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Legal Uncertainties Surrounding the Realm of NFTs

Introduction to NFTs Throughout 2021, non-fungible token (NFT) artwork has sold for record breaking prices and is rapidly increasing in popularity. In the second quarter of 2021, NFT sales surged to $2.5 billion, which is a tremendous increase from the $13.7 million...

Intellectual Property Law in the Era of COVID-19

Basic research conducted by scientists at federally funded academic laboratories has been essential to the rapid development of COVID-19 vaccines, and the federal government has poured billions of dollars into vaccine companies since the pandemic began to accelerate...

Arthrex, PTAB, and the Unitary Executive

Patent law is often thought of as a statutory area of law, governed primarily by Title 35 of the U.S. Code and the long history of judicial opinions interpreting it. But with the passage of the AIA came the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) and the rapid expansion...

Big Data: Transitioning Away From the White Male Norm

As the capacity to generate and use digital information increases, the use of big data has permeated many industries. Its usage in medicine is poised to make major impacts on clinical practice. There are many benefits to the quality and efficiency of healthcare that...

California’s Prop 22: A Cautionary Tale

Even before COVID-19 hit last year, food delivery apps such as Caviar and Postmates had gained popularity as a convenient and relatively quick way to order food without the hassle of long lines or even needing to leave home. After the pandemic led to shelter-in-place...

Trans-Atlantic Data Transfers After Schrems II

In July 2020, the European Court of Justice released Schrems II, an opinion finding the EU/US Privacy Shield insufficient to guarantee compliance with EU data protection laws. The decision marked the second time the ECJ would invalidate a data privacy adequacy...

AI v. Lawyers: Will AI Take My Legal Job?

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is changing the global workforce, generating fears that it will put masses of people out of work. Indeed, some job loss is likely as computers, intelligent machines, and robots take over certain tasks done by humans. For example, passenger...

Apple vs. Facebook: The Demand of Growing Data Ethics

  In January, WhatsApp announced the release of a new privacy policy that allows the messenger service to share user data with its parent company Facebook. The policy has been met with public outcry and resulted in many users flocking to rival companies such as...

Limitations on AI in the Legal Market

In the last 50 years, society has achieved a level of sophistication sufficient to set the stage for an explosion in AI development. As AI continues to evolve, it will become cheaper and more user friendly. Cheaper and easier to use AI will provide an incentive for...

Law Enforcement’s Newest Witness, Alexa

On July 12, 2019, Adam Reechard Crespo and his girlfriend, Silvia Galva, got into an argument at Crespo’s home in Hallandale Beach, Florida. What happened next remains unclear, but it ended with Galva stabbed through the chest.   Crespo said he pulled the blade...

Zooming in on Children’s Online Privacy

An era of remote learning raises questions about children’s data privacy. As COVID-19 spread through the United States this spring, school districts across the country scrambled to find a way to teach students remotely. Many turned to Zoom, the videoconferencing...

Anti-Discrimination Laws and Algorithmic Discrimination

Machine algorithms can discriminate. More accurately, machine algorithms can produce discriminatory outcomes. It seems counterintuitive to think that dispassionately objective machines can make biased choices, but it is important to remember that machines are not...

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.