June 13, 2017
Volume 15, Online Edition
Dr. Dronelove: How We Should All Learn to Stop Worrying and Love Commercial Drones
While manufacturers, entrepreneurs, and customers wait on the dilatory FAA to create formal rules governing commercial drone integration into the U.S. airspace, states have begun to regulate drones on their own accord. However, the direction of state legislation risks the benefits of an emerging industry worth billions—an industry in which the United States has a
Nicholas Ryan Turza, Recent Development, Dr. Dronelove: How We Should All Learn to Stop Worrying and Love Commercial Drones, 15 N.C. J.L. & Tech. On. 134 (2014), available at http://ncjolt.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Turza_Final.pdf
“Transforming” Fair Use: Authors Guild, Inc. v. Google, Inc.
Since the 1980s, the outcome of the fair use defense to copyright has appeared to turn on whether the secondary use provided the infringer with any commercial benefit. However, recent cases suggest that the commerciality inquiry is no longer controlling. In November of 2013, Authors Guild, Inc. v. Google, Inc. authorized Google Books to use
Kelly Morris, Recent Development, "Transforming" Fair Use: Authors Guild, Inc. v. Google, Inc., 15 N.C. J.L. & Tech. On. 134 (2014), available at http://ncjolt.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Morris_Final.pdf
Do Not Read This Article at Work: The CFAA’s Vagueness Problem and Recent Legislative Attempts to Correct It
The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (“CFAA”), the nation’s leading anti-hacking statute, criminalizes unauthorized access to any computer in the world. The CFAA does not specify what types of computer use qualify as unauthorized access, and circuit courts are split over approaches to defining the term. Although some courts have held that violations of private
Ryan H. Niland, Recent Development, Do Not Read This Article at Work: The CFAA's Vagueness Problem and Recent Legislative Attempts to Correct It, 15 N.C. J.L. & Tech. On. 134 (2014), available at http://ncjolt.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Niland_Final.pdf
Paving the Way for Clean Coal: The EPA’s Conditional Exclusion of Carbon Capture and Storage Facilities From Hazardous Waste Regulation Under RCRA
Carbon capture and storage (“CCS”) is an emerging climate change mitigation strategy involving the permanent underground storage of carbon dioxide captured from emission sources like power plants. The Environmental Protection Agency recently finalized a rule (the “Conditional Exclusion”) that excludes CCS operations from all hazardous waste regulations under the Resource, Conservation, and Recovery Act. Instead
Matthew Spangler, Recent Development, Paving the Way for Clean Coal: The EPA's Conditional Exclusion of Carbon Capture and Storage Facilities From Hazardous Waste Regulation Under RCRA, 15 N.C. J.L. & Tech. On. 134 (2014), available at http://ncjolt.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Spangler_Final.pdf
Mobile App Privacy: Develping Standard and Effective Privacy Tools for Consumers
Everyone knows what “apps” are (or they will know soon). Apps fill our smartphones, tablets, and computers; apps will fill our cars and control our homes. Apps of all varieties have been downloaded billions of times by sophisticated technologists and grandparents alike. These apps are collecting and sharing data in previously unimaginable ways. Developing standard
Daniel Parisi, Recent Development, Mobile App Privacy: Develping Standard and Effective Privacy Tools for Consumers, 15 N.C. J.L. & Tech. On. 134 (2014), available at http://ncjolt.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Parisi_Final.pdf
Counterattacking the Comment Crew
Presidential Policy Directive 20 authorizes the United States government to counterattack state-sponsored hackers who target America from overseas, such as recent malefactors from Syria and China. However, despite actively legislating in the field of cybersecurity, no act of Congress authorizes or rejects Presidential Policy Directive 20. Because an execution of the directive could cause collateral
Nicholas Ryan Turza, Recent Development, Counterattacking the Comment Crew: The Constitutionality of Presidential Policy Directive 20 as a Defense to Cyberattacks, 15 N.C. J.L. & Tech. On. 134 (2014), available at http://ncjolt.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Turza_final.pdf.
Wind Turbines and Migratory Birds: Avoiding a Collision Between the Energy Industry and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act
Wind energy is gaining prominence as a source of pollution-free electrical energy. An old environmental statute, however, may act as a roadblock for this clean, renewable energy. The Migratory Bird Treaty Act prohibits the killing or taking of nearly all birds found in the United States. While this legislation has been a boon for the
Kyle Evans, Recent Development, Wind Turbines and Migratory Birds: Avoiding a Collision Between the Energy Industry and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, 15 N.C. J.L. & Tech. On. 32 (2014), available at http://ncjolt.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Evans_final.pdf.
Mutual Pharmaceutical Co. v. Bartlett Continues to Alter the True Costs and Risks of Generic Drugs
Over the last few decades, the generic drug market has grown substantially. Today, generic drugs account for four of every five drugs sold. The affordability of generics has been a welcome change for drug purchasers throughout the value chain, but thinning protections for generic drug consumers are causing many reasons for concern. Recent Supreme Court
Brittany Croom, Recent Development, Buyer Beware: Mutual Pharmaceutical Co. v. Bartlett Continues to Alter theTrue Costs and Risks of Generic Drugs, 15 N.C. J.L. & Tech. On. 1 (2014), available at http://ncjolt.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Croom_final.pdf.
Leaving the Back Door Open: How Export Control Reform’s Deregulation May Harm America’s Security
A convoluted system regulating arms-related technology exports has frustrated U.S. defense manufacturers for decades. The Obama Administration is implementing sweeping reforms and relaxing export controls to address these concerns. While described as an attempt to bolster national security by aiding the U.S. private sector’s dominance of defense technology markets, these reforms pose a substantial risk
David R. Fitzgerald, Recent Development, Leaving the Back Door Open: How Export Control Reform's Deregulation May Harm America's Security, 15 N.C. J.L. & Tech. On. 65 (2014), available at http://ncjolt.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Fitzgerald_final.pdf.
The Fight Against “Patent Trolls:” Will State Law Come to the Rescue?
Patent trolls are companies that do not invent or manufacture any products. These companies acquire patents for routine activities, such as scanning documents to email. They then send out thousands of letters to potential infringers, demanding exorbitant fees for a license to engage in the patented activity, and threatening suit if the recipient fails to
T. Christian Landreth, Recent Development, The Fight Against “Patent Trolls:” Will State Law Come to the Rescue?, 15 N.C. J.L. & Tech. On. 100 (2014), available at http://ncjolt.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Landreth_final.pdf.
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