Though the NFL offseason is set to begin, and many new stories will dominate the media, one story refuses to go away: Deflategate. With the case currently on appeal, it is important to entertain the possibility that the Deflategate saga…
Emojis, or emoticons, have become increasingly common fixtures in our everyday lives. Described by one court as the “little cartoon face that can be added to the text of an instant message . . . used to illustrate how the…
A Florida jury has decided that a grainy sex tape released without permission is worth $115 million in compensatory damages, plus $25 million in punitive damages, resulting in a staggering award of $140 million.[1] Retired wrestler Hulk Hogan, whose real…
The long-simmering struggle between two essential American interests came to a dramatic head this week when Apple indicated its intent to appeal a court order directing the company to unlock an iPhone used by Syed Rizwan Farook, one of the…
At this given time, FanDuel and DraftKings are both legal in the state of New York. The fantasy sports industry allows people to create their own professional football, baseball, basketball, and hockey teams from the rosters of the real players…
In the investigation following the San Bernardino killings where fourteen people were murdered and twenty-two were left injured, authorities learned that one of the killers, Tashfeen Malik, had revealed violent inclinations in her social media activities. Since 2012, Malik had…
Appropriation is commonplace in today’s art world. But what happens when the appropriator appropriates too much? Richard Prince has made a name for himself as a well-known appropriation artist. Naturally the use of a copyrighted image without permission of the…
“Freedom of expression is the matrix, the indispensable condition, of nearly every other form of freedom.” —U.S. Supreme Court Justice Benjamin N. Cardozo In fall 2015, a unique class-action lawsuit was filed against the City of New York for unconstitutional arrests…
In the spirit of Comic-Con and Star Trek conventions, political junkies now have Politicon, a nexus where they can socialize, debate, share obscure knowledge, and hope to catch a glimpse of a famous political figure or two.[1] Politicon seems to…
In early August 2015, the Queen of the Internet, Miss Kim Kardashian West, caught the eyes of the Food and Drug Administration via her Twitter, Facebook and Instagram accounts. The reality TV star was then pregnant with her second child,…
On November 10, 2015, Federal Magistrate Judge Gail Standish from the Central District of California dismissed a copyright infringement suit made by Jesse Braham against music powerhouse Taylor Swift. Braham claimed that the lyric in Swift’s song “Shake It Off,”…
