Predictive Policing: The Future in Solving Crimes or the Arrival of Minority Report

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By Michael Hugginsminority-report-11-3.jpg

The film Minority Report tells the story of a future society that uses technology to predict who will commit crimes. When the crime starts to occur, the Pre-Crime police department uses those predications to capture the individual before they commit the offense. Specifically, the Pre-Crime police department uses knowledge acquired from three pre-cognitive beings to predict the time and the place of the crimes. This 2002 film continues to spark intellectual and ethical curiosity in the minds of many science-fiction fans. But Minority Report is just that: science-fiction. Or is it?

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The AI Lawyer Starts Billing Hours

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ai-robot

What it means and why it’s a good thing for the legal community and society.

By Brooks Lindsay

You may have heard recently about the development of the artificial intelligence (AI) lawyer, “ROSS” by the creators of IBM’s Watson. Well, the synthetic lawyer was just hired by law firm Baker & Hostetler. This post attempts to explain what the AI lawyer is, what it can do, how it will change the legal community, and why it’s good for the legal community and society.

ROSS is built on IBM’s cognitive computer Watson, a supercomputer that recently strutted its stuff by beating Jeopardy phenom Ken Jennings. The AI lawyer is capable of reading and understanding language, generating thoughtful legal analysis, synthesizing thousands of case results into precise answers, postulating legal hypotheses, and providing citations along the way. It can also monitor legal news and notify attorneys when, for example, a favorable ruling is delivered on a relevant case.

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Are We No Longer “The 12th Man”?

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12th Man

By Joe Davison

If you have watched a Seahawks football game, chances are you have heard the phrase “12th Man” during broadcast.  This phrase is typically used to describe the impact of the home fans—each team has eleven players on the field and the fans are thought to fill the role of the 12th man to give the home team advantage.  Although it is used by many football teams, the saying is most commonly associated with the Seattle Seahawks and Texas A&M University’s football team.

The use of the “12th Man” phrase by both the Seahawks and Texas A&M goes back decades.  In 1984, the Seahawks retired the number 12 in honor of its famously dedicated fans. In 2003, the Seahawks installed a flagpole in the south end zone of CenturyLink Field, and began a tradition of raising a flag with the number 12 on it to honor their fans.   Continue reading →

No Filtering Snapchat’s Third Party Woes

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snap-ghost-yellow

Snapchat’s Ghost logo

By Mackenzie Olson

Snapchat is an app that allows users to send one another “snaps”, which are pictures that disappear after a few seconds.  Users can also add a “filter” to their pictures to alter or enhance it. However, Snapchat filters are quite unlike those of other apps. Sure, many iPhone photos instantly become more attractive—or at least more “like”-able—under the effects of the photo sharing app Instagram’s many popular filter options. (If in doubt, opt for the Valencia filter. It’s nearly foolproof.) Snapchat filters, however, can turn a user into a surreal version of him or herself.  Ever wondered what you might look like as a dog? A zombie? Or with your best friend’s (or the Starbucks lady’s) face? Snapchat offers all of these options, among others, and they are virtually risk-free.

“Virtually.”

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Facebook Wins Trademark Case in China

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facebookBy Kiran Jassal

By now, many are aware that Facebook has taken a rather active stance when it comes to protecting its trademark. Examples include bringing infringement claims against Designbook, Lamebook, and Teachbook.  Not surprisingly, Facebook is once again policing its trademark. What is surprising, however, is that Facebook won a trademark dispute in China, a place where trademark disputes haven’t typically ended in favor of U.S. companies.

On April 28, 2016, the Beijing High Court ruled that the Zhongshan Pearl River Drinks Factory (the “Factory”), based in southern Guangdong province, should not have been allowed to register the trademark, “face book”. Hoping to use the mark “face book” on its various food and beverage products, the Factory filed a trademark application at the Trademark Office of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce on January 24, 2011. Continue reading →