On August 1, 2017, the Bitcoin blockchain experienced a hard fork. The hard fork, spurred by concerns over Bitcoin’s scalability, resulted in an entirely new blockchain and an accompanying new cryptocurrency: Bitcoin Cash. However, the new blockchain relies on the history of transactions recorded on the old blockchain. Consequently, at the time of the hard …
The Sixth Circuit’s recent decision in Signature Management Team LLC v. Doe addressed an issue of first impression in digital privacy law, finding that anonymous internet defendants do not automatically forfeit their First Amendment right to anonymity once they are found liable in a civil lawsuit. The court’s recognition that the right to anonymity can …
Debate over pretrial detention began long before ratification of the Eighth Amendment, tracing its roots to the early English bail system. Despite this, approaches to the system have largely remained stagnant since passage of the Bail Reform Act of 1984, which contains a series of procedural directives that model bailsetting practices for the majority of …
This Recent Development examines the state of the law and opinions surrounding whether an initial coin offering (ICO) constitutes an offering of securities under federal securities laws. The SEC has taken the position that each offering will be analyzed on a case-by-case basis, looking at the facts and circumstances of each offering. The number of …
Rising interest in biometrics—the modern umbrella term for physical and behavioral characteristics possessed by humans and used to identify one another—has motivated large technology companies to produce products that allow consumers to access vital information using only their unique biometric identifiers. Because biometric information is unique to each person on the planet, it is a …
Autonomous vehicles raise new liability questions on the road because the vehicles themselves can act negligently, independent of the human driver’s intentions. For now, these liability questions are expected to be answered through the incremental common law system, rather than by legislation. This means courts will draw analogies and distinctions between autonomous vehicle accidents and …
Blockchain technology has the potential to impact systems and processes across a broad spectrum of industries, including government functions. Several countries are currently exploring the application of blockchain technology to real property record management to take advantage of the security and ease that the platform can foster. Benefits may include lowered transaction costs, more secured …
Partisan gerrymandering, the practice of shaping district lines to the advantage of one political party, has haunted American politics for centuries. Innovations in districting software have sharpened the effects of partisan gerrymanders by increasing their advantages while concealing their creation. In response, courts are reevaluating the judicial manageability of partisan gerrymandering. Any standard arising from …
In its recent decision in Elliot v. Google, the Ninth Circuit reinforced Google’s trademark significance against claims that the mark “google” should be canceled under the Lanham Act due to the public’s verb usage of the trademark. The public’s “verbing” of popular marks has become a particularly onerous problem for internet and technology trademark owners …
Blockchain technology has been hailed as a world-altering breakthrough that will change the ways information is stored, contracts are executed, and transactions are made. Blockchains are being integrated into a myriad of industries, but the law has been slow to respond to these implementations. However, this has not stopped supemerging companies, like Ascribe,1 from trumpeting …
