Seventh Circuit Wrestles with Constitutionality of Warrantless Cell Phone Searches By Brittany Horth – Edited by Charlie Stiernberg United States v. Flores-Lopez, No. 10-3803 (7th Cir. 2012) Slip opinion The Seventh Circuit affirmed the United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, which had held that a warrantless search of a cell phone in order to obtain its phone number is permitted under the Fourth Amendment. Judge Posner acknowledged that the issue had implications for computers and other electronics ... Read More...
Archive for March, 2012
Federal Circuit Invalidates Real Estate Investment Claims Following Bilski Precedent By Elettra Bietti – Edited by Charlie Stiernberg Fort Props., Inc. v. Am. Master Lease LLC, No. 2009-1242 (Fed. Cir. Feb. 27, 2012) Slip Opinion The Federal Circuit affirmed the District Court for the Central District of California, which had granted summary judgment in favor of Fort Properties. In a pre-Bilski decision, the district court had invalidated all 41 claims in American Master Lease’s (“AML”) real estate investment patent for ... Read More...
By Geng Chen Violent Video Game Fight Ends Not With a Bang, But With an Invoice The Sacramento Bee had the last word in the California violent video games saga. California taxpayers will end up bearing the $1.8 million bill for legal services related to defending the controversial state statute, struck down by a 7-2 vote in the Supreme Court last year in Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Ass’n. It would have prevented retailers from selling video games depicting killing, maiming, ... Read More...
A book launch at the MIT Media Lab on February 2, 2012 By Elettra Bietti – Edited by Andrew Segna On the sixth floor of the MIT Media Lab, Rebecca MacKinnon started the presentation of her new book Consent of the Networked: The World Struggle for Internet Freedom by warning us about the threats around the Internet’s future. Are we going toward democracy or toward its opposite? How do we make sure that the Internet evolves in a democratic way? The Internet, ... Read More...
