Science and Technology Law Commons^™

Geneva Statement On Heritable Human Genome Editing: The Need For Course Correction, Roberto Andorno, Francoise Baylis, Marcy Darnovsky, Donna Dickenson, Hille Haker, Katie Hasson, Leah Lowthorp, George J. Annas, Catherine Bourgain, Katherine Drabiak, Sigrid Graumann, Katrin Grüber, Matthias Kaiser, David King, Regine Kollek, Calum Mackellar, Jing-Bao Nie, Osagie K. Obasogie, Mirriam Tyebally Fang, Gabriele Werner-Felmayer, Jana Zuscinova

Faculty Scholarship

As public interest advocates, policy experts, bioethicists, and scientists, we call for a course correction in public discussions about heritable human genome editing. Clarifying misrepresentations, centering societal consequences and concerns, and fostering public empowerment will support robust, global public engagement and meaningful deliberation about altering the genes of future generations.

Gdpr And The Importance Of Data To Ai Startups, James Bessen, Stephen Michael Impink, Lydia Reichensperger, Robert Seamans

Faculty Scholarship

What is the impact of the European Union’s General Data Protection Regime (“GDPR”) and data regulation on AI startups? How important is data to AI product development? We study these questions using unique survey data of commercial AI startups. AI startups rely on data for their product development. Given the scale and scope of their business models, these startups are particularly susceptible to policy changes impacting data collection, storage and use. We find that training data and frequent model refreshes are particularly important for AI startups that rely on neural nets and ensemble learning algorithms. We also find that firms …

Navajo Nation V. United States Department Of The Interior, Adam W. Johnson

Public Land & Resources Law Review

The Navajo Nation sued the United States government alleging the government breached its trust obligation over the allocation of water rights in the Colorado River Basin. On remand, the district court denied the Navajo Nation leave to file its third amended complaint for futility, holding that the general trust relationship was insufficient to support the Nation’s breach of trust claim.

The Danger Of Facial Recognition In Our Children’S Classrooms, Nila Bala

Duke Law & Technology Review

No abstract provided.

Reinvesting In Rico With Cryptocurrencies: Using Cryptocurrency Networks To Prove Rico’S Enterprise Requirement, Andrew Robert Klimek

Washington and Lee Law Review

This Note received the 2019 Roy L. Steinheimer Law Review Award.

This Note argues that the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) may be suited to cryptocurrency prosecutions. RICO subsection 1962(a) addresses the infiltration of an enterprise by investing proceeds from racketeering activities and this Note contends that a cryptocurrency network could serve as the “enterprise” required by the statute. Instead of having to investigate and prove the relationships in an underlying criminal enterprise, proponents of a RICO case against crypto-criminals could rely on well-documented and publicly available information about the cryptocurrency network to prove the enterprise and the …

Secret Conviction Programs, Meghan J. Ryan

Washington and Lee Law Review

Judges and juries across the country are convicting criminal defendants based on secret evidence. Although defendants have sought access to the details of this evidence—the results of computer programs and their underlying algorithms and source codes—judges have generally denied their requests. Instead, judges have prioritized the business interests of the for-profit companies that developed these “conviction programs” and which could lose market share if the secret algorithms and source codes on which the programs are based were exposed. This decision has jeopardized criminal defendants’ constitutional rights.

Next Verse, Same As The First: Inadequacies In The Government's Legal Approach Toward Biotechnology, Kimberly Righter

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

A Call For An International Governance Framework For Human Germline Gene Editing, Melanie Hess

Notre Dame Law Review

This Note will argue that human germline editing ought to be subject to a worldwide regulatory initiative contained in an international governance framework. It will touch on the justifications for the call for this agreed upon framework and discuss the current state of regulation of human germline editing, including norms and principles promulgated by international instruments and important statements on the topic. Finally, it will propose suggestions for the substance that an international governance framework should include and acknowledge the challenges in implementing such a framework.

Artificial Agents In Corporate Boardrooms, Sergio Alberto Gramitto Ricci

Faculty Works

Thousands of years ago, Roman businessmen often ran joint businesses through commonly owned, highly intelligent slaves. Roman slaves did not have full legal capacity and were considered property of their co-owners. Now business corporations are looking to delegate decision-making to uber intelligent machines through the use of artificial intelligence in boardrooms. Artificial intelligence in boardrooms could assist, integrate, or even replace human directors. However, the concept of using artificial intelligence in boardrooms is largely unexplored and raises several issues. This Article sheds light on legal and policy challenges concerning artificial agents in boardrooms. The arguments revolve around two fundamental questions: …

Patent Eligibility Of Disease Diagnosis, Shahrokh Falati

Articles & Chapters

The U.S. Supreme Court effectively redefined the scope of patent eligible subject matter when it decided Mayo. This decision focused on medical diagnostic technology and has had a profound effect on the biotechnology and personalized medicine industries in the United States. Subsequent back-to-back decisions by the Supreme Court in Myriad and Alice have made it unequivocally clear that there is now wholesale broadening of the judicially created exceptions to statutory laws governing patent eligible subject matter. This has caused havoc in the biopharmaceutical industry by not only making it a near impossibility to obtain a patent in certain fields, but …

Medical And Mental Health Implications Of Gestational Surrogacy And Trends In State Regulations On Compensated Gestational Surrogacy: A Report Submitted To The New York State Legislature, Steven Spandorfer, Allison Petrini, Sital Kalantry

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

As the New York State legislature considers legalizing compensated gestational surrogacy this legislative session, this report provides insight into (1) the impact of surrogacy on the medical and mental health of women who become surrogates and the children born through gestational surrogacy, and (2) how other state legislatures have addressed compensated gestational surrogacy in recent years.

