Commercial Law Commons^™

Introductions, Tonya M. Evans, Julia Spivak

Law Faculty Scholarship

An introduction to the Symposium and an introduction to Blockchain technology in preparation for the topics of the rest of the symposium.

The Role Of International Rules In Blockchain-Based Cross-Border Commercial Disputes, Tonya M. Evans

Law Faculty Scholarship

[excerpt] The concept of online dispute resolution (ODR) is not new. 1 But, with the advent of Web 3.0, the distributed web that facilitates pseudonymous and cross-border transactions via blockchain's distributed ledger technology, 2 the idea of, and pressing need for, appropriate dispute resolution models for blockchain-based disputes to support this novel system of distributed consensus and trust of which blockchain proponents boast, is a primary concern in rapid development. 3 The common goal of each project is to utilize smart contracts to facilitate "superior, quicker[,] and less expensive proceedings by eliminating so many of the tedious and protracted trappings …

The Human Element: The Under-Theorized And Underutilized Component Vital To Fostering Blockchain Development, Joshua A.T. Fairfield

Scholarly Articles

This Article constitutes a lightly edited transcription of Joshua Fairfield's oral remarks at the April 6, 2018 Cleveland State Law Review Symposium on Blockchain Law and Technology.

The author posits that there is a tendency to think that technology will emerge triumphant in resolving physical problems, including banking and transactional recording; that there is sort of a "tech-bro utopianism," epitomized by Mark Zuckerberg, suggesting that what we need is a technological, not a human, solution. He states that one major problem is that social technologists, psychologists, historians, linguists, and cultural anthropologists are not on the development teams that are building …

Regulatory Takings And The Constitutionality Of Commercial Rent Regulation In New York City, Henry Topper

Cornell Law Review

This Note surveys the current status of small businesses and commercial tenant law in New York City and discusses whether or not the Small Business Jobs Survival Act (SBJSA) and commercial rent control are constitutional in light of current regulatory takings jurisprudence. Part I surveys the history of land use regulations in the city, the introduction of residential rent control, and the city's brief flirtation with commercial rent control in the mid-20th century. Part II explains the decline and current state of small businesses and the commercial law regime in the city, including the SBJSA proposal. Part III describes the …

A Mathematical Solution To The Sine Of Madness That Is Pharmaceutical Compulsory Licensing Under The Trips Agreement And The Doha Declaration, Ashley E. Sperbeck

Marquette Intellectual Property Law Review

A viable economic solution is necessary to address the shortcomings, textual ambiguities, and deficiencies engulfing international patent protection, leading to the inability of LDCs facing public health crises or national emergencies and lacking pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities to obtain generic pharmaceuticals. This Note poses a solution to this problem via another Amendment to the TRIPS Agreement and the Doha Declaration, which provides a mathematical framework to determine when and under what circumstances a compulsory license should be granted. Furthermore, this Note contemplates establishment of a WTO subcommittee to oversee this proposed solution and to ensure compliance with this Amendment. This concrete …

Finding A Forest Through The Trees: Georgia-Pacific As Guidance For Arbitration Of International Compulsory Licensing Disputes, Karen Mckenzie

Marquette Intellectual Property Law Review

This paper will examine the challenges of international compulsory licensing by examining the issue historically and legally as well as offer possible solutions. Thus, this paper will explore the challenge of balancing corporate interests against the affordability and availability of pharmaceuticals by focusing on discrete situations in developing countries, the history of compulsory licensing, and how the World Health Organization (the “WHO”) and the WTO have attempted to tackle these challenges through compulsory licensing, and it will suggest a possible framework for use in arbitration, which balances equities through a Georgia-Pacific analysis.

