For more information, please contact:
Gwen Osborne, director of public affairs, (312) 906-5251
ADVISORY TO PRODUCERS, COLUMNISTS, AND ASSIGNMENT, LEGAL, PLANNING, BUSINESS AND DAYBOOK EDITORS
CHICAGO–February 12 , 2007–Chicago-Kent College of Law and Stuart School of Business have experts available to discuss current issues. To reach any of our experts, call Gwen Osborne, director of public affairs, at (312) 906-5251. Press releases and earlier advisories are available on our Web site: www.kentlaw.edu/news/advisory.
The Beatles last week settled a longstanding trademark dispute with Apple, Inc. In 1968, the Beatles formed Apple Corps, Ltd. to protect the group’s commercial interests and used a large green Granny Smith apple as its corporate logo. Ten years later, it sued the fledgling Apple Computer Inc. for trademark infringement because of its use of the name and an apple logo. In 1981, the computer manufacturer agreed to pay $80,000 to use the name and logo only in conjunction with its computer interests and to refrain from entering into the music business. However, the success of the company’s iPod and iTunes put the 1981 agreement in jeopardy and put the parties back in court. The monetary terms of the newest settlement between the computer company now known as Apple, Inc., and Apple Corps--which is still owned by Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Yoko Ono and the estate of George Harrison--have not been disclosed. Professor Mickie Piatt is executive director of Chicago-Kent’s program in Intellectual Property Law. Professor Piatt is also president of the Chicago Intellectual Property Alliance (CIPA), a nonprofit organization of intellectual property practitioners, law schools, associations and businesses that promotes Chicago and the Midwest as a vibrant center for new ideas, programs and education in intellectual property. She is available for interviews about resolution of the trademark dispute between Apple Corps and Apple, Inc. She can also discuss Steve Jobs’ recent open letter to major record companies suggesting they abolish Digital Rights Management or DRM copyright protections on their music.
Wal-Mart, Wal-Mart, Wal-Mart. A federal appeals court has upheld a lower court ruling that will allow a sex discrimination complaint filed in 2001 against the retailer by six women to proceed as a class-action lawsuit. More than one million past and present female employees may now join the largest sex discrimination lawsuit in U.S. history. In a separate case, former Wal-Mart executive Julie Roehm sued the company claiming it refused to pay her severance and failed to return personal items she left behind after she was terminated in December 2006. Wal-Mart countered that she was involved in a personal relationship with a subordinate in violation of company policy and produced personal e-mail messages between the two co-workers. While e-mails exchanged over office computers are company property, messages sent through employees’ personal computers are considered private property. A Wal-Mart attorney contacted the estranged wife of Roehm’s co-worker and was given the e-mails. Experts from Chicago-Kent’s Institute for Law and the Workplace are available for interviews about both cases as well as Wal-Mart’s participation in a coalition of big employers, labor unions and politicians calling for "quality, affordable health care for all Americans by 2012."
Monday, February 19, is Presidents Day. The powers of the executive branch were delineated in Article II of the Constitution but have been shaped throughout time by judicial and historical precedent. Chicago-Kent dean Harold J. Krent is the author of Presidential Powers. He is available for interviews about the American system of checks and balances and how various U.S. presidents have used and attempted to define the power of the office.
The court martial of Army lieutenant Ehren Watada who refused to be deployed to Iraq because he believes the war is illegal has ended in a mistrial. A new trial is scheduled to begin March 19, but Lt. Watada’s attorney said a second trial would amount to double jeopardy. Military law expert and professor Michael I. Spak is available for interviews about the case. Professor Spak served on active duty with the U.S. Army in the Judge Advocate General's Corps from 1963 to 1969 and has remained in the U.S. Army Reserve. As Colonel Spak, he is currently liaison officer of the Judge Advocate General's School in Charlottesville, Virginia. Also available is Professor David S. Rudstein, the author of Double Jeopardy: A Reference Guide to the United States Constitution.
February is Black History Month. Chicago-Kent has experts available to discuss a number of legal issues related to the African-American experience. For example, legal scholars are available to discuss landmark U.S. Supreme Court decisions, including:
Dred Scott v. Sanford – In 1856, the Court denied both enslaved and free blacks citizenship and basic rights.
Plessy v. Ferguson – In 1896, the justices permitted the use of "separate but equal" racially segregated accommodations and facilities.
Shelley v. Kraemer – In 1948, the Supreme Court struck down "racially restrictive covenants" in real estate deeds.
Brown v. Board of Education – In 1954, the court outlawed racial segregation in public schools. The following year, the court called for implementation of school desegregation "with all deliberate speed."
Bailey v. Patterson – In 1962, the justices outlawed racial segregation of both interstate and intrastate transportation facilities.
Loving v. Virginia – In 1967, the court ruled that state laws prohibiting interracial marriages were unconstitutional.
Jones v. Mayer Co. – In 1968, the justices said federal law prohibited racial discrimination in the sale or rental of public or private property.
Griggs v. Duke Power Co. – In 1971, the court decided that certain education requirements and intelligence tests that did not relate to job performance and used only as a way to exclude African-American job applicants were unconstitutional.
University of California Regents v. Bakke – In 1978, court said that public universities may take race into account as a factor in admissions decisions.
