Internet Law Commons^™

Hybrid Ip Rights For Software, Apis, And Guis: Understanding Copyright's Paradigm Shift, Howard Skaist

Catholic University Journal of Law and Technology

The non-literal scope of protection for software is intricate legally and is intricate technical. Thus, despite literally decades of court decisions and a mountain of legal scholar written on the subject in that time, it appears that there is still no consistent agreement about it, as evidenced by the Google v. Oracle which has percolated in the courts for nearly a decade and is now being heard by the US Supreme Court (oral argument was on October 7, 2020). However, the thesis of this article that a legal construct is capable of being formulated that is analytically consistent and that …

Table Of Contents, Editor-In- Chief

Catholic University Journal of Law and Technology

No abstract provided.

Conundra Of The Berne Convention Concept Of The Country Of Origin, Jane C. Ginsburg

Faculty Scholarship

This essay explores one of the most important, but occasionally intractable, issues under the Berne Convention, the concept of Country of Origin. Article 5(4) of that treaty defines a work’s country of origin, but leaves out several situations, leaving those who interpret and apply the treaty without guidance in ascertaining the country of origin. I will call those situations the “Conundra of the country of origin,” and will explore two of them here. First, what is the country of origin of an unpublished work whose authors are nationals of different countries? Second, what is the country of origin of a …

Trump’S Twitter Tension: Is Social Media A Modern Restriction On Government Employees?, Caylee Phillips

SMU Science and Technology Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Death Of The Ai Author, Carys Craig, Ian Kerr

Articles & Book Chapters

Much of the recent literature on AI and authorship asks whether an increasing sophistication and independence of generative code should cause us to rethink embedded assumptions about the meaning of authorship. It is often suggested that recognizing the authored — and so copyrightable — nature of AI-generated works may require a less profound doctrinal leap than has historically been assumed. In this essay, we argue that the threshold for authorship does not depend on the evolution or state of the art in AI or robotics. Rather, the very notion of AI-authorship rests on a category mistake: it is an error …

Eu Directive On Copyright In The Digital Single Market: An Outlier In Intermediary Liability And The Death Of Safe Harbor Protections, Marisa N. Sanchez

University of San Francisco Law Review

No abstract provided.

Table Of Contents, Seattle University Law Review

Seattle University Law Review

Table of Contents

What's In Your Box? Removing The Tiffany Standard Of Knowledge In Online Marketplaces, Hayley Dunn

Catholic University Journal of Law and Technology

Online shopping is a quintessential component of modern life. Millions of products from trusted brands are conveniently available at single-stop online marketplaces such as Amazon, eBay, and Alibaba with the click of a button from the comfort of home. But is the product delivered to the consumer’s front door actually the same as the one found on a store shelf? Pervasive trademark infringement in online marketplaces makes the answer to this question difficult, that is, until the consumer experiences negative consequences from a counterfeited product.

Under Tiffany (NJ) Inc. v. eBay, Inc., online marketplaces face almost no liability …

Bertillonage In An Age Of Surveillance: Fourth Amendment Regulation Of Facial Recognition Technologies, David C. Gray

SMU Science and Technology Law Review

The Fourth Amendment is a closed hydraulic system. As a general rule, if government conduct is deemed a “search” under the Fourth Amendment, then agents must secure a warrant from a detached and neutral magistrate before engaging in that conduct. There are exceptions, of course, but they just shift the pressure into another valve. Officers who conduct searches based on their own initiative must show not only probable cause, but also good reasons why, in their circumstances, they were not required to get a warrant.

One consequence of these Fourth Amendment hydraulics is a reluctance on the part of the …

Covid-19: Legal Framework For Vaccine Distributions And Mandates, Dana B. Taschner, Ashley Atwood

SMU Science and Technology Law Review

The COVID-19 pandemic has created heightened turmoil for at-risk populations, solidified laws allowing the use of mask mandates, raised legal issues surrounding vaccine mandates, and presented the new issue of a vaccine passport. As a nation, we have failed to implement vaccination schemes that properly protect vulnerable populations. Specifically, the homeless population has been overlooked, creating an additional layer of hardship, and contributing to greater community spread. This article contemplates the various methods by which an equitable vaccination scheme could have been achieved and the division of powers that created complications.

