Blog
Rethinking the Right of Publicity in Deepfake Age
The right of publicity protects individuals from commercial misappropriation of their name, likeness, and other aspects of identity. Roughly 35 U.S. states recognize this right through statute or case law, and claims for violation of the right of publicity are most...
Understanding Deepfakes: Technology, Threats, and Legal Reform
Deepfakes use artificial intelligence to generate or alter an image or video, typically of a person, and most often a well-known public figure. Deepfakes typically conduct a “face swap,” where a subject’s face, expressions, body...
The Border Search Doctrine and Digital Devices: Privacy Concerns
Digital devices are increasingly becoming indispensable in our daily lives - modern phones hold a vast amount of personal data that can be easily accessed with just a few taps of a screen. While this convenience enhances our daily routines, it can also pose...
The Patent Litigation Bargain
The U.S. judicial system operates primarily to the benefit of parties in litigation, but also for the public as a whole. Because citizens fund the judiciary through tax dollars and are the beneficiaries of the First Amendment and common-law tradition of an open legal...
Driving Uncertainty: Auto Manufacturers’ Liability in the Age of Assisted Driving Technology
A consumer in the United States looking for a new car is presented with a remarkable number of models containing technology that only 15 years ago were beyond most drivers’ imagination. Today, nearly 93% of new cars sold feature some sort of advanced driver-assistance...
U.S. Copyright Protection for Work Co-Authored by Humans and AI
Recent advancements in generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) have significantly influenced how authors work. One potential explanation for this trend is that GenAI may help individuals explore their creativity without being impaired by a general lack of literary...
Works Produced By Generative AI: Can They Receive Copyright Protection
In November 2024, Coca-Cola released its annual holiday commercial, “The Holiday Magic is Coming.” The ad, a remake of the 1995 Coca-Cola advertisement “Holidays Are Coming,” sparked controversy as it was entirely made by the artificial intelligence (AI) platform, Real Magic AI. But can an entity really copyright the work that is entirely created by AI?
DMCA vs. Fair Use: Navigating Copyright Law and Transformative Fan Works
The widespread online publication of fan fiction raises complex legal questions regarding copyright—particularly fair use and DMCA takedowns—with fan fiction existing in a legal gray area.
Data Privilege and AI in Lawyering: Ethical Concerns
As Artificial Intelligence (AI) instruments like ChatGPT and Microsoft CoPilot continue to rise in popularity, the ethical concerns surrounding these platforms grow as well.
The Legal Implications of AI-Enabled Surveillance and Military Operations in Palestine
The implementation of AI technologies in military operations and surveillance systems is raising significant legal issues in international law.
Growing Private Surveillance of Roads Suggests Further Questions for Fourth Amendment
Advances in ubiquitous computing allow private citizens to arm their automobiles with cameras to observe and record their surroundings continuously. For example, each Tesla automobile has “eight cameras and powerful vision processing [to] provide 360...
The Surrogate Parenting Act of 1988: Revisiting the Evolution of Assisted Reproductive Technology, Surrogacy, and Public Policy Concerns in 2023
The Surrogate Parenting Act of 1988: Revisiting the Evolution of Assisted Reproductive Technology, Surrogacy, and Public Policy Concerns in 2023 Assisted Reproductive Technology (“ART”) has dramatically changed the landscape of procreation and parenthood in the...
A critical solution to “fuel” global decarbonization
Investment into advanced nuclear technologies has become central to national and global efforts to achieve near-term decarbonization targets. The rationale is simple. Nuclear power – which currently constitutes 20% of the U.S. energy mix – produces no carbon emissions...
Clickbait: Can it Be an Unfair Competition Practice?
Imagine you are navigating on a specific social media and, suddenly, you see a post from a page you’re following with this attractive headline: “We have all the specifics of the new chapter of this series!”. Turns out that that is one of your favorite series and you...
Autonomous Vehicle Rollout: Moving Towards a State and Local Focus
In 2015, the University of Michigan excitedly announced MCity, a state-of-the-art test track for “connected and automated” vehicle technology and an exciting development for the prospect of a driverless transportation system. The expansive fake city, unique at the...
Gatekeeper and Competitor: Apple’s Roles Conflict in App Store Administration
Spotify’s recent media barrage against Apple for the phone maker’s app store policies reveals a glaring breach in American antitrust enforcement. Spotify, a subscription-based media streaming service, has taken to hurling complaints against Apple for its allegedly...
ChatGPT Can Supplement, Not Replace the Legal Profession
What is ChatGPT? If you’ve been on the internet at all in the past few weeks, you’ve probably heard about ChatGPT. ChatGPT, a project by OpenAI, is a conversational, human-sounding artificial intelligence model that responds to questions and commands....
A Gaping Tax Loophole: Crypto Wash Sales
A gaping hole in the tax code currently allows for a major tax-loss harvesting opportunity for cryptocurrency investors who are holding onto their crypto positions at a loss by allowing for wash sales (for now). But what does this all mean? What is tax loss...
The Futility of Patents on AAA Video Game Mechanics
The Medium by Bloober Team is a 2020 game known for its unique “Dual-Reality” mechanic, making full use of modern processing powers to generate two worlds at the same time. Bloober Team is now trying to extract the most use from this mechanic with its patent,...
The Animal Food and Research Industry: Can Technology pave a path towards Animal Welfare?
Peter Singer in his famous book “The Animal liberation” in the 1970s, wrote that the ability to feel pain and happiness is the prerequisite for the consideration of rights and not the ability to reason. If the ability to reason was the main criteria, then children who...
Defending Genomes
The Genome Defense by Jorge Contreras provides a road map for how to leverage creativity, ingenuity and hard work to advance civil rights. This nonfiction story covers the origins of the American Civil Liberties Union’s (ACLU) unprecedented patent law case....
Discrimination By Proxy: How Ai Uses Big Data To Discriminate
Countless State and Federal regulations and statutes—not to mention the U.S. Constitution—prohibit discrimination against protected groups. However, AI systems might slip discrimination past current laws through “proxy discrimination” without new regulatory and...
Copyright Beyond Borders: Moral Rights & the Implications of Fahmy v. Jay-Z
Short of recognizing the validity of an “international copyright,” American intellectual property law generally purports to offer protections to foreign literary and artistic works under a number of international conventions to which the United States has been a...
Online Harassment and Doxing on Social Media
Online harassment has been around as long as the internet. However, in recent years, online harassment has been on the rise in part because of the popularity and access to social media websites. A particularly dangerous form of online harassment is doxing. Doxing is...
Posts on the MTLR Blog are editorial opinion pieces written by student-editors of the Michigan Technology Law Review. The opinions expressed in these editorial posts are not espoused or endorsed by the University of Michigan or its Law School. To view scholarly Articles and Notes published by the Michigan Technology Law Review, please visit the MTLR home page.