Science and Technology Law Commons^™

Using Microcomputers And P/G% To Predict Court Cases, Stuart S. Nagel

Akron Law Review

The purpose of this article is to analyze a microcomputer program that can process a set of (1) prior cases, (2) predictive criteria for distinguishing among the cases, and (3) the relations between each prior case and each criterion in order to arrive at an accurate decision rule. Such a rule will enable all the prior cases to be predicted without inconsistencies, and thereby maximize the likelihood of accurately predicting future cases. To illustrate the program, this article uses five substantive fields, including the predicting of cases dealing with religion in the public schools, legislative redistricting, housing discrimination, international law, …

Recombinant Dna And The Regulation Of Biotechnology: Reflections On The Asilomar Conference, Ten Years After, John E. Barkstrom

Akron Law Review

The year 1985 marks the tenth anniversary of the International Conference on Recombinant DNA Molecules held at the Asilomar Conference Center, Pacific Grove, California in late February, 1975. The entire field of genetic engineering technology or "gene splicing" is not much older than the Conference itself. Many articles and much discussion have been occasioned by the recombinant DNA debate, including legal symposia held by the Universities of Southern California and Toledo. This article looks back at the events which led to Asilomar, the debate which followed, and some of the legal and ethical problems involved in the debate.

Microcomputers, Risk Analysis, And Litigation Strategy, Stuart S. Nagel

Akron Law Review

This article covers three important aspects of litigation strategy. The first part is concerned with varieties of sensitivity analysis in civil and criminal cases. Sensitivity analysis refers to how the bottom-line conclusion of going to trial, accepting a settlement, or choosing another alternative is affected by changes in the inputs, which mainly relate to such matters or criteria as (1) the predicted damages, (2) the probability of receiving them, (3) the settlement offered, (4) the litigation costs, and (5) the settlement costs.

The second part deals with the use of decision matrices and microcomputers for analyzing litigation-strategy decisions, including sensitivity …

Computer-Aided Law Decisions, Stuart S. Nagel

Akron Law Review

The purpose of this article is to describe how microcomputers can aid in making law decisions, including decisions that relate to the judicial process, law practice, and law management.

Computer Software Contracts: A Review Of The Caselaw, Andrew Rodau

Akron Law Review

The pervasiveness of computers in our society has led to numerous legal controversies involving computers and computer transactions. Conflicts between buyers and sellers of computer software have resulted in, and will continue to result in, both tort and breach of contract actions to redress disputes. This article focuses on those contract actions involving computer software.

A fundamental issue in resolving a contract dispute involving a software transaction is whether article 2 of the Uniform Commercial Code (hereinafter UCC) or the common law governs. It has been recognized that whether article 2 applies to computer software contracts is very significant especially …

Compassionate Use Of Experimental Therapies: Who Should Decide?, Patricia J. Zettler

Faculty Publications By Year

In addition to being an example of unsubstantiated hype about regenerative medicine, the controversy around the Italy-based Stamina Foundation's unproven stem cell therapy represents another chapter in a continuing debate about how to balance patients' requests for early access to experimental medicines with requirements for demonstrating safety and effectiveness. Compassionate use of the Stamina therapy arguably should not have been permitted under Italy's laws, but public pressure was intense and judges ultimately granted access. One lesson from these events is that expert regulatory agencies may be the institutions most competent to make compassionate use decisions and that policies should include …

The Human Genome: A Patenting Dilemma, Pamela Docherty

Akron Law Review

This Comment will address the conflict between the U.S. patent laws and biotechnology by focusing on the NIH patent application.

The first part of this Comment discusses the objectives and statutory requirements of the patent system, which the NIH application purportedly did not meet. Next, this Comment focuses on the debate between NIH and its detractors. It explains NIH's reasons for its actions and discusses the criticisms leveled at the agency. Finally, this Comment presents solutions to the problems that have been uncovered by this debate regarding the patentability of genes.

