The JBIPL Blog offers a forum for our Editors and Staff to expand our coverage of developments in both business and IP law. The Blog will provide short entries analyzing current cases, trends and issues in business and IP law. The Blog has won the The Expert Institute's 2015 and 2016 Best Legal Blog Contest for Education and Law School Blogs.
Posted: March 12th, 2018
By: Juliana S. Inman *| Staff Writer
![By Harshitha BN (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AInsider-Trading.jpg)
By Harshitha BN (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
Posted: March 8th, 2018
By: Andrew Homer *| Staff Writer
One out of four middle-aged men over 30 years of age suffer from low testosterone levels (“Low T”). The number of middle-aged men who are prescribed hormone treatment to increase testosterone levels have ballooned since 2001 and began to deflate after 2013.
This rise in Low T treatment might be due to the marketing strategies of the manufacturers of these hormone treatments. Or at least, that is one of the arguments made by the plaintiff in a case recently decided in Notle v. AbbVie, Inc., et al.
Posted: March 3rd, 2018
By: Christopher Lewis *| Staff Writer
The arrival of cheap music streaming services like Spotify has created a growing discontent between the music industry and those wishing to stream the music; however, this started long before Spotify became the predominant streaming service. Napster changed how people around the world accessed music on the internet, consequently, the music industry had to derive a new way to profit from these services. Instead of buying physical CDs, people were listening to music on the internet, and the music industry was missing out on a valuable source of income. While Napster was not technically a streaming service, it did help propel the music industry into this new age as people began to realize the immense potential that the internet contained in the music industry. However, the problem has now gone beyond artists simply trying to receive a wage for their work as artists now are tasked with obtaining a fair wage. The music industry has only slowly begun to realize the immense power that they hold within these discussions, as can be seen through their petitions to then President-elect Trump where they asked for tougher intellectual property laws in the music industry.
Posted: February 25th, 2018
By: Whitney Hosey *| Staff Writer
American Express is partnering with Ripple, a fintech startup, to introduce the option of instant blockchain secured payments between U.S. based businesses and U.K. businesses who bank with Santander UK.
Posted: February 23rd, 2018
By: Jamie Burchette *| Staff Writer
Computers and technology are continually advancing. To match this advance, the programming techniques utilized by programmers have had to evolve to keep up. Sometimes these changes have been small and sometimes they have been large. Recently, a new project management software, Manuscript, has been released, which hopes to once again change software development by squashing bugs that may otherwise be ignored.
Posted: February 19th, 2018
By: Greg Volk *| Staff Writer
![By Roosevelt Skerrit [CC0], via Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AHurricane_Maria_destruction_along_Roseau_road.jpg)
By Roosevelt Skerrit [CC0], via Wikimedia Commons
Posted: February 16th, 2018
By: Whitney Hosey *| Staff Writer
Before the final GOP tax bill was completed, many in the real estate industry were concerned over the fate of Section 1031 of the U.S. Tax Code, otherwise known as the “Like-Kind Exchange.” A Section 1031 Exchange “is a real estate transaction involving the sale of one property with the tax on the capital gain deferred because of the qualified purchase of another like-kind property in exchange.” While normally all sales of real estate are taxable, Section 1031 creates an exception where the parties to the transaction are not taxed or are taxed minimally, at the time of the exchange.
Posted: February 11th, 2018
By: Greg Volk *| Staff Writer
With over one-fifth of young adults streaming hit shows like “Game of Thrones” using another person’s account, password sharing is certainly popular. But is it illegal? According to a decision from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals last year, it theoretically could be. There is little chance the FBI will come knocking on your door, however. If there is any crackdown on streaming, it is more likely to occur in the marketplace.
News headlines about password sharing have been confusing (compare “Yes, Sharing Your Netflix or HBO GO Passwords Is Actually A Federal Crime” with “Relax, you’re not going to jail for sharing your Netflix password”), so it is important to understand what is really at stake for consumers. The confusion arises from the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA), a vague thirty-year-old federal statute that’s been called “the worst law in technology.” Aimed at hackers, the CFAA makes it illegal to “access[] a protected computer without authorization, or exceed[] authorized access.” But what constitutes “access” and when is it “without authorization”?
In the Ninth Circuit case, United States v. Nosal (“Nosal II“), the court held that the defendant violated the CFAA when he used a former colleague’s password to take client data from a recruiting company in order to start his own. The defendant argued that such a broad interpretation of the CFAA could criminalize acts like sharing a password among family members, to watch Netflix, for instance, or to check-in for a flight. A dissenting judge agreed. The majority said their interpretation would not apply to those situations. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to review the case, so we are unlikely to get greater clarity anytime soon.
Posted: February 8th, 2018
By: Maureen Gallagher *| Staff Writer
Is money better known as a number on a screen or a crisp linen bill? For the time being, the word may still comfortably conjure an image of green slips of paper, but the future may tell a different story in which electronic, mobile payment first comes to mind.
Posted: February 2nd, 2018
The Wake Forest Journal of Business and Intellectual Property Law present its Spring Symposium:
Intellectual Property and Medical Technology: From Creation to Commercialization
The Symposium is being held, today, Friday, February 2, 2018, from 8:30 am – 4:00 pm at the Wake Forest Innovation Quarter (Biotech Place). This year’s event will look at medical patents, bioethics and the intellectual property implications of medical technology.
MORNING SESSION
Overview of Regenerative Medicine, Role of Law, & Bioethics
Keynote Speakers: Julie Watson and Dr. John D. Jackson
Julie Watson, Chief Legal Counsel for the Institute for Regenerative Medicine at the Wake Forest School of Medicine, opened the Wake Forest Journal of Business and Intellectual Property Law Symposium by introducing the first speaker of the day, Dr. John D. Jackson. Dr. Jackson, an associate professor at the Institute since 2010, began the day’s events by explaining the technical components of the Institute.
