Science and Technology Law Commons^™

Why We Need A Strong Patent System And When: Filling The Void Left By The Bilski Case, Richard S. Gruner

Santa Clara High Technology Law Journal

Patent law is presently under-theorized. Patents are granted to serve as rewards for certain types of inventive successes, but the nature of the successes to be rewarded, the circumstances that should trigger rewards, and the size of the rewards that will best serve the public remain in substantial dispute. One of the primary reasons for these uncertainties is the incompleteness of underlying theories explaining why patented inventions deserve special treatment and rewards. The lack of good understanding of the theoretical justifications for patent rewards (and the limitations of those justifications) means that patent law standards are being reconsidered and revised …

Bitcoin: An Innovative Alternative Digital Currency, Reuben Grinberg

UC Law Science and Technology Journal

Bitcoin is a digital, decentralized, partially anonymous currency, not backed by any government or other legal entity, and not redeemable for gold or other commodity. It relies on peer-to-peer networking and cryptography to maintain its integrity. Compared to most currencies or online payment services, such as PayPal, bitcoins are highly liquid, have low transaction costs, and can be used to make micropayments. This new currency could also hold the key to allowing organizations such as Wikileaks, hated by governments, to receive donations and conduct business anonymously. Although the Bitcoin economy is flourishing, Bitcoin users are anxious about Bitcoin's legal status. …

It’S My Body: The Biomedical Ethics Of Cell And Organ Harvest, Christina Perri

Common Reading Essay Contest Winners

First Place

Incentivizing The Utilization Of Pharmacogenomics In Drug Development, Valerie Gutmann Koch

All Faculty Scholarship

Pharmacogenomics, the study and development of compounds according to how an individual’s genes affects the body’s response to drugs, holds enormous promise for increasing the safety and efficiency of drug development while decreasing adverse reactions and the trial-and-error nature of drug prescription. However, pharmacogenomics may not be the panacea for all development and prescription problems. This article explores some of the obstacles to pharmacogenomic advancement including industry reluctance to pursue research because of potentially prohibitive costs associated with developing products and legal liability concerns. The implications pharmacogenomics has for drug research and development as well as various areas of law …

Pgtandme: Social Networking-Based Genetic Testing And The Evolving Research Model, Valerie Gutmann Koch

All Faculty Scholarship

The opportunity to use extensive genetic data, personal information, and family medical history for research purposes may be naturally appealing to the personal genetic testing (PGT) industry, which is already coupling its direct-to-consumer (DTC) products with social networking technologies, as well as to potential industry or institutional partners. This article evaluates the transformation in research that the hybrid of PGT and social networking will bring about, and – highlighting the challenges associated with a new paradigm of “patient-driven” genomic research – focuses on the consequences of shifting the structure, locus, timing, and scope of research through genetic crowd-sourcing. This article …

Digital Originality, Edward Lee

All Faculty Scholarship

This Article examines the doctrine of originality in U.S. copyright law and proposes a reconfigured, three-part test that can better analyze issues of first impression involving works created with new digital technologies. The proposed test, encapsulated by the concept of digital originality, provides much needed guidance to courts to address the increasing complexities of digital creations in the twenty-first century.

Behavioral Advertising: From One-Sided Chicken To Informational Norms, Richard Warner, Robert Sloan

All Faculty Scholarship

When you download the free audio recording software from Audacity, you agree that Audacity may collect your information and use it to send you advertising. Billions of such pay-with-data exchanges feed information daily to a massive advertising ecosystem that tailors web site advertising as closely as possible to individual interests. The vast majority want considerably more control over our information. We nonetheless routinely enter pay-with-data exchanges when we visit CNN.com, use Gmail, or visit any of a vast number of other websites. Why? And, what, if anything, should we do about it? We answer both questions by describing pay-with-data exchanges …

Avatar Experimentation: Human Subjects Research In Virtual Worlds, Joshua A.T. Fairfield

Scholarly Articles

Researchers love virtual worlds. They are drawn to virtual worlds because of the opportunity to study real populations and real behavior in shared simulated environments. The growing number of virtual worlds and population growth within virtual worlds has led to a sizeable increase in the number of human subjects experiments taking place in such worlds.

