By Jamila Johnson
4 Shidler J. L. Com. & Tech. 1 (2007)
Corporate & Commercial
6/6/2007
This Article addresses a New Jersey appellate court’s holding which suggests that employers have a common law duty to investigate online misconduct by their employees. In Doe v. XYC Corp., the Appellate Division of the Superior Court of New Jersey held that an employer has a duty to act when (1) it knows that an employee’s use of the Internet would endanger a third person; and (2) it has reason to believe that it may discipline the employee for online activities in the workplace. The court stated that, under this duty to act, an employer must investigate, discipline, and inform authorities of the danger. This Article discusses the implications of the case for employers.
by Jennifer W. Chiang
4 Shidler J. L. Com. & Tech. 2 (2007)
Constitutional & Regulatory
6/6/2007
It is disputed whether the United States has a blanket federal prohibition on Internet gambling. As a result of the lack of cohesive federal oversight, states have passed their own Internet gambling laws which, depending on the state’s approach, may regulate making bets online, taking bets online and transferring money between bettor and casino. Some even extend to regulating speech and Internet casino advertisements. For example, card rooms and Indian casinos are prevalent in Washington State, but the state legislature recently made placing a bet over the Internet a Class C felony. This Article will analyze the current framework for Internet gambling regulations, with a brief overview of the federal Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006. It will detail the various kinds of regulations utilized at the state level and analyze their interplay with federal law in the United States.
by Daniel L. Hadjinian
4 Shidler J. L. Com. & Tech. 3 (2007)
Corporate & Commercial
6/6/2007
The Arizona Court of Appeals recently found a business liable for sending an unsolicited advertisement email to a recipient’s wireless phone in violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 (“TCPA”). The court concluded that an email sent to a wireless phone constitutes a “call,” and noted that such a commercial call created the same concerns about consumer privacy that Congress intended to remedy with the TCPA. This finding is consistent with an earlier Federal Communications Commission ruling. Preliminary cases indicate that other courts may be willing to adopt a similar interpretation of the TCPA. In light of this recent ruling, this article will consider how various new advertising media and technologies may fall within the scope of the TCPA. Businesses that advertise using electronic delivery methods should consider the effect of this case on their current practices as well as any practices adopted in the future.
by Shaobin Zhu
4 Shidler J. L. Com. & Tech. 4 (2007)
Intellectual Property
6/6/2007
Free/Open Source Software (“FOSS”) licenses generally give developers and users the freedom to run software for any purpose, to study and modify software, and to redistribute copies of either the original or the modified software without paying royalties to previous developers. The FOSS community is facing increasing threats from software patents, especially from entities outside the FOSS community. This Article discusses patent rights under FOSS licenses, including the GNU General Public License (“GPL”) 2.0 and draft 3.0, the Apache License and the Mozilla Public License (“MPL”). It also addresses how current GPL draft 3.0 attempts to reconcile the conflict between software freedom/innovation and patent protection, and to resolve the compatibility of GPL draft 3.0 with other FOSS licenses.