Science and Technology Law Commons^™

Dabus, An Artificial Intelligence Machine, Invented Something New And Useful, But The Uspto Is Not Buying It, Trevor F. Ward

Maine Law Review

U.S. patent laws are designed to promote science and the useful arts. They grant temporary monopoly rights to inventors in order to incentivize inventive activity. In the United States, patent rights revolve around the inventor. However, what happens when an Artificial Intelligence (AI) machine invents? Who deserves monopoly rights to the invention? Who will be incentivized by such monopolies? Do U.S. laws protect companies’ investments in AI? In 2019, for the first time in history, an AI machine called DABUS was listed as an inventor on two U.S. patent applications. The United States Patent and Trademark Office denied the applications, …

Standing In The Age Of Data Breaches: A Consumer-Friendly Framework To Pleading Future Injury And Providing Equitable Relief To Data Breach Victims, John E. Mcloughlin

Brooklyn Law Review

Data breaches have rapidly increased in volume in the United States since the beginning of the twenty-first century. As entities across the United States have increasingly stored personally identifiable information (PII) in online databases, cybercriminals have developed tools to steal and sell stolen PII. This note explores the devastating consequences felt by data breach victims and the uphill battles victims often face in finding legal remedies. Although data breach victims may be at risk of identity theft, they are often barred from taking legal action against the entity that breached their data due to the “injury in fact” requirement under …

Marine Law Symposium: Can Offshore Wind Development Have A Net Positive Impact On Biodiversity? Regulatory And Scientific Perspectives And Considerations April 20-21, 2023, Roger Williams University School Of Law Marine Affairs Institute, The Nature Conservancy

School of Law Conferences, Lectures & Events

No abstract provided.

Some Legal And Practical Challenges In The Investigation Of Cybercrime, Ritz Carr

Cybersecurity Undergraduate Research Showcase

According to the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), in 2021, the United States lost around $6.9 billion to cybercrime. In 2022, that number grew to over $10.2 billion (IC3, 2022). In one of many efforts to combat cybercrimes, at least 40 states “introduced or considered more than 250 bills or resolutions that deal significantly with cybersecurity” with 24 states officially enacting a total of 41 bills (National Conference on State Legislatures, 2022).

The world of cybercrime evolves each day. Nevertheless, challenges arise when we investigate and prosecute cybercrime, which will be examined in the following collection of essays that highlight …

Ctr. For Biological Diversity V. United States Fish & Wildlife Serv., Ali Stapleton

Public Land & Resources Law Review

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the District Court of Arizona’s decision to deny a proposed mining plan becuase the operations exceeded the boundaries of a valid mining claim. The issue the court addressed is whether a permanent occupancy of waste rock and tailings on land, absent the discovery of valuable minerals, is a reasonable use related to mining activities. The Ninth Circuit decision effectively prevented mining companies from amending the 1872 Mining Law on the administrative record. Motions for a rehearing and a rehearing en banc were denied.

Waking Sleeping Beauty? Exploring The Challenges Of Cyber-Deterrence By Punishment, Thibault Moulin

Loyola of Los Angeles International and Comparative Law Review

No abstract provided.

Hacking Or Hatching The Skinny Label: How The Federal Circuit’S Decision In Gsk V. Teva Threatens Generics And Induced Infringement, Kayla Mccallum

Texas A&M Journal of Property Law

This Note focuses on the recent precedential decision handed down by the Federal Circuit in GlaxoSmithKline LLC v. Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc., which impacts “one of the greatest public health inventions of the 21st century”: generic drugs. An invention that rose to prominence when former President Ronald Reagan signed into law the Hatch-Waxman Act (“the Act”), formally known as the Drug Price Competition and Patent Term Restoration Act of 1984. The Act aimed to increase competition between brand-name and generic manufacturers while balancing two seemingly opposing interests: (1) encourage and reward innovation by pioneer drug companies and (2) increase access …