Protecting Wisconsinites From Trolls: The Federal Circuit's "Bad Faith" Preemption And Its Restrictive Effect, Andrew Salomone

Marquette Intellectual Property Law Review

In this comment, I use Wis. Stat. Ann. § 100.197 (“Wisconsin’s anti-PAE statute”) to demonstrate the significant degree to which the Federal Circuit’s current preemption regime restricts states’ abilities to regulate the behavior of PAEs. In Part II, I summarize Wisconsin’s legislative response to PAEs. In Part III, I contrast the Federal Circuit’s preemption doctrine and the Supreme Court’s doctrine as it relates to state laws similar to anti-PAE statutes. Paying particular attention to Wisconsin’s patent notification statute, I provide a brief preemption analysis in Part IV. Finally, in Part V, I conclude by arguing that the severe consequences of …

One Chuck, Two Chuck: Analyzing Whether Federally Registered Trademarks Should Be Distinguished From Unregistered, Common-Law Trademarks In The Context Of Converse, Inc. V. International Trade Commission, Mckenzie Subart

Marquette Intellectual Property Law Review

This Comment analyzes which trademark model (the pyramid model or the box model) is a better representation and characterization of trademarks and trademark rights. Under the pyramid model, there is one trademark: both common law rights and federal registration rights attach to this single trademark. For the pyramid model, trademark rights resemble a pyramid because federal registration rights build upon the foundation created by common law rights. Common law rights and federal registration rights are interdependent. Under the box model, there is a common-law trademark and a federal trademark: common law rights attach to the common-law trademark, and federal registration …

Making Corporations More Human Through Artificial Intelligence, Michael R. Siebecker

Sturm College of Law: Faculty Scholarship

Can existing corporate fiduciary principles adequately guide officers and directors regarding the proper development and utilization of artificial intelligence ("AI") technologies? What role should AI play in corporate boardrooms? These questions seem especially pressing considering the increasing prevalence of AI throughout a variety of industries in a host of key functions. It should come as little surprise, however, that with the advent of a powerful new technology, important concerns arise regarding the limits on its use and the ends to which it should be directed. Ethicists warn about AI 's lack of moral sensitivity, empathy, and appreciation for human rights. …

The Digital Private Copy Of The Work As A Limitation On The Exclusive Rights Of The Author According To The Uae Copyright Law No. (7) Of 2002., Prof. Mohammad Saad Al Armman

Faculty Peer-Reviewed Papers | بحوث هيئة التدريس المحكمة

The reality of the digital environment has imposed the phenomenon of private copying of works and their exchange, which has made it necessary to review many of the rules governing the process of private reproduction. Practicing the special version in the digital environment is certainly different from its practice for works published in the traditional ways. The technological progress, in all its forms, has led to ease practicing the private version of the author’s works and exploiting them in a way that forms a danger on the author’s copyrights. In the light of the challenges that have become tangible and …

The Digital Private Copy Of The Work As A Limitation On The Exclusive Rights Of The Author According To The Uae Copyright Law No.(7) Of 2002, Dr.Mohammad Saad Al Armman

Faculty Peer-Reviewed Papers | بحوث هيئة التدريس المحكمة

No abstract provided.

Commercial Clicks: Advertising Algorithms As Commercial Speech, Kerri A. Thompson

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

Congressional hearings have finally called for the "right regulation" of social media platforms. The First Amendment, however, has shielded internet companies from regulation since the birth of social media. Even if Congress enacts legislation now, internet companies will be able to defend against the "wrong regulation" by claiming the regulation unconstitutionally limits their freedom of speech. This Article uses Facebook's advertising algorithms as a case study of how Congress can properly regulate Facebook by analyzing the advertising algorithms as commercial speech, which receives less protection under First Amendment jurisprudence. In doing so, Congress can protect the strong public interest in …

Introduction: Professor Randall Thomas’S Depolarizing And Neutral Approach To Shareholder Rights, James D. Cox, Frank Partnoy

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Property, Agency, And The Blockchain: New Technology, And Longstanding Legal Paradigms, Sarah Jane Hughes

Articles by Maurer Faculty

This article, presented first as the keynote address at the February 2019 Symposium “The Emerging Blockchain and the Law” at Wayne State, explores the need for repetitive considerations of how blockchain technology affects our traditional concepts of property and agency. The article concludes that well-tested norms of property and agency may matter more, not less, when new technologies such as blockchain are used.