The Mouse That Trolled: The Long And Tortuous History Of A Gene Mutation Patent That Became An Expensive Impediment To Alzheimer's Research, Tania Bubela, Saurabh Vishnubhakat, Robert Cook-Deegan

Faculty Scholarship

This case study presents the tale of the academic discovery of a rare mutation for early-onset Alzheimer's disease that was patented by a sole inventor and licensed to a non-practicing entity (NPE), the Alzheimer's Institute of America (AIA). Our aims are (1) to relate this story about patents, research tools, and impediments to medical progress, and (2) to inform ongoing debates about how patents affect research, disposition of university inventions, and the distribution of benefits from publicly funded research. We present an account of the hunt for Alzheimer's genes, their patenting, assignment, and enforcement based on literature, litigation records and …

Small Data Surveillance V. Big Data Cybersurveillance, Margaret Hu

Pepperdine Law Review

This Article highlights some of the critical distinctions between small data surveillance and big data cybersurveillance as methods of intelligence gathering. Specifically, in the intelligence context, it appears that “collect-it-all” tools in a big data world can now potentially facilitate the construction, by the intelligence community, of other individuals' digital avatars. The digital avatar can be understood as a virtual representation of our digital selves and may serve as a potential proxy for an actual person. This construction may be enabled through processes such as the data fusion of biometric and biographic data, or the digital data fusion of the …

Authorized Investigation: A Temperate Alternative To Cyber Insecurity, Casey M. Bruner

Seattle University Law Review

This Note aims to show that legal structures created to protect the Internet in its original form are completely insufficient to protect what the Internet has become. This antiquated legal framework is exacerbating the problem. The breadth of activity that the current law restricts severely limits the remedies that cyberattack victims can pursue, and it must be updated. While full hack-back may prove necessary in the long run, I argue for a more temperate initial response to the problem—I call this response “authorized investigation.” Specifically, the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act should be amended to allow victims access to their …

Trading Privacy For Angry Birds: A Call For Courts To Reevaluate Privacy Expectations In Modern Smartphones, Jeremy Andrew Ciarabellini

Seattle University Law Review

Of all the smartphone uses, the calling function is probably used the least. Rather, individuals more commonly use their smartphone for surfing the web, checking Facebook, and playing games. Highlighting the “smart” in smartphone, these phones often know more about their users’ daily activities than the users. Without requiring any sort of input, smartphones can tell the user how many steps they walk each day, when it is time to leave for work (also, of course, determining the traveling time with the most up-to-date traffic reports), and when an item recently ordered on Amazon will be delivered. Smartphone users may …

Chimeras: Double The Dna-Double The Fun For Crime Scene Investigators, Prosecutors, And Defense Attorneys?, Catherine Arcabascio

Akron Law Review

This article first explores the mythological origins of the term “chimera.” It then explores the causes and scientific explanations of chimerism and the various conditions covered by the term chimera in the area of genetics. Although this article will discuss the various chimeric conditions that are thought to exist, its primary focus is on chimerism that is the result of the fusing of embryos in utero. Next, the article will discuss recent cases of chimerism – and of alleged chimerism – and how the genetic differences between chimeras and the general population came to light. It also will discuss the …

The Spectrum Of Control: A Social Theory Of The Smart City, Jathan Sadowski, Frank A. Pasquale

Faculty Scholarship

There is a certain allure to the idea that cities allow a person to both feel at home and like a stranger in the same place. That one can know the streets and shops, avenues and alleys, while also going days without being recognized. But as elites fill cities with “smart” technologies—turning them into platforms for the “Internet of Things” (IoT): sensors and computation embedded within physical objects that then connect, communicate, and/or transmit information with or between each other through the Internet—there is little escape from a seamless web of surveillance and power. This paper will outline a social …

Idea Theft: Frivolous Copyright-Lite Claims, Or Hollywood Business Model?, K. J. Greene

