Laws | March 2020 - Browse Articles

26 pages, 5344 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Fashion as Art: Rights and Remedies in the Age of Social Media

by Lucrezia Palandri

Laws 2020, 9(1), 9; https://doi.org/10.3390/laws9010009 - 11 Mar 2020

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 8707

Today’s increasingly widespread recognition of fashion’s artistic value has revamped the debate on the appropriateness of rights and remedies provided by IP law to fashion designs. From an Italian–US comparative perspective, this article inquires whether copyright protection, traditionally accorded to artists, is eligible [...] Read more.

Today’s increasingly widespread recognition of fashion’s artistic value has revamped the debate on the appropriateness of rights and remedies provided by IP law to fashion designs. From an Italian–US comparative perspective, this article inquires whether copyright protection, traditionally accorded to artists, is eligible and applied for fashion, detecting that rights and remedies are better accessible to major fashion companies and for iconic items, while they are not easily attainable by smaller designers. Analyzing a number of case studies, this article describes a growing phenomenon in the age of the digital revolution, that is, controversies regarding the fashion world tend to be disputed on social media rather than in courtrooms. Beyond the debate on which existing formal legal tools are suitable for fashion, the purpose is to bring the phenomenon of informal self-regulation out of court into conversation, examining advantages and disadvantages. Social media platforms are more suitable to fashion’s nature and dynamics, and ultimately, their verdicts seem to obtain better results than litigation, balancing the unequal positions of established and emerging brands. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The New Frontiers of Fashion Law)

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14 pages, 290 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Backlash or Widening the Gap?: Women’s Reproductive Rights in the Twenty-First Century

by Dorota Anna Gozdecka

Laws 2020, 9(1), 8; https://doi.org/10.3390/laws9010008 - 20 Feb 2020

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 10462

Abstract

This article examines legal challenges to women’s reproductive rights in Ireland and the United States, arguing that backlash against reproductive rights is a consequence of the long unsettled position of women’s reproductive freedom in liberal democracies and the catalogue of rights. It examines [...] Read more.

This article examines legal challenges to women’s reproductive rights in Ireland and the United States, arguing that backlash against reproductive rights is a consequence of the long unsettled position of women’s reproductive freedom in liberal democracies and the catalogue of rights. It examines the legal foundations of reproductive rights and their perceived conflicts with other values, such as religion, and focuses on the current legal challenges to women’s bodily autonomy regarding choice and motherhood. It demonstrates the many contexts in which women have not acquired full reproductive freedom, and explores the nature of the current backlash. It argues that the nature of the backlash is not simply a reclamation of what has been legally guaranteed, but instead a deepening of the preexisting divides within reproductive justice globally. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Feminist Legal Theory in the 21st Century)

11 pages, 207 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Third-Party Doctrine Principles and the Fourth Amendment: Challenges and Opportunities for First Responder Emergency Officials

by Klaus Schmidt, Katrin C. Varner and Agrey D. Chenga

Laws 2020, 9(1), 7; https://doi.org/10.3390/laws9010007 - 17 Feb 2020

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 6022

Abstract

The unresolved issues between the Fourth Amendment and the third-party doctrine provide first responders with challenges in their approach to meet the needs of any emergency they may be called for. A first responder needs to provide help quickly, and often this does [...] Read more.

The unresolved issues between the Fourth Amendment and the third-party doctrine provide first responders with challenges in their approach to meet the needs of any emergency they may be called for. A first responder needs to provide help quickly, and often this does not leave much time to think about the legal implications of some of their actions. With the rise of the Internet, the challenges of terrorism, and WikiLeaks, first responders are no longer sheltered from the legal implications that the use of information from online and other secondary sources may have. Specifically, privacy concerns may be raised when first responders use social media either as a tool to gather information about evolving emergencies, or to engage in the process of monitoring those media to detect potential threats to the safety of the country and its citizens. This paper will address some challenges first responders face when considering the third-party doctrine principles and the Fourth Amendment in their rescue efforts. What are some liability and legal concerns in the context of what first responders encounter when responding to potential threats? The paper will also include a discussion of practical experiences with the Fourth Amendment and third-party doctrine principles and explore liability issues related to first responders’ use of information. Full article

(This article belongs to the Section Criminal Justice Issues)

23 pages, 349 KiB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Public Interest, Health Research and Data Protection Law: Establishing a Legitimate Trade-Off between Individual Control and Research Access to Health Data

by Mark J. Taylor and Tess Whitton

Laws 2020, 9(1), 6; https://doi.org/10.3390/laws9010006 - 14 Feb 2020

Cited by 11 | Viewed by 8448

Abstract

The United Kingdom’s Data Protection Act 2018 introduces a new public interest test applicable to the research processing of personal health data. The need for interpretation and application of this new safeguard creates a further opportunity to craft a health data governance landscape [...] Read more.

