The question of whether Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act does or should apply to websites has been an issue of public interest since the advent of the Internet. In National Federation of the Blind v. Target Corporation, the Ninth Circuit was the first to find that Title III did apply to a …
RFID technology is a highly effective means of tracking products and people, and it is ready to be employed on a massive scale. Without regulation, RFID will be used to track both products and people. There is currently no government oversight of the use of RFID. Instead, the Federal Trade Commission allows companies that use …
Embedded data is information, including metadata, that accompanies many common word processing files, but which is ordinarily not seen on the screen. Unless a lawyer removes embedded data from a file before sending the file to opposing counsel, the embedded data accompanying the file could reveal confidential or privileged information. The authorities disagree on whether …
In 2006, Congress changed federal trademark dilution law when it enacted the Trademark Dilution Revision Act (“TDRA”). This Article first outlines the history of the dilution doctrine in the United States so that the changes enacted through the TDRA may be understood contextually. The TDRA’s new provisions are then delineated and explained. The author argues …
As the American prison population has exploded in the last quarter century, the prison telephone industry has grown into a billion-dollar market. Telecommunications companies are granted statewide prison monopolies that subject prisoners’ loved ones to grossly inequitable telephone charges. As a result, many families become saddled with outrageously high phone bills. Phone companies defend these …
With interest in renewable energy sources gaining momentum, it is only natural that controversy will arise surrounding the proliferation of wind energy. While this conflict has already manifested itself in the context of federal law, in North Carolina, a state with favorable conditions for wind energy development, the fate of the budding technology remains uncertain …
Within the past decade, companies seeking to purchase intellectual property for the purpose of generating licensing fees have become a major concern for U.S. businesses. These companies are often identified as “patent trolls,” and are perceived to take advantage of successful companies that utilize the technology by demanding often exorbitant licensing fees. The Supreme Court’s …
A lawsuit has been filed in the federal court system that threatens the continued success of online fantasy sports. The plaintiff in Humphrey v. Viacom, Inc. has sued the three main providers of online fantasy leagues, claiming that pay-to-play fantasy sports constitute illegal gambling. Since courts have traditionally distinguished between permissible and impermissible forms of …
Electronic discovery-including the contents of e-mail messages and/or the deletion of e-mails-has driven the outcome of many high-profile cases. We live in a progressively more digital world. Thus, when disputes ripen into litigation, clients, attorneys, and judges have had to focus increasingly on preserving, gathering, culling, reviewing, and producing electronic information. The complexity of information …
In 2002, Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition held that the possession, creation, or distribution of “virtual child pornography,” pornography created entirely through computer graphics, was not a punishable offense because regualtion impermissibly infringed on the First Amendment right to free speech and did not harm real children. Only a few years after that decision, however, …
