Law Commons^™

Common Law Property Metaphors On The Internet: The Real Problem With The Doctrine Of Cybertrespass, Shyamkrishna Balganesh

Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review

The doctrine of cybertrespass represents one of the most recent attempts by courts to apply concepts and principles from the real world to the virtual world of the Internet. A creation of state common law, the doctrine essentially involved extending the tort of trespass to chattels to the electronic world. Consequently, unauthorized electronic interferences are deemed trespassory intrusions and rendered actionable. The present paper aims to undertake a conceptual study of the evolution of the doctrine, examining the doctrinal modifications courts were required to make to mould the doctrine to meet the specificities of cyberspace. It then uses cybertrespass to …

Article 17 And The Scope Of Trademark Protection Afforded Under The Trips Agreement, Katja G. Weckstroem

ExpressO

The protection of trademarks, when it raises a conflict with the protection of geographical indications is one of the most contested issues on the international trade and intellectual property arena. In European Communities - Protection of Trademarks and Geographical Indications for Agricultural Products and Foodstuffs a WTO panel was faced with this issue. The panel report gives some insight into what international trademark law mandates as well as some pointers on how conflicts between different IP rights should be solved. This article attempts a deeper analysis of the coexistence of rights in the framework of the TRIPS Agreement that will …

Losing Control: Regulating Situational Crime Prevention In Mass Private Space, Robert E. Pfeffer

ExpressO

In this article the author puts forth an approach to regulating Situational Crime Prevention (SCP) (i.e. steps to preemptively eliminate or reduce crime, such as preemptive exclusion and closed circuit TV monitoring in Mass Private Space (i.e. private property that has characteristics normally associated with public spaces, such as a large shopping mall).

It has become increasingly common for owners of mass private space to employ SCP techniques such as close circuit television monitoring, exclusion of persons based upon behavior or risk factors and limits on attire, such as colors associated with gangs. While there has been a lively scholarly …

“What’S Yours Can Be Mine: Are There Any Private Takings After City Of New London V. Kelo?” , David A. Schultz

David A Schultz

This article examines the use of eminent domain in light of the Kelo v. City of New London Supreme Court decision. After a review of state takings litigation the conclusion is that the courts can and still do find that private takings can occur but that the judiciary is able to protect against them.

Seeds Of Hope: Agricultural Technologies And Poverty Alleviation In Rural South Africa, Karol C. Boudreaux

Karol C. Boudreaux

Despite having the largest economy in Africa, many of South Africa’s citizens grapple with poverty. For rural residents especially, poverty is pervasive, and hunger a very real threat. Government efforts to improve the lives of smallholder farmers and other rural residents are slow to bear fruit. Monsanto South Africa addresses these needs with its Combi- Pack, a box containing enough maize seed, herbicide, and fertilizer to plant ¼ hectare of maize. Combi-Packs are part of the phenomenon known as marketing to the “bottom of the pyramid.” Large corporations design and sell products and services to very low-income consumers, billions of …

Property Rights And Resource Conflict In Sudan, Karol C. Boudreaux

Karol C. Boudreaux

The genocidal conflict in the western region of Sudan- Darfur-is often characterized as an ethnic and religious struggle. However, underlying the fighting between black African farmers against Arab janjaweed militia is a struggle over access to, and control of, increasingly scarce fertile land. This chapter presents a very brief history of the wars in Sudan. It also presents an economic analysis of property rights as it applies in this case. The chapter argues that efforts to resolve these conflicts will not be successful unless underlying property disputes are resolved and until the Sudanese government improves the institutional environment in which …

The Effects Of Property Titling In Langa Township, South Africa, Karol C. Boudreaux

Karol C. Boudreaux

This paper explores the role titling programs play in alleviating poverty in a township outside Cape Town, South Africa. Successive South African government have worked to provide secure title to formerly disenfranchised citizens. Today, most non-shack dwelling in Langa Township have registered titles. Has this effort resulted in economic growth? The answer is a qualified yes. Titleholders engage in incremental improvements but make little use of titles as collateral for commercial credit. Reasons for the general relutance among homeonwers in this township to use their titles as collateral are examined.