The United Kingdom’s Data Protection Act 2018 introduces a new public interest test applicable to the research processing of personal health data. The need for interpretation and application of this new safeguard creates a further opportunity to craft a health data governance landscape deserving of public trust and confidence. At the minimum, to constitute a positive contribution, the new test must be capable of distinguishing between instances of health research that are in the public interest, from those that are not, in a meaningful, predictable and reproducible manner. In this article, we derive from the literature on theories of public interest a concept of public interest capable of supporting such a test. Its application can defend the position under data protection law that allows a legal route through to processing personal health data for research purposes that does not require individual consent. However, its adoption would also entail that the public interest test in the 2018 Act could only be met if all practicable steps are taken to maximise preservation of individual control over the use of personal health data for research purposes. This would require that consent is sought where practicable and objection respected in almost all circumstances. Importantly, we suggest that an advantage of relying upon this concept of the public interest, to ground the test introduced by the 2018 Act, is that it may work to promote the social legitimacy of data protection legislation and the research processing that it authorises without individual consent (and occasionally in the face of explicit objection). Full article

(This article belongs to the Section Health Law Issues)

26 pages, 401 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Fashion between Inspiration and Appropriation

by Barbara Pozzo

Laws 2020, 9(1), 5; https://doi.org/10.3390/laws9010005 - 12 Feb 2020

Cited by 13 | Viewed by 23744

Abstract

Fashion is considered an element of “cultural identity”. At the same time, it has always been a dynamic phenomenon in which different styles, designs and models converged, acting both as a source of attraction for designers as well as a source of inspiration [...] Read more.

Fashion is considered an element of “cultural identity”. At the same time, it has always been a dynamic phenomenon in which different styles, designs and models converged, acting both as a source of attraction for designers as well as a source of inspiration to draw and depart from in an attempt at innovation. Influences were reciprocal, with the phenomenon of Orientalism going hand in hand with that of Occidentalism. Today’s discussion focuses on the vindication by various ethnic groups of ways to protect their own folklore as expression of their own cultural identity. The questions that arise are manifold. This contribution aims at framing the problem in the nowadays fashion industry as well as investigating the various possibilities of protecting folklore while preserving cultural identity. The discussion will deal with recent studies that have analyzed the various aspects of cultural appropriation. Intellectual property will be taken into consideration as a way to protect folklore. Nevertheless, this article suggests that other options for achieving protection of cultural heritage and folklore emerge in the field of Private Governance and Corporate Social Responsibility that will offer new opportunities to tackle the problem of cultural appropriation in the fashion world. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The New Frontiers of Fashion Law)

2 pages, 214 KiB

Open AccessEditorial

Acknowledgement to Reviewers of Laws in 2019

by Laws Editorial Office

Laws 2020, 9(1), 4; https://doi.org/10.3390/laws9010004 - 06 Feb 2020

Viewed by 2654

Abstract

The editorial team greatly appreciates the reviewers who have dedicated considerable time and their expertise to the journal’s rigorous editorial process over the past 12 months, regardless of whether the papers are finally published or not [...] Full article

14 pages, 253 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Photoshop & The (Virtual) Body of Models

by Susy Bello Knoll

Laws 2020, 9(1), 3; https://doi.org/10.3390/laws9010003 - 19 Jan 2020

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 5880

Abstract

In this paper, Photoshop is analyzed with a special focus on the bodies of models and a detailed analysis on the legal issues posed by this specific area. For the sake of a thorough development of the topic of this paper, it is [...] Read more.

In this paper, Photoshop is analyzed with a special focus on the bodies of models and a detailed analysis on the legal issues posed by this specific area. For the sake of a thorough development of the topic of this paper, it is necessary to define relevant concepts such as photography and personal image. Regarding the first notion, problems related to intellectual property and, more specifically, copyright are discussed in this paper. Additionally, personal image is one of the most complex and comprehensive areas of law since the protection accorded to it is not equal in different jurisdictions of the world, so its study involves an analysis that goes beyond the scope of this paper. However, various safeguard mechanisms undertaken by some legislations chosen for this purpose will be presented, while also mentioning some specific cases both in the European continental system (Spain and Argentina) and in common law (United States of America and United Kingdom). Finally, the focus is placed on the use of Photoshop for the modification of body shape, particularly that professional models, as these are the ones that work primarily with their image. There will also be a description of some new regulations and mechanisms attempting to restrict image manipulation practices and those that warn the consumers against modified images to eventually conclude on the insufficiency of the same ones and the need for new proposed actions. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The New Frontiers of Fashion Law)