Additionally, the legality of vaccine mandates is discussed, and …

The Art Of Dodging Bullets: How Covid-19 Drug Manufacturers And Providers Plan To Escape Tort Liability, Ruan Meintjes

SMU Science and Technology Law Review

No abstract provided.

Signed, Sealed, Patented?: A Look At The United States Postal Service’S Patent Application For Implementing Blockchain Technology In Mobile Voting Systems, Ethan Todd

SMU Science and Technology Law Review

No abstract provided.

Front Matter

SMU Science and Technology Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Communitarian Deficit In The Usa: Three Telling Cases, Amitai Etzioni

SMU Science and Technology Law Review

Liberal communitarianism suggests that the balance between individual rights and the common good must be adjusted as historical conditions change. Much attention has been paid to violations of rights, e.g., by the police, for good reasons. This Article examines three new technologies that undermine public safety, a key common good, and asks whether they should be banned. The 2020 pandemic revealed that scores of millions of Americans objected, not merely to government mandates to take measures that are likely to spare fellow Americans a severe disease or death, but even to respond to moral calls, especially wearing a mask. This …

Copyright, Pandemics, And Emergencies: When Desperate Times Dictate Contextual Responses, Caroline L. Osborne

SMU Science and Technology Law Review

This article explores fair use, the library exception, the first sale doctrine, and controlled digital lending as responses to copyright in the context of permitting libraries to digitize materials existing exclusively in print in their collection for use in teaching, research, and scholarship by students, faculty, and other patrons. Also included is a decision matrix to be employed as a tool for analysis in making the decisions as to digitization of print resources in response to instances of emergencies.

Uncovering The “Realness” Of Cgi Influencers, Samantha Favela

SMU Science and Technology Law Review

No abstract provided.

Front Matter

SMU Science and Technology Law Review

No abstract provided.

Q: Can Booking.Com Be Trademarked? A: Booking.Yeah, Samantha Favela

SMU Science and Technology Law Review

By choosing a generic Internet domain as a brand name, that brand can hit the Internet jackpot. But the popularity and use of a generic domain name creates tension with trademark law. While companies want to be easily found on the Internet, they also want to protect themselves from competitors. This Case Note argues that the Supreme Court’s ruling in United States Patent & Trademark Office v. Booking.com B.V. is the best possible outcome in protecting brand’s rights and balancing trademark law principles. Through the analysis of past cases, the Supreme Court decision in Booking.com itself, and trademark law principles, …

The Fifth Circuit, Fourth Amendment, And The Third-Party Doctrine: Two Takeaways From The Court’S First Ruling On Bitcoin Privacy, Daniel Penn

SMU Science and Technology Law Review

No abstract provided.

"Because It Is Wrong": An Essay On The Immorality And Illegality Of The Online Service Contracts Of Google And Facebook, Preston M. Torbert

Journal of Law, Technology, & the Internet

This essay argues that the behavioral-advertising business model under which an internet platform, such as Google or Facebook, provides free services in exchange for the user’s personal data is immoral and illegal. It is immoral because it relies on addiction, surveillance, and manipulation of the user to deplete the user’s autonomy. The contract between the company and the user is immoral. It can also be plausibly argued that the contract is illegal under California law because it is contrary to good morals, is unconscionable, and is against public policy. As society becomes more aware of these moral and legal defects, …

Beyond Transparency And Accountability: Three Additional Features Algorithm Designers Should Build Into Intelligent Platforms, Peter K. Yu

Faculty Scholarship

In the age of artificial intelligence, innovative businesses are eager to deploy intelligent platforms to detect and recognize patterns, predict customer choices and shape user preferences. Yet such deployment has brought along the widely documented problems of automated systems, including coding errors, corrupt data, algorithmic biases, accountability deficits and dehumanizing tendencies. In response to these problems, policymakers, commentators and consumer advocates have increasingly called on businesses seeking to ride the artificial intelligence wave to build transparency and accountability into algorithmic designs.

