Property Rights and the Efficient Exploitation of Copyrighted Works: An Empirical Analysis of Public Domain and Copyrighted Fiction Bestsellers
By Paul J. Heald. Full text here. Economists and policymakers have recently defended the extension of copyright protection to assure the efficient exploitation of existing works. They assert that works in the public domain may be underexploited due to the lack of property rights. This study compares the availability, number of editions, and prices of 166…
Continue ReadingUsury Law, Payday Loans, and Statutory Sleight of Hand: Salience Distortion in American Credit Pricing Limits
By Christopher L. Peterson. Full text here. In the Western intellectual tradition usury law has historically been the foremost bulwark shielding consumers from harsh credit practices. In the past, the United States commitment to usury law has been deep and consistent. However, the recent rapid growth of the “payday” loan industry belies this longstanding American tradition.…
Continue ReadingAmending the Exceptions Clause
By Joseph Blocher. Full text here. Jurisdiction stripping is the new constitutional amendment, and the Exceptions Clause is the new Article V. But despite legal academia’s long-running obsessions with the meaning of constitutional amendment and the limits (if any) on Congress’s power to control federal jurisdiction, we still lack even a basic understanding of how these…
Continue ReadingThe Legacy of Bryan v. Itasca County: How an Erroneous $147 County Tax Notice Helped Bring Tribes $200 Billion in Indian Gaming Revenue
By Kevin K. Washburn. Full text here. The Supreme Court’s landmark 1976 decision in Bryan v. Itasca County is known within Indian law academia for the story Professors Philip Frickey and William Eskridge tell about the case: it reflects the dynamic and pragmatic interpretation of a termination-era statute to limit termination’s harmful legacy during a more…
Continue ReadingNote: Modernizing Medicare: Protecting America's Most Vulnerable Patients from Predatory Health Care Marketing Through Accessible Legal Remedies
By Elizabeth C. Borer. Full text here. Increasingly, senior citizens throughout the United States are victimized by aggressive and fraudulent health care marketing practices. Medicare Advantage and Part D prescription drug plans are health-benefit options approved by the federal government but sold and administered by private insurance companies. The programs were created as part of the…
Continue ReadingNote: BONGHiTS4JESUS.COM? Scrutinizing Public School Authority over Student Cyberspeech Through the Lens of Personal Jurisdiction
By Kyle W. Brenton. Full text here. As more and more public school students express themselves via e-mail, instant messages, and online communities such as MySpace and Facebook, more and more school administrators reach beyond the schoolhouse gates to censor and punish that online expression. While First Amendment jurisprudence provides a framework for determining when a…
Continue ReadingBeyond Incoherence: The Roberts Court's Deregulatory Turn in FEC v. Wisconsin Right to Life
By Richard L. Hasen. Full text here. With the recent personnel changes on the Supreme Court, the pendulum has swung sharply away from deference in campaign finance regulation toward perhaps the greatest period of deregulation since before Congress passed the important 1974 Amendments to the Federal Election Campaign Act. In the 2006 Randall v. Sorrell decision,…
Continue ReadingNote: Capturing the Ghost: Expanding Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 11 to Solve Procedural Concerns with Ghostwriting
By Jeffrey P. Justman. Full text here. The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure have not kept pace with the ways in which some lawyers are representing low-income litigants. For example, in its current form, Rule 11 only recognizes traditional “full scope” representation and purely pro se representation, without addressing the ever-increasing possibility that lawyers may represent…
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