Our Faculty in the Media
November 19, 2009
U.S. News
A class-action lawsuit working its way through a U.S. District Court in Illinois could provide a road map for those who find their work online without their authorization. The judge has found a provider liable on six counts, including copyright infringement, unfair competition and other fraud-related claims. From a legal perspective, custom-written papers don't "raise a lot of copyright issues," says Eric Goldman, law professor at Santa Clara University School of Law. But he and others note that the courts can do only so much.
November 13, 2009
San Francisco Chronicle
Now that the Advanced Micro Devices case is settled, Intel Corp. is going to move as expeditiously as it can to clean the slate of all the other antitrust cases that have dogged it for years. "Everyone's judgment is that Intel is tired of litigating and wants to put it all behind them," said Chuck Diamond, O'Melveny & Myers LLP's lead attorney representing AMD. But Intel's going to have to shell out considerably more than the $1.25 billion it's paying its Silicon Valley rival to go away. "This is just a down payment," said Catherine Sandoval, a professor of antitrust law at Santa Clara University Law School. "I would not be surprised to see that number at least double, if not go significantly higher."
November 4, 2009
San Francisco Chronicle
In a rare display of harmony, prosecution and defense lawyers urged the state Supreme Court on Tuesday to save California's medical marijuana identification card program from a flaw in the legislation that created it. Both Deputy Attorney General Michael Johnsen and Gerald Uelmen, the lawyer for a man challenging his marijuana conviction, agreed that a state appeals court went too far last year when it ruled that the 2003 law protecting card-holding pot patients from arrest clashed with California law allowing medical use of marijuana. Proposition 215, which voters approved in 1996, allows patients with doctors' approval to possess an amount of marijuana reasonable for their medical use. The 2003 law set limits of 8 ounces of dried marijuana, or six mature or 12 immature plants, and allows patients who comply with those standards to carry county-issued identification cards. Identification cards are designed to "protect patients" and serve Prop. 215's goals, said Uelmen, a Santa Clara University law professor. He noted that the 1996 initiative, while allowing patients to possess and grow marijuana for medical use, did not protect them from arrest.
October 21, 2009
The New York Times (Bay Area website)
Pratheepan Gulasekaram wrote a defense of San Francisco’s new "sanctuary city” policies for the New York Times’ new blog The Bay Area. He argued the city was on safe legal ground in deciding to contact federal authorities when undocumented juveniles are convicted of felonies, rather than when they are arrested for such crimes. Read more...
October 12, 2009
The New York Times
Craigslist is taking its battle against spammers back to federal court. Eric Goldman, director of the High Tech Law Institute at the Santa Clara University School of Law, said if Craigslist's new spammer suits were successful, they could set dangerous precedents. He said that ''a number of the legal theories they are playing around with are tenuous'' and questioned whether Craigslist, which invites users to post sales of items as varied as used Samsung televisions and Tiffany watches, really wanted a federal judge to make a broad, expansive new interpretation of copyright and trademark law.
October 8, 2009
KRON
Ed Steinman discussed the legal implications of a change-of-venue request for the accused BART cop. Steinman said that most cases would use the change-of-venue request as grounds for an appeal. An appeal over venue could wind up in the state supreme court. Whether that court or the court of appeals reviews it, they usually defer to the local judge. In a highly charged atmosphere with racial conflict, Steinman said that shouldn't influence the judge.
October 4, 2009
KCBS
The first Monday of October means the U.S. Supreme Court begins its new term tomorrow and a Bay Area legal expert who says the addition of a new justice is unlikely to change the direction of the nation's highest court. The debate over the right to bear arms is likely to be one of the key issues for the high court's new term. Santa Clara University Law Professor Ed Steinman says the court will likely decide whether state and local gun restrictions violate the Second Amendment. Steinman says the addition of justice Sonia Sotomayor will do nothing to break apart the court's conservative block of four justices. "The reality is that the key judge is going to be Judge Kennedy," he said.
October 2, 2009
San Jose Business Journal
The founder and ousted CEO of thin film manufacturer SoloPower Inc. is suing several of the company’s board members and a handful of investors, alleging their quest for short-term, personal benefits has driven the company’s value down by $300 million in just months. "I haven’t seen too many ousted CEOs fighting back in this way, suing the board in this way. In the valley, you usually say, ‘Well, I’ll go on to the next one, and I’ll still make money,’” said Steve Diamond, associate professor of law at Santa Clara University. "You don’t want to anger the VC community because you rely on them for the next startup.”
October 2, 2009
ExtremeTech.com
Disbarred Florida lawyer Jack Thompson, who has been vocal in his opposition to violent video games, sued Facebook this week over comments on the social networking site that he considers to be a threat to his personal safety. Facebook said it would contest the suit in court. Eric Goldman, an associate professor at Santa Clara University School of Law and director of the High Tech Law Institute, said Thompson has no case. "Thompson has absolutely no chance holding Facebook liable for these user postings," Goldman said in an e-mail. Facebook is immunized from liability by a section of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 that says Web sites are not liable for user-supplied content, Goldman said. "It doesn't matter if Facebook receives notice of a problem and fails to act, or if Facebook has acted in similar situations and hasn't acted here," he continued. "Regardless of any of these facts, [the Telecom Act] says that Facebook categorically isn't liable." Looking at the groups in context, "I think it's pretty clear that these posts are not intended to be taken seriously," Goldman said. "The more interesting question is why Facebook hasn't voluntarily taken down the groups nonetheless. Facebook isn't legally compelled to do so, but it's certainly within its prerogative to do so."
