Law Commons^™

Jewish Law: Duties Of The Intellect, Steven Resnicoff

College of Law Faculty

No abstract provided.

Understanding Statutory Bundles: Does The Sherman Act Come With The 1996 Telecommunications Act?, Randal C. Picker

Coase-Sandor Institute for Law & Economics Research Paper Series

Three recent appellate decisions—Goldwasser, Trinko and Covad—have addressed the interplay of the 1996 Telecommunications Act and the antitrust laws. This area raises questions of both substantive law and standing. This essay focuses on standing and in particular the question of how the antitrust doctrine in Illinois Brick should apply to situations in which there is an alleged breach of an access duty owed by an incumbent local exchange carrier. That access duty might arise under the 1996 Act itself or under applicable antitrust doctrines, such as the essential facilities doctrine or the duty to deal with competitors seen in Aspen …

Patent Thickets: Strategic Patenting Of Complex Technologies, James Bessen

Faculty Scholarship

Patent race models assume that an innovator wins the only patent covering a product. But when technologies are complex, this property right is defective: ownership of a product's technology is shared, not exclusive. In that case I show that if patent standards are low, firms build "thickets" of patents, especially incumbent firms in mature industries. When they assert these patents, innovators are forced to share rents under cross-licenses, making R&D incentives sub-optimal. On the other hand, when lead time advantages are significant and patent standards are high, firms pursue strategies of "mutual non-aggression." Then R&D incentives are stronger, even optimal.

A Brief History Of Author-Publisher Relations And The Outlook For The 21st Century, Maureen A. O'Rourke

Faculty Scholarship

The Fiftieth Anniversary Edition of the Journal of the Copyright Society of the U.S.A. provides a particularly appropriate forum in which to discuss the current state of the copyright system. By some accounts, U.S. copyright law has been fabulously successful, encouraging the growth of industries whose copyrighted products both enrich American culture and contribute significant value to the economy.

Ballot Boxes Behind Bars: Toward The Repeal Of Prisoner Disenfranchisement Laws, Debra Parkes

All Faculty Publications

This paper takes seriously the objection that allowing prisoners to vote may have an impact on the outcome of elections or on the development of law and policy, given the extraordinarily high incarceration rate currently a reality in the United States. The reality that prisoners may have an impact on the outcome of elections is an argument in favour of allowing them to vote rather than against it. A progressive critique or constitutional challenge of prisoner disenfranchisement should call attention to the instrumental, as well as symbolic and constitutive functions of voting, and must defend the importance of having the …

Table Of Contents - Issue 1

Journal of Dispute Resolution

No abstract provided.

Table Of Contents - Issue 2

Journal of Dispute Resolution

No abstract provided.

Sound Of Dust Settling: A Response To Criticisms Of The Uma, The, Richard C. Reuben

Journal of Dispute Resolution

Continuing UMA "concerns," therefore, have a certain vestigial or residual character, often reflecting views taken in battles that were fought within the drafting sessions - sometimes fiercely - but which were incapable of producing a majority among the UMA drafters. Professor Brian Shannon's criticisms largely echo these discussions, and in this Article I seek to respond to some of them - after first extending my greatest appreciation to Professor Shannon for his willingness to be the "skunk in the parlor" of this symposium edition by generally aggregating those criticisms." In Part I, I give some of the unpublished history of …

Prohibiting Good Faith Reports Under The Uniform Mediation Act: Keeping The Adjudication Camel Out Of The Mediation Tent, Carol L. Izumi, Homer C. La Rue

Journal of Dispute Resolution

This symposium article examines a narrow slice of the Uniform Mediation Act - the prohibition on mediator communication to judges about a party's good faith participation or "problem" behavior in mediation.

