Is Efficient Copyright a Reasonable Goal?
Stan J. Liebowitz · September 2011 79 GEO. WASH. L. REV. 1692 (2011) If we could create an economically efficient copyright law, would we want to do so? This Essay argues that society should not favor an economically efficient copyright law. As this Essay describes, a social welfare-maximizing copyright law amounts to an attempt to... Read More
A New Uneasy Case for Copyright
Michael Abramowicz · September 2011 79 GEO. WASH. L. REV. 1644 (2011) Until recently, virtually no attention has been paid to the possibility that copyright protection might inefficiently draw resources into creation and dissemination of copyrightable works. The empirical challenge that Justice Breyer observed in The Uneasy Case for Copyright assessing to what other uses... Read More
KEYNOTE: The Uneasy Case for Copyright: A Look Back Across Four Decades
The Honorable Stephen G. Breyer · September 2011 79 GEO. WASH. L. REV. 1635 (2011) On November 4, 2010, The George Washington Law Review, the George Washington Law School Intellectual Property Law Program, and the Munich Intellectual Property Law Center presented a symposium celebrating and commemorating the fortieth anniversary of Justice Beryer’s seminal article, The... Read More
FOREWORD: The Uneasy Case for Copyright: Lessons of Approach and Attitude
Robert Brauneis · September 2011 79 GEO. WASH. L. REV. 1631 (2011) On November 4, 2010, The George Washington Law Review, the George Washington University Intellectual Property Law Program, and the Munich Intellectual Property Law Center brought together over a dozen leading law professors and economists for a symposium to celebrate the fortieth anniversary of... Read More
MSHA’s Pattern of Violations Authority: Reviving An Untapped Resource of Enforcement Power
Alexa E. Welzien · July 2011 79 GEO. WASH. L. REV. 1613 (2011) On April 5, 2010, a deadly combination of methane gas and coal dust ignited Massey Energy’s Upper Big Branch coal mine in West Virginia. The explosion instantly killed twenty-nine miners and became the deadliest mining disaster to occur in nearly forty years.... Read More
Defining Executive Deference in Treaty Interpretation Cases
Joshua Weiss · July 2011 79 GEO. WASH. L. REV. 1592 (2011) From establishing partnerships to setting international norms, treaties have always played an important role in managing U.S. relations abroad. Unsurprisingly, questions about who has interpretive power over treaties are not new. Beyond a vague notion that the Executive’s treaty interpretations receive some deference,... Read More
Judicial Deference to Retroactive Interpretative Treasury Regulations
Andrew Pruitt · July 2011 79 GEO. WASH. L. REV. 1558 (2011) Can the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”), by exercising its regulatory powers over the federal tax laws, reverse taxpayer-favorable court decisions? In a series of recent cases, most prominently Intermountain Insurance Service of Vail, LLC v. Commissioner (“Intermountain II”), the IRS has argued that... Read More
Updating the SEC’s Exemptive Order Process Under the Investment Company Act of 1940 to Fit the Modern Era
Christopher P. Healey · July 2011 79 GEO. WASH. L. REV. 1535 (2011) In the late 1930s, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) was commissioned by Congress to study the then-unregulated investment company industry. This series of studies “laid the foundation” for the current system of investment company regulation under the Investment Company Act... Read More
Saxe’s Aphorism
John Copeland Nagle · July 2011 79 GEO. WASH. L. REV. 1505 (2011) If “Laws, like sausages, cease to inspire respect in proportion as we know how they are made” then you should think twice about reading John Manning and Matthew Stephenson’s book, Legislation and Regulation. Manning and Stephenson are both Harvard Law School professors,... Read More
Seminole Rock’s Domain
Matthew C. Stephenson & Miri Pogoriler · July 2011 79 GEO. WASH. L. REV. 1449 (2011) In carrying out their duties, federal administrative agencies must often interpret statutes and regulations that are not entirely clear. Sometimes an agency’s interpretation of an ambiguous legal text may not seem like the best or most natural interpretation of... Read More