September 26, 2009
Los Angeles Times
Discussing California Supreme Court Justice Carlos Morenos' opposition to Proposition 8, Gerald Uelmen described Moreno's rulings as "very much dead center" politically. Uelmen did an analysis of court decisions over a recent 15-month period.
September 21, 2009
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Gerald Uelmen was quoted in a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel column about a case of a defendant freed on DNA evidence who later committed murder.
September 17, 2009
Wall Street Journal
The rivalry heated up Friday as the Federal Communications Commission, scrutinizing competitive practices within the wireless industry, released a letter in which Google asserted that an Apple PITTSBURGH -- Richard Trumka assumed the top spot at the AFL-CIO labor federation Wednesday, promising to be more aggressive in organizing workers and more combative toward corporate America during a critical period for unions. Labor experts said Mr. Trumka, 60, would have to make more sweeping changes to reverse labor's long membership slide. "The challenges that Trumka faces are quite significant. The labor movement has to figure out how to live in a service economy," said Steve Diamond, a labor expert at Santa Clara University in Santa Clara, Calif. "They have to recognize that they're up against a different political culture and a different economic structure."
September 18, 2009
San Jose Mercury News
The rivalry heated up Friday as the Federal Communications Commission, scrutinizing competitive practices within the wireless industry, released a letter in which Google asserted that an Apple executive had rejected the iPhone applica-tion for Google Voice a statement that appeared to contradict Apple's own claims to the FCC. Although Apple has broad control over what it offers in the iPhone App Store, its decision could raise antitrust con-cerns with federal regulators if the company is perceived as engaging in anti-competitive practices, explained Eric Goldman, director of the High Tech Law Institute at the Santa Clara University School of Law. "The fact that Apple might be outright rejecting it or dragging their feet might be more than just the traditional retailer making decisions about what stock to put on their shelf," Goldman said. The Santa Clara law professor said the FCC has historically struggled to serve the interests of consumers amid technological change. One of the problems, he said, is a "D.C.-valley divide," in which technological change outpaces the ability of regulators to react.
September 3, 2009
Washington Internet Daily
Catherine Sandoval, assistant professor of law at Santa Clara University, said speed of connections by itself is not a good measure for assessing broadband or whether wireless connections should be viewed the same as wireline. Sandoval said she often asks audiences whether anyone would be willing to give up their personal computer and rely on a cellphone for Internet access. "The reason no one raises their hand is not just because of issues about the size of the screen and the size of the keyboard and worry about carpal thumb, but also the nature of the level of the Internet access which is provided," she said. In assessing access, the FCC also needs to focus on limitations providers impose, such as restriction on downloading applications, application use, computer tethering and congestion policies and practices, she said.
August 31, 2009
San Jose Mercury News
Nancy Garrido, the woman behind the kidnapping and rape of Jaycee Dugard, lived a life of contradictions. On NBC's "Today" show Wednesday, her lawyer, Gilbert Maines, suggested that his client was a victim of her husband Philip Garrido's suppressive control. Though Nancy Garrido is suspected as the one who physically snatched Dugard from the street 18 years ago, Maines said he is considering arguing that she may not have been fully aware of the circumstances of the kidnapping. One legal scholar said persuading a court to accept a brainwashing theory is particularly difficult when a large group or cult is not involved, though the concept runs through numerous cases, such as Patty Hearst, Elizabeth Smart and many others. "We have here somebody who's not forcibly abducted, and also with access to outside authorities. So it could be argued she fell under his spell, but it would be an extremely tough sell," said Alan Scheflin, professor of law and psychiatry at Santa Clara Law School and author of "The Mind Manipulators." "The courts are very reluctant to open up to the idea of a mind control defense. It certainly is, to say the least, a last-ditch defense."
August 31, 2009
TECHWEB
Google is mulling whether to join in an effort to fight a subpoena that seeks the identity of a Gmail account holder associated with TCI Journal , an online news site covering the Turks & Caicos Islands (TCI), an independent British protectorate until earlier this month. Google was the only major search engine to resist the U.S. government's 2005 subpoenas for searchquery records, information the government sought to bolster its effort to uphold the 1998 Child Online Protection Act (COPA). Eric Goldman, associate professor at Santa Clara University School of Law, said that he wouldn't be surprised if Google chose to resist this demand. "They're aware of the issues at stake here," he said, citing the criticism Yahoo faced following its decision to reveal the identity of a Chinese journalist to Chinese authorities several years ago. "They're sensitive to the fact that their data centers contain valuable information." But keeping that information confidential requires determination on the part of defendants. "If there's no challenge by the service provider or the customer, it can be trivially easy to obtain information," Goldman said.
August 29, 2009
Las Vegas Review-Journal
A Henderson teen charged with killing her newborn son this week faced an investigation in 2006 after dumping her stillborn infant in a trash bin at The Mirage, Las Vegas police said. "Imagine a 16-year-old having no prenatal care and no assistance during child-birth," said Michelle Oberman, a professor at the Santa Clara School of Law who fo-cuses on issues of pregnancy and motherhood. "There's a really good chance that something could go wrong." Oberman said the women tend to feel socially isolated. "There's nobody in their life they trust with their secrets," she said.