9 pages, 337 KiB

Open AccessReply

Reply to George S. Ford’s ‘A Counterfactual Impact Analysis of Fair Use Policy on Copyright Related Industries in Singapore: A Critical Review’

by Roya Ghafele

Laws 2020, 9(1), 2; https://doi.org/10.3390/laws9010002 - 15 Jan 2020

Viewed by 3014

Abstract

Ford’s ‘Comments (Laws 2018, 7(4), 34; https://doi.org/10.3390/laws7040034, https://www.mdpi.com/2075-471X/7/4/34)’ are biased by a partisan approach to the issues at stake and cannot be based on scientific evidence. The article “A Counterfactual Impact Analysis of Fair Use Policy on Copyright Related [...] Read more.

Ford’s ‘Comments (Laws 2018, 7(4), 34; https://doi.org/10.3390/laws7040034, https://www.mdpi.com/2075-471X/7/4/34)’ are biased by a partisan approach to the issues at stake and cannot be based on scientific evidence. The article “A Counterfactual Impact Analysis of Fair Use Policy on Copyright Related Industries in Singapore”, which Gibert and Gafelle wrote together nearly a decade ago, came under heavy criticism by George S. Ford from an organization named the Phoenix Centre for Advanced Legal and Economic Public Policy Studies in an article ‘A Counterfactual Impact Analysis of Fair Use Policy on Copyright Related Industries in Singapore: A Critical Review’. (subsequently ‘the fair use study’) The Fair use study was peer reviewed by LAWS and supports the hypothesis that a more flexible fair use policy is correlated with faster growth rates in private copying technology industries and fewer negative consequences than copyright holders may desire to see. The findings of the Fair use study upset Ford as well as a host of different institutions advocating for copyright owners, such as International Federation of Reproduction Rights Organizations; Motion Picture Association; Publishers Association of Australia; New Zealand Society of Authors or Recorded Music NZ-RMNZ. Ford’s article, however, neither contains novel research, nor is it an effort to update this fairly dated analysis, which reflects data nearly twenty years of age. Rather, it is an unnecessary duplication of an old analysis with only some minor modifications, which serve to show that fair use is actually not beneficial to the economy. At the end of this peculiar exercise, Ford himself admits that this analysis is meaningless. The rest of Ford’s article consists of discussing potential limitations of the Fair use study, in a manner which suggests the authors had never disclosed them (which however they had) and thus is misleading. Ford’s most fundamental point of criticism is hinged on a supposed lack of evidence regarding the parallelism assumption, which he himself admits is impossible to offer. Contrary to Ford’s analysis, the Fair use study has the merit of being fully reproducible, which is not the case for Ford’s article. Also, contrary to Ford’s article, the Fair use study has the advantage of carefully drafted limitations and of offering genuine research insights. Full article

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20 pages, 322 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Uyghur Minority in China: A Case Study of Cultural Genocide, Minority Rights and the Insufficiency of the International Legal Framework in Preventing State-Imposed Extinction

by Ciara Finnegan

Laws 2020, 9(1), 1; https://doi.org/10.3390/laws9010001 - 11 Jan 2020

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 44110

Abstract

Raphael Lemkin, the man who founded the term ‘genocide,’ did so with a view to protecting not only physical beings from systematically imposed extinction, but also protecting their cultures from the same fate. However, in the wake of the atrocities and bloodshed of [...] Read more.

Raphael Lemkin, the man who founded the term ‘genocide,’ did so with a view to protecting not only physical beings from systematically imposed extinction, but also protecting their cultures from the same fate. However, in the wake of the atrocities and bloodshed of WWII, cultural genocide was omitted from the 1948 Genocide Convention, and as a result, does not constitute an international crime. This omission has left a lacuna in international law which threatens minority groups. Not a threat of loss of life but rather loss of the culture that distinguishes them and identifies them as a minority. Powerful States with indifferent attitudes towards their international obligations face no significantly harsher punishment for cultural genocide than they do for other human rights transgressions. Consequently, cultural genocide continues as minority cultures are rendered extinct at the hands of States. The Case Study of this article investigates the present-day example of the Uyghur minority in China and analyzes whether this modern cultural genocide can pave the way for the recognition of cultural genocide as an international crime or whether the Uyghur culture will become a cautionary tale for minorities in the future. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Protection of Minorities under International Law)

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Laws, Volume 9, Issue 1 (March 2020) – 9 articles

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