A Cheese By Any Other Name: A Palatable Compromise To The Conflict Over Geographical Indications, Ivy Doster

Vanderbilt Law Review

In many grocery stores, shoppers must look in two places to find cheese. The first cheese section is usually near the dairy case; the second is often a specialty cheese case located in the produce department. Why make harried supermarket shoppers rush back and forth between two locations to find what they need for a fondue? The most noticeable difference between the cheeses in the two cases is probably the price: cheeses in the specialty case are generally much more expensive. A second difference is the packaging: many cheeses in the dairy aisle are pre-grated, pre-shredded, or pre-sliced and individually …

Commercializing Open Source Software: Do Property Rights Still Matter?, Ronald J. Mann

ExpressO

A major shift toward open source software is underway. Companies are more critically evaluating the cost effectiveness of their IT investments, seeing the benefits of collaborative development, and looking for ways to avoid vendor lock-in. At the same time, academics and industry visionaries are criticizing the use of a traditional appropriation mechanism for innovation—the patent—by bemoaning the decisions of U.S. and foreign governments to permit software patents, the rising numbers of patents on software-related innovations (the so-called “arms race” build-up), and the cost and frequency of patent litigation in the software industry. The critics generally have applauded the shift towards …

Taxing Alternatives: Poverty Alleviation And The South African Taxi/Minibus Industry, Karol C. Boudreaux

Karol C. Boudreaux

South Africa's transporation landscape is a legacy of apartheid. Apartheid-era laws forcibly moved black South Africans out of city centers to surrounding townships. In rural areas, black South Africans were moved off valuable farmland and onto marginally productive homelands. Laws and regulations limiting employment opportunities meant that black citizens lived far from work. Under the National Party government, the ability to serve people who wanted to travel from home to work or home to shopping areas, etc. was severely resitricted. So too was the ability to travel. The minibus industry arose in response to these restrictions. It began as a …

Conservation Cartels: How Competition Policy Conflicts With Environmental Protection, Jonathan H. Adler

Faculty Publications

The alleged purpose of antitrust law is to improve consumer welfare by proscribing actions and arrangements that reduce output and increase prices. Conservation seeks to improve human welfare by maximizing the long-term productive use of natural resources, a goal that often requires limiting consumption to sustainable levels. While conservation measures might increase prices in the short run, they enhance consumer welfare by increasing long-term production and ensuring the availability of valued resources over time. That is true whether the restrictions are imposed by a private conservation cartel or a government agency. Insofar as antitrust law fails to take this into …

Free And Green: A New Approach To Environmental Protection, Jonathan H. Adler

Faculty Publications

Most Americans consider themselves environmentalists, yet most experts are dissatisfied with existing environmental regulations, which are both inefficient and inequitable. Worse, many don't serve environmental goals. This article outlines an alternative approach to environmental policy based on market institutions and property rights rather than central-planning and bureaucratic control. The aim is both to improve environmental protection and lessen the costs ? Economic and otherwise ? Of achieving environmental goals. It seeks to ensure that Americans' environmental values are advanced without sacrificing the individual liberties the American government was created to protect.

The problem with current regulatory approaches is not merely …

Feminist Interpretations Of Intellectual Property, Debora Halbert

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

No abstract provided.

Home As A Legal Concept, D. Benjamin Barros

Santa Clara Law Review

No abstract provided.

Courts Of Limited Jurisdiction In A Post-Transition Cuba, Matias F. Travieso-Diaz, Armando A. Musa

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Cuba's eventual transition to a free-market society will likely be accompanied by a flood of litigation in areas such as property rights, privatization of state-owned enterprises, and human rights violation claims. Courts of limited jurisdiction should be established to hear these specialized matters and alleviate the burden on regular courts. As the transition unfolds, there will also be a need to create specialized tribunals to handle disputes in areas such as taxation, bankrtupcy, and intellectual property. The creation of the various courts of limited jurisdiction will have to be supported by creative strategies for retraining existing judges, training new ones, …

Is The Suite Life Truly Sweet? The Property Rights Luxury Box Owners Actually Acquire, Amanda Schlager

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

Part I of this Note offers a look at the rising trend of luxury boxes, with a discussion of what separates a license from a lease. Part II will look at the property rights frequently given to one who "leases" a luxury box and will analyze what interest in land he actually receives. Part III presents the implications of misnomers in luxury box leasing and presents possible repercussions for both luxury box owners and those to whom the owners would lease them. It also suggests a better method for creating and governing these arrangements. Finally, it asserts that because of …