Medical research demonstrates that there is significant growth in gestational surrogacy in the United States. The number of families working with gestational surrogates has quadrupled in the new millennium. Weill Cornell Medicine physicians and medical students reviewed the published literature on the medical and …

Patent Shopping, Janet Freilich

Faculty Scholarship

Over the past decade, scholars have identified many entities who use the patent system in ways that differ from the traditional model of patent use — entities such as patent assertion entities, patent aggregators, or owners of large patent portfolios. This Article presents a model that explains the behavior of some of the biggest and most controversial entities in the patent system. This Article argues that such entities are engaged in “patent shopping” where the plaintiff makes a strategic choice of patent in order to obtain the best facts and substance in a case and thereby maximize the chance of …

Data And The Social Obligation Norm Of Property: An Essay In Honor Of Professor Gregory S. Alexander, Christopher K. Odinet

Faculty Scholarship

In the age of the Cambridge Analytica/Facebook scandal and sundry other data breaches at Under Armour, Target, and Best Buy, the issue of security and privacy in consumer data has become increasingly important. For much of the modern era, the development of technology has gone relatively unchecked, with the United States having ceded much of the policymaking terrain to Silicon Valley. This has resulted in the unbridled creation of vast amounts of consumer data. Users who engage with tech platforms generate bits and bytes about themselves based on their activities, preferences, and habits. This information — “data” — is then …

Can Algorithms Promote Fair Use?, Peter K. Yu

Faculty Scholarship

In the past few years, advances in big data, machine learning and artificial intelligence have generated many questions in the intellectual property field. One question that has attracted growing attention concerns whether algorithms can be better deployed to promote fair use in copyright law. The debate on the feasibility of developing automated fair use systems is not new; it can be traced back to more than a decade ago. Nevertheless, recent technological advances have invited policymakers and commentators to revisit this earlier debate.

As part of the Symposium on "Intelligent Entertainment: Algorithmic Generation and Regulation of Creative Works," this Article …

Automation In Moderation, Hannah Bloch-Wehba

Faculty Scholarship

This Article assesses recent efforts to encourage online platforms to use automated means to prevent the dissemination of unlawful online content before it is ever seen or distributed. As lawmakers in Europe and around the world closely scrutinize platforms’ “content moderation” practices, automation and artificial intelligence appear increasingly attractive options for ridding the Internet of many kinds of harmful online content, including defamation, copyright infringement, and terrorist speech. Proponents of these initiatives suggest that requiring platforms to screen user content using automation will promote healthier online discourse and will aid efforts to limit Big Tech’s power.

In fact, however, the …

The Patentability Of Gene Editing Technologies Such As Crispr & The Harmonization Of Laws Relating To Germline Editing, Jessica Wachowicz

Intellectual Property Brief

No abstract provided.

A Nonobvious Approach To Functional Claiming In Software Patents, Jennifer Chiang

Intellectual Property Brief

No abstract provided.

Preview—United States Forest Service V. Cowpasture River Preservation Association: Can The Pipeline Cross The Trail?, Alizabeth Bronsdon

Public Land & Resources Law Review

The Supreme Court of the United States will hear oral argument in this matter on Monday, February 24, 2020, at 10 a.m. in the Supreme Court Building in Washington, D.C. Anthony Yang, Assistant to the Solicitor General, will likely argue for the United States. In a divided oral argument, Paul D. Clement will likely appear for Atlantic Coast Pipeline, LLC, the petitioner in consolidated case No. 18-1587, Atlantic Coast Pipeline, LLC v. Cowpasture River Preservation Association. Michael K. Kellogg will likely appear for the Respondents.

Payments Failure, Hilary Allen

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

The processing of retail payments has traditionally been the domain of regulated banks, but technologically sophisticated players like Venmo, AliPay, Bitcoin and Ripple (and potentially Facebook’s Libra) are making incursions into the market. Even within regulated banks, payments processing is becoming increasingly reliant on new technologies – JPMorgan Chase’s “JPMCoin” is just one example. However, limited attention has been paid to the new kinds of operational risks associated with these complex new methods of processing retail payments. This Article argues that technological failures at a payments provider (bank or non-bank) could be amplified in unexpected ways as they interact with …

Who Owns Bitcoin? Private Law Facing The Blockchain, Matthias Lehmann

Minnesota Journal of Law, Science & Technology

No abstract provided.