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Full-Text Articles in Law
Nonobviousness: Before And After, Dmitry Karshtedt
Nonobviousness: Before And After, Dmitry Karshtedt
GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works
The requirement of nonobviousness, codified in 35 U.S.C. § 103, has been called “the ultimate condition of patentability” because of its crucial function of keeping technically trivial inventions out of the patent system. The obviousness determination must be made based on the state of the invention’s field at a particular point in time—in the Patent Act’s current version, the date that the patent application was effectively filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (“PTO”).
However, in spite of the critical role of time in patent law and the danger that hindsight bias could distort § 103 analysis when patentability …
Reading Transcripts, Stephen A. Saltzburg
Reading Transcripts, Stephen A. Saltzburg
GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works
This article examines the reading of transcribed chat-room conversations to jurors in United States v. Tragas, 727 F.3d 610 (6th Cir. 2013), and whether some reading approaches utilized by the prosecutor were impermissible theatrical performance, improper summary, or improper vouching.
Child Testimony And The Right To Present A Defense, Stephen A. Saltzburg
Child Testimony And The Right To Present A Defense, Stephen A. Saltzburg
GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works
This article discusses the importance of a child's testimony in a criminal prosecution by examining Harris v. Thompson, 698 F.3d 609 (7th Cir. 2012). In this case, a child's testimony was excluded, violating the defendant's right to present a complete defense.
'Impeaching' Cooperating Witnesses, Stephen A. Saltzburg
'Impeaching' Cooperating Witnesses, Stephen A. Saltzburg
GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works
This article, discussing trial tactics, considers the scenario in which the government seeks to elicit testimony from a witness, involved in the criminal activity, that has entered into a plea agreement; the defendant offers to stipulate that the defense will make no effort to impeach the witness through the use of the plea agreement and moves to exclude it from evidence; yet the prosecutor insists upon using the agreement. The article discusses United States v. Richardson, 421 F.3d 17 (1st Cir. 2005), and United States v. McNeill, 728 F.2d 5 (1st Cir. 1984), and concludes that there is no sensible …
Nontestimonial Hearsay After Crawford, Davis And Bockting, Laird Kirkpatrick
Nontestimonial Hearsay After Crawford, Davis And Bockting, Laird Kirkpatrick
GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works
The Sixth Amendment of the United States Constitution bars some hearsay from being introduced against criminal defendants on the ground that it would violate their right to confront the witnesses against them. In a recent series of decisions - Crawford, Davis and Bockting - the U.S. Supreme Court has narrowed the scope of the Confrontation Clause by interpreting it to govern only testimonial hearsay. This article criticizes the analysis and process by which the Court reached its conclusion that the Confrontation Clause has no application to nontestimonial hearsay and raises questions of history and policy about the possible dangers of …
Guilt Assuming Hypotheticals: Basic Character Evidence Rules, Stephen A. Saltzburg
Guilt Assuming Hypotheticals: Basic Character Evidence Rules, Stephen A. Saltzburg
GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works
The accused in a criminal case has the right to offer evidence of a pertinent character trait in order to cast doubt on whether he or she would commit the crime charged by the government. This right gives the accused an opportunity to offer predisposition evidence that is otherwise generally inadmissible. Calling a character witness is not without risk, however. The principal risk is that the witness may be cross-examined about specific acts that are inconsistent with the character to which the witness attests. This article discusses Michelson v. United States, and United States v. Pirani, the latter which reminds …
Trial Tactics: Reverse Rule 404(B) Evidence: Parts I And Ii, Stephen A. Saltzburg
Trial Tactics: Reverse Rule 404(B) Evidence: Parts I And Ii, Stephen A. Saltzburg
GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works
Defendants have the same right to offer Rule 404(b) evidence as prosecutors, and they are not required to give pretrial notice under the Federal Rules of Evidence. When defendants offer this evidence, they attempt to prove that someone else is guilty of the crime attributed to them. This often is referred to as reverse Rule 404(b) evidence. Some defense evidence will be admitted - indeed the Confrontation Clause or Compulsory Process Clause may require admission in some cases - but not all defense evidence will be admitted. The issue is where to draw the line between admissible and inadmissible evidence. …
The Virtues Of Knowing Less: Justifying Privacy Protections Against Disclosure, Daniel J. Solove
The Virtues Of Knowing Less: Justifying Privacy Protections Against Disclosure, Daniel J. Solove
GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works
This Article develops justifications for protections against the disclosure of private information. An extensive body of scholarship has attacked such protections as anathema to the Information Age, where the free flow of information is championed as a fundamental value. This Article responds to two general critiques of disclosure protections: (1) that they inhibit freedom of speech, and (2) that they restrict information useful for judging others.
Regarding the free speech critique, the Article argues that not all speech is of equal value; speech of private concern is less valuable than speech of public concern. The difficulty, however, is distinguishing between …
Implementing Constitutional Rights For Juveniles: The Parent-Child Privilege In Context, Catherine J. Ross
Implementing Constitutional Rights For Juveniles: The Parent-Child Privilege In Context, Catherine J. Ross
GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works
This article advocates for the creation of a parent-child privilege by focusing on the parental contribution to raising their children. The article argues that children cannot fully exercise their constitutional rights without being able to confide freely in their parents and consult them before waiving rights and while working with their attorneys. I begin by describing the current state of privilege law and suggest that there is already a “de facto” tendency to observe a parent-child privilege. I show that courts have failed to distinguish among three distinctive kinds of confidences: (1) testimony concerning confidences from a minor child to …
A Compromise Approach To Compromise Verdicts, Michael B. Abramowicz
A Compromise Approach To Compromise Verdicts, Michael B. Abramowicz
GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works
Although one of the legal system’s most salient attributes is its insistence that a civil jury choose the story of one party over that of another, scholars have thus far paid almost no attention to the possibility of replacing the preponderance-of-the-evidence rule with an alternative that is not “winner-take-all.” This Article focuses on the issue of uncertainty about what the defendant did or whether the plaintiff was injured, offering an alternative to the extremes of all-or-nothing and compromise verdicts. It considers the possibility that, while sometimes an all-or-nothing verdict is appropriate, at other times a compromise verdict would be better. …