Since the beginning of the digital revolution, copyright law has had to adapt to the advent of new technologies and their impact on the world of creation. Software protection, mainly, raised a lot of issues that still fuel the judicial debate. Indeed, while it is well established that software can be copyrighted as literary works, the extent of the protection… read more
In the artistic world, the development of the Internet, while creating a tremendous way for artists to spread their work worldwide and gain in notoriety, created an environment very much in favor of online piracy, which right holders are still trying to circumvent. The development of new technologies made possible the transmission of unlawful high-quality copies of protected works to… read more
Clorox sells a product, “disinfecting wipes,” that boasts on its container, “Kills 99.9% of Viruses & Bacteria.” It’s a great product, and I use it every day. But it’s a good thing there’s plenty more bacteria around. Scientists have begun deferring to them for inspiration, and it turns out, bacteria just might provide the panacea for an array of genetic… read more
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a broad term, used to describe how computers can mimic certain operations of the human mind. Upon hearing the term, many people had vaguely pictured sci-fi inspired images of machine-ruled futures and humanoid robots. As Google DeepMind’s AlphaGo program triumphed against South Korean Go grandmaster Lee Sedol in 2016, however, the neutral networks and machine learning… read more
Gene editing was once quite difficult. Though it was not impossible to insert a new sequence of DNA into a bacterium and measure the effects, as recently as a decade ago, the process consumed unsustainably large amounts unlucky graduate students’ time and effort. In 2012, a groundbreaking paper from the group led by Dr. Jennifer Doudna at the University of… read more
President Trump’s remarks that NFL owners should fire players who chose to kneel during the national anthem and White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ statement that Jemele Hill’s tweets disparaging Trump were a “fireable offense” pose an important question: can a private-sector employee be fired based on his or her political speech? The simple answer is yes; an employer… read more
One of the major battles going on in patent law is that concerning the CRISPR gene-editing technology. Basically, this technology allows for the modification of genes in living organisms. As one can imagine, if this technology could be perfected for use in human DNA, the scientific and business possibilities are vast and valuable. Involving this technology is a patent battle… read more
I recently came across The New York Times article “How the Internet Is Saving Culture, Not Killing It,” by Fahrad Manjoo. Being that I’m fascinated by the idea that the Internet is the manifestation of consciousness and culture is the expression of it, I was immediately intrigued by an analysis of the relationship between the two. The article begins by… read more
An estimated $90 billion will be bet on NFL and NCAA football games during the 2016-2017 season—yet only $2 billion will be done so legally. This discrepancy is a testament to the failure of the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 (PASPA), a federal statute that outlawed sports gambling in the United States. Four states—Nevada, Oregon, Delaware, and… read more
Weeks ago, Apple and Spotify announced they had reached agreements with the music royalty analysis company Dubset. Dubset’s services include the ability for streaming providers to easily and legally allow users to upload music, even if those particular pieces of music contains copyrighted material. Dubset then analyzes the copyrighted material within the song using an automated scanning technique and… read more