August 26, 2009
Associated Press
Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia that has drawn some decidedly juvenile pranks, is looking to impose more discipline with new restrictions on the editing of articles. While anyone can still edit entries, the site is testing pages that won't register changes until they are approved by an experienced Wikipedia editor. Some observers believe Wikipedia must continue tightening editing policies if it wants to gain credibility. "I'm just waiting for the other shoe to drop," said Eric Goldman, director of the High Tech Law Institute at the Santa Clara University School of Law. Goldman envisions a future Wikipedia curated by a relatively small group of dedicated editors. Under the current model, he said, there simply aren't enough volunteers to catch all errors. "My hope is that Wikipedia still exists and is still considered a useful site," Goldman said. "But it will be at that point a very tightly controlled site. It won't have that veneer of a site that anyone can contribute to. They haven't closed the drawbridge. People can still get in. But it keeps going up and up and up."
August 19, 2009
San Jose Mercury News and Orange Country Register
Eric Goldman commented on a lawsuit filed against Facebook by five Southern California plaintiffs which charges the social networking company of profiting off the names, likenesses and private information of its users. In The Orange County Register Goldman commented that the lawsuit is "totally a kitchen sink approach" and that none of the accusations stand out as being well-supported. Goldman also commented in the San Jose Mercury News that the complaint is "a jumbled mess." "There is a style of complaint style that lists every single possible gripe you have with a company. This one listed all sorts of random gripes about Facebook including insignificant items like their acquisition of FriendFeed." Lawyers sometimes do that, he said "hoping that if you throw those against the wall, the judge will find something that sticks."
August 5, 2009
The Legal Intelligencer
Suits over the use of trademarks in Google ads appeared to have the glimmer of a new gold mine for plaintiffs lawyers, but the luster may be fading. 'We're starting to see some of these lawsuits crack,' said Eric Goldman, a Santa Clara University School of Law professor who follows the AdWords litigation closely on his 'Technology & Marketing' blog. 'My current hypothesis is that they never made sense in the first place - the plaintiffs got all excited to go take down Google, but suing Google is a loser's bet because Google's going to fight to the death.'
August 3, 2009
Contra Costa Times
Professor Margaret Russell co-wrote a guest commentary with Marilyn Edelstein, SCU professor of English entitled "My Word: Empathy is important in making judgments" regarding the confirmation hearings for Sonia Sotomayor's elevation to the U.S. Supreme Court. "As professors who strive to teach students that the understanding of texts and of life is deeply enriched by ethical principles of empathy, conscience and compassion, we were left aghast by the empathy-bashing on national television. What is empathy, and why are Sessions and other conservative Senators saying such terrible things about it? Empathy is commonly defined as the ability to imagine, identify with, and potentially share another's experiences, perspectives and feelings. It is about process, rather than result, and about intellect as well as emotion."
July 15, 2009
Business Week Online
Rosetta Stone (RST), purveyor of language education products, is the latest company to sue Google over its strategy of letting companies use competitors' trademarks in their marketing campaigns. With Internet search being relatively new, the law in this area remains unsettled. But as in any trademark infringement case, a complaining company can win only if it can prove that the alleged misuse of its trademark confuses consumers. That may be tough. "Nobody has really good empirical data explaining what consumers are thinking when they are looking at a search results page," says Eric Goldman, a professor at Santa Clara University School of Law and director of its High Tech Law Institute. "I'm a skeptic about the fact that consumers are confused about what they are seeing," though the question is heavily dependent on the facts in each case, he notes.
July 11, 2009
Washington Post
Rosetta Stone, the Arlington language-learning software firm, said yesterday it has filed a lawsuit against Google for trademark infringement, alleging the Internet search giant allowed other companies to use Rosetta Stone's trademark brand for online advertisements without permission. The complaint is the latest of nine similar lawsuits against Google since the company changed one of its trademark policies for its AdWords program, according to Santa Clara University law professor Eric Goldman. And while companies argue that their business is being hurt by Google's practices, Goldman said courts will focus on whether consumers are confused as to the source of or affiliation of the product or service they are trying to buy. "That's where things are unclear," Goldman said. "There's not a lot of social science explaining what consumers think when they do search and if there is consumer confusion."
June 30, 2009
Dolan Media Newswires Lawyers USA
When the U.S. Supreme Court decided Ricci v. DeStefano, it did more than rule in favor of New Haven firefighters who sued after the city tossed out the results of a civil service exam after too few minority employees passed. Some experts think the ruling put disparate impact claims on such shaky footing that it could be a nail in the cause of action's coffin. "In this case, [the] majority's opinion equates race consciousness with racial discrimination," said Santa Clara University School of Law professor Bradley W. Joondeph. "The idea is that if you are taking an action conscious of its racial implications, that amounts to racial discrimination. "If that is true, then [disparate impact claims] violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution," Joondeph charged. And if the Court has a chance to consider such a challenge, it could do away with the cause of action altogether, he said.
June 10, 2009
The New York Times
Members of the Screen Actors Guild have voted overwhelmingly to approve a new contract with the major Hollywood studios, ending a nearly year-long standoff. The disagreements between the union's two major factions are unlikely to disappear soon, said Stephen Diamond, an associate professor of law at Santa Clara University, who has followed the negotiations. The guild will conduct elections for its national president in September. ''The internal divide within the Guild will quickly become an issue again, first in the fall national elections and then again in the preparations for the 2011 contract negotiations,'' Mr. Diamond said.