Review Of Optional Law: The Structure Of Legal Entitlements, Omri Ben-Shahar

Reviews

The concept of "property rights" plays a prominent role in economic theory. Economists have been studying how property rights emerged as a system of allocation, replacing regimes of open access and lack of legal order. Property rights are regularly viewed by economists as the primary policy tool to control the incentives to invest in new assets (e.g., in information) and to maintain existing assets (e.g., fisheries) when contracts are incomplete. Property rights are the endowments that individuals exchange in a market economy, the equity that investors trade in financial markets. Property rights are a basic building block in economics.

Restoring Property Rights In Washington: Regulatory Takings Compensation Inspired By Oregon's Measure 37, Kelly Michelle Kelley

Seattle University Law Review

Part II of this Comment provides a background of regulatory takings jurisprudence, outlining both the U.S. Supreme Court's and Washington courts' respective analyses of regulatory takings challenges under the takings clauses of both the U.S. and Washington Constitutions. Part III discusses the threshold compensation statutes that have been enacted by four states in an effort to remedy the problem of regulatory takings. Part IV examines Oregon's Measure 37 and the lawsuit that validated its constitutionality. Part V analyzes Washington's proposed property rights measure, Initiative 933, and argues that Washington needs a regulatory takings compensation statute. Finally, Part VI concludes that …

Historic Preservation In Southeast Asia: The Role Of Public-Private Partnerships, Patrick Stough

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The role of globalization in the rapid economic success of Southeast Asia is exemplified by the growing westernization of the region's cities. While globalization has its benefits, such as encouraging investment and global connectivity, it also threatens the cultural heritage of a given area by encouraging a sort of homogeneity that makes modern cities all look alike. In particular, the goal of economic development often stands at odds with the preservation of structures and properties that reflect the cultural heritage of the region. Furthermore, many of the countries of the region are under pressure to better protect property rights, another …

The Erosion Of Private Property Rights After Raleigh Avenue Beach Association V. Atlantis Beach Club, Kristin A. Scaduto

Villanova Law Review

No abstract provided.

Section 1983 Cases In The October 2004 Term, Martin A. Schwartz

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Six Myths About Kelo: Kelo V. City Of New London, Thomas W. Merrill

Faculty Scholarship

Kelo v. City of New London, 125 S. Ct. 2655 (2005), is unique in the modem annals of law in terms of the negative response it has evoked. The initial reaction by lawyers familiar with the case was one of lack of surprise. Within days, however, Internet bloggers, television commentators, and neighbors talking over backyard fences decided that Keio was an outrage. Even Justice Stevens sought to distance himself from his own majority opinion, declaring in a speech to a bar association that he thought the outcome was "unwise," and that he would not have supported it if he were …

The Uselessness Of Public Use, Abraham Bell, Gideon Parchomovsky

All Faculty Scholarship

The Supreme Court decision of Kelo v. City of New London has been denounced by legal scholars from the entire political spectrum and given rise to numerous legislative proposals to reverse Kelo's deferential interpretation of the Public Use Clause of the Fifth Amendment, and instead, limit the use of eminent domain when taken property is transferred to private hands. In this Essay we argue that the criticisms of Kelo are ill-conceived and misguided. They are based on a narrow analysis of eminent domain that fails to take into account the full panoply of government powers with respect to property. Given …

Listening To All The Voices, Old And New: The Evolution Of Land Ownership In The Modern West, Charles Wilkinson

Publications

No abstract provided.

Takings Cases In The October 2004 Term (Symposium: The Seventeenth Annual Supreme Court Review), Leon D. Lazer

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

Shareholders, Unicorns And Stilts: An Analysis Of Shareholder Property Rights, Benedict Sheehy

Benedict Sheehy

Abstract: Shareholders rights advocates argue that shareholders have the right to control the corporation. This article examines the basis for the claims. It begins with an analysis of rights, then moves to an analysis of legal rights, which is followed by an analysis of property rights as a species of legal rights. The article then examines the historical context, rationale and development of shareholder rights which leads to the analysis of current shareholders’ rights. The article concludes with some comments and suggestions concerning future development of corporate governance thinking.