PayPal is New Money: Extending Secondary Copyright Liability Safe Harbors to Online Payment Processors

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) has shaped the Internet as we know it. This legislation shields online service providers from secondary copyright infringement liability in exchange for takedown of infringing content of their users. Yet online payment processors, the backbone of $300 billion in U.S. e-commerce, are completely outside of the DMCA’s protection. This Article uses PayPal, the most popular online payment company in the U.S., to illustrate the growing risk of secondary liability for payment processors. First it looks at jurisprudence that expands secondary copyright liability online, and explains how it might be applied to PayPal. Then it considers legislative proposals and industry-self regulation that similarly target an increasing role for payment processors in the fight against online infringement. It argues that the introduction of a DMCA-like safe harbor for online payment processors offers a fairer and more efficient option for all stakeholders than the status quo of gradually expanding liability risk. It concludes with a discussion of important initial considerations in the design of such a safe harbor

An Industry-contextual Approach to Predatory Innovation

“Predatory innovation” claims allege that a monopolist has redesigned its product to exclude competition, in violation of antitrust law. This Article examines the messy jurisprudence on predatory innovation. It finds analytical paradigms that are almost as numerous as the decisions themselves, and persistent Circuit splits. While some courts worry that judicial scrutiny of product redesigns will chill future innovation, others are willing to examine the competitive effects of exclusionary redesigns. The Article proposes a new, industry-contextual approach to untangle this predatory innovation jurisprudence. In existing law, antitrust courts often treat innovation as monolithic across industries. The Article draws on cross-disciplinary insights from patent and economic literature to show that, in fact, the characteristics of innovation are variable and deeply industry-specific. For example, patent literature observes a paradigmatic contrast between pharmaceutical innovation (which tends to be episodic, expensive and patent-driven) and software innovation (which tends to be cumulative, collaborative and less dependent on patent exclusivity). Since the processes and character of innovation vary widely by industry, the Article argues that antitrust analysis of innovation should vary as well. Courts should tailor their treatment of predatory innovation claims to account for the distinct processes and characteristics of innovation in the industry at stake. The Article then applies this proposed industry-contextual approach to recent “product hopping” cases, which allege the predatory redesign of pharmaceutical drugs. It argues that industry context usefully informs two Circuit-splitting controversies: the appropriate level of judicial deference to product redesigns, and the use of consumerpreference or choice to judge whether a redesign is innovative

Does Functioning Differ Before and After Daylight Savings Time Changes Among Patients with Bipolar Disorder?

Longitudinal studies, which are characterized by repeated measures taken on individual subjects, play a major role in the field of public health. One area of research that has been particularly impacted by longitudinal studies is bipolar disorder. Patients afflicted with this illness often suffer from occupational as well as social disruptions in their normal functioning, not to mention the burden this disease creates on both families of bipolar patients as well as the nation's economy. One factor believed to be involved in the pathogenesis of bipolar disorder is circadian abnormalities, such as disturbances in sleep and appetite patterns. One such source of circadian rhythm disruption is brought about by the semi-annual occurrence of daylight savings time (DST). While research has shown that DST may have detrimental, though temporary, effects on circadian functioning in normal populations, little has been done to investigate the effects of DST in patients with bipolar disorder. Due to the high cost and disturbance in daily functioning that bipolar patients frequently experience, it is of public health importance to further investigate this disorder so that more effective ways to manage it may be discovered. A population-averaged approach was taken using GEE modeling on the Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) outcome, and multinomial logistic regression modeling on the Clinical Global Impressions (CGI). This thesis reviews the literature on methods for analyzing longitudinal data in bipolar research, including both GEE and multinomial regression modeling; also reviewed are two commonly used mental illness rating scales: the GAF and the CGI. A subset of data from a bipolar disorder treatment and maintenance trial (7,315 repeated observations on 1175 patients) was used to conduct the present investigation. The results indicate that while DST changes are significantly associated with changes in clinical symptom severity, the magnitude of these differences is relatively small

Spatial correlation of ground motions in the 2016-2017 Central Italy seismic sequence

Over the past decade, spatial correlation of earthquake ground motion has become increasingly important for seismic hazard and risk assessments, particularly when applied to portfolios of buildings or spatially distributed infrastructures. Indeed, not only do these studies require the estimation of ground motion intensity measures at multiple sites, but also the quantification of the correlation structure. Several spatial correlation models have been published and common findings suggest that intraevent correlation decreases quite rapidly with increasing separation distances. Nevertheless, significant differences among the proposed models exist, leading to large uncertainties in the assessed seismic risk. This suggests that different correlation estimation methods, earthquake type and magnitude, as well as region and local site conditions might play first-order roles in the observed differences. The aim of this study is to identify factors that influence the correlation structure of ground-motion measures and quantify the variability of spatial correlation among different events within the same region and with the same local site conditions. In order to investigate this, we carry out a thorough geostatistical analysis of the intra-event correlation structure, taking advantage of the 2016-2017 Central Italy seismic sequence database, which include nearly 1,600 records from nine Mw ≥ 5.0 events that occurred over a time period of five months. Our preliminary results could be used to improve seismic loss estimation as well as for more informed risk management and decision making in this region

Improving models of spatial correlation of earthquake ground motion

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Public outreach: growing and adapting with changing times

Drayton Harbor’s 2016 reopening of 810 acres of commercial, tribal, and recreational shellfish harvesting area marked a significant achievement in the efforts to improve water quality and allow year-round harvest of the productive shellfish growing area. Public outreach over the past 20 years played a critical role in engaging the local community and encouraging on-the-ground actions to reduce pollution throughout the watershed. Bacteria pollution is a complex issue requiring diverse solutions; no single fix exists. In the Drayton Harbor watershed, a variety of organizations, agencies, and community members participated in developing and carrying out a robust and diverse outreach strategy that was adapted over time. We will review the history of these key outreach players and their roles in Drayton Harbor water quality improvements. Successful outreach efforts from Whatcom County’s Pollution Identification and Correction (PIC) Program included the development of online water quality summaries, online interactive results map, community events, video shorts, and the septic system maintenance rebate program. Future outreach goals include the use of social marketing to normalize pollution prevention actions such as routine septic system maintenance. Ultimately, sustaining good water quality and safe, year-round shellfish harvest requires ongoing community engagement

Who Has a Better Idea? Innovation, Shared Capitalism, and HR Policies

We investigate the relationship of "shared capitalist" compensation systems - profit/gainsharing, employee ownership, and stock options - to the culture for innovation and employees' ability and willingness to engage in innovative activity. Using a large dataset with over 25,000 employee surveys in over 200 worksites of a large multinational organization, we find that both shared capitalism compensation and high performance work policies contribute to these innovation outcomes. Owning company stock is the most consistently positive compensation variable in predicting both an innovation culture and willingness to engage in innovative activity. We also find that shared capitalism and high performance work policies have stronger effects in predicting an innovation culture when they are combined, and that the effects of shared capitalism and high performance work policies are partially, but not wholly, mediated through greater employee alignment with company strategy. The findings are consistent with agency theories predicting that the principal agent problem can be addressed by a combination of shared incentives and cooperative culture which encourages mutual monitoring and opportunities to share information.