Blog
Will the end of tax credits take the wind out of alternative energy?
As the New York Times recently reported, certain tax credits that were included in the Energy Policy Act of 1992 (P.L. 102-486) are set to expire at the end of this year unless Congress acts to extend them. Of particular importance to producers of wind turbines is...
On the Proposed Exemptions to the DMCA’s Access Control Provisions
On February 10, 2012, the U.S. Copyright Office will stop accepting public comment on proposed administrative exemptions to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act's "access control" provisions. Fresh from their SOPA and PIPA victories, organizations such as the...
“we’re not pirates, we’re just providing shipping services to pirates :)”
These were the words written in an email by Mathias Ortmann to Bram Van Der Kolk. Who, you might ask? Ortmann and Van Der Kolk are two of the recently indicted parties to the Megaupload conspiracy, and this email was publicized in the indictment. You know, that...
Twitter’s New Country-Specific Censorship Policy: An Attack on Free Speech or a Legally Necessary Move?
The social media website Twitter announced in a recent blog post entitled “The Tweets Must Still Flow” its plan to enact a new censorship initiative. “Starting today,” Twitter announced, “we give ourselves the ability to reactively withhold content from users in a...
US v. Jones: Fourth Down, One Yard to Go . . . and the Court Decides to Punt
The latest installment of the US v. Jones saga has just arrived. In a decision released earlier today, the Supreme Court held that government installation and monitoring of a GPS device on a suspect’s vehicle constitutes a “search” under the Fourth Amendment. (For a...
The Battle Between Facebook and Timelines
Back in September last year, Facebook was sued by Timelines.com for allegedly infringing the latter’s trademark right over the word “Timeline” in introducing the Facebook Timeline feature. Timelines.com is a website that allows users to record and share events,...
Supreme Court Decides Golan v. Holder
A law providing that millions of works created by foreign authors that had been in the public domain qualify for U.S. copyright protection was upheld on Saturday, January 18, 2012, when the Supreme Court decided Golan v. Holder (No.10-545). The case involved the...
New Hampshire 4 Paul Had a Bunch of Hits, Chinese Feud Makes Paul Sick
The campaign for Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul has sued the anonymous creators of a controversial video that was attributed to the campaign, claiming false designation of origin, false advertising, and defamation. The video, which has tallied over 300,000...
Beijing Requires Real Name Registration for Micro-blog Users
SINA WEIBO is the most widely used micro-blog in China, which has more than 300 million users by the end of 2011. WEIBO is like the Chinese version of Twitter. On December 16th, 2011, “Beijing Micro-blog Development Management Rules” were released by Beijing...
DOJ Reverses Stance on Legality of Online Poker?
For online poker aficionados, April 15, 2011, the so-called “Black Friday” is a date that lives in infamy. For those who are unfamiliar with the event, on Black Friday the owners of the three largest poker sites in the United States (PokerStars, Absolute Poker, and...
Fleeting Expletives, Partial Nudity, and the First Amendment: What approach will the Supreme Court take in FCC v. Fox Television Stations, Inc?
This past Tuesday, the Supreme Court heard lively oral arguments in FCC v. Fox Television Stations, Inc. (No. 10-1293) addressing the constitutionality of the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) authority to regulate “indecency” on broadcast television. ...
When in Doubt, Force Someone Else to do it: A Quick Look at Spain’s New Sinde Law.
While the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) lumbers its way through the American legislature, a remarkably similar act has found its way into legitimate law on the other side of the pond. Just in case no little chickens have been by to tell you that the internet's...
Not Just China and India: ITU Reports Growing Access to Telecom in Developing World
The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) has released a snapshot of worldwide access to telecommunications in 2011. A full third of the global population now has internet access, up from only eighteen percent five years ago. Furthermore, the developing world...
When does a website give jurisdiction?
A Massachusetts state court recently held that when a company has a website which directs consumers to in-state retailers that sell the company's products, it is sufficient for the court to take personal jurisdiction. In this specific case, the defendant, Salomon...
Is the FDA Draft Guidance for Mobile Medical Applications Really Too Vague?
This summer, the FDA issued a draft guidance document addressing how the agency intends to apply its regulatory authority to Mobile Medical Applications (MMAs). The guidance document defines mobile applications as “software applications that can be executed (run) on a...
MTTLR Publishes Volume 18 Issue 1
On behalf of the Michigan Telecommunications and Technology Law Review, I am pleased to announce the publication of our Fall 2011 issue. Inside, you will find scholarship on the creativity effect in IP transactions, copyright reform, e-discovery, energy regulation,...
Louie and the Intermediaries
Louie C.K., the renowned comedian, released his latest comedy special in a most unorthodox way: charging $5 for an immediate, DRM-free download from his website. Instead of going with Comedy Central (which released his last special), HBO, or any other network, he...
Netflix to Join Facebook Feed
Netflix may now be able to use Facebook to further alienate its consumers while pursuing a lucrative revenue stream. The House amended the Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA) to relax written consent requirements for sharing information on movie rentals. This opens...
Concerns for Compensating Harms During Clinical Research
The first, and often only, financial concern of research participants is how much they are getting paid for participation. In studies that do nothing more than measure reaction time to identify a number in a serial string of letters, there is little reason to be...
FCC Certification Process for Video Relay Service Providers Needs Review
According to Title IV of the Americans with Disability Act, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is required to provide deaf and hard of hearing citizens with Telecommunication Relay Services (TRS), in the most efficient manner possible. In long distance...
No Overtime for Overworked IT Workers?
On October 20th Senator Kay Hagen (D-NC) introduced the Computer Professionals Update Act (CPU Act) for consideration in the Senate. The bill seeks to amend the Fair Labor Standards Act to expand the overtime exception for hourly workers to cover a wide swath of IT...
Expansion of Cyber Warfare… Possibly
In a small town outside Springfield, Illinois, a controversy emerged this past month as to whether or not the U.S. had fallen victim to its first known industrial cyber attack. In a public water district, a water pump malfunctioned causing it to turn on and off until...
Opposition to SOPA Gaining Momentum
The Stop Online Piracy Act (along with the Senate version known as the Protect IP Act), introduced last month in the House by Representative Lamar Smith, aims to level a significant blow against offshore "rogue sites" that host copyright material. SOPA would allow the...
Samsung’s Potential Preemptive Strike to Avoid iPad Infringement
Apple’s litigious business strategy has been the source of discussion in the past, and the company seems to be continuing that trend in the iPad context. Android-based devices appear to be the biggest threat to Apple's market share dominance, and new competitors are...
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.