Extended Privacy For Extended Reality: Xr Technology Has 99 Problems And Privacy Is Several Of Them, Suchismita Pahi, Calli Schroeder

Notre Dame Journal on Emerging Technologies

Americans are rapidly adopting innovative technologies which are pushing the frontiers of reality. But, when they look at how their privacy is protected within the new extended reality (XR), they will find that U.S. privacy laws fall short. The privacy risks inherent in XR are inadequately addressed by current U.S. data privacy laws or courtcreated frameworks that purport to protect the constitutional right to be free from unreasonable searches. Many scholars, including Ryan Calo, Danielle Citron, Sherry Colb, Margaret Hu, Orin Kerr, Kirsten Martin, Paul Ohm, Daniel Solove, Rebecca Wexler, Shoshana Zuboff, and others, have highlighted the gaps in U.S. …

Entity Of The State: The Transparency Of Restricting Telecommunications Firms As Threats To America’S National Security, Benjamin W. Cramer

Notre Dame Journal on Emerging Technologies

This paper analyzes recent American regulations regarding international telecommunications firms that have been restricted from doing business in the United States, as apparent threats to national security. The paper will include policy-oriented research into the relevant legislation, plus more theoretical research on the framing of geopolitical disputes and the transparency of the resulting regulatory actions. There has been some suspicion from journalists and government watchdogs that such restrictions are politically motivated, with dramatic claims of national security threats leading to non-transparent trade regulations. This paper discusses the framing of geopolitical disputes and their impact on trade policy in the telecommunications …

U.S. Cryptocurrency Regulation: A Slowly Evolving State Of Affairs, Aaron Poynton

Notre Dame Journal on Emerging Technologies

After nearly a decade and a half since the creation of the first cryptocurrency, crypto regulation in the United States is fragmented, with different measures taken at the federal and state levels, and even within and among agencies. This sluggish speed is not necessarily a surprise as government regulation has always chased rapid advancements in technology and associated consumer and market behavior changes. However, this is a precarious position for the United States--and the world--as the U.S. is a leader in the global financial community, the high concentration of crypto-based wealth, and economies’ increasingly interconnected and interdependent nature. This working …

Note: Nft Art Heists: Analyzing Nfts Under U.S. Law And International Conventions On Art Theft, Kevin D. Brum

Notre Dame Journal on Emerging Technologies

The non-fungible token (“NFT”) is a type of digital asset that is usually associated with an image and has a unique identifier. An NFT cannot be copied or reproduced, and records of NFT transactions are stored on the blockchain. NFTs are a recent innovation and have swept the world by storm. NFT sales tripled from 2019 to 2020 and DappRadar—the premier platform for hosting decentralized NFT portfolio management applications—estimates that NFT sales hit twenty-five billion dollars in 2021. Many NFTs appear to be artistic works and, either individually or in a collection, can be given away for free, sold for …

Note: Artistic Relevance In Artificial Intelligence? “Roger” That!, Kelly Heilman

Notre Dame Journal on Emerging Technologies

In an era of technological revolution, artificial intelligence is shocking the legal field with its increasing popularity, power, and potential. The limits of property, personhood, and creativity are in question by both the public and the courts, leaving significant ambiguities in the law. Legal standards regarding the regulation of advanced technologies have raised unique and critical substantive questions for intellectual property rights, particularly that of trademarks, where the traditional purpose is source identification between consumers and goods.

Since the 1989 holding in Rogers v. Grimaldi, the use of trademarks for creative purposes, as a matter of First Amendment jurisprudence, …

Patenting Genetic Information, David S. Olson, Fabrizio Ducci

Indiana Law Journal

The U.S. biotechnology industry got its start and grew to maturity over roughly three decades, beginning in the 1980s. During this period genes were patentable, and many gene patents were granted. University researchers performed basic research— often funded by the government—and then patented the genes they discovered with the encouragement of the Bayh-Dole Act, which sought to encourage practical applications of basic research by allowing patents on federally funded inventions and discoveries. At that time, when a researcher discovered the function of a gene, she could patent it such that no one else could work with that gene in the …

