Blog
No Man’s Skynet: Copyright in Procedurally Generated Programs
No Man’s Sky, a highly anticipated video game released this summer, allows players to explore a massive game world consisting of eighteen quintillion planets. Creating this much content would have been impossible for human game designers, so Hello Games used a technique called procedural generation.
The DMCA and Digital Music
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act was passed in 1998 to address emerging threats posed to copyrighted material by circumvention technology. But is the DMCA either protecting artists and fostering art?
Prosthetics That Restore Feeling: Person or Property?
Traditional prosthetic limbs allow amputees to walk, dance, and hold objects, but all while relying heavily on vision. To hold an object with a traditional prosthetic, a person must visually determine where and with how much force to grasp the object without dropping or crushing it.
How “Free” is Speech on Social Media?
To many, social media is a venue where one can express his or her views, no matter how favorable or abrasive, and the only expected backlash is the vehement disagreement from one’s friends or followers. However, in light of the recent threats to police officers and specific racial groups, the Department of Justice is taking a sharper look at what citizens say on various social media platforms.
IVF for Veterans?
Advocating for government support of soldiers trying to start families might seem like a political cakewalk unlikely to generate pushback. Yet, veterans across the country are repeatedly denied access to assisted reproductive technologies.
Connecting a Divided America
As Election Day 2016 approaches, the political division in America becomes increasingly obvious. The Associated Press recently published a revealing series of articles on Divided America, exploring the tensions and disconnects between different populations of the country. As one of its articles highlighted, one of the starkest political dividing lines in America today is the urban-rural divide. What is causing the ever-rising tension between these populations? Surely, there are a lot of factors at play—different lifestyles, different types of work, and exposure to different groups of people. But as technology becomes an ever-larger part of American life, one factor is a source of increasing disparity between urban and rural populations—telecommunications infrastructure and ability to connect to the Internet.
YouTube Video Criticism: Journalism or Defamation
Before the internet became so prominent, criticism was contained primarily in newspapers and magazines. This allowed critics to share their honest opinions about movies, television shows, and books, with some level of protection from defamation lawsuits because they worked for a newspaper which had both financial and constitutional protections.
Flame-throwing Drones: Can the FAA Intervene?
While many drone hobbyists attach cameras to their devices, two creative Connecticut men decided to aim higher with their drone accessories: handguns and flamethrowers. The two men flew their weaponized drone in their backyard and uploaded two videos of the flights to YouTube in 2015, including a holiday themed turkey roasting tutorial.
Elon Musk’s New Master Plan: Brilliant, Devious, or Both?
When Tesla announced it had agreed, in principle, to purchase SolarCity, many analysts were shocked. Not only does the deal represent a merger of two innovative companies, neither of which is currently turning a profit, but many analysts also believe the deal represents a massive conflict of interest.
No Foul: Ticketmaster Resale Restriction Does Not Violate Antitrust
Though likely frustrating to many ticket-holders, Ticketmaster is able to restrict the resale of tickets on secondary markets like StubHub, SeatGeek, and TicketsNow.
Bankruptcy & The Electronic Signature
While infrequent, cases involving proof of one’s electronic signature are not unheard of. Saving someone sign a document electronically is perfectly fine until a court demands proof of the signature. As one might imagine, evidencing a client’s signature in such a case might prove challenging.
The Changing Legal Landscape of Daily Fantasy Sports
In mid-October, the Nevada Gaming Control Board ruled that pay-to-play daily fantasy sports (DFS) constitute gambling under Nevada law. And just this week, New York followed suit. State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman sent cease-and-desist letters to operators of...
Google Books: A Test of Transformative Use
Though Authors Guild v. Google decision will undoubtedly be unpopular with some groups, Judge Leval likely believes that a flexible and broad fair use tradition will only enliven the exchange of ideas and even the market for books.
Electronics at the Border: An Exception to the Border Search Doctrine?
Increased use of electronic devices and the sheer capacity of electronic storage has led the Supreme Court to acknowledge the special considerations such devices require when privacy concerns are implicated.
Do The SEC’s New Equity Crowdfunding Rules Accomplish Anything?
With stringent restrictions limiting the amount that individuals can invest, it seems the SEC might not have accomplished all that was hoped for in the last three and a half years.
Computers, the Private Search Doctrine, and the Fourth Amendment
The private search exception to the Fourth Amendment has been universally accepted, but this exception is facing new problems in how it applies to computers, smartphones, and other electronic devices.
CISA Passes to the Dismay of Many
Since its inception in 2014, the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (“CISA”)
Complications in Machinima: Using Video Game Footage to Generate Cinematic Productions and Potential Conflicts with Copyright Law
Despite the inherent risk of copyright infringement associated with machinima, prospective machinimators do have options. Particularly if they do not intend to commercialize their projects, many machinimators will likely be protected by end user license agreements provided by video game companies.
Is 2015 the Last Year for Patent Trolls?
Despite the prevalence of patent trolls and widespread support for reform, we have yet to see any significant action by Congress.
Soaring to New Heights: Flying Cars and the Law
For decades, innovators and science fiction enthusiasts have predicted the advent of a flying car, but until recently, that vision has remained just that, a vision. Flying cars, however, may not be as far away as once thought.
Data Privacy: Is the U.S. “Safe Harbor” Disappearing?
American companies have no choice but to operate in the European Union, and the European Union may now have the authority it needs to push back against lax American data security regulations.
Fair Use (Victory?) In Dancing Baby YouTube Video Ruling
Letz’s holding sounds promising for fair use, but spells more of the same when it comes to takedown notice practices.
O Brave New World: Assisted Reproduction and Same-Sex Couples
As tens of thousands of babies continue to be born through IDF in the U.S. and same-sex relationships become increasingly accepted, lawyers will have the opportunity to play a role in defining what these new relationships will mean for family law issues such as adoption, divorce, surrogacy, and inheritance.
The Future of ODR: The Promise of Advancing Technology
Even if trust and intimacy increase and technology makes virtual interaction more and more like reality, perhaps there is something about true face-to-face human connection that will never be replaceable. However, there is undoubtedly huge potential for Online Dispute Resolution to thrive under the correct circumstances.
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.