Digital Art Says: Protect Our “Groove” Too
Annie Kim Digital technology has become one of the most common methods artists use to create art. This advancement in technology causes many copyright difficulties, especially related to artists’ styles. Standardized and common features of digital software have made it far too easy for people to duplicate other people’s work, and more significantly, an artist’s unique style. Current copyright laws are insufficient to address these issues, and there is almost no legal precedent related to protecting an artist’s “art style.” In a groundbreaking case, Williams v. Gaye, the court implemented a two-part test to imply protection for musical styles, the...
Through the Spying-Glass: Data Privacy Concerns Regarding Mobile Spyware Apps
Payton P. Reisinger Spyware app surveillance technologies are rising in popularity for both legitimate monitoring and also to illegally spy on unsuspecting victims. In 2021, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued its first ban of a spyware app, SpyFone, due to deceptive and unfair trade practices and lack of data security provisions. Some call for specific legislation to curb the effects of growing spyware apps, but opponents of regulation claim that legislative efforts will be too restrictive on growing technological industries or the legitimate uses of spyware apps. This Essay agrees with the policy rationale for implementing spyware legislation and...
Tarantino v. Miramax: The Rise of NFTs and Their Copyright Implications
Emily Dieli Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are digital assets that are part of a relatively new industry involving blockchains and cryptocurrencies. As NFTs grow in popularity, questions have arisen over NFT copyright ownership. A federal court will have the opportunity to rule on this issue for the first time in a pending case between Miramax and Quentin Tarantino. The film production company and the well-known director are in dispute over intellectual property ownership of screenplay scenes that Tarantino sold as NFTs. The outcome of the case and future laws will have a direct impact on the way NFTs are purchased and...
Regulating the Unregulatable: The Digital Commodity Exchange Act’s Use- Based Approach to Cryptocurrency Regulation
Becky Powell Since the creation of Bitcoin in 2008, the cryptocurrency market has grown exponentially and remained relatively free from government oversight. Only within the last five years have federal agencies begun to regulate the risks the industry poses. Their response to date, though, has been piecemeal because they lack explicit, statutory jurisdiction over the industry. As a result, the cryptocurrency market faces several risks that threaten to derail its future growth. For one, the industry is a playground for criminal activity, including everything from money laundering to fraud to cyberattacks. The market is also extremely volatile, and consumers have...
Take the © Train: Why a Musician’s Creative Process Should Be Considered in Music Copyright Litigation
Patricia Rezac Music copyright litigation remains fixated on evaluating basic compositional elements such as pitch, rhythm, and lyrics. Yet, as seen in Tempo Music, Inc. v. Famous Music Corp., courts may often benefit from closely examining a musician’s creative process. By focusing on a musician’s creative process in addition to traditional standards for originality, courts could more effectively determine whether or not a musician has violated a copyright protection. This method would reduce technical complications arising from music copyright claims, create appropriate standards across genres, and introduce a potential solution for copyright issues in the age of digital music. Read Full...
The Great Equalizer: Education or Technology?
Amy Lobue This Essay evaluates the structure of technology funding in education and how it has impacted students’ access to quality instruction throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. As access to education throughout the pandemic depended on students’ and schools’ abilities to procure access to connected devices, some students were left with minimal to no instruction. Further, the pandemic sheds light on the existing technology access inequities that trace the lines between socioeconomic classes. First, technology access is defined as a two-fold issue: access to the internet, and access to devices other than smartphones. This Essay presents the current federal funding structure...
A New Understanding of Who Is a Direct Purchaser Based on Apple Inc. v. Pepper
Jacob Mitchell A group of consumers sued Apple in 2011 alleging that Apple had violated antitrust laws through their monopolization of their App Store. In trying to dismiss the suit, Apple asserted that consumers, despite purchasing apps directly from Apple through the App Store, did not have standing to sue them as monopolists because the consumers were actually buying from the app developers. The Supreme Court rejected Apple’s argument in its 2019 ruling in Apple, Inc. v. Pepper. By rejecting Apple’s view, the Supreme Court has expanded consumers’ available remedies by clarifying that consumers that buy directly from a distributor are...
The Reimagined Schoolyard: Cryptocurrency’s Adoption in Tomorrow’s International Monetary Order
Stephen Wilks This Article looks to specific periods in the socio-legal history of money to make a series of predictive statements about cryptocurrency’s contemporary impact. New forms of currency have been more consequential than simply solving narrowly defined problems. They have shaped relationships between technology and government’s expansionary aims to produce important structural arrangements – sometimes at the cost of disrupting incumbent ones. In the prehistoric era, commodity based forms of money gave way to metal coins and systems of exchange that facilitated trade expansion and would eventually express political power in their physical design. The large-scale circulation of paper...
Applying Antitrust in Digital Markets: Foundations and Approaches
Mark Jamison This paper analyzes the conflicts that arise when trying to apply traditional antitrust principles in the context of digital markets. Antitrust has both political and economic foundations. The political approach emphasizes populist themes that ultimately harm economic development, whereas economic approaches focus on characterizations of and remedies for market power. Digitization of markets thwarts current antitrust tools by adding complexity and rapid change. Several authors suggest populist approaches for antitrust in digital markets, but these lack rigor and fail to address central challenges. This Article suggests that antitrust should return to its earliest roots and directly address features...
The Internet of Things: How Digital Copyright Rules Govern Our Physical World
Jessica Barbaria Intellectual property law governs the digital world. Thus, copyright law controls how digital content, such as software, is shared and accessed. Digital content is generally licensed, permitting users to save and use a copy of software but not to own it outright. Because the internet enables monitoring of these licenses, copyright holders can ensure users do not infringe on copyright or violate their license agreements in other ways. Software also enables advanced capabilities in physical products. For example, car manufactures can remotely modify settings to benefit drivers after they buy their cars. That said, software updates come with...