Blog Posts
Did the Third Circuit Just Break the Internet? Circuit Split Over Whether a News Anchor Can Sue Facebook for a Photo Shared Without Consent
Oct. 6, 2021—By Kendall Kilberger Social media platforms such as Facebook enjoy protection from liability against many claims pursuant to Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act[1]; however, a recent Third Circuit opinion in Hepp v. Facebook, Inc. potentially poses a large threat to this veil of protection.[2] On September 23rd, 2021, a divided Third Circuit ruled...
Censoring Social Media: Texas HB 20
Oct. 6, 2021—By Mackenzie Cerwick There is perhaps nowhere that the extreme political polarization in the United States is felt more strongly than on social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook. Some Republican lawmakers feel that those platforms are catering to only one view and improperly restricting voices on the other side. On September 2, 2021,...
Embracing Competition: Protecting the Name, Image, and Likeness of Student-Athletes
Oct. 6, 2021—By Cole G. Merritt In the wake of the Supreme Court’s unanimous decision in NCAA v. Alston and new state laws, the NCAA issued an interim policy over the summer allowing collegiate student-athletes to exploit their Name, Image, and Likeness (“NIL”). Subsequently, collegiate student-athletes have been making headlines by signing large deals, like the Ohio...
Zoom Boom Security Bomb – The Cost of Virtual Convenience?
Sep. 22, 2021—By Claire Bonvillain When the Covid-19 pandemic forced us to adapt to remote work and education, Zoom Video Communications quickly rose above other teleconferencing platforms. Today, Zoom dominates the virtual office, and the word “zoom” is a verb almost as ubiquitous as “google”. Its success is largely due to its user-friendly nature and convenience, but...
Could Zillow’s Recent Setbacks Spell the End to Its Market Dominance?
Sep. 20, 2021—By Owen F. Miklos Earlier this month, a U.S. District Court judge ruled against Zillow in a closely watched antitrust case that targets the method and software through which the Seattle-based housing titan markets its millions of home listings. The order marks only the latest development in a multi-year series of complaints and lawsuits brought...
Getting What You Want Isn’t Always What You Need: Why California AB5 May Not Be the End-All-Be-All for Models After All
Jun. 25, 2021—By Betina A. Baumgarten Though the modeling industry’s image is one premised on perfection, little actually is. Behind the industry’s glamorous allure lies a workforce deprived of basic protections. Even though California’s Talent Association Act regulates modeling agencies’ licensure and procedural business operations, it is silent as to the rights and protections of models themselves. ...
JETLaw in the News: The Fault in Our Stars Reaches the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia
Jun. 22, 2021—Ramon Ryan’s paper, The Fault in Our Stars: Challenging the FCC’s Treatment of Commercial Satellites as Categorically Excluded from Review under the National Environmental Policy Act, in the Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment and Technology Law continues to push the frontiers of space law. Ryan’s paper raises several issues with the Federal Communication Commission’s (FCC’s) categorical exclusion of commercial satellites from environmental...
The Contractual and Tax Implications of The Phantom of the Opera
May. 26, 2021—By Charles Edward Andrew Lincoln IV The substantive story of Gaston Leroux’s The Phantom of the Opera (Le Fantôme de l’Opéra) is largely about contract analysis and whether the managers and “the phantom” have had a “meeting of the minds”—consensus ad idem. The question is whether the Phantom and the Managers reached a “meeting of...
Opening the Gate: Expanding non-J.D. Pathways and Removing Barriers to Better Promote Patent Practitioner Diversity
May. 26, 2021—By Christopher M. Turoski The patent field suffers from a reciprocal problem: the cost of becoming a patent attorney is abysmally high, and the diversity of the patent bar is abysmally low. Although a lack of diversity in science, technology, and engineering (STE) fields at the undergraduate and graduate level contributes to this problem, it...
Cyberpunked – How One Developer Could Answer in Court for a Botched Video Game Release
Mar. 20, 2021—By Michael Rollman In 2012, Polish video game developer, CD Projekt Red (“CDPR”) announced they were working on a new game they called “Cyberpunk 2077.” Though the game was shrouded in mystery at the time, video game fans were excited by another major franchise created by the company behind the massively successful, “The Witcher” games....