Entertainment R&D for Defense

IEEE CG&A, January/February 2003, pp.28-36.Accepted/Published Paper (Refereed

The NBA and the Single Entity Defense: A Better Case?

This Article will explore the relationship between the National Basketball Association, its independently-owned teams, and associated corporate entities, including the Women’s NBA, NBA Properties, NBA Developmental League, NBA China, and single entity analysis under section 1 of the Sherman Act. Section 1 chiefly aims to prevent competitors from combining their economic power in ways that unduly impair competition or harm consumers, be it in terms of raised prices, diminished quality, or limited choices. Single entities are exempt from section 1 because they are considered “one,” rather than competitors, and thus their collaboration does not implicate anticompetitive concerns. In American Needle v. NFL, the Supreme Court will decide whether the National Football League, its teams, and associated corporate entities, constitute a single entity. Other leagues, including the NBA, may be impacted by the Court’s decision. If the NBA were a single entity, it could potentially execute exclusive contracts with video game companies and apparel companies, restrain players’ salaries and employment autonomy, and impose heightened age restrictions on amateur players who seek employment in the NBA, all without concern for section 1 scrutiny. In a recent feature in the Yale Law Journal, I discourage the Court from recognizing the NFL as a single entity but recommend that Congress consider targeted, sports league-related exemptions from section 1. In this Article, I survey whether the NBA’s globalized business agenda and the league’s exposure to competition from foreign professional basketball leagues necessitate that NBA teams act in unison and with a “shared consciousness.” The necessity of cooperation, at least for certain international endeavors, may distinguish NBA teams from teams in NFL, which remain more anchored to domestic operations. To the extent Congress considers legislative exemptions for professional sports leagues, the experience of the NBA, a trailblazer in promoting a league product abroad, may lend insight on how antitrust law should regulate leagues in the years ahead

Bringing Sexy Back: Unauthorized Film Editing, Copyright, and How Removing Reproductive Acts Violates Reproduction Rights

The Multicolored Asian Ladybird, Harmonia axyridis, is an extremely successful invasive species. Here we suggest that, in addition to many other traits, the dorsal spines of its larvae contribute to their success, as suggested by behavioral observations of agonistic interactions between H. axyridis and European coccinellids. In coccinellids, the role of dorsal spines in these interactions has been poorly studied and they could be a physical protection against intraguild predators. Dorsal spines of second instar H. axyridis larvae were removed with micro-scissors, which resulted in spineless larvae after molting (spineless group). These larvae were then exposed to starved Coccinella septempunctata larvae. Two control categories were also submitted to interactions: H. axyridis larvae with all their spines (control group) and with their spines, but injured by pin stings (injured group). Spine removal at the second instar did not hamper H. axyridis development. The bite rate by C. septempunctata was significantly higher on the spineless H. axyridis and more dorsally located compared to the control and injured groups, while no bite rate difference was observed between the injured and the control group. Our results suggest that in addition to behavioral and chemical defenses, the dorsal spines play a significant protective role against bites. Therefore, spines in ladybirds could be considered as a morphological defense against intraguild predation. In H. axyridis, these defenses might contribute to its success in food resources already exploited by other guild members and thus further facilitate the invasion of new areas.SCOPUS: ar.jinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Product Placement and the Effects of Persuasion Knowledge

This study examines the effect of persuasion knowledge and cognitive busyness on attitude toward a brand embedded in a popular movie. Product placement is filling an increasingly important role in marketing strategy as conventional techniques have been rendered ineffective by their own ubiquity. Cognitive busyness was hypothesized to cause a product placement message to be processed on a superficial, peripheral level. If joined with persuasion knowledge, the subject’s lack of ability to devote resources to critically evaluate the message would activate compartmentalized knowledge of products and brands increasing the ease of this information’s mental accessibility and thus aid the formation of favorable brand attitudes. A controlled laboratory experiment reveals that when viewers watch the movie in a natural setting, viewers with persuasion knowledge exhibit lower attitude toward the placed brand than viewers without persuasion knowledge. However, such backlash brand-damaging effects are absent, if not reversed, when viewers watch the movie in a cognitively busy setting

Vertical Merger Enforcement Actions: 1994–April 2020

We have revised our earlier listing of vertical merger enforcement actions by the Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission since 1994. This revised listing includes 66 vertical matters beginning in 1994 through April 2020. It includes challenges and certain proposed transactions that were abandoned in the face of Agency concerns. This listing can be treated as an Appendix to Steven C. Salop and Daniel P. Culley, Revising the Vertical Merger Guidelines: Policy Issues and an Interim Guide for Practitioners, 4 JOURNAL OF ANTITRUST ENFORCEMENT 1 (2016)

Developments in the Law: Judicial Review of Agency Rulemaking and Adjudication

Transporter, resursslöseri och okunskap hos konsumenter tyder på att den globala matindustrin är ohållbar och ett alternativ till den industrialiserade matproduktionen är att konsumera mer närproducerat och ekologiskt och öka medvetenheten om hur vår mat hamnar på bordet. Därför är det intressant att studera fenomenet stadsodling som uppstår på allt fler ställen runtom i världen. Syftet med detta arbete är att undersöka de ekologiska, sociala och ekonomiska hållbarhetsaspekterna med stadsodling och frågeställningen lyder: ”Hur kan stadsodling bidra till ekologisk, social och ekonomisk hållbarhet?” För att besvara frågeställningen studeras litteratur och ett fall i verkligheten, Trädgård på spåret. Resultatet visar att det finns olika typer av stadsodling och att Trädgård på spåret är en variant som har flera sociala och ekologiska aspekter. Det visar sig att stadsodling som ett medel till att försörja en stads invånare med mat är orealistiskt men att stadsodling har många andra aspekter inom hållbarhet. Stadsodling kan verka för social hållbarhet genom att vara en plats för rekreation och sociala möten. Det kan även bidra med identitet och lokalt engagemang. Även ekologisk hållbarhet kan uppstå genom att biologisk mångfald främjas och pedagogiska värden kring livsmedel och ekologi uppstår. Drivkraften bakom stadsodling är i de flesta fall inte ekonomisk och stadsodling för generering av vinst är en utmaning

The Phases and Faces of the Duke Lacrosse Controversy: A Conversation James E. Coleman, Jr.

This panel took place at the 2008 Annual Meeting of the Southeastern Association of Law Schools ( SEALS ) in July 2008 in West Palm Beach, Florid