File-sharing and downloading: goldmine or minefield?

Legal context: Major copyright owners have been slow to rise to the challengepresented by illegal file-sharing and downloading. In recentyears, they have scored a number of significant Court victoriesagainst file-sharers, but the recent decision in Promusicaev Telefónica, in which the ECJ held that the right tothe protection of industrial property does not necessarily outweighthe right to privacy, indicates that rights holders may benefitfrom a more creative and co-operative approach to file-sharing. Key points: The author provides an analysis of the Promusicae decision,along with a summary of the statutory position in the UK. Thisis also accompanied by a review of the recent internationallitigation landscape on file-sharing and a review of currentattitudes towards addressing illegal filesharing, includingrecent proposals from the British Government and the EuropeanParliament and new models of co-operation between rights holdersand file-sharing service providers. Practical significance: The Promusicae decision will disappoint copyright owners. TheECJ decision left it to Member States to determine whether thereshould be an obligation to disclose personal data in order toprotect copyright, so long as the interpretation of the lawattempts to reconcile the parties' competing rights and principlesand demonstrates proportionality. Copyright owners will, therefore,have to tailor enforcement strategies to individual Member States.This will hamper their ability to take action against individualinfringers efficiently. In addition to litigating against infringers,however, they may benefit from the new models of co-operationbetween copyright owners and file-sharing services which areemerging.     

The precarious practice of forensic psychiatric risk assessments

The development of forensic psychiatric risk assessments is discussed from a clinical point of view using the example of Sweden. A central task in forensic psychiatry has traditionally been to identify dangerous, mentally disordered subjects considered to be prone to commit violent acts. Over time, “dangerousness” has been reworded into “risk”. Nevertheless, such assessments have generally been based on the psychiatric factors characterising the individual patient, while group interaction, situational factors, or social and cultural circumstances, such as the availability of alcohol and drugs, have been largely overlooked. That risk assessments have a focused on people with a diagnosis of “mental disorder” and been used as grounds for coercive measures and integrity violations has somehow been accepted as a matter of course in the public and political debate. Even the basic question whether offenders with a mental disorder are really more prone to criminal recidivism than other offenders seems to have been treated light-handedly and dealt with merely by epidemiological comparisons between groups of persons with broad ranges of psychosocial vulnerability and the general population. Legal texts, instructions and guidelines from the authorities in charge are often vague and general, while actors in the judicial system seem to put their trust in psychiatric opinions. The exchange of professional opinions, general public expectations, and judicial decision processes poses a huge risk for misunderstandings based on divergent expectations and uses of terminology.     

Let's Make a Brand New Start of it in Old New York: Using Mediation to Resolve Open Adoption Disputes

There is no general consensus of how to handle disputes arising from open adoption agreements. Some states have statutes mandating mediation, but New York does not. This Note proposes that New York enact a statute that mandates adoptive and birth parents use mediation for disputes arising from open adoption agreements. The proposed statute provides a comprehensive approach to mediation by setting forth when mediation is appropriate and when it is not. The statute will also provide when the child's preference can be taken into consideration, and who will pay for mediation.     

Distribution of Chemical Phenotypes (Chemotypes) in European Agricultural Hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) Cultivars

In Europe, more than 50 approved cultivars of fiber hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) are in agricultural production. Their content of psychoactive tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) is legally restricted to <0.2% (%w/w in the dry, mature inflorescences). Cannabis strains with much higher THC contents are also grown, illegally or under license for drug production. Differentiation between these two groups relies on biochemical quantification of cannabinoid contents in mature floral material. For nonflowering material or tissue devoid of cannabinoids, the genetic prediction of the chemical phenotype (chemotype) provides a suitable method of distinction. Three discrete chemotypes, depending on the ratio of THC and the noneuphoric cannabidiol (CBD), can be distinguished: a “THC-predominant” type, a “CBD-predominant” type, and an intermediate chemotype. We present a systematic genetic prediction of chemotypes of 62 agricultural hemp cultivars grown in Europe. The survey reveals the presence of up to 35% B_T allele-carrying individuals (representing either a THC-predominant or an intermediate chemotype) in some cultivars—which is unexpected considering the legal THC limit of 0.2% THC. The fact that 100% of the seized drug-type seeds in this study revealed at least one B_T allele, reflects that plant breeding efforts have resulted in a fixation of the B_T allele in recreational Cannabis. To guarantee a sincere forensic application based on a genetic chemotype prediction, we recommend not to classify material of unknown origin if the samples size is below nine genetically independent individuals.     

Translation Approaches in Constitutional Hermeneutics

International Journal for the Semiotics of Law - Revue internationale de Sémiotique juridique - In this article, we suggest an alternate approach to interpreting the US Constitution, using...     

The Resistance as Role Model: Disillusionment and Protest Among American Adolescents After 2016

Political Behavior - We examine whether the unprecedented 2016 presidential election led to political disillusionment among young people, whether that disillusionment led to a withdrawal from...     

Task Environment Matters for Intra-ministerial Change: The Interaction of International Environment,Organizational and Opportunity Factors

Why, how, and when does intra-ministerial change take place? Previous answers to these questions suggest that political factors, such as cabinet reshuffling, are the most decisive drivers of inter-ministerial change. By contrast, this article begins with a distinction between the mechanism responsible for intra-ministerial and inter-ministerial change of ministries, the latter discusses which of these has been given more attention in previous research. Data covering the intra-ministerial change of 11 ministries in Germany between 1949 and 2006 can demonstrate that environmental as well as organizational factors are decisive in order to explain the timing and type of intra-ministerial change. The main finding is that a clearly definable threshold of tasks, organizational units, and a horizontal dispersion of jurisdictions – all of which react to the international environment – can explain intra-ministerial change in German ministries.