Contracts Commons^™

Resolving Self-Driving Car Patent Conflicts: Arbitration In Waymo V. Uber And Future Autonomous Vehicle Patent Disputes, Ilya Gorelik

Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution

Waymo and Uber should have entered into a mutually agreed upon arbitration agreement to resolve their patent claims, and future conflicting self-driving car developers should consider doing the same. Uber was already willing to enter arbitration, and while Waymo resisted being forced into arbitration in the past, it would have the opportunity to influence the terms of the arrangement. Arbitration would benefit both Waymo and future patent holders, as well as Uber and future parties accused of patent infringement, as it would provide a cheaper alternative to litigating those claims while also keeping the procedure more confidential, providing Waymo a …

Ride Oversharing: Privacy Regulation Within The Gig Economy, Casey Thomas

Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Data Collection And The Regulatory State, Hillary Green, James Cooper, Ahmed Ghappour, Felix Wu

Articles

The following remarks were given on January 27, 2017 during the Connecticut Law Review's symposium, "Privacy, Security & Power: The State of Digital Surveillance."

Pre-Embryo Custody Battles: How Predisposition Contracts Could Be The Winning Solution, Ashley Alenick

Cardozo Law Review

The note examines the legal disputes arising from the disposition of frozen preembryos during divorce, highlighting the lack of consensus among U.S. courts in resolving such cases. It evaluates three legal approaches—constitutional analysis, contemporaneous agreement, and predisposition contracts—and argues that enforcing predisposition contracts, akin to prenuptial agreements, offers the most structured solution. However, the note emphasizes the need for procedural and substantive fairness in these contracts to ensure they are voluntary, fully disclosed, and do not unjustly prevent genetic parenthood.

Property Interests In Digital Assets: The Rise Of Digital Feudalism, Natalie M. Banta

Cardozo Law Review

The emergence of digital assets has created a host of new legal questions regarding their status as a property interest. Digital assets consist of intangible interests like e-mail accounts, social media accounts, reward points, and electronic media. These assets seem like a property interest, but because digital assets are a creature of contract, private contracts determine whether an owner can use, sell, transfer, exclude, donate, or dispose of the asset in a testamentary instrument. These digital asset contracts often take an unprecedented step of prohibiting or severely limiting the transfer of digital assets after death. By unilaterally eviscerating a long …

Calculating Artists’ Royalty: An Analysis Of The Courts’ Dualistic Interpretations Of Recording Contracts Negotiated In A Pre-Digital Age, Nina Aragon

Cardozo Law Review de•novo

This Note examines the disparity in the courts’ rulings in the Malmsteen and F.B.T. cases, specifically the different ways in which each court interpreted the contractual language of the parties’ preInternet recording agreements, and their application of royalty rates. Part I of this Note provides an overview of the royalty structure used to compute royalty rates for compact discs (CDs). Part I discusses on the economic effects of switching to a digital distribution system, the sales versus license distinction, and the principles relied on by the courts to interpret pre-Internet contracts. Part II of this Note examines the courts’ rulings …

Hollywood Accounting: Profit Participation And The Use Of Mediation As A Mode Of Resolving These Disputes, Eric Strum

Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution

This Note proposes that the entertainment industry employ mediation to resolve profit participation disputes. Section II of this Note focuses on profit participation agreements through their history and their legal context. Section III provides a discussion of the arbitration and litigation of participation claims, as well as their weaknesses. In Section IV, this Note proposes the use of mediation in handling claims in the entertainment industry and a new model of mediation that would best serve profit participation disputes. With the engagement of mediation, profit participation lawsuits can be handled in the most effective and fair way for both the …

Why Arbitration Clauses May Make Sense In Cyber Insurance Policies, Andrew Nadolna, Adrienne Publicover, Daniel Garrie

Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution

In this Article, we will argue that policyholders should ask for an arbitration clause in their cyber policies and negotiate over the terms. We will also argue that insurers should offer more options in this space. In this regard, modular arbitration clauses can prove useful for both sides and lead to an effective dispute resolution mechanism for dealing with what may turn out to be a flood of cyber coverage disputes.