UC Law Science and Technology Journal

Two facts regarding idea theft in the creative context are undeniable—first, that idea misappropriation claims against Hollywood studios and television producers are rampant, and second, that the hodge-podge legal regime surrounding idea submission claims is in disarray. Institutional entertainment industry players, such as major Hollywood studios, dismiss idea theft claims as fake and frivolous, a kind of “copyrightlite” claim brought by unsuccessful wannabe writers and producers. In contrast, non-established creators seeking entry to the elite and lucrative world of Hollywood tell another tale—that of an industry that relies on the creative ides of outsiders, and fleeces idea submitters as a …

Trolling For An Npe Solution, Jared A. Smith, Nicholas R. Transier

UC Law Science and Technology Journal

An all-out war is being waged against patent trolls in every corner of the government. But why? To answer that question, this note considers a wide range of laws, rules, decisions, and other measures being offered up as a solution to the “troll problem.” In doing so, this note seeks to identify the potential issues with various proposed “solutions,” including their impact not only on patent trolls, but also, arguably more importantly, on the patent system as a whole. Finally, this note concludes with a set of recommendations meant to combat the most insidious patent trolling tactics, while protecting the …

3-D Bioprinting: Not Allowed Or Nota Allowed?, Robert Jacobson

Chicago-Kent Law Review

In 1984, Congress passed the National Organ Transplantation Act (NOTA) to improve the supply of vital human organs. A key provision of NOTA was the prohibition of acquiring, receiving, or otherwise transferring human organs. In effect, this provision bans the purchase of human organs. However, due to recent breakthroughs in 3-D bioprinting technology, scientists are on the verge of being able to create lab-grown organs suitable for transplantation. This Note will examine the applicability of NOTA to 3-D bioprinting technology and recommend amendments to NOTA that would clarify the legality of 3-D bioprinting.

Dna Storage Banks: The Importance Of Preserving Dna Evidence To Allow For Transparency And The Preservation Of Justice, Cristina Martin

Chicago-Kent Law Review

What is the duty to preserve information in today’s society? In order for humanity to evolve, change and flourish in the future, society needs to preserve its information from the past. In the criminal justice field, preservation of evidence has special significance. DNA evidence in particular has become a helpful aid for innocent defendants who have been improperly imprisoned. Over the past twenty years, the number of exonerations of imprisoned criminal defendants has increased dramatically. With the advancement of technology, old, previously untestable or improperly tested DNA evidence will need to be retested. However, most states do not have proper …

Developing Drop Discipline: Training And Testing Operators Of Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems, Henry H. Perritt Jr., Eliot O. Sprague

UC Law Science and Technology Journal

This is the third in a series of articles about drones by the co-authors. The first, Drones, introduces the subject and explores the technologies that makes microdrones so useful and so inexpensive. It provides an overview of technological, economic, political, and regulatory issues that the second article and this one explore more deeply. The second article, Law Abiding Drones, argues that the character of microdrones justifies simplified regulation as consumer products, with automated flight control and safety systems that make flying them easy, compared with airplanes and helicopters. This article focuses on the question of operator qualifications. It does not …

The Intersection Of Patents And Trade Secrets, Michael R. Mcgurk, Jia W. Lu

UC Law Science and Technology Journal

An old retort in politics is “You’re either a Democrat or a Republican!” Likewise, the counterpart retort in Intellectual Property for companies back in the day was “You’re either a patent company or a trade secret company!” Patents and trade secrets are the only two forms of intellectual property that protect information—patents protect patentable (innovation) information, while trade secrets can protect patentable information and any other information providing economic value to the holder. In fact, it is not uncommon for patents and trade secrets to protect the same information. However, the bodies of laws governing each are far from similar. …

Regulatory Competitive Shelters In The Area Of Personalized Medicine, Yaniv Heled

Faculty Publications By Year

No abstract provided.