Commercial Law Commons^™

Information Wars And The Challenges Of Content Protection In Digital Contexts, Raymond T. Nimmer

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

We are in the midst of a fundamental conflict in law and policy between those who favor maintaining and expanding copyright and related rights in the digital context ("rights enhancers"), and those who favor letting rights atrophy ("rights restrictors'). This Article argues that strong intellectual property rights are essential. At minimum, they are important to support creativity in contexts where the creation, collection, or distribution of the content requires substantial investment of time and resources. The case for allowing creators' rights to weaken is both untested and structurally suspect. Copyright law must construct a balance that fully supports creative activity …

Current Jurisdictional And Recognitional Issues In The Conflict Of Laws, Vaughan Black, Joost Blom

All Faculty Publications

In honour of the 40th Consumer and Commercial Law Workshop and the 50th volume of the Canadian Business Law Journal we have been asked to provide a retrospective of developments in the conflict of laws that highlights emerging issues. We have chosen to present it in a conversational fashion in which each of us presents a perspective and the other two offer their comments.

Defining Civil Disputes: Lessons From Two Jurisdictions, Elizabeth Thornburg, Camille Cameron

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

Court systems have adopted a variety of mechanisms to narrow the issues in dispute and expedite litigation. This article analyses the largely unsuccessful attempts in two jurisdictions - the United States and Australia - to achieve early and efficient issue identification in civil disputes. Procedures that rely on pleadings to provide focus have failed for centuries, from the common (English) origins of these two systems to their divergent modern paths. Case management practices that are developing in the United States and Australia offer greater promise in the continuing quest for early, efficient dispute definition. Based on a historical and contemporary …

Advertising Law And Regulation, Chao-Hung Christopher Chen

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

No abstract provided.

Advertising Law And Regulation By Giles Crown, Oliver Bray And Rupert Earle [Book Review], Christopher Chao-Hung Chen

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

No abstract provided.

Rethinking The Laws Of Good Faith Purchase, Alan Schwartz, Robert E. Scott

Faculty Scholarship

This Essay is a comparative economic analysis of the disparate doctrines governing the good faith purchase of stolen or misappropriated goods. We argue that prior treatments have misconceived the problem. An owner will take optimal precautions to prevent theft if she is faced with the loss of her goods; and a purchaser will make an optimal investigation into his seller's title if faced with the loss of the goods. An owner and a buyer cannot both be faced with the full loss, however. This presents a problem of "double moral hazard" and it cannot be solved in a first-best efficient …

Electronic Chattel Paper: Invitation Accepted, Jane K. Winn

Articles

In 1999, Revised U.C.C. Article 9 governing secured lending was updated to permit the creation of "electronic chattel paper" ("ECP"). Traditional chattel paper is used widely in some sectors of the US economy to finance equipment purchases in part because a chattel paper financers who perfects by taking possession can achieve priority over a pre-existing secured lender who perfected by filing. Revised U.C.C. § 9-105 defined a new form of "control" over ECP that would be treated as equivalent to possession of traditional chattel paper, permitting chattel paper financers to retain their superpriority status with electronic documents.

Because chattel paper …

Alteration Of The Contractual Equilibrium Under The Unidroit Principles, Amin Dawwas

Pace International Law Review Online Companion

This paper addresses the principles of hardship and specific performance as being unreasonably burdensome or expensive both in terms of their definitions and legal consequences. This paper argues that, in a situation of hardship, the debtor can choose to invoke either the rules of section 6.2 (hardship) or the defense to specific performance under Article 7.2.2-b of the UNIDROIT Principles of International Commercial Contracts (“UNIDROIT Principles”). Yet, while in a situation where performance of the contract becomes “unreasonably burdensome or expensive,” the debtor might only invoke the exception to specific performance under Article 7.2.2(b) of the UNIDROIT Principles.

