A Whole New League Of Online Dating?

/ Washington Journal of Law, Technology & Arts / Leave a comment

Screen Shot 2015-03-04 at 5.33.23 PMBy Naazaneen Hodjat

“You’re smart, busy & ambitious. You don’t need a dating app to get a date—you’re too popular as it is. But you should join The League.” The League is a new online dating app that is stirring up controversy and has been coined an elitist app for its highly selective and exclusionary model. Following in the success of dating apps such as Tinder and Hinge, The League aims to “help you find the right partner, provided that you fit in.”

Today, the online dating industry is worth over $2 billion. The League, one of the newest niche online dating apps available, launched in November 2014 and raised $2.1 million in venture capital within two months. The League prides itself on being distinguishable from other dating apps. This new dating app is discreet and hides your profile from friends, business contacts, and co-workers. The League also promises to help you “spend your time more … intelligently.” Furthermore, in an attempt to counteract the overabundance of choices available on other dating apps, The League claims to simplify your dating life by scouting potential matches for you based on your preferences. A member’s profile can only be viewed by another member who meets his or her preferences. The League also assures that there are “no fakes”—you can be certain that people are who they say they are because of The League’s thorough application process. Although The League has only been launched in San Francisco, the app already has 5,500 members just within San Francisco. However, there are almost 80,000 prospective members currently on the wait list. Continue reading →

Left Shark Still Not “All Right”: The Legal Battle Continues With New Trademark Claims

/ Washington Journal of Law, Technology & Arts / Leave a comment

Screen Shot 2015-03-02 at 6.44.25 AMBy Julie Liu

In the most entertaining legal battle to develop out of Super Bowl XLIX, Katy Perry has famously attempted to copyright Left Shark, the much-celebrated Internet phenomenon of the month. In a more recent development, Perry has made further moves to bolster her intellectual property rights—this time with a trademark claim.

The origins of Left Shark are by now a familiar subject: two “sharks” served as backup dancers in Perry’s beach-themed halftime performance; one of them unexpectedly stole the show by bumbling his way through the choreography. The less-than-perfect performance did not escape the internet’s attention and collective amusement, and so Left Shark was born.

Before long, Fernando Sosa (of figurine company Shapeways) began recreating the shark for sale in miniature, and Perry’s lawyers responded with a cease-and-desist letter, claiming that Sosa’s product “infringes [Perry’s] exclusive rights in numerous ways.” Represented by NYU law professor Chris Sprigman, Sosa struck back by rejecting Perry’s ownership of copyright. Sprigman cited Perry’s own quotes, which indicated that she was not the “boss” of her halftime show, including, presumably, the production decisions leading to the creation of Left Shark. Continue reading →

Governing Habitats on The Moon

/ Washington Journal of Law, Technology & Arts / Leave a comment

Screen Shot 2015-02-27 at 11.34.47 AMBy Talia Loucks

No one from Earth has been to the moon since 1972, but Google’s Lunar XPRIZE has sparked an interest in returning. The Lunar XPRIZE is a race to the moon in which competitors must land a robot safely on the moon and send back “HDTV Mooncasts for everyone to enjoy.” The deadline is next year and it has created a growing interest in moon activity. One company, Bigelow Aerospace, has even developed inflatable habitats to set up in space. The program, known as BEAM, has been developed as an attachment to the International Space Station, but Bigelow would also like to launch these habitats to the Moon. Even though the 1967 Outer Space Treaty bans sovereign ownership rights to the moon, Bigelow may one day soon be allowed to place its habitats on the Moon.

As was outlined in a recent WJLTA blog article on Asteroid Mining, the Outer Space Treaty and the Moon Agreement currently govern space law. Though no sovereign can claim ownership in space, the Outer Space Treaty has potentially left open a loophole that could allow for nongovernmental, private entities to have ownership rights in space. Additionally, the 1979 Moon Treaty, which governs lunar activity was never signed by the U.S., leaving open another potential loophole for private American entities. Continue reading →

Law Enforcement, Automatic License Plate Readers and American Privacy

/ Washington Journal of Law, Technology & Arts / Leave a comment

Screen Shot 2015-02-25 at 4.26.20 PMBy Michael Huggins

Every day, Automatic License Plate Readers (ALPR) capture millions of license plate images, which are stored in third-party databases. ALPRs have been used by law enforcement and state agencies to recover stolen vehicles and as a method of electronic toll collection on roads. Privacy activists, however, are concerned that state law enforcement may use ALPRs as a surveillance tool to track drivers’ locations and store images of drivers and their passengers. They argue that ALPRs may be used to collect information about individuals engaging in lawful activity, such as attending a peaceful gathering, or who pose no security threat.

For example, the Virginia State Police used ALPRs to record not only the license plates of vehicles attending President Obama’s inauguration, but entire campaign rallies for President Obama and former Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin as well. And in San Leadro, California, police used ALPRs to monitor Mr. Mike Katz-Lacabe’s Toyota Tercel, even though he had not been charged with a crime. When Katz-Lacabe submitted a public records request, he obtained 112 photos of his vehicles dating back two years. He was surprised to learn that he could identify people in the photos. Indeed, he was able to identify himself wearing one of his Berkeley shirts. Continue reading →

FAA’s Proposed Rules Leave Little Room for Full Takeoff of Commercial Drones

/ Washington Journal of Law, Technology & Arts / Leave a comment
Source: PetaPixel

Source: PetaPixel

By Max Burke

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on Sunday released proposed rules for small commercial unmanned aircraft systems (UAS)—also known as drones or unmanned aircraft vehicles. The rules would apply to non-recreational UAS under 55 pounds and would, among other things, limit flights to daylight hours and altitudes of less than 500 feet. A drone operator, with the help of visual observers, would need to maintain visual line of sight of the drone. And an operator would also “have to be at least 17 years old, pass an aeronautical knowledge test and obtain an FAA UAS operator certificate.” (See a summary of the proposed requirements here and the full proposal here.)

Currently, the FAA effectively bans commercial use of drones. Pursuant to section 333 of the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012 (FMRA), the FAA authorizes such use only on a case-by-case basis; a limited number of companies have been given authorization since September 2014. The proposed rules—which were made pursuant to the FMRA—are supposed to be the next phase in expanding commercial drone use. The FAA lists a number of UAS activities that would be allowed under the proposed framework, including crop monitoring, research and development, power-line inspections, aerial photography, and aiding certain rescue operations. Anyone can submit comments on the proposed rules to the FAA for up to 60 days after the rules are published in the Federal Register. Unfortunately, promulgation of permanent rules is not expected until 2017, nearly two years after the deadline mandated by Congress in the FMRA. Continue reading →