June 2009
HRfocus
Many workplace benefits, such as retirement plans and health benefits, are regulated by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) and receive preferential tax treatment under the Internal Revenue Code. These laws do not recognize same-sex couples as "spouses," said Patricia Cain, a law professor at Santa Clara University School of Law. Employers can offer an array of benefits to same-sex employees, Cain said, but she noted that some employers may worry they will jeopardize their plans' tax-exempt status if they recognize same-sex partners as spouses for certain benefits, such as health savings accounts. Lack of guidance from the IRS, Cain said, has "created hurdles for employers who want to do the right thing by offering benefits to same-sex partners but are worried about their plan's tax-exempt status. This has been going on since 1993, and we still do not have a single IRS publication or rule telling employers how to set up plans so they can offer benefits while retaining their plans' tax-exempt status."
May 29, 2009
San Jose Mercury News
A dispute over Facebook's trademark that harkens to a rivalry between Harvard schoolmates Mark Zuckerberg and Aaron Greenspan has been quietly resolved just one business day before Facebook trumpeted its $200 million investment from a Russian firm that valued all of Facebook at $10 billion. A spokesman for Facebook, which in five years has become the world's largest social-networking site with more than 200 million users, said the timing of the settlement with Think and the latest investment was coincidental. But the negotiations with Digital Sky Technologies, whose $200 million investment for 1.9 percent of Facebook was announced Tuesday, could have accelerated a desire to resolve potential liabilities, said Stephen Diamond, a business law professor at Santa Clara University. Another Santa Clara law professor, Tyler Ochoa, expressed doubts about Greenspan's case, saying his petition was highly unlikely to be upheld.
May 29, 2009
MediaPost.com
The personal injury firm Stratton Faxon filed papers Wednesday in New Haven Superior Court alleging that its name was being used to trigger ads for the rival law firm Silver, Golub and Teitell. Stratton Faxon alleges that the use of its firm's name to trigger ads causes confusion and endangers its reputation. The firm has asked for an injunction and for a prejudgment lien against Google for $50,000. Attorney Michael Stratton, a partner in Stratton Faxon, said he discovered the ads after learning of the recent class-action lawsuit filed against Google by Firepond. Eric Goldman, director of the High Tech Law Institute at Santa Clara University, said it's not surprising that the publicity surrounding the Firepond lawsuit prompted other lawyers to also bring cases. 'I thought we were going to shake open a bunch of new litigants who would say, 'Yes, I can go sue Google. Let's go tangle with the tiger.' I think there are going to be more, frankly.'
May 27, 2009
Constitutional law professor Bradley Joondeph was interviewed on WJBO-AM and WTMA-AM radio, and Catherine Sandoval was interviewed on CBS 5 Eyewitness News at 6pm on KPIX-TV regarding the nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the U.S. Supreme Court. Sandoval shared her memories of her longtime friend Sotomayor with CBS5, while Joondeph handled more than a dozen radio interviews nationwide the day after the nomination.
May 27, 2009
NPR - Tell Me More
As a panelist discussing the nomination of U.S. Circuit Court Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court, Lia Epperson said that the nomination of Sotomayor is an historic announcement "not just for women, not just for people of color, but really for the nation as a whole because this is the embodiment of the American dream. So part of what is quite amazing about her story are what we've talked about in terms of her unique life experiences and her upbringing. But another very important piece of this is that she is an eminently qualified federal trial and appellate judge, and she has a history as a big city prosecutor."
May 22, 2009
New York Times
The California Supreme Court announced Friday that it would reveal on Tuesday its ruling on the state's same-sex marriage ban. Gerald F. Uelmen, a law professor at Santa Clara University and a scholar of the California Supreme Court, said he expected the justices to uphold Proposition 8. The difference, Professor Uelmen said, between the May 2008 decision and now is that when Californians vote on initiatives, ''the court is very, very reluctant to frustrate the will of the people as demonstrated by their vote.''
May 22, 2009
TECHWEB
Google this week was sued, along with AOL, by Johnny I. Henry. Henry, an African American, claims that search results delivered by Google and AOL defame and slander him. The search results at issue lead to sites that refer to Henry with a hateful racial epithet. They include that epithet in the snippet of text culled from the sites. Henry's lawsuit faces long odds. Section 230 of Title 47 of the United States Code exempts service providers like Google from liability for content posted by third parties. It will almost certainly be dismissed on that basis. Eric Goldman, associate professor at Santa Clara University School of Law, observes that's probably for the best. "This issue comes up all the time, which is we think we can, through legal tools, force Google or other search engines to manage their search results better," he said. "And that's a sucker's bet. We all know that's a recipe for ultimately dooming search engines. From a legal standpoint it would be tempting to say we could do better, but chances are we would muck up the works."
May 20, 2009
The New York Times
Carlos R. Moreno is a long-shot candidate to fill Justice David H. Souter's spot on the United States Supreme Court. He is the only man on most short lists when many people believe President Obama will appoint a woman; he is also, at 60, a bit old by the standards of recent appointees. As a member of the state's Supreme Court, said Gerald F. Uelmen, a professor at Santa Clara University law school, Justice Moreno is ''dead center on a moderate to conservative court,'' with a dissent rate of about 6 percent. He is not opposed to the death penalty; he has heard some 140 death penalty appeals and voted to uphold the sentence in 90 percent of them.
