DePaul Law News

Professor Kellman discusses space debris and international law

Professor Barry Kellman presented "The Relevance of General International Law for Debris Questions" at an event held by the European Space Policy Institute on April 11.

 

 

Event Background:

Space Nuisance—An International Tort

The international space community has devoted considerable attention to the ever worsening problem of space debris. In 2008 guidelines on debris mitigation were endorsed by the UN General Assembly as a soft law instrument. A pervasive view holds that avoidable debris creation is undesirable and runs counter to the interests of the global community, but that no hard law norms ban such debris creation. It is the validity of this assumption which was tested at the ESPI event through a number of presentations by eminent international lawyers. In addition the question of the position of law relative to the new ideas on active debris removal was addressed.

 

Professor Sarnoff discusses issues in IP and climate change nationwide

In fall 2012, Professor Joshua Sarnoff presented on intellectual property and climate change as part of a panel on intellectual property and international law at the annual meeting of the American Branch of the International Law Association in New York City. 

Professor Sarnoff also presented on the recent Supreme Court patent case in Mayo v. Prometheus and the Myriad gene patent case, for which the Supreme Court just granted certiorari, as part of a panel with the lawyer representing Myriad at the National Association of College and University Attorney’s fall 2012 workshop in Washington, D.C. In January, he will be filing a law professor’s brief in the case. Professor Sarnoff made a presentation on these cases on a panel at the Indiana University’s Robert H. McKinney School of Law’s conference on intellectual property and public rights of access in November.

Finally, he published another article on problems with the new patent act with practicing lawyer Chico Gholz in the November issue of IP Today and a book review of Eric Lane’s "Clean Tech Intellectual Property" in the IP Law Book Review. 

Professor Sarnoff is a faculty member affiliated with the Center for Intellectual Property Law & Information Technology (CIPLIT). At DePaul, he teaches Patent Law and other intellectual property courses. He has written numerous articles and book chapters on patent law and has been involved in a wide range of intellectual property legal and policy disputes.  

DePaul's Environmental Law Society pitches in for Adopt-a-Beach event

 

From left: Sarah Wilson (2L), Sarah Hunter (2L), Melissa Reeks (2L), Monica Racia (1L), Brandon Clark (2L), Stephanie Mulcahy (3L), Dan Pauley (1L), Chrissie White (2L), Chase Pugh (2L), Mollie Peskind (2L), Phil Mendoza (2L), Sam Gieryn (3L) and dog, Lurie.

On Saturday, September 15, the Alliance for the Great Lakes organized its annual Adopt-a-Beach event during which groups from all over the Great Lakes region met at local beaches to remove garbage and collect data. Across the Great Lakes region, more than 150 beach clean-ups involving nearly 4,000 volunteers collected well over 5 tons of garbage.

The DePaul Environmental Law Society and the DePaul Law Student Animal Legal Defense Fund participated in the clean-up efforts at Montrose Beach. Between the two organizations, 12 DePaul students (and one canine helper) logged approximately 24 cumulative service hours and collected 56 pounds of garbage. 

Both groups plan to make this cosponsored event an annual part of their fall activities.