We will start with a discussion of the principal objections policyholders often have to mandatory arbitration clauses. Then we will discuss why some of these objections may cut differently …

Independent Contractors Or Employees? Why Mediation Should Be Utilized By Uber And Its Drivers To Solve The Mystery Of How To Define Working Individuals In A Sharing Economy Business Model, Ethan Rubin

Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution

In an effort to do so, each section of this Note will address a different issue of the ongoing disputes between Uber and its drivers and suggest potential solutions for both parties. Section II focuses on the differences between Uber and its drivers' points of view on whether Uber drivers should be considered employees or independent contractors via National Labor Relations Board ("NLRB") terminology. Section III discusses why it is difficult to label Uber and its drivers under traditional employment law terminology, as well as failures to do so through negotiation, litigation, and arbitration. Section IV proposes that with an …

Introductions, Melanie B. Leslie

Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Authenticity Debacle: Why Art Authentication And Litigation Don't Mix, Andrea Sobolewski

Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Panel 1: Perspectives On Transactions In Comic Books, David Gallaher, Larry Hama, Lillian Laserson, Matthew Tynan, Thomas Crowell

Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Panel 2: Comic Book Jurisprudence With Q&A, Karen Berger, Lillian Laserson, Paul Levitz, Robert Sikoryak, Brett Frischmann

Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Reasonable Standards For Contract Interpretations Under The Cisg, Donald J. Smythe

Cardozo Journal of International and Comparative Law

The United Nations ("UN") Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Good ("CISG") offers the promise of harmonizing international sales law and facilitating international trade and global commerce. But there is a "homeward trend bias" that may encourage domestic courts to construe the gaps in the CISG broadly and fill them with non-uniform domestic legal rules. Questions about contract interpretation under the CISG raise the same concerns about a homeward trend bias as questions about the interpretation of express CISG provisions. The CISG has express provisions governing contract interpretation but their application may not provide an unambiguous interpretation. This …

A Comparative Study Of Party Autonomy And Its Limitations In International Contracts, Sarah Laval

Cardozo Journal of International and Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Sharing Risk In The Sharing Economy: Insurance Regulation In The Age Of Uber, Alexander B. Traum

Cardozo Public Law, Policy & Ethics Journal

No abstract provided.

2016 Cardozo Public Law, Policy, And Ethics Journal Symposium

Cardozo Public Law, Policy & Ethics Journal

No abstract provided.

Do Community Benefits Agreements Benefit Communities?, Edward W. De Barbieri

Cardozo Law Review

Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) campaigns and public discussions about community benefits are becoming the norm in deciding how large urban projects are built outside of formal public land use approvals. CBAs have revolutionized land use approvals for large, public-private economic development projects: now developers and coalitions representing low-income communities can settle their disputes before formal project approval. As a result, CBAs are now commonplace nationwide.

Legal scholarship, however, has failed to keep up with these important developments. This Article aims to do just that by examining how CBAs, when properly negotiated, lower transaction costs, enhance civic participation, and protect taxpayers. …

Bitcoin And The Uniform Commercial Code, Jeanne L. Schroeder

Articles

Much of the discussion of bitcoin in the popular press has concentrated on its status as a currency. Putting aside a vocal minority of radical libertarians and anarchists, however, many bitcoin enthusiasts are concentrating on how its underlying technology – the blockchain – can be put to use for wide variety of uses. For example, economists at the Fed and other central banks have suggested that they should encourage the evolution of bitcoin’s blockchain protocol which might allow financial transactions to clear much efficiently than under our current systems. As such, it also holds out the possibility of becoming that …

Panel 1: Issues In The U.S. For Chinese Businesses, Cindy Yang, Jamie D. Underwood, Mark Cohen

Cardozo Journal of International and Comparative Law

The symposium examines the bidirectional intellectual property (IP) challenges between the U.S. and China, highlighting that while Chinese businesses face significant IP issues in the U.S., American companies also encounter complexities in China. The discussion emphasizes the evolving nature of IP litigation in both countries, with a focus on fashion and brand protection. Panelists provide insights into strategies for navigating these challenges, including the use of design patents, trademarks, and trade dress, as well as the role of administrative bodies like the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC).