May 18, 2009
Los Angeles Times (California)
When Chief Justice Ronald M. George described California's death penalty as "dysfunctional," he might have had in mind the curious case of Michael Ray Burgener. Santa Clara University Law Professor Gerald F. Uelmen, who served as executive director of a state commission that examined criminal justice, called Burgener "a great example" of the cost of imposing death. Uelmen said that by the time Burgener's appeals are exhausted, the cost to the state could total $5 million more than the expense of a life term without parole. An inmate on death row costs $92,000 a year more than an inmate in regular prison, Uelmen said. On top of that, Uelmen estimated the state's legal tab for Burgener's appeals "has come to well over $400,000. "It just shows that in California, a sentence of death is usually a sentence of life without parole, except it costs us a lot more."
May 15, 2009
The New York Times
When Audrey Spangenberg idly typed ''FirePond,'' the name of her small software company, into Google this year, she was not happy with what she saw. Her company's site came up as the top search listing. But just above it, Google showed the ads of competitors that had paid Google to display their marketing messages whenever someone searched for FirePond, a registered trademark. ''They are pouring fuel on the fire,'' said Eric Goldman, an associate professor at the Santa Clara University School of Law and director of its High Tech Law Institute. ''Trademark owners are not going to like this change in policy. They already felt that Google was not treating them as well as they liked. Here Google is making it harder to control the use of their trademarks online.''
May 15, 2009
PC Magazine.com
Google Inc is lifting restrictions on the use of trademarked terms in its U.S. online advertising system, a move that could increase friction between the Internet giant and brand owners. The new policy will allow businesses to place trademarked terms directly in the copy of text advertisements that run in the U.S. starting next month. Brand owners have historically had serious concerns about Google's policy with regards to trademarks, said Eric Goldman, Associate Professor of Law at Santa Clara University School of Law. Google's latest policy change is "kind of like pouring gasoline on the fire," he said.
May 15, 2009
TECHWEB
Continuing its dance in the minefield of intellectual property law, Google on Thursday announced a change in its advertising policy to allow advertisers to use trademarks associated with other companies in their ads under certain circumstances. Eric Goldman, associate professor at Santa Clara University School of Law, said that in some ways Google's new policy conforms more closely to the ad policies of Yahoo and Microsoft. "Google was blocking ad copy reference by resellers and other favored advertisers even though in theory those advertisers had every right to talk about the trademark they're selling," he said. "But Google remains idiosyncratic, because for many other circumstances it refuses to block trademarks as keywords, whereas Microsoft and Yahoo have allowed trademark owners to opt out." Goldman said that Google has proven to be one of the few entities with the power to push back against intellectual property owners. Other groups attempting to push back against intellectual property owners, such as public-interest organizations and academic groups, haven't fared as well in the courts. "Google clearly has strong views about intellectual property that often put it opposition to intellectual property owners," Goldman said. "Google has been sued by intellectual property owners repeatedly and gets a lot of negative static from intellectual property owners." He expects the new policy will continue to rub intellectual property owners the wrong way.
May 5, 2009
Austin American-Statesman
State Rep. Jessica Farrar pushed a proposal through a House committee last week that could lessen penalties for some mothers who kill their infants. The measure is aimed at women who show signs of postpartum psychosis, a rare condition that's been cited in such high-profile murder cases as that of Andrea Yates, the Texas mom who drowned her five children six months after giving birth to her youngest. Hormonal shifts resulting from childbirth can lead to anything from a change in mood, commonly known as "baby blues," to full-on psychosis, including hallucinations, thoughts of suicide or infanticide, up to a year after birth, said Michelle Oberman, a law professor at Santa Clara University in California who has written two books on the subject.
May 4, 2009
Business Wire
Bryan Stevenson, founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) in Alabama, will address graduating students at the School of Law's 2009 commencement ceremony on May 23. The commencement is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. in the University's Mission Gardens. "We are extremely pleased that Bryan Stevenson has agreed to speak to our graduating students and their families and friends this year," said Donald J. Polden, dean of Santa Clara University's School of Law. "His tireless work to improve the criminal justice system for the poor, free wrongfully or excessively charged defendants, and empower communities to advocate for change reflects the values of Santa Clara Law. He is a wonderful role model for our students, and his career reflects Santa Clara Law's commitment to social justice and meaningful law reform."
May 1, 2009
Reason
In Future Imperfect David Friedman presents a wide variety of possible futures, "some attractive, some frightening, few dull." Looking through a lens of science fiction and fact, Friedman explores how libertarian ideas can help us adjust our lives and institutions to technological change ranging from computer crime to nanotechnology, from contracts in cyberspace to aging research. Friedman, a professor of law at Santa Clara University and the author of the libertarian classic The Machinery of Freedom, applies law to economics and economics to the law, enhancing our understanding ofboth. He is properly skeptical of lawsuits: "Litigation is a clumsier and less efficient mechanism than trade; on average, of every dollar spent by a defendant only about fifty cents ends up with a plaintiff, the rest going to lawyers, court costs, and the like." Yet future technologies will have to pass through the legal wringer, and Friedman excels at projecting what will happen when they do.
April 29, 2009
The Business Insider
Googles controversial book search application has resulted in a proposed settlement with authors and publishers that has angered consumer groups and now has attracted the attention of the Obama administration's Justice Department. The concern is that the deal could give Google an unfair advantage over competitors, possibly violating anti-trust laws. The inquiry is in its initial phase, and may not result in a formal investigation, let alone an official objection. But Eric Goldman, Director of the High Tech Law Institute at Santa Clara University School of Law, said the governments inquiry is designed " at least in part " to send Google a message that it is watching the internet giant very closely.This deal has been ripe for antitrust review from day one, Goldman told Wired.com.