Developments In The Law Affecting Electronic Payments And Financial Services, Sarah Jane Hughes, Stephen T. Middlebrook, Tom Kierner

Articles by Maurer Faculty

This short article surveys developments in the law affecting electronic payments and financial services from June 1, 2017 to June 1, 2018. During this period, significant developments occurred that affected the regulation of initial coin offerings (ICOs), the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s proposal to issue “special purpose national bank charters” to FinTech companies, the CFPB’s final regulation of prepaid, general-purpose cards, state regulation of payroll cards, and how lawyers taking cryptocurrencies from clients as payment for services or for safekeeping should protect them. The survey also presents newly issued BitLicenses under the New York Department of Financial …

Fixing Ever-Ready: Repairing And Standardizing The Traditional Survey Measure Of Consumer Confusion, Eric D. Derosia

Georgia Law Review

In trademark infringement litigation, courts often rely
on consumer surveys that use the “Ever-Ready” method
to measure consumer confusion. Courts are
understandably careful to scrutinize consumer surveys
for ways in which their methodology might have biased
their results toward the outcome desired by their
proponents. This Article strengthens and improves such
examinations by empirically testing and improving the
Ever-Ready method itself.
The findings of four new empirical studies reported in
this Article indicate the faith placed by the courts in the
Ever-Ready method is somewhat misplaced. Seemingly
subtle variations in the wording of the Ever-Ready
questions have a consistent and …

Direct-To-Consumer Calls To Action: Lowering The Volume Of Claims And Disclosures In Prescription Drug Broadcast Advertisements, Andrew Andrzejewski

Brooklyn Law Review

Pharmaceutical companies advertise drugs directly to consumers via television and radio broadcast commercials, print advertisements, and the internet. Although broadcast advertisements are demonstrably unable to adequately convey risk information, a total ban on them would be too restrictive, and any regulation targeting these advertisements must withstand First Amendment scrutiny. The FDA’s recent attempts to modify its requirements for broadcast advertisements do not overcome these challenges. It is in the best interest of patients, doctors, the drug industry, and the government for Congress to authorize the FDA to regulate broadcast drug advertisements as limited calls to action, consisting of restricted product …

Oil, Gas, And Rhesus Monkeys: A New Framework For Natural Resources Under The Commercial Activity Exception, Madelaine J. Horn

Cornell International Law Journal

The Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act of 1976 (FSIA) constitutes an exception for sovereign states to the normal jurisdictional rules that govern when parties are subject to suit in US courts. The commercial activity provision is a carveout within that broad exception-it deprives sovereign states of their exceptional immunity when they engage in commercial conduct. Within this framework, courts have used the natural resource rule to circumvent the commercial activity carveout and restore immunity to sovereign states. This Note argues that the rule should be abandoned in favor of a much more limited test, thereby increasing the number of sovereign states …

From Skepticism To Reality-The Path To The Convention For The Enforcement Of Mediated Settlements, Deborah Masucci

Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution

The United States Delegation to the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law's ("UNCITRAL") Working Group II submitted a proposal for the Convention for the Enforcement of Mediated Settlements ("Convention") in May 2014. The proposal was met with skepticism. Delegates questioned the necessity of a convention citing past discussions where similar proposals were tabled. Some commentators went so far as to call the proposal the "Mediators Full Employment Act." Despite the pushback, the Working Group II decided to proceed with discussions to determine what a convention would look like while gathering more information from business users about the need for …

Scènes À Faire In Music: How An Old Defense Is Maturing, And How It Can Be Improved, Torrean Edwards

Marquette Intellectual Property Law Review

First, this Comment will provide background on the test for copyright infringement used by the Fourth, Eighth, and Ninth Circuits. Second, the Comment will address what scènes à faire is and how recent cases have treated scènes à faire in music. Third and finally, the Comment will offer a suggestion as to a proper scènes à faire determination and analyze how scènes à faire should be applied.

