supreme Court pierced the Arkansas fiction that inheritance disclaimers are retrospective in effect. Thus the Internal Revenue could claim that a tax lien attached to the pre-disclaimer inheritance. Disclaimer could not defeat this lien. In United States v. Craft, the Supreme Court pierced the Michigan fiction that a tenancy by the entireties does not belong to the individual spouses but, rather, the a corporate “marital” entity that is a separate …