April 29, 2009
SF Weekly(California)
Three years ago, Linda Woo, then 39, woke her two children in the middle of the night, wrapped them in blankets, and put them in a borrowed Subaru Outback with their stuffed animals. She placed a lit barbecue grill on the front seat. A family friend found the trio huddled in the backseat in the morning. Woo and her 4-year-old son were groggy, but alive. However, her daughter, 3-year-old Olive Woo Murphy, died of carbon monoxide poisoning from the charcoal fumes. "That's one of the hallmarks here: In their crazed state, they start to think the only way to take care of the children is to take them with them," said Michelle Oberman, professor of law at Santa Clara University, who has written several books and papers on mothers who kill their children. "The mother becomes suicidal and decides to kill her children to save them from the agony."
April 20, 2009
The New York Times
Members of the Screen Actors Guild will now have their say on a proposed new contract with the major Hollywood studios, after a majority of the union's national board voted on Sunday to accept a deal that is little changed from what the studios offered 10 months ago. The Hollywood unions achieved some victories in the later rounds of negotiations at a time when organized labor remains on the defensive in many sectors of the economy, said Stephen F. Diamond, an associate professor of law at Santa Clara University. In addition to negotiating wage increases of 10 percent over three years, the unions added new jurisdiction over an emerging area of content -- namely, works created for and transmitted over the Internet. ''They ought to be proud of what they did,'' Mr. Diamond said.
April 18, 2009
The New York Times
The Screen Actors Guild has reached a tentative agreement on a new contract with a coalition of major Hollywood movie and television studios, the two sides announced on Friday. The actors' union achieved one major goal, however: a proposed contract that would expire in June 2011, around the same time as the contracts of the unions representing writers, directors and other television personalities. ''I think the expiration date is an important achievement for the union given the circumstances,'' said Stephen F. Diamond, an associate professor of law at Santa Clara University, who has closely followed the talks. ''But we don't know what price they paid to win that goal.''
April 16, 2009
Business Wire
Santa Clara University School of Law will present its inaugural Santa Clara Law Amicus Award to Larry W. Sonsini, chairman of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, in honor of his outstanding leadership in the legal profession and the community, and the many ways in which he has helped to advance the mission and reputation of Santa Clara Law. "Larry Sonsini changed the way lawyers provide legal advice and services to the technology industry," said Santa Clara Law Dean Donald Polden. "His entrepreneurial spirit and creativity in shaping the ways that lawyers protect their clients' intellectual property made him a leader and visionary in the early days of Silicon Valley, and continues to this day. "But perhaps his greatest contributions have been to organizations and institutions in Silicon Valley like Santa Clara University," Dean Polden added. "He's provided us with sustained and sophisticated advice and encouragement, helping us flourish and support others in our community."
April 15, 2009
TECHWEB
The Electronic Frontier Foundation says student Riccardo Calixte's Fourth Amendment rights were threatened by the university police, who seized his cell phone, iPod, and computer. Eric Goldman , associate professor of law at Santa Clara University School of Law, says the EFF made its name with cases like this, as when it fought the seizure of computers belonging to Steve Jackson Games by the U.S. Secret Service in 1990. "This is certainly not a new problem," said Goldman. "It seems like the government has not learned its lesson."
April 4, 2009
Iowa City Press-Citizen
Patricia A. Cain is a professor of law at Santa Clara University and a professor emeritus of the University of Iowa School of Law. In an Opinion column she wrote, "Today I am proud of my connection to Iowa and a little bit sad that I no longer reside in the state. Today the court exercised the power allocated to the judicial branch and in a decision that is a model of clarity held that the state cannot justify withholding the civil institution of marriage from same-sex couples. Justice Mark S. Cady, writing for the entire court, candidly addressed what many of us believe is the true reason that so many people are opposed to same-sex marriage: Religious sentiment."
April 2009
GQ
In theory these new laws, commonly known as safe havens, are written to protect newborns--and to prevent so-called Dumpster babies--by giving desperate parents a way out. Just as troubling is the question of who actually uses the laws. Many experts are concerned that the parents who need safe havens the most are the least likely to use them. As Michelle Oberman, an expert on infanticide at Santa Clara law school, points out, parents who kill newborn children tend to fit a very narrow demographic. "They are, for the most part, young girls under the age of 18," she says. "They are terrified by the thought of having a baby. They conceal the pregnancy from friends and family. They have little to no prenatal care. And in the vast majority of cases, the baby is delivered in the bathroom, into a toilet. So their state of mind speaks for itself: the panic, the confusion, the exhaustion, the pain."
April 7, 2009
TECHWEB
A day after The Associated Press lashed out at online news aggregation sites for stealing its content, Google let it be known that it isn't the problem. This suggests that AP's attempt to assert a "hot news" property right -- a quasi right recognized by the Supreme Court in a 1918 case -- to limit republication of breaking news stories may yet succeed. And if it does, it could curtail some abusive repurposing of original news reports. But Eric Goldman , associate professor of law at Santa Clara University School of Law, says it's not yet clear if the hot news doctrine is robust enough for the AP's purpose. "It's possible they have nothing in their quiver," he said. It may be that the AP's campaign to protect its content is intended primarily to make the case for the need for new laws to protect the publishing industry, as Singleton's promise of "legislative action" suggests. "If you wanted to lay the foundation for legal intervention, this is the way to do it," observed Goldman. "Congress is certainly aware that newspapers are in the throes of extinction."
