Jun

29

Seventh Circuit Criminal Case of the Week: Protracted Prosecution, Contrition, and Age as Sentencing Factors

Posted by: | June 29, 2009 | Leave a Comment

The Seventh Circuit had some interesting commentary on a number of different sentencing factors in United States v. Presbitero (Nos. 07-1129, 07-1610, & 07-1712).  Writing for the court, Judge Williams affirmed Presbitero’s conviction of tax offenses, reinstated a codefendant’s conviction, and remanded for resentencing in order to determine whether Presbitero qualified for a leadership enhancement [...]

Jun

28

Copyright Law in Transition

Posted by: | June 28, 2009 | 5 Comments

Irene’s post and Kali’s post got me thinking: What is it that interests me about copyright law? The answer is somewhat surprising, given that I specialize in copyright law: nothing, per se. I’m not especially attracted to the doctrine of copyright law more than a number of other subjects, such as torts or contracts or [...]

Jun

28

Sonia Sotomayor: Activist Grammarian

Posted by: | June 28, 2009 | Leave a Comment

William Safire reported in a recent column that Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor has a pronounced distaste for bad writing.  She wants the briefs she reads to be written properly, and she believes in carefully crafting opinions.  In particular, Sotomayor says, “the unnecessary use of the passive voice” causes her “to blister.” When I was [...]

Jun

27

Which Declaration of Independence?

Posted by: | June 27, 2009 | 1 Comment

When you are at your Fourth of July cookout or fireworks display this week, see if anyone mentions the Declaration of Independence.  If they do, ask “which Declaration of Independence?”  After all, there are more than one.  In her 1997 book American Scripture: Making the Declaration of Independence, historian Pauline Maier describes the events leading [...]

Jun

27

Michael Jackson v. Prince: Thinking About Copyright, Intellectual Property, and the Age of the Eighties

Posted by: | June 27, 2009 | 6 Comments

Irene’s recent post on why we love intellectual property gets at its certain power–its ubiquity in everyday life. The recent death of Michael Jackson speaks to that particular ubiquity. What was necessarily powerful about his death was that for kids of a certain generation (maybe if you were born between 1972 and 1980?), his music [...]

Jun

26

“Well, a satirical piece in the Times is one thing, but bricks and baseball bats really get right to the point.”

Posted by: | June 26, 2009 | Leave a Comment

So said Woody Allen (as Isaac Davis in Manhattan) in response to the suggestion that a Nazi march was “devastated” by a mocking piece in the New York Times. In Sunday’s  Times, there was an article about a group calling themselves “The Nationalist Socialist Movement – Springfield Unit.”  It has been allowed to participate in Missouri’s adopt-a highway [...]

Jun

26

Duality or Trinity, Scales or Circles: What Approach for Justice in a New Generation?

Posted by: | June 26, 2009 | Leave a Comment

This week, I want to try to tie together some aspects of three experiences I recently had, and tell why I believe they reflect something about the evolving nature of justice at this point in human history. A. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. and Jr.: A first generation poet; a second generation jurist. I was rooting [...]

Jun

25

What Is So Special (to Me) About Intellectual Property?

Posted by: | June 25, 2009 | Leave a Comment

Last week I announced a future post about “why I like IP” and what brought me to specialize in this area. First, as with many-and often the most successful-things in life, IP more or less happened to me. I graduated from the University of Bologna Law School with a thesis (very much like a master’s [...]

Jun

23

Reflections on Why We Fight

Posted by: | June 23, 2009 | Leave a Comment

Let’s fight about why we fight! Or, better yet, let’s continue the intriguing discussion begun by Professor Fallone about the nature of our political divisions. There are some interesting observations in the readings he suggests (I’ve seen only the Lakoff book), but they also raise some interesting (at least to me) observations and questions. I [...]

Jun

22

Anzivino on the Disappointed Expectations Test

Posted by: | June 22, 2009 | 1 Comment

Ralph Anzivino has a new paper on SSRN entitled “The Disappointed Expectations Test and the Economic Loss Doctrine.”  This makes a trilogy of recent articles by Ralph on different aspects of the economic loss doctrine.  (The first two are here and here.)  The abstract for this most recent entry is as follows: The economic loss [...]

Jun

20

Seventh Circuit Criminal Case of the Week: What If the Defendant Thought He Was Breaking the Wrong Law?

Posted by: | June 20, 2009 | Leave a Comment

When Doli Pulungan attempted to export 100 military-grade riflescopes to Indonesia in 2007, he knew he was breaking the law.  He was just wrong about which law.  His clients told him there was a ban on military exports to Indonesia, but the ban actually expired in 2005.  Instead, Pulungan violated a different law that requires a [...]

Jun

20

Why We Fight

Posted by: | June 20, 2009 | 1 Comment

I often wonder why it is that some people disagree with my political views.  My logic is unassailable, the breadth of my historical knowledge is unmatched, my moral foundation cannot be questioned, and I am far more charming and better looking than my opponents.  Why don’t they agree with me? My summer project was to [...]

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