A new Japanese copyright law that criminalizes illegal downloads of music and video files came in effect on Monday. The revised law now imposes penalties of two years in prison and fines of up to two million yen (USD $25,627) upon those who illegally download copyrighted files. The law was revised in June with the [...]
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A judge for the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court issued a preliminary injunction on Tuesday preventing Pennsylvania’s voter identification law from taking effect for the upcoming presidential election. On remand from the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania , Judge Robert Simpson enjoined enforcement of Act 18, which amended the provisional ballot section of the Election Code. Simpson held [...]
A judge for the US District Court for the Northern District of California on Monday lifted an injunction against Samsung which banned the sale of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 . After losing a patent dispute with Apple , Samsung may now resume selling the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in the US. Judge Lucy Koh ruled that [...]
The Pacific Justice Institute (PJI) announced Monday that it has filed a lawsuit challenging a California law that bans sexual orientation therapy for minors. California Governor Jerry Brown on Saturday signed the bill into law on Saturday, banning therapy intended to change the sexual orientation of minors. According to PJI attorneys, the law is an [...]
The rule of law continues to deteriorate in Egypt , and human rights abuses are occurring with alarming frequency, according to two reports released Tuesday by Amnesty International (AI) . In the report “Egypt: Brutality unpunished and unchecked: Egypt’s military kill and torture protesters with impunity,” AI says that the Supreme Council of the Armed [...]
The US Supreme Court opened its 2012 term on Monday with the release of an order list dealing with a number of petitions for certiorari and granting orders in some cases that they have not yet decided to hear. Notably, the court ordered a response petition in Liberty University v. Geithner , which could portend [...]
The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments in two cases on Monday. In Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum Co. , the court heard new arguments on whether three oil companies are immune from US lawsuits under the Alien Tort Statute of 1789 (ATS) for alleged torture and international law violations that took place overseas. The [...]
A prominent Cambodian radio broadcaster and rights activist was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment on Monday after being convicted of insurrection and inciting rebellion against the state. Mam Sonando, 71, runs the independent Beehive radio station and has been an outspoken critic of the Cambodian government . He was arrested in July on accusations of [...]
JURIST Contributing Editor Marjorie Cohn of the Thomas Jefferson School of Law argues that the US government’s refusal to prosecute those responsible for torture is a hypocritical policy that violates both domestic and international law…
California Governor Jerry Brown on Sunday signed a bill that will allow some illegal immigrants who came to the US as children to obtain state drivers licenses. Specifically, the legislation will amend the state’s driver’s license regulations to make hundreds of thousands of young illegal immigrants eligible to drive legally in California if they qualify [...]
