Anne van Aaken, Lars P. Feld and Stefan Voigt

It is hypothesized that prosecution agencies that are dependent on the executive have less incentives to prosecute crimes committed by government members that in turn increases their incentives to commit such crimes. Here, this hypothesis is put to an empirical test focusing on a particular kind of crime, namely corruption. In order to test it, it was necessary to create an indicator measuring de jure as well as de facto independence of the prosecution agencies. The regressions show that de facto independence of prosecution agencies robustly reduces corruption of officials.

Fundamentals of Intellectual Property: Cases & Materials; Thomas G. Field Jr. (Franklin Pierce Law Center)

The casebook, intended to serve the needs of legal specialists as well as generalists, flags common themes and critical distinctions among IP components. Over long spans, much that is truly fundamental has been constant, and many current IP debates still center on issues raised in the 1800s and earlier. The goal is to present the most important and durable aspects of the law. Pursuit of that objective has been facilitated by ongoing discussions with colleagues, current and former students and others similarly engaged.

Besides patents, copyrights, trade secrets and trademarks, brief attention is given to domain names and rights of publicity. Remedies are considered pervasively. Preemption and speech issues are treated separately as well as pervasively.

Organization and contents are informed by over thirty-five years experience with the subject matter and students at every level of technical and legal sophistication. A relatively complete table of cases is included but no index – the latter being unnecessary when the file can be searched digitally. Use of Roger E. Schecter’s comprehensive statutory supplement (West) or equivalent is suggested.

Paperback copies may be purchased for about $20.00 from a Concord, NH publisher (email author for details). A three-color cover is available, so the PDF can also be printed elsewhere for royalty-free, non profit use. The author appreciates being advised and will alert users to supplemental online materials.

Keywords: intellectual property, casebook, patents, copyrights, trade secrets, trademarks, domain names, rights of publicity, commercial speech, preemption

But if America does embrace another stimulus round, we should limit the government’s role to being the big borrower rather than the big spender. Cutting payroll taxes for lower-income workers who have just been unemployed is an example of stimulus through borrowing, rather than spending. The government isn’t actually spending money on government services; it’s just borrowing the money and giving it to newly employed workers.