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Interest Rates, Venture Capital, and Financial Stability
No full textAs central banks tightened interest rates during 2022 and 2023, important debates arose regarding the relationship between monetary policy and financial stability. This Article illuminates one path through which the prolonged period of accommodative monetary policy from 2009-2021 impacted financial stability: it traces how easy money and yield-seeking behavior in the wake of the Global Financial Crisis and COVID-19 pandemic led to a bubble in the venture capital industry, which in turn spawned a crypto bubble as well as a run on the VC-favored Silicon Valley Bank. This Article uses this account to illustrate the importance of proactive financial regulation both in preventing the financial crises that invite more accommodative monetary policy and in preventing accommodative monetary policy from sowing the seeds of future financial stability problems when it is deployed. This Article is primarily a descriptive account, designed to highlight the venture capital industry\u27s unexpected and underappreciated contribution to financial stability threats in the early 2020s. This Article does, however, suggest several policy implications of this account. It recommends increased monitoring of the venture capital industry by financial stability regulators, given that venture capital is well-positioned to generate asset bubbles now and in the future. It also argues for more aggressive enforcement of the securities laws to tamp down on the present crypto bubble, as well as for structural separation between crypto and the traditional financial system. More generally, this Article urges financial stability regulators to be vigilant during periods of accommodative monetary policy
Analysis of the Agenda for SCCR 46
Get PDFProtection of Broadcasting Organizations
The central question for the Broadcasting Treaty, in line with the 2007 General Assembly Mandate, is whether there is sufficient “agreement on objectives, specific scope and object of protection” to warrant a recommendation for a diplomatic conference. (WO/GA/34/16). The 2006 GA mandated that the Broadcasting Treaty be “confined to the protection of broadcasting and cablecasting organizations in the traditional sense” and “based on a signal-based approach” (WO/GA/33/10, para 107, 2006).
The SCCR 45 Chair’s Summary states:“[w]ith respect to objectives, there is common understanding … that the treaty should be narrowly focused on signal piracy, should not extend to any post-fixation activities and that it should provide member states with flexibility to implement obligations through adequate and effective legal means” and “that the object of protection (subject-matter) of the treaty is related to programme-carrying signals linked to linear transmission”. There continues to be divergence on whether the Chair’s Draft of the treaty meets these standards.
The treaty continues to extend beyond interception of simultaneous live transmissions to acts of fixation (e.g. recording) and post-fixation activities, such as transmissions of stored programs (arts. 3, 8). Since most streaming providers also provide scheduled programming (e.g. live sports), the present draft may apply to such services. Divergent views remain on whether including exclusive rights (arts. 6-9) but allowing alternative means (art. 10) constitutes a “signal-based” approach. The limitations and exceptions continue to be subject to debate, with the present draft not including mandatory exceptions, including for uses permitted under copyright law.
Options for public interest positions:
Draft an alternative text limited to the protection of simultaneous live broadcasts to the public (not stored programs) and includes other amendments offered by analysts;
Add mandatory limitations and exceptions, especially for uses of content permitted by copyright and for other public interests protected by Rome and Brussels Conventions.
Limitations and exceptions
The key issue for the limitations and exceptions agenda is reaching an agreement to begin text-based work. The 2012 GA mandated the Committee to work toward an “appropriate international legal instrument or instruments (whether model law, joint recommendation, treaty and/or other forms)” on uses by libraries, archives, museums, educational and research institutions, and persons with other disabilities (WO/GA/41/14).
In SCCR 43, the Committee adopted a Work Program (SCCR/43/8) to draft “objectives, principles, and options” for potential instruments. At SCCR 44, the African Group presented a Draft Proposal for the Implementation of the Work Program on Exceptions and Limitations (SCCR/44/6), including a specific process for drafting objectives, principles, and options. SCCR 44 concluded with a decision that the Secretary draft a proposed implementation plan. The Secretary’s draft included non-normative activities such as tool kits and studies (parts I-III). SCCR 45 concluded with a call for the Secretary to take comments on a revised draft implementation plan (SCCR/45/10 PROV). Consequently, the Work Program on Exceptions and Limitations (SCCR/44/6) remains without a conclusive implementation approach.
Options for public interest positions:
The Chair could be requested to appoint a facilitator for the L&E instrument to coordinate intercessional consultations and produce a basic text;
A priority for this SCCR is to set a process to submit draft principles for inclusion in a basic text, including principles based on previous work of the committee and civil society proposals on preservation, education, and research;
The Committee could consider holding a Special Session to advance its work at the same pace as the Broadcast Treaty.
Other Matters
The key issue under the ‘other matters’ part of the agenda is whether to make Copyright and the Digital Environment a standing agenda item. The GA decision creating the SCCR in 1998 instructed the Committee to consider “Copyright, Related Rights and Digital Technology … from the viewpoint both of owners and managers of rights, and of users and the general public.” (GA A/37/7). The Draft Work Plan on Copyright in the Digital Environment (SCCR/45/4), submitted by GRULAC, calls for structured studies and discussions on fair remuneration for artists and transparency in digital platforms, AI’s impact on copyright, and imbalances in negotiations between creators and digital service providers.GRULAC reiterated its request for Copyright in the Digital Environment to be a standing item on the Committee’s agenda.