Experimenting With State-Enacted Resale Rights, Guy A. Rub

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Soft And Hard Strategies: The Role Of Business In The Crafting Of International Commercial Law, Susan Block-Lieb

Michigan Journal of International Law

What motivates the choice between hard and soft law in the drafting of international commercial law, and what role does business play in the preference between the two? Broad disagreement exists in international law (IL) commentary as to motivations for reliance on soft international law. Traditionally, this commentary cast a wide gaze across both international public and private law, but debate about the use of hard or soft law is sharpened by focusing exclusively on international commercial lawmaking. Traditionally, IL commentary considered only on states' interests in crafting international law and ignored business interests. But recent scholarship has begun to …

Fraud, Letters Of Credit, And The Uniform Commercial Code: It Is Time To Untether The Independence Principle, Richard Flint

Faculty Articles

The purpose of this Article is to evaluate the efficacy of the fraud exception to the independence principle in letters of credit law in the case of both commercial and standby letters of credit. In doing so, a primary focus will be to identify which of the various parties to a letter of credit transaction the present fraud exception "protects" and to evaluate the policy justifications for why these persons are viewed by the law to be eligible recipients of protection.

The Rise Of Business Trusts In Sustainable Neo-Innovative Economies, Lee-Ford Tritt, Ryan Scott Teschner

UF Law Faculty Publications

This Article is organized as follows: Part I provides a basic understanding of business trusts in the United States. Next, Part II explores the differences between business trusts in the United States and those in Singapore. Finally, Part III discusses how historical and cultural influences may have shaped the success—or lack thereof—of the business trust form in Singapore and in the United States.

More Steps Toward Fully Electronic Interbank Check Collection And Return: Amendments To Federal Reserve Board Regulation Cc And A Regulatory Resolution Of A Circuit Split, Sarah Jane Hughes

Articles by Maurer Faculty

This article analyzes two actions in 2017 and 2018, respectively, by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System that amend Regulation CC, which governs expedited deposit availability and collection of checks generally and implements the Expedited Funds Availability Act of 1987 and the Check Clearing for the 21st Century Act of 2003. It selects examples from the two sets of amendments that highlight regulatory strategies being used by the Board to facilitate faster payments through the movement of electronic images of checks or electronic information among banks in the check-collection process. Those strategies involve creation of new forms …

High On Federalism: Marijuana's Challenge To Federal-State Relations, Ilya Shapiro, Matthew Larosiere

Kentucky Journal of Equine, Agriculture, & Natural Resources Law

No abstract provided.

Don't Forget To Subscribe: Regulation Of Online Advertising Evaluated Through Youtube's Monetization Problem, Nicole E. Pottinger

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Calling A Spade, A Spade: Infirmities Facing Bump Stock Regulation Under The National Firearms Act, William Tyler Gilbert

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Do Heads Roll?: An Empirical Analysis Of Ceo Turnover And Pay When The Corporation Is Federally Prosecuted, Brandon L. Garrett, Nan Li, Shivaram Rajgopal

Faculty Scholarship

Does the criminal prosecution of a corporation affect the CEO? Or do criminal actions directed at the organization itself pose few consequences for the individuals at the top, and the CEO in particular? While CEO’s are rarely themselves prosecuted, organizations could discipline CEO’s through paycuts or outright replacing the CEO in response to a criminal prosecution. We sought to examine whether and how that occurs. We focus our analysis on a dataset of public companies that settled criminal cases brought by federal prosecutors from 2001 to 2014. We compared those companies to a matched control group, focusing on CEO compensation …

Citizen Capitalism: How A Universal Fund Can Provide Influence And Income To All (2019), Lynn A. Stout, Sergio Gramitto, Tamara Belinfanti

Books

Corporations have a huge influence on the life of every citizen--this book offers a visionary but practical plan to give every citizen a say in how corporations are run while also gaining some supplemental income. It lays out a clear approach that uses the mechanisms of the private market to hold corporations accountable to the public.

This would happen through the creation of what the authors call the Universal Fund, a kind of national, democratic, mega mutual fund. Every American over eighteen would be entitled to a share and would participate in directing its share voting choices. Corporations and wealthy …