It’s a common story for music fans who love live concerts. You see your favorite artist is playing near you, and you immediately sign up for the lottery. What do you win if you’re selected in the lottery? Free tickets? No. You get the opportunity to buy tickets. So, you set your alarm for when tickets go on sale and use multiple devices to maximize your chances of buying any ticket. If you’re lucky, you get your ticket at a relatively reasonable price. If you aren’t lucky and lose out to the professional ticket-scalpers who have an army of bots, you’re then forced into the secondary market. If you want to see your favorite artist, you’ll have to pay significantly higher prices. But even after you mentally accept the financial hit it will take to see your favorite artist, you face another surprise when you check out in the form of myriad fees. These fees can turn out to be around 27 percent of ticket price.

Protecting and commercializing inventions from early-stage research faces many challenges. This is particularly true for technologies emerging from universities, which have highly specialized resources yet lack direct paths to markets. Early-stage technologies often show technical potential in idealized conditions, such as in a clinic or on a benchtop. But researchers face lofty financial and technical challenges when translating them to more realistic, complex, and uncontrolled conditions. This manifests as the infamous Valley of Death that early-stage technologies must traverse; the journey from well-defined research proposals to undetermined markets with nebulous commercialization analyses, technical forecasts, and legal landscapes. Success requires funding, resources, and expertise for each challenge.

Unlike to many Americans, rent-free rental is hardly an oxymoron to South Koreans. Jeonse has been a preferred system by providing a significantly cheaper rental option among the younger generations, who have not yet had the opportunity to purchase real estate.

Copyright principles are increasingly challenged in the age of generative AI. The rapid advancement of AI technologies is pushing the boundaries of traditional legal frameworks, with courts finding it difficult to apply established copyright principles to emerging digital contexts. AI-generated content highlights the practical uses of generative AI, showcasing its ability to produce text on complex subjects. However, the widespread use of these technologies also requires thoughtful consideration of intellectual property rights, ensuring that the pursuit of innovation does not erode the protections given to original creators.

On August 9, 2024, the Danish Maritime and Commercial Court ruled against Steve Madden in a copyright suit brought by the popular Danish brand, Ganni. The Danish court issued an injunction barring Steve Madden from offering, marketing, and selling its “Grand Ave” shoe in Denmark. The court ultimately found Steve Madden’s buckle-design shoe to be practically identical to Ganni’s “Buckle Ballerina” shoe, thereby constituting copyright infringement. This ruling underscores a significant issue in the U.S. fashion industry: the fine line between inspiration and infringement, as evidenced  bySteve Madden’s well-documented practice of replicating high-end designs.

Since the COVID-19 global pandemic in 2020, the core values of American organizational culture have shifted. This shift led to an increased reliance on remote work and hybrid business models. Modifications to these models evolved in unexpected ways, introducing new variations of work in the 21st century. While many companies have adapted to these new demands, they now face a critical question: How do we move forward after the COVID pandemic? Different approaches to this question indicate a decline in remote work options and a rebound to the five-day workweek. With the influx of companies abandoning hybrid models and mandating five-day office weeks, new legal concerns have arisen—particularly concerning the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

We are coming up to the first anniversary of Maryland’s vast expansion of tenant’s rights. Effective October 1, 2023, a landlord, whose property is unable to pass a licensing inspection, will be unlikely to succeed in a number of repossessions claims under the Maryland Real Property Title. In order for a landlord to apprise themselves of the expedited repossession remedies under the Real Property Title, they must now comply with the rental licensing requirements of their jurisdiction.

In the music industry, the production technique known as sampling, has become a favorite among producers and audiences alike. In recent years, nearly one in every five hit songs contain some form of a sample. While the techniques used to generate a sample can be technically advanced, the basic principle of sampling is rather simple. A music sample is simply a previously recorded sound incorporated into a new recording.

On Wednesday, April 24th, President Biden signed a bill that would effectively ban Tiktok in the United States if the Chinese-based parent company, ByteDance, does not sell the app within nine months. Lawmakers argue that the application poses a significant national security threat, as it allows the Chinese government to access user data and manipulate the TikTok algorithm to influence American public opinion on various issues. In the prior month, the House voted 352-65 in favor of a ban, sending the bill to the Senate for approval. Once in the Senate, the legislation to force a sale of TikTok was integrated with a larger foreign aid bill that provided funding for Ukraine, and Israel, as well as humanitarian aid for Gaza. The bill passed with a resounding vote of 79-18.

Keep the levers of inter-state power out of the hands of volatile tech leaders, like Elon Musk.