Batson v. Kentucky – In 1986, the justices ruled that deliberate exclusion of African-Americans from a jury in a trial of a defendant of the same race violates the equal protection clause of the Constitution.
Grutter v. Bollinger – In 2003, the court said that law schools’ limited use of race as a criterion in their admissions policies is constitutional.
The 13th Amendment abolished slavery. The 14th Amendment conferred citizenship on former slaves and the 15th Amendment gave them the right to vote. Professor Daniel W. Hamilton is a legal historian who researches and writes primarily on American property ideology and the legal and constitutional issues raised by the Civil War. He is the author of The Limits of Sovereignty: Property Confiscation in the Union and the Confederacy During the Civil War, published by the University of Chicago Press. Professor Hamilton is available to discuss emancipation and the Constitution during the Civil War, and the historical background of the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments.
Section 1983, perhaps the most important federal civil rights/civil liberties statute ever enacted, is found in Title 42 of the United States Code. Dating from 1871, it provides damage remedies for persons deprived of their constitutional rights by state, city and county officials and by local governments. Professor Sheldon H. Nahmod is a leading expert on constitutional law, civil rights and the law of Section 1983. He is the author of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Litigation: The Law of Section 1983. For the past 24 years, he has convened the Section 1983 Civil Rights Litigation Conference at Chicago-Kent. Professor Nahmod is available for interviews about Section 1983 and about this year’s conference, which will be held April 26 and 27.
Downtown Campus Events
February 20: "From Chicago-Kent to Congress." U.S. Congressman and 1989 Chicago-Kent graduate Peter Roskam (R-Ill. 6th) will discuss the agenda for the 110th Congress, his experience as an Illinois legislator, and his law school years at a program sponsored by the Chicago-Kent chapters of the American Constitution Society and the Federalist Society. In 1993, Roskam was elected to the Illinois House of Representatives where he served six years. In 2000, he was appointed to the Illinois Senate and served as the Republican Whip and Floor Leader. In November 2006, Roskam was elected to Congress where he currently serves on the House Financial Services Committee and sits on the subcommittees for Capital Markets, Insurance, and Government-Sponsored Enterprises; Domestic and International Monetary Policy, Trade and Technology; and Oversight and Investigations. This program, which is sponsored by the Chicago-Kent chapters of the American Constitution Society and the Federalist Society, is free and open to the public. A reception will follow the congressman’s remarks. For more information, please contact: Professor Daniel W. Hamilton, (312) 906-5192, or dhamilton@kentlaw.edu.
February 28: "National Security and the Constitution," is the topic of a lecture by Gary W. Hart, Wirth Chair Professor at the University of Colorado and distinguished fellow at the New America Foundation. Senator Hart served twelve years in the U.S. Senate and, as a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, he specialized in nuclear arms control. He also played a leadership role with regard to major environmental and conservation legislation, military reform initiatives, new initiatives to advance the information revolution and new directions in foreign policy. In 1984 and 1988, he sought the Democratic party nomination for president. Since his retirement from the Senate, he has been extensively involved in international law and business, as a strategic advisor to major U.S. corporations, and as an author and lecturer. Senator Hart served as a co-chair of the U.S. Commission on National Security for the 21st Century, which proposed a sweeping overhaul of U.S. national security structures and policies. This program, which free and open to the public, will be held in the Judge Abraham Lincoln Marovitz Courtroom. A reception will follow Senator Hart’s remarks. This program is sponsored by the Chicago-Kent chapter of the American Constitution Society. For more information, please contact: Professor Daniel W. Hamilton, (312) 906-5192 or dhamilton@kentlaw.edu.
March 7: "Muslim-Jewish Dialogue and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict," is the topic of a lecture by Judea Pearl, computer science professor at the University of California at Los Angeles and the father of the late Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl. The younger Pearl was abducted and murdered in early 2002. Following his death, Daniel Pearl’s family and friends established the Daniel Pearl Foundation which seeks to "promote cross-cultural understanding through journalism, music, and innovative communications." Professor Pearl, who serves as president of the foundation, travels and lectures extensively throughout the world to promote dialogue about conflict in the Middle East. This program, which will be held at 3 p.m. in the Governor Richard B. Ogilvie Auditorium, is free and open to the public. Following his remarks, Professor Pearl will sign copies of I Am Jewish: Personal Reflections Inspired by the Last Words of Daniel Pearl. Edited by Professor Pearl and his wife Ruth, the book is a compilation of expressions by 147 people on what being Jewish means to them. This program is jointly sponsored by the Chicago-Kent/UIC Muslim-Jewish Initiative. Established in 2005, the initiative seeks to foster understanding by increasing intellectual interaction among Jewish and Muslim students at both schools. For more information, call (312) 906-5006.
March 27: 29th Annual Kenneth M. Piper Lecture. Thomas C. Kohler, concurrent professor of law and philosophy at Boston College Law School, will address the topic "Religion and the Workplace." Professor Kohler, an internationally recognized authority in the areas of comparative and domestic labor, employment, and employment discrimination law, will outline the strong link between religion and current U.S. labor and employment law. He will discuss how the National Labor Relations Act and the Fair Labor Standards Act are deeply rooted in Catholic social thought and the Protestant social gospel movement. Professor Kohler asserts that Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex and national origin, "would have been unthinkable without the involvement of African-American Protestant churches." The lecture is free and open to the public. For more information, please call (312) 906-5090.
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