Virtual world users care deeply about their avatars, their virtual property, their privacy, their relationships, their community, and their accounts. People within virtual worlds act much as they would in the physical world because the experience of the virtual world is “real” to them. The …

"Do-Not-Track" As Contract, Joshua A.T. Fairfield

Scholarly Articles

Support for enforcement of a do-not-track option in browsers has been gathering steam. Such an option presents a simple method for consumers to protect their privacy. The problem is how to enforce this choice. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) could enforce a do-not-track option in a consumer browser under its section 5 powers. The FTC, however, currently appears to lack the political will to do so. Moreover, the FTC cannot follow the model of its successful do-not-call list since the majority of Internet service providers (ISPs) assign Internet addresses dynamically — telephone numbers do not change, whereas Internet protocol (IP) …

The Challenges To Legal Education In 1973 And 2012: An Introduction To The Anniversary Issue Of The Hofstra Law Review, Nora V. Demleitner

Scholarly Articles

Not available.

Mixed Reality: How The Laws Of Virtual Worlds Govern Everyday Life, Joshua A.T. Fairfield

Scholarly Articles

Just as the Internet linked human knowledge through the simple mechanism of the hyperlink, now reality itself is being hyperlinked, indexed, and augmented with virtual experiences. Imagine being able to check the background of your next date through your cell phone, or experience a hidden world of trolls and goblins while you are out strolling in the park. This is the exploding technology of Mixed Reality, which augments real places, people, and things with rich virtual experiences.

As virtual and real worlds converge, the law that governs virtual experiences will increasingly come to govern everyday life. The problem is that …

The Irony Of Privacy Class Action Litigation, Eric Goldman

Colorado Technology Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Session Iv: Technology And The Future Of Privacy, 29 J. Marshall J. Computer & Info. L. 379 (2012), David E. Sorkin, Ann Bartow, Robert S. Gurwin, Doris E. Long

UIC John Marshall Journal of Information Technology & Privacy Law

No abstract provided.

Right To Information Identity, 29 J. Marshall J. Computer & Info. L. 539 (2012), Elad Oreg

UIC John Marshall Journal of Information Technology & Privacy Law

Inspired by the famous Warren and Brandeis conceptualization of the “right to privacy,” this article tries to answer a modern, conceptual lacuna and presents the argument for the need to conceptualize and recognize a new, independent legal principle of a “right to information identity.” This is the right of an individual to the functionality of the information platforms that enable others to identify and know him and to remember who and what he is. Changes in technology and social standards make the very notion of identity increasingly fluid, transforming the way it is treated and opening new and fascinating ways …

The Thirty-First Annual John Marshall Law School International Moot Court Competition In Information Technology And Privacy Law: Bench Memorandum, 29 J. Marshall J. Computer & Info. L. 673 (2012), Russell Bottom, Greer Herman, Catherine Nance, Robin Ann Sowizrol, Gina Spada

UIC John Marshall Journal of Information Technology & Privacy Law

No abstract provided.

A Need For Clearer Language About Patent Law, 11 J. Marshall Rev. Intell. Prop. L. 457 (2012), Paul M. Janicke

UIC Review of Intellectual Property Law

This article addresses the manner by which the principles and rules of United States ("U.S.") patent law are addressed, especially those that are not controversial. We often seem driven to use labels that are misleading to external observers, making the subject seem more complex than it is. The principal misstatements addressed in this article are: (1) saying that under American Invents Act, the U.S. is moving to a first-to-file system; (2) reciting that U.S. patent law has no extraterritorial reach; (3) characterizing the term of a U.S. patent as twenty years from filing; (4) purporting in patent licenses to grant …

Patent Claim Construction As A Form Of Legal Interpretation, 12 J. Marshall Rev. Intell. Prop. L. 40 (2012), Christian E. Mammen

UIC Review of Intellectual Property Law

Since the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark decision, Markman v. Westview Instruments, Inc., courts have employed a textualist approach when construing patent claims. Claim construction has been held to be purely a matter of law, which leaves no room for deference when the construction is reconsidered on appellate review. But as argued in this article, patent claims are a unique type of legal text, and cannot simply be analogized to statutes or contracts, which courts and scholars occasionally attempt to do. Taking lessons from the general legal theory of interpretation, the textualist approach should only be a starting point for the …

Insecurity For Community Solar: Three Strategies To Confront An Emerging Tension Between Renewable Energy Investment And Federal Securities Laws, Kristin L. Bailey

Colorado Technology Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Internet Governance: The Role Of Multistakeholder Organizations, Joe Waz, Phil Weiser

Colorado Technology Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Technology And The Sovereignty Of The Individual, Robert M. Mcdowell

Colorado Technology Law Journal

No abstract provided.