Introduction, David A. Hoffman

Journal of Dispute Resolution

My introduction to the issues that the Uniform Mediation Act seeks to resolve occurred about a dozen years ago when a senior partner at Hill & Barlow, the Boston law firm where I practiced for 17 years, came to me with a question. He wanted to know whether he could recommend mediation as a safe process for discussing some delicate tax issues that had arisen during the breakup of a business partnership. Evidently the partners had taken some aggressive positions on their partnership tax returns, and one of the big issues in the dissolution of the partnership was the allocation …

Dancing With The One That Brung Us - Why The Texas Adr Community Has Declined To Embrace The Uma, Brian D. Shannon

Journal of Dispute Resolution

I readily acknowledge that the UMA is a bold and noble project, and it is certainly the result of substantial effort and compromise. Indeed, I largely concur with the sentiment of Philip Harter that "[tihe UMA is the product of heroic effort that brought together many interests and perspectives to thrash out a workable framework for mediation." That being said, however, much of the Texas mediation community, of which I am a part, has largely opposed enactment of the UMA's framework for our state. As I have written previously, the Alternative Dispute Resolution Section of the State Bar of Texas …

Centuries Of Contract Common Law Can't Be All Wrong: Why The Uma's Exception To Mediation Confidentiality In Enforcement Proceedings Should Be Embraced And Broadened, Peter Robinson

Journal of Dispute Resolution

The National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws and House of Delegates of the American Bar Association recently approved the Uniform Mediation Act ("UMA") with an eye toward unifying the law of mediation confidentiality in the United States. Soon, numerous states and other organizations will consider modifying statutes, court rules, or professional standards to conform to the UMA. One of the important aspects of mediation confidentiality is how it applies when enforcing a mediated agreement.' In some jurisdictions, mediation confidentiality interferes with the application of contract law when enforcing a mediated agreement to produce absurd results. This article will …

Uma And The Uncitral Model Rule: An Emerging Consensus On Mediation And Conciliation, The, Jernej Sekolec, Michael B. Getty

Journal of Dispute Resolution

In this article, we describe how these two efforts have come together to forge an international consensus on mediation and conciliation. In Part I, we look at how some of the different ways that domestic nationals treat the confidentiality of conciliation communications. The disparity of these treatments leads to considerable uncertainty among parties to a conciliation. In Part II, we note the essential features of the UNCITRAL Model Law, and how it addresses this uncertainty through model rules that will harmonize international standards among adopting nations, at least on core issues, while at the same time preserving the flexibility that …

Silent Treatment: Removing The Class Action From The Plaintiff's Toolbox Without Ever Saying A Word - Bazzle V. Green Tree Fin. Corp., The, Andrea Lockridge

Journal of Dispute Resolution

A motion for class certification is often a pivotal point in a lawsuit, playing a determinative role throughout the course of the litigation. Plaintiffs use the class action as a tool to consolidate common claims against a defendant, bypassing the expensive process of bringing suit individually. 2 Defendants hotly contest certification of the class, seeking to avoid the ramifications of a judgment which reflects the cumulative losses of the multitude. This casenote addresses the effects of allowing an arbitration clause that is silent as to class-wide arbitration to preclude the plaintiffs' option to bring suit as a class, and the …

Pre-Dispute Mandatory Arbitration Agreements And Title Vii: Promoting Efficiency While Protecting Employee Rights - Eeoc V. Luce, Forward, Hamilton & (And) Scripps, Steven S. Poindexter

Journal of Dispute Resolution

While the United States Supreme Court has repeatedly held that claims based on statutory rights may be vindicated by arbitration, the Court has yet to determine the validity of a pre-dispute mandatory arbitration agreement ("MAA") that covers Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 ("Title VII"). The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, contrary to every other district court of appeals to have considered the matter, has held that Title VII claims may not be subjected to arbitration under an MAA. The instant case once again addresses the question of whether the Ninth Circuit will …

Retribution For Rats: Cooperation, Punishment, And Atonement, Michael A. Simons

Vanderbilt Law Review

To mobsters, he is a "rat"; to drug dealers, a "snitch." To school children, he is a "tattletale"; to corporate executives, a "whistle- blower." To cops, he is an "informant"; to prosecutors, a "cooperator." By whatever name he is known, the person who betrays his associates to the authorities is almost universally reviled. In movies, on television, in literature, the cooperator embodies all that society holds in contempt: he is disloyal, deceitful, greedy, selfish, and weak. The cooperator, though, has long been a mainstay of our criminal justice system. For centuries, criminal defendants have received leniency in return for testimony …

