Many commentators have praised Brian Tamanaha’s Failing Law Schools for its unflinching (and much needed) look at the state of legal education. Without question, Tamanaha was among the first to sound the alarm about legal education, and Failing Law Schools is an important book. But does Tamanaha go far enough? My former colleague Andrew Morriss […]
Archive | October, 2012
The Knockoff Economy: Copying and Creativity in Cuisine
By Prof. Christopher Sprigman (Virginia), guest-blogging on October 16, 2012 8:00 am in Copyright, Patent Law, Popular Culture
Yesterday we introduced some of the big themes of The Knockoff Economy, and briefly explained why the fashion industry remains so creative despite having its central product—clothing designs—freely copied by any firm that thinks it can turn it a profit by aping an original design. In the book we look at several other examples of […]
The Legality of Counterhacking: Baker Replies to Kerr
Orin Kerr and I agree that “authorization” is the central, and undefined, key to criminal liability under the CFAA. In Orin’s view, “authorization” can be determined by asking two questions: First, does the CFAA protect computers or data? And, second, who controls a computer, the data owner or the computer owner? It seems to me […]
A Non-Controversy at Brandeis
The Times reports that a potentially controversial Palestinian art exhibit at Brandeis’ Rose Art Museum hasn’t caused much controversy. As an alumnus, I can guess why. Unless things have changed dramatically since I was there, Brandeis students are only dimly aware of the museum’s existence, and it plays essentially no role in campus life. In […]
“Debunking a Progressive Constitutional Myth; or, How Corporations Became People, Too”
Over at Balkinization, John Fabian Witt has an interesting post on the first Supreme Court decision to treat corporations as persons.
Is the Supreme Court “Pro-Business”?
Stephen Richer of Forbes has a good summary of the reasons why claims that the Supreme Court has a “pro-business” bias are misplaced. He also provides numerous links to articles and blog posts on both sides of the issue, including one by co-blogger Jonathan Adler. I summarized my own thoughts on the issue in this […]
The Legal Case Against Hack-Back: A Response to Stewart Baker
My co-blogger Stewart Baker recently argued that it is legal to hack into the computer of someone who has hacked into your computer. Stewart says his analysis is “surely” right. I think it’s obviously wrong. Here’s why. The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act is a computer trespass statute. It prohibits accessing another person’s computer “without […]
Silicon Valley Event with Justice Scalia
This Friday (the 19th) at noon, the Silicon Valley chapter of the Federalist Society is hosting a lunch with Justice Scalia, followed by a live taping of the Hoover Institution’s Uncommon Knowledge program; audience members will have the chance to ask questions, as usual. There are still a few seats left for lawyers, law students, […]
Gary Johnson’s Libertarian Candidacy
In my post comparing Romney and Obama from a libertarian perspective, I promised to take up Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson in a future post. This is it. From a policy perspective, Johnson is extremely appealing to libertarians. Last year, I wrote that “Johnson is about as good on the issues as any remotely mainstream […]
Magistrate Judge Concludes That Fraud Scheme Using Video Poker Machine Falls Outside the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act
Last year, I posted about a recently-filed criminal prosecution in which the federal government was charging a state fraud scheme involving poker machines under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act: Andrew Nestor learned of a programming flaw in certain video poker machines used in Las Vegas. By using a certain feature and playing a particular […]
Robert Bork and Gregory Sidak on Internet Search and Antitrust Law
Before Robert Bork became well-known for his views on constitutional law, he was an antitrust scholar at Yale, and the author of the highly influential book The Antitrust Paradox (cited 17 times by the Court, and actually relied on often, not something that’s true of all court cites to scholarly work). Now he and Prof. […]
Glenn Greenwald: Man of the Left
Over the years, some of Glenn Greenwald’s most ardent defenders, writing in VC blog comments and to me personally, have promoted the idea that he came to his foreign policy views from a unique perspective, completely independent of standard left-wing ideological commitments. Contrary to my impression based on his foreign policy writings, I was told, […]
Foot Voting, Federalism, and Political Freedom
By Ilya Somin on October 15, 2012 11:30 am in Democracy, Federalism, Political Ignorance, Voting With Your Feet
My forthcoming article, “Foot Voting, Federalism, and Political Freedom,” is now available on SSRN. The article is part of a symposium on Federalism and Subsidiarity in the interdisciplinary journal Nomos, which focuses on a different broad issue in political theory every year. Other contributors include a variety of big-name federalism scholars in legal academia and […]
The Knockoff Economy: How Imitation Sparks Innovation
By Prof. Christopher Sprigman (Virginia), guest-blogging on October 15, 2012 10:58 am in Copyright, Patent Law, Trademark
First, many thanks to Eugene and the rest of the VC team for inviting us to guest-blog this week. The Knockoff Economy is about copying, and specifically about how copying, copyright, and creativity mix in a set of somewhat unusual industries—from fashion to food to football. Though our main focus is copyright, we also talk […]
Eric Hobsbawm and the Neglect of Communist Crimes
I was going to comment on the passing of Eric Hobsbawm, the famous historian and longtime apologist for communism. But co-bloggers Jonathan Adler and David Bernstein have already said most of what I could have said. I also recommend this column by Jeff Jacoby. I will add only that Hobsbawm’s career is yet another example […]