What Is The Impact Of Liquor Licensing Laws On Portland’S Entertainment Venues? A Case Study, Will Etheridge

Muskie School Capstones and Dissertations

In January 2009, Port City Music Hall in Portland, Maine was preparing to open its doors to the public for the first time. With a capacity for nearly six hundred attendees, Port City Music Hall was designed to attract national touring acts to Portland too big for the bar scene, but not suited for the Merrill Auditorium or Cumberland Civic Center. With the State Theatre still shuttered at the time, this new venue hoped to fill an important niche in the city’s creative economy, bringing a diverse array of performers that would not otherwise be able to find a viable …

The Rise Of Computerized High Frequency Trading: Use And Controversy, Michael J. Mcgowan

Duke Law & Technology Review

Over the last decade, there has been a dramatic shift in how securities are traded in the capital markets. Utilizing supercomputers and complex algorithms that pick up on breaking news, company/stock/economic information and price and volume movements, many institutions now make trades in a matter of microseconds, through a practice known as high frequency trading. Today, high frequency traders have virtually phased out the "dinosaur" floor-traders and average investors of the past. With the recent attempted robbery of one of these high frequency trading platforms from Goldman Sachs this past summer, this "rise of the machines" has become front page …

Standardization Of Standard-Form Contracts: Competition And Contract Implications, Mark R. Patterson

William & Mary Law Review

Standard-form contracts are a common feature of commercial relationships because they offer the advantage of lower transaction costs. This advantage of standard contracts is increased when there is a second layer of standardization under which multiple firms agree on a standard contract. Trade associations and similar entities often effect standardization of this kind through collective agreement on a standard contract, sometimes under the aegis of state actors. Multifirm contract standardization can provide not only the usual transaction-cost advantages of standard-form contracts, but also increased competition among firms, because a standard contract makes comparison among firms’ offerings easier. But standardization among …

Resolving The Dilemma Of Nonjusticiable Causation In Failure-To-Warn Litigation, Neil B. Cohen, Aaron Twerski

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Reinventing Usefulness, Michael Risch

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Brands, Competition, And The Law, Deven R. Desai, Spencer Waller

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Beyond Search Costs: The Linguistic And Trust Functions Of Trademarks, Ariel Katz

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Transforming The Allocation Of Deal Risk Through Reverse Termination Fees, Afra Afsharipour

Vanderbilt Law Review

Acquisition agreements are peppered with various provisions designed to mitigate, allocate, or address the ramifications of deal risk. The potential for deal risk is particularly pronounced in acquisition transactions involving public companies, which generally entail a significant interim period between the date of the signing of the acquisition agreement and the date of the completion of the transaction. Allocation of deal risk is a vital component of deals where millions, if not billions, of dollars are at stake for buyers and sellers, as well as their shareholders and stakeholders. Perhaps the most obvious deal risk is of one party abandoning …

The Costs Of Liquidity Enhancement: Transparency, Risk Alteration And Coordination Problems, Edward J. Janger

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Known And Unknown, Property And Contract: Comments On Hoofnagle And Moringiello, James Grimmelmann

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

In addition to gerund-noun-noun titles and a concern with the misaligned incentives of businesses that handle consumers' financial data, Chris Hoofnagle's Internalizing Identity Theft and Juliet Moringiello's Warranting Data Security share something else: hidden themes. Hoofnagle's paper is officially about an empirical study of identity theft, but behind the scenes it's also an exploration of where we draw the line between public information shared freely and secret information used to authenticate individuals. Moringiello's paper is officially a proposal for a new warranty of secure handling of payment information, but under the surface, it invites us to think about the relationship …

Pro & Con: Should Congress Adopt A New Tax Credit For Buying A Home? Yes: No Recovery Is Possible If Homeowners Lose Their Homes, Jessica D. Gabel

Faculty Publications By Year

No abstract provided.

Section 4: Business, Institute Of Bill Of Rights Law, William & Mary Law School

Supreme Court Preview

No abstract provided.