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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
