Monthly Archives: February, 2025
Christopher Ryan, ‘A Tale of Two Landlords’
ABSTRACT In 2024, eviction filing rates in the United States reached historic levels, impacting the housing stability of millions of tenants. But the total cost of eviction extends beyond tenants and their landlords – to society. In a companion study, my co-author and I focused on the high costs of eviction that are borne by […]
Daniel Solove, ‘Artificial Intelligence and Privacy’
This Article aims to establish a foundational understanding of the intersection between artificial intelligence (AI) and privacy, outlining the current problems AI poses to privacy and suggesting potential directions for the law’s evolution in this area. Thus far, few commentators have explored the overall landscape of how AI and privacy interrelate. This Article seeks to […]
Nicola Searle, ‘Uncertainty in Knowledge Value and Employee Restrictions’
ABSTRACT Knowledge held by firms is a driver of firm performance and value. Knowledge protection mechanisms seek to protect this value by imposing restrictions on employees, leading to concerns about the balance between firm interests and employee rights. While past research has investigated this balance, the pivotal role of knowledge value has largely been overlooked. […]
Christopher Jaeger, ‘The Hand Formula’s Unequal Inputs’
ABSTRACT Tort cases often hinge on whether the defendant behaved ‘unreasonably’. Tort theorists have long debated what makes behavior unreasonable, with many seeking answers in economic theory or Kantian philosophy. But the question of whether a tort defendant’s conduct was reasonable or unreasonable is typically a question for the jury. And we know very little […]
Weisbord and Sterk, ‘Joint Bank Accounts: Who Needs Them?’
ABSTRACT Joint bank accounts, once known as a ‘poor man’s will’, emerged more than a century ago as a probate avoidance device. This Article contends that joint accounts no longer serve a useful estate planning function, and they pose an unacceptably high risk to banking consumers because the legal framework governing lifetime ownership rights is […]
‘Two Universities Defeat COVID Claims’
For years now, we have been following cases in which students sue their universities alleging breach of contract or unjust enrichment based on the universities’ decisions to close their campuses because of the COVID pandemic in the Spring of 2020. The cases have become a useful teaching tool for me. Not all relationships are contractual. […]
‘Price calculation indications in online offers: Misleading or not? CJEU in NEW Niederrhein Energie und Wasser (Case C‑518/23)’
On 23 January, the CJEU provided further clarity on what amounts to a misleading omission in an invitation to purchase under the UCPD (Case C‑518/23). The case concerns an online electricity tariff calculator operated by the German company NEW Niederrhein Energie und Wasser. Based on customer input, the calculator generates a tariff offer that the […]
‘Copyright’s Big Win in the First Decided US Artificial Intelligence Case’
Back in March of 2023, when there were only a handful of cases alleging copyright infringement for training purposes by AI companies, I predicted that we would soon have some guidance from the court in Thomson Reuters Enterprise Center GMBH and West Publishing Corp v Ross Intelligence, Inc. Predicting the timing of court decisions is […]
Samuelson and Silbey, ‘Preventing Unjust Enrichment and Copyright Opportunism: An Equitable Interpretation of Section 103(a)’
ABSTRACT A stealth issue in many close copyright fair use cases is the potential invalidity of second comers’ copyrights under 17 USC § 103(a) if the new use is ultimately held to infringe the derivative work right. In the Supreme Court’s recent Warhol v Goldsmith case, for instance, Lynn Goldsmith claimed that the Warhol Foundation […]
Peari and Bennett, ‘Is There a “Unjust Enrichment Disaster” in Australia?’
ABSTRACT Australian courts should extensively assess and review their vision of restitutionary claims in the wake of the growing criticism of the Birks’ unjust enrichment four-stage formula. This criticism does not warrant the further import of notions of equity but suggests it may be time to change course and adopt a new legal doctrine. Continued […]