An Economic Model of Fair Use

The doctrine of fair use allows limited copying of creative works based on the rationale that copyright holders would consent to such uses if bargaining were possible. This paper develops a formal model of fair use in an effort to derive the efficient legal standard for applying the doctrine. The model interprets copies and originals as differentiated products and defines fair use as a threshold separating permissible copying from infringement. The analysis highlights the role of technology in shaping the efficient standard. Discussion of several key cases illustrates the applicability of the model.Fair use, Copyright law, Technological improvement

Interventions for the treatment of oral cavity and oropharyngeal cancer:chemotherapy

<b>Background:</b> Oral cavity and oropharyngeal cancers are frequently described as part of a group of oral cancers or head and neck cancer. Treatment of oral cavity cancer is generally surgery followed by radiotherapy, whereas oropharyngeal cancers, which are more likely to be advanced at the time of diagnosis, are managed with radiotherapy or chemoradiation. Surgery for oral cancers can be disfiguring and both surgery and radiotherapy have significant functional side effects, notably impaired ability to eat, drink and talk. The development of new chemotherapy agents, new combinations of agents and changes in the relative timing of surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy treatments may potentially bring about increases in both survival and quality of life for this group of patients.<p></p> <b>Objectives:</b> To determine whether chemotherapy, in addition to radiotherapy and/or surgery for oral cavity and oropharyngeal cancer results in improved survival, disease free survival, progression free survival, locoregional control and reduced recurrence of disease. To determine which regimen and time of administration (induction, concomitant or adjuvant) is associated with better outcomes.<p></p> <b>Search strategy:</b> Electronic searches of the Cochrane Oral Health Group's Trials Register, CENTRAL, MEDLINE, EMBASE, AMED were undertaken on 28th July 2010. Reference lists of recent reviews and included studies were also searched to identify further trials.<p></p> <b>Selection criteria:</b> Randomised controlled trials where more than 50% of participants had primary tumours in the oral cavity or oropharynx, and which compared the addition of chemotherapy to other treatments such as radiotherapy and/or surgery, or compared two or more chemotherapy regimens or modes of administration, were included.<p></p> <b>Data collection and analysis:</b> Trials which met the inclusion criteria were assessed for risk of bias using six domains: sequence generation, allocation concealment, blinding, completeness of outcome data, selective reporting and other possible sources of bias. Data were extracted using a specially designed form and entered into the characteristics of included studies table and the analysis sections of the review. The proportion of participants in each trial with oral cavity and oropharyngeal cancers are recorded in Additional Table 1.<p></p> <b>Main results:</b> There was no statistically significant improvement in overall survival associated with induction chemotherapy compared to locoregional treatment alone in 25 trials (hazard ratio (HR) of mortality 0.92, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.84 to 1.00). Post-surgery adjuvant chemotherapy was associated with improved overall survival compared to surgery +/- radiotherapy alone in 10 trials (HR of mortality 0.88, 95% CI 0.79 to 0.99), and there was an additional benefit of adjuvant concomitant chemoradiotherapy compared to radiotherapy in 4 of these trials (HR of mortality 0.84, 95% CI 0.72 to 0.98). Concomitant chemoradiotherapy resulted in improved survival compared to radiotherapy alone in patients whose tumours were considered unresectable in 25 trials (HR of mortality 0.79, 95% CI 0.74 to 0.84). However, the additional toxicity attributable to chemotherapy in the combined regimens remains unquantified.<p></p> <b>Authors' conclusions:</b> Chemotherapy, in addition to radiotherapy and surgery, is associated with improved overall survival in patients with oral cavity and oropharyngeal cancers. Induction chemotherapy is associated with a 9% increase in survival and adjuvant concomitant chemoradiotherapy is associated with a 16% increase in overall survival following surgery. In patients with unresectable tumours, concomitant chemoradiotherapy showed a 22% benefit in overall survival compared with radiotherapy alone.<p></p&gt

Ernst Freund as Precursor of the Rational Study of Corporate Law

Gindis, David, Ernst Freund as Precursor of the Rational Study of Corporate Law (October 27, 2017). Journal of Institutional Economics, Forthcoming. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2905547, doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2905547The rise of large business corporations in the late 19th century compelled many American observers to admit that the nature of the corporation had yet to be understood. Published in this context, Ernst Freund's little-known The Legal Nature of Corporations (1897) was an original attempt to come to terms with a new legal and economic reality. But it can also be described, to paraphrase Oliver Wendell Holmes, as the earliest example of the rational study of corporate law. The paper shows that Freund had the intuitions of an institutional economist, and engaged in what today would be called comparative institutional analysis. Remarkably, his argument that the corporate form secures property against insider defection and against outsiders anticipated recent work on entity shielding and capital lock-in, and can be read as an early contribution to what today would be called the theory of the firm.Peer reviewe

Alterations in anatomic and functional imaging parameters with repeated FDG PET-CT and MRI during radiotherapy for head and neck cancer: a pilot study

Background: The use of imaging to implement on-treatment adaptation of radiotherapy is a promising paradigm but current data on imaging changes during radiotherapy is limited. This is a hypothesis-generating pilot study to examine the changes on multi-modality anatomic and functional imaging during (chemo)radiotherapy treatment for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). Methods: Eight patients with locally advanced HNSCC underwent imaging including computed tomography (CT), Fluorine-18 fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography (PET)-CT and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) (including diffusion weighted (DW) and dynamic contrast enhanced (DCE)) at baseline and during (chemo)radiotherapy treatment (after fractions 11 and 21). Regions of interest (ROI) were drawn around the primary tumour at baseline and during treatment. Imaging parameters included gross tumour volume (GTV) assessment, SUVmax, mean ADC value and DCE-MRI parameters including Plasma Flow (PF). On treatment changes and correlations between these parameters were analysed using a Wilcoxon rank sum test and Pearson’s linear correlation coefficient respectively. A p-value <0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: Statistically significant reductions in GTV-CT, GTV-MRI and GTV-DW were observed between all imaging timepoints during radiotherapy. Changes in GTV-PET during radiotherapy were heterogeneous and non-significant. Significant changes in SUVmax, mean ADC value, Plasma Flow and Plasma Volume were observed between the baseline and the fraction 11 timepoint, whilst only changes in SUVmax between baseline and the fraction 21 timepoint were statistically significant. Significant correlations were observed between multiple imaging parameters, both anatomical and functional; 20 correlations between baseline to the fraction 11 timepoint; 12 correlations between baseline and the fraction 21 timepoints; and 4 correlations between the fraction 11 and fraction 21 timepoints. Conclusions: Multi-modality imaging during radiotherapy treatment demonstrates early changes (by fraction 11) in both anatomic and functional imaging parameters. All functional imaging modalities are potentially complementary and should be considered in combination to provide multi-parametric tumour assessment, to guide potential treatment adaptation strategies. Trial Registration: ISRCTN Registry: ISRCTN34165059. Registered 2nd February 2015