Ai Ethical Compliance Is Undecidable, Lorin Brennan

UC Law Science and Technology Journal

One response to concerns about AI systems has been to espouse “ethical AI,” that is, to elucidate ethical norms and then impose a legal requirement that AI systems comport with these norms. But will it work? More precisely, does there exist an effective procedure by which an AI system developer, or regulator, can determine in advance whether an AI system, once put into operation, will consistently generate output that conforms to a desired ethical norm? This paper argues “no.” The Halting Problem shows that there is no algorithm that can reliably do so for all AI systems running any allowed …

The Midas Touch: Atuahene's "Stategraft" And Unregulated Artificial Intelligence, Sonia Gipson Rankin

Faculty Scholarship

Professor Bernadette Atuahene’s article, A Theory of Stategraft, develops the new theoretical conception of “stategraft.” Professor Atuahene notes that when state agents have engaged in practices of transferring property from persons to the state in violation of the state’s own laws or basic human rights, it sits at the nexus of illegal behavior and revenue-generating activity for the government. Although there are countless instances of “stategraft,” one particularly salient example is when the state uses artificial intelligence to illegally extract resources from people. This Essay will apply stategraft to an algorithm implemented in Michigan that falsely accused recipients of unemployment …

Litigation Takes The Stage: Using Litigation To Solve Performances In Privacy Law, Stephanie Don

UC Law Science and Technology Journal

Technology’s constant and continuous development is many steps ahead of United States’ privacy laws. This Note asserts that current domestic privacy law is years behind what technology is capable of and is merely performative. That is, privacy law claims to protect us but simply does not. Ari Ezra Waldman’s book, Industry Unbound, exemplifies how consumers and privacy professionals alike are under the false impression that the privacy profession protects consumer data. To attempt to catch up with technology’s fast-paced development—specifically in the social media space—and to create truly protective privacy law, this Note proposes that litigation be used to advance …

Masthead

UC Law Science and Technology Journal

No abstract provided.

Privacy And Property: Constitutional Concerns Of Dna Dragnet Testing, E. Wyatt Jones

Honors Projects

DNA dragnets have attracted both public and scholarly criticisms that have yet to be resolved by the Courts. This review will introduce a modern understanding of DNA analysis, a complete introduction to past and present Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment jurisprudence, and existing suggestions concerning similar issues in legal scholarship. Considering these contexts, this review concludes that a focus on privacy and property at once, with a particular sensitivity to the inseverable relationship between the two interests, is Constitutionally consistent with precedent and the most workable means of answering the question at hand.

Jurisgenerative Tissues: Sociotechnical Imaginaries And The Legal Secretions Of 3d Bioprinting, Roxanne Mykitiuk, Joshua Shaw

Articles & Book Chapters

Three-dimensional ‘bioprinting’ is under development, which may produce living human organs and tissues to be surgically implanted in patients. Like tissue engineering and regenerative medicine generally, the process of bioprinting potentially disrupts experience of the human body by redefining understandings of, and becoming actualised in new practices and regimes in relation to, the body. The authors consider how these novel sociotechnical imaginaries may emerge, having regard to law’s contribution to, as well as its possible transformation by, the process of 3D bioprinting. The authors draw on Gilbert Simondon and corporeal, material feminists to account for these disruptions as ‘ontogenetic,’ in …

On Electric Vehicles And Environmental Policies For Innovation, Shi-Ling Hsu

UC Law Science and Technology Journal

Electric vehicles have been in existence for over a century. Impetus and progress towards commercialization have been uneven. For the most part, government policy on electric vehicle development has consisted of government funding and other support for research and development. The long, meandering path that has now resulted in the emergence of Tesla as an industry leader has been documented carefully in John Graham’s The Global Rise of the Modern Plug-in Electric Vehicle. Graham’s account is remarkably broad and thorough, leaving few stones unturned, and comprehensively detailing the history of electric vehicle policy in a number of countries, and often …