In 2018, the Supreme Court struck down the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) in Murphy v. NCAA. The flood gates opened for sports gambling in the United States, and state legislatures were free to permit and regulate sports wagering for the first time in decades. They wasted little time. In 2022, the sports gambling industry generated $7.56 billion of revenue. However, that economic boom was met with significant criticism and backlash over the prominence of sports gambling and its potential negative effects on novice gamblers.

Dartmouth Men’s Basketball is not a blue-blood program for its efforts on the court. The Big Green have not had a winning record since the 1998-1999 season and have not made an NCAA Tournament appearance since 1959. This year is no different. The team is ranked at the bottom of the Ivy League and is unlikely to change that standing by the end of the season. However, the team’s actions away from the court will forever cement Dartmouth’s place as a historic program. On March 5, 2024, Dartmouth became the first college basketball program to unionize in the history of college sports with a vote to join the Service Employees International Union. 

Since the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Murphy v. National Collegiate Athletic Association, 37 states have legalized sports betting. Since this ruling, over $220 billion has been spent on sports bets across the country. Sports betting has become a very lucrative source of tax revenue for many states. For example, Maryland reported $46 million in tax revenue from betting alone.

In November 2019, Tesla Inc. (“Tesla”) unveiled the prototype of its latest innovation in the electric vehicle market—the Cybertruck. The brainchild of Tesla CEO and former “Richest Man in the World” Elon Musk, the Cybertruck, was met with polarizing reactions from critics and fans alike. Some felt the Cybertruck’s polygonal design and purported electric vehicle (“EV”) capabilities, such as a 500-mile range on a single charge, deserved praise. Some felt skepticism over the practicality of the design and Musk’s ability to deliver on any of his promises. Many industry experts questioned the safety capabilities of a sharp, stainless steel, 14,000+ pound truck with an acceleration speed of 0-60 MPH in 2.9 seconds.

In 2018, Dr. Stephen Thaler, a researcher specializing in artificial intelligence (AI), filed patent applications in several countries and designated a machine called Device for the Autonomous Bootstrapping of Unified Sentience (DABUS) as the inventor. Dr. Thaler earned his Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Missouri-Columbia with a thesis that focused on radiation damage in silicon. He is currently the President and CEO of Imagination Engines, Inc., a company known for computational creativity and for working with the U.S. Department of Defense. Dr. Thaler claimed that DABUS acted autonomously as an inventor without help from humans and that DABUS is a “creativity machine.” The first patent application Dr. Thaler filed with DABUS as the inventor was for a food (or drink) container whose shape allows for improved storage and handling characteristics compared to traditional container shapes. The second patent application Dr Thaler filed was for a flashing light beacon that emits a unique flash pattern, making it suitable for search and rescue operations. Dr. Thaler applied for patents under DABUS in several countries including U.S, U.K, South Africa, the EU, and Australia.

Within the first month of 2024, a series of disturbing stories surfaced. They all had one thing in common: some flavor of generative artificial intelligence (AI) was used to produce content in which a public figure’s voice or likeness was featured without consent. The AI-generated products were circulated widely and rapidly—and in one case, recipients were specifically targeted for dissemination.

What is the Digital Services Act?

The European Union’s (“EU”) Digital Services Act (“DSA” or the “Act”), adopted by the European Parliament in July 2022, will apply to all platforms operating in the EU beginning in February 2024. Primarily seeking to protect consumer rights within the online space, the DSA will impose robust data privacy measures, implement illegal content reporting, and enhance protections for children on the Internet.

Private equity investing is one of the most popular asset classes in finance. As of 2022, $26 trillion worth of capital has been invested through private funds, which includes private equity, venture capital, and hedge funds.

Recently, several corporations have used a relatively new strategy to shirk liability and streamline the bankruptcy process. This strategy is known as the “Texas Two-Step.” The first step is a corporate restructuring maneuver, in which a parent company can reorganize and split into two subsidiaries. This process is allowed under Texas Law in the Texas Business Organizations Code as a divisional or divisive merger. Under this Code, the dividing organization must develop and follow a plan for merger, which specifies the distribution of assets and liabilities and a filing with the secretary of state. In a divisional merger where the dividing organization does not survive, all of the dividing organization’s “liabilities and obligations are allocated to one or more of the … new organizations in the manner provided by the plan of merger.” Thus, if a company devises a plan for a divisional merger in which one of the new organizations retains certain liabilities or obligations, and the other new organization retains the business, the new liability-bearing organization is exclusively liable for those liabilities and obligations.