While acknowledging these calls for action and appreciating the benefits and urgency of building transparency and accountability into algorithmic …

Ai And Copyright, Carys Craig

All Papers

This chapter examines the most pertinent issues facing copyright law as it encounters increasingly sophisticated artificial intelligence (AI). It begins with a few introductory examples to illuminate the potential interactions of AI and copyright law. Section 1 tackles the question of whether AI-generated works are copyrightable in Canada and who, if anyone, might own that copyright. This involves a doctrinal discussion of “originality” (the threshold for copyrightability) as well as reflections on the meaning of “authorship,” and concludes with the suggestion that autonomously generated AI outputs presently (and rightly) belong in the public domain. Section 2 turns to consider issues …

Take The Airwaves And Run: How A Loophole In The Copyright Laws Is Helping Competitors Gain An Advantage In The Name Of Public Interest, Mario Romero

FIU Law Review

No abstract provided.

A Tale Of Two Interoperabilities; Or, How Google V. Oracle Could Become Social Media Legislation, Charles Duan

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

The Supreme Court'srecent decision in Google LLC v. Oracle America, Inc. has provided the latest word on an issue that many have described as "interoperability," and it comes at a time when lawmakers around the world are debating a policy called "interoperability" with respect to majorInternetplatforms. At first glance, these two similarly named policy conversations copyright protection of software interfaces and interconnection among competing Internet platforms, respectively have little to do with each other. Yet they are vitally intertwined: the activities and issues featured in Google are so closely linked to the questions of digital competition that interoperability reforms directed …

Storming Zuckerberg’S Castle, Anupam Chander

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

A company’s server is its castle, Richard Epstein once declared. Because of this, anyone sending an email to that server needs permission to enter. Within its own logic, this seems incontrovertible, but it depends on a few logical steps worth unpacking. It begins with the premise that a man’s home is his castle. (The masculine pronoun in the early formulation seems relevant.) Let us accept that premise for the purpose of argument. Combining this premise with the investiture of legal personhood on a corporation, we might then deduce that a company’s home must be its castle. Finally, combining that …

Easing The Burdens Of A Patchwork Approach To Data Privacy Regulation In Favor Of A Singular Comprehensive International Solution—The International Data Privacy Agreement, Scott Resnick

Brooklyn Journal of International Law

Data privacy has become one of the premier hot-button issues in today’s increasingly digital human experience. Legislatures around the globe have attempted to act swiftly in an effort to safeguard the highly coveted personal information of their citizens and combat misuse at the hands of international businesses operating with an online presence. Since the European Union’s enactment of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in 2018, countries around the globe have been grappling with how best to replicate the EU’s leading data privacy regulation while providing the same or greater level of transparency into data collection practices. While a mere …

The Ftc And Ai Governance: A Regulatory Proposal, Michael Spiro

Seattle Journal of Technology, Environmental, & Innovation Law

No abstract provided.

News Reporting On Trump's Covid-19 Treatments: Should Broadcasters Have To Disclose Their Being Potentially Dangerous?, Dr. Joel Timmer

Washington Journal of Law, Technology & Arts

During the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, President Trump touted a number of treatments that many medical professionals considered dangerous. These treatments include hydroxychloroquine and disinfectants, which if misused could cause a patient’s death. This prompted Free Press to file an emergency petition with the FCC, arguing that broadcasters who report on Trump’s claims about these treatments without highlighting their dangers could be in violation of the Commission’s broadcast hoax rule. Free Press also requested the FCC require that broadcasters include disclaimers when reporting on such claims. This article examines whether the broadcast hoax rule has been …

Table Of Contents

Washington Journal of Law, Technology & Arts

No abstract provided.

Information Crossroads: Intersection Of Military And Civilian Interpretations Of Cyber Attack And Defense, Carlos Plazas

The University of Cincinnati Intellectual Property and Computer Law Journal

No abstract provided.