April 2, 2009
Business Wire
The award-winning documentary Witch Hunt, a story about the arrest, conviction, and later exoneration of dozens of Bakersfield, Calif., adults for alleged child sex abuse in the mid-1980s, makes its world television premiere April 12 on MSNBC, with a DVD release April 14. "The film is a stark reminder of what happens when the justice system has no meaningful accountability of prosecutors and law enforcement. And it is a wake-up call for those who think things like this don't happen to people like us. They do," said SCU Law Professor and NCIP executive director Kathleen "Cookie" Ridolfi. "These were ordinary Bakersfield families, working people, living peacefully, raising their children, going to work everyday. Then one day, their children are taken, they're thrown into prison and they're caught in this hellish, unimaginable nightmare and it goes on for years and years. It can happen to them, it can happen to anyone," said Ridolfi, who appears in the film along with legal director Linda Starr, supervising attorney Jill Kent, and some of the Santa Clara University students who worked on the case. California Innocence Project attorneys Justin Brooks and Jan Stiglitiz served as co-counsel on the John Stoll case.
March 17, 2009
Los Angeles Times (California)
Reflecting rising public outrage, President Obama ordered his aides Monday to "pursue every legal avenue" to challenge $165 million in bonuses paid to employees of bailed-out American International Group Inc. But trying to get the money back could lead to a legal quagmire. Labor law professor Stephen Diamond of Santa Clara University School of Law said it would be relatively easy for the administration or Congress to demand limits on bonus payments as part of future federal bailouts.
March 6, 2009
TECHWEB
An Illinois sheriff says the classified ads Web site should stop allowing erotic services ads and reimburse law enforcement agencies for the costs of policing prostitution-related crime. In a blog post, Eric Goldman, associate professor at Santa Clara University School of Law, dismisses the suit as "a sad publicity stunt." However, he expresses uncertainty about the necessity of the continued existence of the erotic services category, where most sex service posts reside (because site users want them to be confined there). "If everything directed to this category is always illegal, it seems like Craigslist could, and perhaps should, voluntarily choose to eliminate the category altogether," wrote Goldman. "That may require Craigslist to invest some more resources policing its other categories to prevent their spamming/hijacking by the dispersed ads, but that may be the unavoidable cost of a free classified ads service."
March 5, 2009
OPEN FORUM, San Francisco Chronicle
Indictment of al-Bashir: A moral and legal victory. Beth Van Schaack, Associate Professor at Santa Clara University School of Law, and Michael Kevane of the SCU Economics Dept. wrote about the indictment of President Omar al-Bashir of Sudan by the International Criminal Court. They write, "The prosecutor has so far presented a very strong case against al-Bashir, and the indictment accordingly charges him with responsibility for a horrific array of crimes: murder, rape, attacking civilians, torture, and pillage. But even if ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo does not ultimately persuade the judges of al-Bashir's guilt on all counts in the indictment, he will have accomplished several important goals. A head of state who presided over war crimes and crimes against humanity will have been arrested and removed from power. The trial will create a set of evidentiary, legal and political precedents. After years of war and repression, Darfurian victims will finally have their day of justice.” Click here to read the full article.
March 3, 2009
The New York Times
Local news outlets have raised questions about the Yelp's practices. Some of the confusion may come from the fact that advertisers, who pay $300 to $1,000 a month, are allowed to choose which review shows up at the top of their profile page and block ads from competitors. For other businesses, the first two listings a reader sees could be an ad for a competitor and a one-star review. ''If there's no clarity about that process at all, it exacerbates the suspicion,'' said Eric Goldman, a professor at Santa Clara University School of Law and the former general counsel of Epinions, another review site.
February 24, 2009
Sacramento Bee (California)
Whatever the outcome, opponents of Proposition 8 could face an uphill battle. Santa Clara University law professor Gerald Uelmen predicts the court - six Republicans and one moderate Democrat - will reject both arguments. "The problem for the court is if they agree (the right to same-sex marriage) is so fundamental that to abolish it revises the constitution, they would have to admit they revised the constitution in the first place," Uelmen said.
February 24, 2009
Business Wire
A human-rights attorney who fought for decades for justice and the rule of law under Haiti's former dictatorship is the recipient of Santa Clara University School of Law's 2009 Katharine and George Alexander Law Prize. Mario Joseph will receive the award March 8 at 6 p.m. at the Silicon Valley Capital Club. "We honor Mario Joseph for his passionate fight to improve the justice system in Haiti, and his selfless work on behalf of political prisoners, victims of political violence, and the poor," said Santa Clara Law Dean Donald Polden. "He is a fierce voice calling for justice amid threats to his own life. Mr. Joseph has not only freed individuals from injustice but has placed systematic pressure on the dictatorship to respect the rule of law. We honor him for his courageous leadership, his tireless service to those in need, and his dedication to preserving the rights of all."
