Professor Christa Laser submitted comments in response to Senator Josh Hawley’s request for views on potential reform of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. In her comments, Professor Laser advocated an optional alternative dispute resolution forum for DMCA disputes. She also suggested that DMCA mechanisms could be used to target deepfakes, impersonation, and revenge pornography on the internet by expanding DMCA provisions to certain right of publicity and right of privacy violations.

Professor Christa Laser’s forthcoming article, Certiorari in Patent Cases, was highlighted this week in the leading patent law blog, PatentlyO.com. 

A link to Professor Laser’s article is here: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3728706

Professor Milena Sterio participated as an expert and consultant in a two-day training program, on December 8-9, on Human Rights Documentation practices.  The training was organized by the International Coalition of Sites of Conscience, and its participants included NGOs and civil society organizations from Africa, Asia and South America.  Professor Sterio’s presentations focused on the mechanics of human rights documentation practices, as well as on the connection between human right documentation, transitional justice and accountability.  

Professor Mark Sundahl recently published a letter in the journal Science, discussing NASA’s Artemis Accords, which are the bilateral agreements that NASA is using to partner with other space agencies in its return to the Moon. Professor Sundahl’s letter defends the Artemis Accords from criticisms by other commentators.

Science is one of the world’s leading academic journals. Professor Sundahl’s letter appears in Volume 370, Issue 6520, at page 1045.

Professor Sundahl is the director of Cleveland-Marshall’s Global Space Law Center.

Professor Milena Sterio published a blog post on Opinio Juris, one of the most prominent academic blogs in the field of international law.  Professor Sterio’s post is part of a Book Symposium, focused on Professor Jennifer Trahan’s recently published book, “Existing Legal Limits to Security Council Veto Power in the Face of Atrocity Crimes” (Cambridge University Press 2020).  Professor Sterio’s post entitled “Voluntary Veto Restraint Initiatives as Evidence of the Global Community’s Disapproval of the Use of the Veto Power” discusses different veto power restraint initiatives undertaken by states over the past several decades.  

Professor Sterio’s post is available here:
http://opiniojuris.org/2020/12/02/unsc-veto-power-symposium-voluntary-veto-restraint-initiatives-as-evidence-of-the-global-communitys-disapproval-of-the-use-of-the-veto-power/

Dean Lee Fisher and his wife Peggy Zone Fisher have been awarded the 2021 Richard W. Pogue Award for Excellence in Community Leadership and Engagement by the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Foundation. Peggy Zone Fisher is the President and CEO of the Diversity Center of Northeast Ohio.

The award announcement notes that Lee and Peggy, “the ultimate Cleveland power couple,” have “have an unparalleled history of leadership in business, politics, law and community service,” which has spanned more than four decades.

The award will be presented on Saturday, February 13, 2021, at the Music Box Supper Club.

Professor Matthew W. Green Jr. was invited to participate on a panel in which law professors from the Cleveland area discussed issues of social justice and ways in which lawyers can join the fight for social justice in their communities through practical action.  Professor Green’s remarks focused on actions employers and lawyers might take to reduce workplace discrimination against LGBTQ+ individuals as well as members of other marginalized groups. 

The event, which took place on Wednesday, November 18, was sponsored by the Cleveland Intellectual Property Law Association (CIPLA).   

On November 19, 2020, Professor Matthew W. Green Jr. participated in a webinar focusing on the 2020 election.  The event, titled The 2020 Election: Lessons and Reflections, featured a panel of CSU faculty from colleges across campus discussing various issues pertaining to the election, including the effect that activism (including the Black Lives Matter movement), demands to defund the police, race and civil rights, and the future of the federal courts may have played in the election.  

The webinar was hosted by the Diversity Institute, a research center within CSU’s Division of Diversity, Inclusion and University Engagement.  

Professor Milena Sterio co-authored a blog post (with Eian Katz and Jonathan Worboys, Public International Law and Policy Group (PILPG)), “Attacks” Against Hospitals and Cultural Property: Broad in Time, Broad in Substance, which was published by Articles of War, an academic blog operated out of the Lieber Institute at West Point.  In this post, Professor Sterio and her co-authors discuss the definition of “attacks” under the International Criminal Court (ICC) statute.  This blog post is based on the Amicus Brief which Professor Sterio and her colleagues at the PILPG recently submitted to the ICC in the Ntaganda case.  The post was an invited contribution to the online symposium ran by Articles of War about the ICC’s Ntaganda case.  

The blog post is available here: https://lieber.westpoint.edu/attacks-against-hospitals-cultural-property-broad/

Professor Milena Sterio presented her paper, “The Syrian Conflict’s Impact on International Law,” at the American Society of International Law-Midwest Interest Group annual workshop held virtually on Nov. 13th.  Professor Sterio’s paper was selected from a competitive call-for-papers.