Corrective Justice In Contract Law: Is There A Case For Punitive Damages?, Curtis Bridgeman

Vanderbilt Law Review

Twentieth-century American legal theory has been dominated by utilitarian and economic approaches. As a result, scholarly analyses of contract and tort law have focused on the public effects of the resolution of private disputes. But in the last twenty years or so justice has undergone a renaissance as so-called corrective-justice theorists have tried to shift the discussion in private law back to the relationships between individual parties. Tort law has been a particularly fertile ground for corrective-justice theorists, and a lively debate has developed about what the best corrective-justice account of tort law would look like.

By contrast, comparatively little …

Presidential Power In Transitions, Jack M. Beermann

Faculty Scholarship

The transition between presidencies has long created controversies. Whether the issue is "midnight judges" or "midnight regulations," presidential action at the end of a term has long provoked scrutiny and criticism. Presidents have also raised eyebrows at the beginning of their terms when they assert their authority and try to undo what their predecessor in office left behind. More than one president has taken action aimed specifically at "midnight regulations," such as ordering a freeze on the issuance of new regulations, a review of regulations issued at the end of the prior administration and other similar action. This article looks …

Indigenous Territoriality In Canadian Courts, Douglas C. Harris

All Faculty Publications

Territoriality describes the communication or assignment of meaning to particular boundaries in order to assert control over a define space. It encompasses the strategies, used by those attempting to maintain control and those seeking to acquire it, to give meaning to the spatial boundaries that demarcate jurisdiction. This chapter explores the competing territorialities of the Canadian state and indigenous peoples in the context of litigation over Aboriginal rights to fish. Access to and management of the fisheries have been and continue to be one of the principal points of conflict between the state and indigenous peoples. The disputes frequently lead …

The Corporation As Symphony: Are Shareholders First Violin Or Second Fiddle?, Janis P. Sarra

All Faculty Publications

This article focuses on shareholders and whether the current regime affords them adequate protection and participation rights. Recent changes to corporate and securities laws have facilitated the exercise of shareholder voice. These changes are important to capital markets in that they are aimed at increasing investor confidence and hence the strength of markets. The lead in shareholder activism is being taken by institutional shareholders who are utilizing new proxy and proposal provisions to express governance preferences regarding key issues such as independence of audit committees and enhanced transparency in financial disclosures. However, there continue to be barriers that institutional and …

Law, Theory And Aboriginal Peoples, Gordon Christie

All Faculty Publications

Some Aboriginal people see domestic Canadian law as alien and oppressive. This paper explores one source of this perception. By examining the layers of theory and world-view upon which the law is based, it finds conflict with the sensibilities of Aboriginal peoples. The author argues that a liberal vision supports and enlivens the law, and because it is grounded in this vision, the law cannot protect the interests of Aboriginal peoples. In analyzing the current legal approach to the protection of Aboriginal interests, an alternative liberal argument based on group autonomy is also considered. By examining the debate between liberal …

Towards A Single Definition Of Armed Conflict In International Humanitarian Law: A Critique Of Internationalized Armed Conflict, James G. Stewart

All Faculty Publications

The strict division of international humanitarian law into rules applicable in international armed conflict and those relevant to armed conflicts not of an international nature is almost universally criticized. Even though attempts to abandon the distinction were made at every stage of negotiation of the Geneva Conventions and their Protocols, calls for a single body of international humanitarian law have since died out. This article revives those calls by highlighting the inadequacies of the current dichotomy’s treatment of internationalized armed conflicts, namely, armed conflicts that involve internal and international elements. It concludes that the law developed to determine this “internationalization” …

Environmental Management Systems And Public Authority In Canada: Rethinking Environmental Governance, Stepan Wood