Options for public interest positions:
The focus of the agenda could include the 1998 GA decision’s approach “from the viewpoint both of owners and managers of rights, and of users and the general public”;
The committee could review remuneration rules in existence in some countries such as unwaivable rights of creators to remuneration, fair remuneration rights, best seller clauses, etc., including consideration of North/South distribution of payments and of measures to protect public interest uses
The Art of Discovery: Part 4
No full textA party\u27s ability to raise effective discovery objections can significantly influence a case\u27s trajectory. As lawyers, we must master the art of objections -- striking the right balance between defending our clients and avoiding unnecessary delays that might result in sanctions or judicial eye-rolling. In this column, we explore the nuances of drafting effective discovery objections
Donald Trump’s crypto embrace is a threat to Wall Street
No full textWall Street has long fretted about the disruptive threat from technology to the business of finance. Now with Donald Trump back in the White House, the prospect is moving closer
Brief of 11 Narcolepsy Patients, Public Interest Orgnizations, Medical Professionals, and Professors of Law as Amici Curiae in Support of Defendants-Appellees
Get PDFAmici curiae are patients, organizations, medical professionals, and legal scholars who share a common interest in advancing the law toward better patient health and welfare. New, clinically superior drug products for treating rare diseases and conditions tremendously benefit patients and society, because those products offer choice, competition, and improved patient care. In filing this brief, amici hope to make this Court aware of the broad real-world implications of this case, both for narcolepsy patients and for the public interest generally. Generation Patient is a nonprofit organization that represents young adults with chronic and rare conditions across the United States. Created and led entirely by young adult patients, Generation Patient works to increase the health literacy, patient activation, self-management, and advocacy skills of young adult patients
Existential Threats and Deterrence: Japan\u27s Legal Pathway to Enhanced Collective Security in Asia
Get PDFWith the Japanese Cabinet’s decision in December 2022 to comprehensively upgrade Japan’s security posture, and its rapid build-up of its defense capabilities, Japan’s role in Asia’s security architecture has been undergoing a fundamental shift. This article places Japan’s 2015 Peace and Security Legislation in the context of the U.N. collective security system and argues that its most significant achievement has been to expand Japan’s power to engage more proactively in the Asian collective security order. To date, commentators have focused on the legislation’s role in expanding the Japanese constitution’s limitations on the use of force to permit collective self-defense. This article argues that the legislation’s true significance lies in Japan’s strengthened deterrence capabilities resulting from an evolution away from its narrow focus on survival threats as a justification for permissible uses of force (a subject of constitutional interpretation), to broader legal justifications for the use of arms to counter lower order threats (a subject of legislative action). These enhanced capabilities have permitted Japan to undertake initiatives to build a new security architecture in Asia based on a significantly strengthened U.S. alliance and supplemental “minilateral” groupings. However, as deterrence activities grow, the line between “deterrence” and “survival” may start to blur, potentially taking the debates about permitted uses of force in new directions. The separate histories of the U.S. and Japan’s engagement with collective security suggest the directions in which these debates may lead
The Last Line of a Weak Defense: the Waning Force of the NCAA\u27s Procompetitive Defense of Amateurism in § 1 Compensation Challenges
Get PDFThe Supreme Court in NCAA v. Alston determined that the NCAA’s education-related compensation restrictions violated § 1 of the Sherman Act. The Court, however, did not scrutinize the legality of the NCAA’s athletic-related compensation restrictions, begging the question: when will the Supreme Court, if ever, stop presuming the validity of the NCAA’s athletic-related compensation restrictions because they allegedly ensure that college athletics remain amateur?
This Comment examines this question in further detail by cataloging the Court’s antitrust jurisprudence involving § 1 compensation challenges and what this jurisprudence may spell for future litigation in a college athletics landscape increasingly defined by name, image, and likeness (NIL).
This Comment argues that the Court should reject the presumption of validity it has historically accorded to the NCAA’s compensation restrictions. By characterizing this presumption as a noneconomic justification, this Comment suggests that amateurism lacks the requisite economic tether to competition to sustain its viability as a procompetitive defense under the Rule of Reason. Ultimately, this Comment contends that, in future § 1 compensation challenges, the Court should find that the NCAA’s athletic-related compensation restrictions violate the Sherman Act
Brennan and State Constitutions
Get PDFThe former Great Gorge Playboy Resort in New Jersey seems an unlikely place to help form a jurisprudential movement toward reliance on state constitutions to protect civil rights and liberties.
One need only turn back the clock to 1976 to find the story of one of the most significant moments in the rise of state constitutions. Anyone who is steeped in this movement is likely familiar with the lead article in the January 1977 issue of the Harvard Law Review, “State Constitutions and the Protection of Individual Rights.” The author was U.S. Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan Jr
Guidelines on Access to Justice and Effective Remedies in the Context of Toxics
Get PDFGuidelines on access to justice and effective remedies in the context of toxics
Report of the Special Rapporteur on the implications for human rights of the environmentally sound management and disposal of hazardous substances and wastes, Marcos Orellana
Citizen Led Initiatives - Constitutional Amendments & Statutes
Get PDF50-state survey of provisions for amending state constitutions