February 22, 2009
Back Stage Blog Stage
SAG's national board rejected the producers latest offer for a new TV/film contract, extending further an eight-month stalemate between Hollywood's largest union and the nation's top multimedia corporations. Stephen Diamond, an associate professor of labor law at Santa Clara University and a onetime candidate to become SAG's national executive director, told Strike Watch Friday that it was doubtful the guild would send out the strike referendum--he did not think the guild could convince the necessary 75 percent of voting members to approve the referendum. "This membership does not want to strike, period," Diamond said. "Any rational union activist with any amount of experience could read the tea leaves on that one. They can't win unless they have an issue that strikes a chord with the public. This isn't it."
February 18, 2009
Bulldog Reporter's Daily Dog
A small website operator, which runs a niche search engine for those seeking business products and services, filed an antitrust suit against Google this week, accusing it of unfairly manipulating its advertising system to harm a potential competitor. TradeComet.com, which operates a site called SourceTool.com, accused Google of raising the advertising rates it charged the company after it realized that SourceTool was a potential competitor, the NY Times reports. But Eric Goldman, a law professor at Santa Clara University, cast a skeptical eye on TradeComet's accusations, noting that courts had dismissed a similar antitrust case against Google. "We've heard all these arguments before and they haven't gotten much traction," Goldman told the Times.
February 18, 2009
Sun-Sentinel
The blogosphere lit up this week after a popular consumer affairs blog pointed out changes to Facebook's terms of use that the social networking Web site quietly made Feb. 4. "They're saying, 'Once data gets in our database, we can do whatever we want with it,' " said Eric Goldman, an associate professor at the Santa Clara University School of Law.
February 18, 2009
TECHWEB
A Pennsylvania judge said Google didn't violate the Boring family's privacy rights by taking pictures of their residence from a private road and publishing the images online. Eric Goldman, associate professor of law at Santa Clara University School of Law, observes that while he considered the Borings' lawsuit "a silly publicity stunt," he is bothered by the judge's circular reasoning with regard to the couple's failure to file the suit under seal. "I was a little troubled by the latter point, which seemed circular to me -- plaintiffs bringing intrusion into seclusion lawsuits unavoidably thrust themselves into the public eye, whether they want to do so or not," he said in a blog post on Tuesday. "This is especially true for anyone suing Google. As a result, it's not fair to hold that consequence against plaintiffs."
February 8, 2009
San Jose Mercury News (California)
Even as controversy rages over a series of incidents in which local prosecutors appear to have withheld evidence, Santa Clara County District Attorney Dolores Carr has adopted a combative response that appears to strain her campaign vow to end a "win at all costs" office culture. Gerald F. Uelmen, a Santa Clara University law professor who recently directed a statewide commission exploring causes of wrongful conviction, said he is disheartened by what he sees as a trend. "A succession of cases like this where Brady obligations have been overlooked suggests at least that there's a lack of comprehension within the DA's office of what Brady obligations mean," Uelmen said. "It certainly doesn't increase public confidence."
February 7, 2009
The New York Times
The Screen Actors Guild, riven by a mutiny that led to its chief bargainer being thrown overboard in the middle of contract negotiations with the Hollywood studios, appears to be on the verge of righting itself. Whether the ship has taken on too much water to keep from sinking, however, remains a question. ''The schism within the union is not likely to resolve itself anytime soon,'' said Stephen Diamond, an associate professor of law at Santa Clara University, ''unless there is some agreement on a new perspective from which to address the technological changes that are wracking the industry.''
February 5, 2009
Targeted News Service
A team of three Santa Clara University School of Law students beat nine schools' teams to take first place in the North American preliminary round of the prestigious International Criminal Court Moot Court Competition held at Pace University School of Law. The team, along with second-place Yale Law School, will now travel to The Hague to compete in the final international round against eighteen other teams from around the world Feb. 15-20. "This is a great testament to Santa Clara's program in international criminal law," said Beth Van Schaack, who said observers praised Santa Clara's performance as "devastating" and of the highest caliber.
February 3, 2009
backstage.com
With more than 126,000 members, SAG is Hollywood's largest union. Its continued state of dysfunction could have a negative effect on the entertainment industry's other unions, as well as on the industry itself. "One of the things people in SAG sometimes underestimate is how important they are to the overall image and impact of the American labor movement," said Stephen Diamond, an associate professor of labor law at Santa Clara University and a onetime candidate to be the guild's national executive director. "A SAG card is the gold standard for union membership in their industry, and right now it is being tarnished. And that is not good for the American labor movement."
January 23, 2009
Newstex Web Blogs
This is the first in a series of semi-live bog posts on the Santa Clara Law Review symposium on "Big Business and the Roberts Court: Explaining the Court's Receptiveness to Business Interests." The morning opened with welcoming remarks from Santa Clara University School of Law Dean Donald Polden. After a warm welcome to the participants and attendees, Dean Polden suggested that in just a few short years the Roberts Court has worked significant changes in certain areas of law important to business. In antitrust, for instance, he suggested the Roberts Court has "dismantled" the architecture of the law through a series of pro-defendant decisions. What causes this? He speculated that there was several possibilities, ranging from the power of corporate money to fund high-powered litigation, the gradual "re-education" of judges and lawyers by the likes of the Olin Foundation, or perhaps just a general change in public opinion or elite consensus.
January 21, 2009
Targeted News Service
Recruiting via Avatar: Santa Clara Law Hosts Its First-Ever Virtual-World Law School Application Workshop. "We believe we are the first law school in the United States to use Second Life to interact with prospective students," says Julia Yaffee, senior assistant dean of external relations. "We are located in the heart of Silicon Valley, one of the most vibrant business centers in
