By: Justin McHughÂ
Mt. Gox, once known as the world’s largest trader of Bitcoins, has unexpectedly shutdown, devastating thousands. In the aftermath of the Mt. Gox shutdown, thousands of customers who traded on the exchange lost millions. In the face of losing millions, many Bitcoin traders are now calling for legal action and remedies from the Tokyo-based exchange firm.
Technology is always evolving to make our lives easier. We merge complicated tech knowledge to gain access to the world in quicker, easier, and more convenient ways. While advancements in technology create excitement for our everyday lives, they also create setbacks when we try to integrate these new toys into normal tasks. One of the newest tech toys to be released is Google Glass, a piece of discrete technology that promises to transform our view of life and interactions.
We can say all we want about the newest, fastest, lightest: IPhone, IPad, Tablet, Google Glass etc… but the simplest technology is all too often overlooked and outshined by plastic electronics. Technology and science that are on the cutting edge of medical breakthroughs, space exploration, and entertainment take center stage in our capitalistic sales driven world. It’s ironic that we stand in awe waiting for such new advances and overlook technology that impacts (for better or worse) something that we will all one day face. Death is something that we do not want to think about or deal with until that time comes. Yes, estate planning is an area of the law that many engage in while they are perfectly healthy and viable, but that is centered on money and assets. Technology/medical practices now exist in which a person can elect to die when they so choose. The slippery slope comes into play here, because the technology exists, but so do laws. As of right now the laws governing physician-assisted suicide makes the prospect of choosing when to die a complex endeavor.
By: Tanjeev Thandi
Flappy Bird is no longer flapping its wings. Invented by Dong Nquyen, a Vietnamese developer from DotGears, Flappy Bird rose to the top of charts and became the most downloaded app of the year…and then disappeared.
By Laura Fleming
When Robin Thicke sang, “I hate these blurred lines†in his latest song, “Blurred Lines,†he probably wasn’t talking about the blurry line between his hit single and Marvin Gaye’s “Got to Give It Up.†Thicke released his song this past summer, while Gaye, now deceased, released his song in 1977. Gaye’s heirs are currently accusing Thicke, along with “Blurred Lines†co-writers Pharrell Williams and “T.I.†Clifford Harris Jr., of copyright infringement in a California court.
By: Geoff Wills
On December 19, 2013, Target Corporation confirmed that it was aware of unauthorized access to payment card data impacting any Target customer that made credit or debit card purchases in its U.S. stores. The data breach occurred between November 27, 2013 and December 15, 2013. Target’s press released acknowledged that approximately 40 million credit and debit card accounts might have been impacted. As news broke and the issue was investigated, that number has now increased to 70 million customers, and includes online shoppers. The cyber attack on Target is the second-largest retail cyber attack in history, and has resulted in investigations by state prosecutors and Attorneys general. It has also resulted in numerous complaints filed across the country by individuals, all vying for the ever-elusive “class action†status.
By: Erin Phillips
On October 1, 2013 the Supreme Court granted certiorari in the patent case Highmark, Inc. v. Allcare Health Management Systems, Inc. to decide whether a district court’s exceptional-case finding to award attorney’s fees was entitled to deference by the Federal Circuit. Although on its face the implications of a judgment in favor of deference seem to reach only the most exceptional cases, the possible effects on patent claim construction are monumental. A decision in favor of deference could spark a major reduction in power for the Federal Circuit.
Reviewed by:Â Alessandra Baldini
Introduction: In Legally Poisoned, Cranor lays out the frightening details of chemical proliferation in our modern world. In this well-researched work, the author makes clear the extent to which we are exposed to chemical toxicants, and the danger of this exposure to our health. Cranor clearly illustrates the process by which we are “legally poisoned,†as the title says: the regulatory regime of the nation is one that assumes safety in all of the thousands of chemicals we encounter daily. It is only when harmful effects are shown after the fact that the government steps in to reduce or eliminate the use of a chemical. No effort is made to protect our citizens until some portion are injured.
By:Â Madeline Schiesser
Abstract: This paper will discuss the apparent inconsistencies in the recent Classen v. Biogen and Momenta v. Amphastar decisions by the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit regarding the Hatch-Waxman Safe Harbor. Although it is well settled that the Drug Price Competition and Patent Term Restoration (Hatch-Waxman) Act permits a generic drug company to use the patented invention of another party to develop a generic drug for approval by the United States Food and Drug Administration (“FDAâ€), the court’s recent decisions have raised a question as to whether the safe harbor may protect activity subsequent to FDA approval of the generic drug. Clarification is needed on this issue and should to be provided forthwith by the judiciary. Without judicial guidance, the institutions responsible for the development and financial support of new and generic pharmaceuticals will be plagued by both legal and business uncertainty, which will adversely affect all stakeholders, including patentees, generic drug companies, and consumers.
By: David Hutchinson
Introduction: On March 18th 2012 “the galaxy’s most resilient Bit Torrent site,â€Â The Pirate Bay declared war on copyright laws around the world. It threatened to take its Bit Torrent piracy programs to the sky in order to avoid jurisdiction.
Bit Torrent is a system by which Internet users can connect to one another’s computers to share files. Users visit a website, such as the aforementioned The Pirate Bay, and can then access torrent files from the website’s network of users. One user must create a Torrent file of the content he or she wishes to share. That file then serves as a guide for other users on a given network to access and download the content. Each time a file is downloaded from the user, a copy is made which increases access for the next user seeking to download the same content. A user can then download a number of fragments of each file from a number of different users until the download is completed, making the process rather quick. The more users in a given network, the more access a user has to fragments of a desired file, and the faster that user is able to download that particular file. Due to the quick nature of the downloading process, as well as the user driven content stream, Bit Torrent has become the most popular type of peer-to-peer downloading system for copyright protected files.