All Faculty Publications

Using the example of environmental management systems (EMS) and the ISO 14001 standard, I propose a typology of eight ways in which public authorities interact with voluntary environmental initiatives: 1. Steering (influencing the development, use or content of voluntary initiatives through official policy pronouncements, participation in standards development or creation of legal ground rules or backstops for voluntary initiatives), 2. Self-discipline (applying voluntary initiatives to government operations or agreeing to international trade rules that turn voluntary standards into constraints on regulatory authority), 3. Knowledge production (generating and disseminating ideas, information and expertise about the design, use or value of voluntary …

Holding Liability Insurers Accountable For Bad Faith Litigation Tactics With The Tort Of Abuse Of Process, Francis J. Mootz Iii

Scholarly Works

Liability insurers generally do not owe any common law duties to injured third-party claimants who sue their insureds. After establishing (as a conceptual backdrop) the important and recognized public policies favoring prompt and fair payments by liability insurers to injured third-party claimants, this article analyzes whether claimants can effectively use the tort of abuse of process to hold liability insurers accountable when they engage in bad faith litigation tactics. The article identifies the problems that claimants may face in alleging abuse of process in the liability insurance setting, but also indicates that recent trends in this area of law suggest …

The Middle Class Fourth Amendment, Craig M. Bradley

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

The Impact Of Opt-In Privacy Rules On Retail Credit Markets: A Case Study Of Mbna, Fred H. Cate, Michael Staten

Articles by Maurer Faculty

U.S. privacy laws are increasingly moving from a presumption that consumers must object to ("opt out" of) uses of personal data they wish to prohibit to a requirement that they must explicitly consent ("opt in") to uses they wish to permit. Despite the growing reliance on opt-in rules, there has been little empirical research on their costs. This Article examines the impact of opt-in on MBNA Corporation, a diversified, multinational financial institution. The authors demonstrate that opt-in would raise account acquisition costs and lower profits, reduce the supply of credit and raise credit card prices, generate more offers to uninterested …

Practice What You Preach: California's Obligation To Give Full Faith And Credit To The Vermont Civil Union, Christopher D. Sawyer

UC Law Journal

This Note evaluates the inter-jurisdictional effect of the Vermont Civil Union statute. A same-sex couple who enters into a civil union in Vermont currently enjoys all of the Vermont state benefits typically conferred only on married couples. The Federal Defense of Marriage Act ("DOMA") removes the burden on states of having to afford full faith and credit to same-sex marriages. As such, this Note discusses whether the DOMA is applicable to the Vermont Civil Union in addition to same-sex "marriages." Furthermore, this Note discusses whether California, if not obliged federally under the DOMA to recognize the civil union, is nonetheless …

Clear Sailing Agreements: A Special Form Of Collusion In Class Action Settlements, William D. Henderson

Articles by Maurer Faculty

A clear sailing agreement (or clause) is a compromise in which a class action defendant agrees not to contest the class lawyer's petition for attorneys' fees. This Article argues that clear sailing provisions often facilitate collusive settlements in cases involving non-pecuniary relief or claims-made common funds that return all unclaimed monies to the defendant. Because these types of settlements present difficult valuation problems, trial courts lack a clear benchmark for calculating attorneys' fees. Defendants and class can exploit this uncertainty by presenting an inflated settlement value to the court (to justify higher attorneys' fees) while simultaneously reducing the true cost …

Anticompetitive Settlement Of Intellectual Property Disputes, Mark D. Janis, Herbert J. Hovenkamp, Mark A. Lemley

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Shenpi (Licensing) Reform From The Perspective Of One Municipal Jurisdiction: Ideologies, Institutions, And Law, Wei Cui

All Faculty Publications

The Administrative Licensing Law (xingzheng xuke fa) will constitute a major addition to Chinese administrative law, and the rhetoric surrounding its drafting promises path-breaking reform of the Chinese regulatory state. This report critically assesses that promise by chronicling the actual course of shenpi (licensing) reform carried out in Shenzhen in 2001. Shenpi reform derives its novelty from questioning the rationale of regulatory policies and not just the procedures by which they are carried out. In Shenzhen, however, the reform revolved around an effort to achieve quantitative reduction in the number of shenpi procedures, which could reflect either changes in the …