Scratching The Seven-Year Itch: A Call To Reform California Labor Code Section 2855(B), Alyssa Kaplun

Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Introductions, Matthew Diller

Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Content Creators, Virtual Goods: Who Owns Virtual Property?, Kenneth W. Eng

Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Adult Entertainment Film Contracts: To Enforce Or Not To Enforce?, Elizabeth Lin

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

The note argues that adult entertainment film contracts should be enforceable, as the consideration—whether in the form of performance, waiver of privacy, or sexual intercourse—meets legal standards. It posits that evolving social norms and legal precedents, such as the legalization of adult entertainment and the enforceability of cohabitation agreements, support the validity of these contracts, despite historical opposition due to public policy concerns.

The Continuing Battle Over Economically Targeted Investments: An Analysis Of The Department Of Labor's Interpretative Bulletin 2015-01, Edward A. Zelinsky

Articles

In Interpretive Bulletin 2015-01 (IB 2015-01), the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) renewed the now two-decades old battle over “economically targeted investments” (ETIs). As a matter of statutory interpretation, IB 2015-01, like its predecessors, is unpersuasive. The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) requires plan trustees to invest “solely” to provide participants’ retirement benefits. A trustee who invests in ETIs violates this statutory obligation by pursuing collateral economic benefits for persons other than plan participants. As a matter of policy, the social investing which ETIs exemplify is unsound. At best, such social investing in practice merely shuffles investment …

The Green To Blue Pipeline: Defense Contractors And The Police Industrial Complex, Karena Rahall

Cardozo Law Review

Images of police in tactical gear, pointing automatic weapons at unarmed demonstrators in Ferguson, Missouri, represented a flashpoint in public awareness that American police are rapidly militarizing. Federal grants have been quietly arming police with tanks, drones, and uniforms more suited to waging war than patrolling the streets. As police have acquired more military gear, Special Weapons and Tactics teams and deployments have proliferated. Even small towns receive surplus military materiel to fight the "wars" on drugs and terrorism. In addition, police training uses a military approach that threatens to transform the traditional police mandate of protecting and serving into …

Chevron For Juries, William Ortman

Cardozo Law Review

Chevron U.S.A., Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. rests on two now-familiar premises. First, for some statutes, the traditional tools of statutory interpretation more readily yield a range of plausible meanings than a single correct reading. Second, judges are not always the officials best positioned to select one interpretation of a statute from among the plausible options. Chevron relied on these premises to decide that when a court finds ambiguity in a statute administered by an agency, it must defer to the agency's interpretation of the statute, so long as it is reasonable. But while administrative law provided a …

Crowdfunding Human Capital Contracts, Max Vogel

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Contractual Family: The Role Of The Market In Shaping Family Formations And Rights, Deborah Zalesne

Cardozo Law Review

Even with federal recognition of marriage equality and the increasing number of states that allow same-sex marriage, marriage is not available or not desirable to everyone. Yet marriage remains a prerequisite to many legal protections. Despite the popularity and prevalence of alternative reproductive technologies (ART) as a means of having a child when natural childbirth is not feasible, biology similarly remains a prerequisite to many legal protections and rights over one's children. Within this paradigm, the ever-growing number of families and couples not fitting the traditional mold are forced to search other areas of the law, such as contract law, …

Dispute Resolution Clauses In International Sponsored Research Contracts, Dennis Lazarev

Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution

Pharmaceutical companies are the greatest non-governmental sponsors of biomedical research in academia. Increasingly they sponsor foreign entities, typically universities or non-commercial research institutions. Another type of cross-border sponsorship occurs when two research institutions engage in a collaborative research effort. In either case disputes may arise. The most common types of disputes are the rights to the intellectual property developed in the course of sponsored research, and the scope of research activities that an agreement covers. Parties to these cross-border sponsorship arrangements have rarely incorporated dispute resolution clause in their contracts. This Article will argue that arbitrationis an approach far superior …