How to use this Page

Record-breaking mobile app Pokémon Go has been downloaded over 75 million times worldwide, a number set only to increase as the game is released in more territories. What five common crimes have police officers had to attend to as a result of this craze taking off?

The post Five crimes being committed by Pokémon Go players appeared first on OUPblog.

Legal knowledge doesn’t just come from textbooks and lectures. Last year, we asked Martin Partington, author of Introduction to the English Legal System, for his top ten film recommendations for law students and aspiring lawyers. This year he turns his attention to inspiring books that will get you thinking about our legal system, our society, and the role of lawyers – what would you add to his list?

The post Top ten essential books for aspiring lawyers appeared first on OUPblog.

There are two sets of EU legislation which have had and might continue to have a very positive impact of the lives and rights of UK citizens who travel abroad. I’m not talking about those UK citizens who have taken advantage of the rights of free movement to live and work in another part of the EU, but those who travel temporarily be it on holiday, visiting family or on business.

The post Blackstone’s Statutes 2016-2017: key legislation appeared first on OUPblog.

From Britain to the United States, France to Australia, Western states are struggling with an identity crisis: how to cultivate a common cultural ‘core’, a social ‘bond’, which goes beyond the global economy and political liberalism. It is too early to predict whether Brexit is the last gasp of the old structure of national identity, or its revival.

The post Brexit and the quest for identity appeared first on OUPblog.

If you were accused of a crime that you did not commit, how confident are you that you would be found innocent? And what injuries and injustices could you endure before your innocence was finally proven?

The post Revisiting the Sleepy Lagoon murder trial appeared first on OUPblog.

India is known to have the largest number of child labourers in the world. Consequently, it has come under intense media and political scrutiny both within India and from afar. Traditional understandings of the causes of child labour have focused on the economic, social-cultural, and historical milieus specific to India, such as caste, class, corruption, gender, illiteracy, lack of law enforcement, political apathy, poverty, religion, etc.

The post Child labour in India: an uncertain future? appeared first on OUPblog.

When Laura Bush said in April 2016 that she wanted the President of the United States to care about Afghan women, one could reasonably infer that she would rather see Hillary Clinton elected President than Donald Trump. Hillary has proclaimed that women’s rights are human rights, meaning that to the extent that human rights have become a part of mainstream political discourse, so should women’s rights.

The post Culture change for women in Afghanistan appeared first on OUPblog.

In 2007, I published an article that sought to show in detail how the Iraqi economy had been opened up to allow the transformation of the economy and the routine corruption that enabled a range of private profit-making companies to exploit the post-invasion economy. The article argued that the illegal war of aggression waged by a ‘coalition’ headed by George Bush and Tony Blair was tied to a series of subsequent crimes of pillage and occupation.

The post How the Iraq Inquiry failed to follow the money appeared first on OUPblog.

One of the reasons why parties choose arbitration is its time-efficiency. This is mainly due to the fact that the arbitral award decides the dispute in a final and binding manner and is subject to no appeal. Although time-efficiency belongs to the traditional advantages of arbitration, the users of arbitration have over the last years significantly increased the pressure to control time (and cost) in arbitration.

The post Post-award remedies before the arbitral tribunal: a neglected means of streamlining arbitration appeared first on OUPblog.

This week, the International Association of Law Libraries is holding its 35th Annual Course in Oxford, United Kingdom. Oxford University Press is delighted to host the conference’s opening reception in our own offices on Great Clarendon Street.

The post The perpetual Oxford tourist: what to see and do in the city of dreaming spires appeared first on OUPblog.

French is the language of diplomacy, German the language of science, and English the language of trade. Whereas German has been displaced by English in science, French continues to occupy a privileged position in international diplomacy. Its use is protected by its designation as one of the two working languages of the United Nations (UN), the International Court of Justice, the International Criminal Court and ad hoc UN-backed tribunals.

The post French language in International Law appeared first on OUPblog.

What does suicide have to do with the first amendment right to free speech? As it turns out, the question comes up in many contexts: Can a state university student be disciplined for sending a text threatening suicide to another student? Can a young woman be criminally prosecuted for repeatedly texting her boyfriend to insist that he fulfill his intention to commit suicide?

The post Suicide and the First Amendment appeared first on OUPblog.

After receiving a Facebook apology and little else for having his work stolen, Max Hattler has filed a lawsuit against DJ and record producer Bassnectar.

The post DJ Bassnectar Sued By Animator Max Hattler Over Alleged Copyright Infringement appeared first on Cartoon Brew.

Disney, Disney-owned Lucasfilm and Pixar, and Dreamworks Animation have come up with a novel tactic to try and dismantle the wage theft lawsuit brought against them by animation industry employees. The simple version of Disney and Dreamworks’ argument: certain animation artists had been aware for years that their was an alleged conspiracy against them, thus making the 10,000-person lawsuit invalid.

Here’s the long version: On May 25, the federal district court presiding over the class-action antitrust case filed by plaintiff animation and digital artists Robert Nitsch, Jr. Georgia Cano, and David Wentworth against several leading animation studios certified the class definition of the artists that will be covered under any ruling in the case. Under Judge Lucy Koh’s ruling, that class who will be eligible to participate in the lawsuit is the following:

“All animation and visual effects employees employed by defendants in the United States who held any of the jobs listed in Ashenfelter Reply Report Amended Appendix C during the following time periods: Pixar (2004–2010), Lucasfilm Ltd., LLC (2004–2010), DreamWorks Animation SKG, Inc. (2004–2010), The Walt Disney Company (2004–2010), Sony Pictures Animation, Inc. and Sony Pictures Imageworks, Inc. (2004–2010), Blue Sky Studios, Inc. (2005–2010) and Two Pic MC LLC f/k/a ImageMovers Digital LLC (2007–2010). Excluded from the Class are senior executives, members of the board of directors, and persons employed to perform office operations or administrative tasks.” [Note: The Ashenfelter Reply Report referred to in the definition is currently under seal and unavailable to the public.]

The plaintiffs sought to expand the class to include those artists who worked at Pixar and Lucasfilm from 2001-2003, and to those artists who worked at DreamWorks in 2003. However, for procedural reasons, the court ruled that it would be inappropriate to expand the class at this time, but left it open for future expansion.

By the end of last week, however, Disney and Dreamworks had appealed the certification to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. In their appeal, the studios reminded the court that the entire case had been thrown out last year by Judge Koh on statute of limitations grounds—that is, that Nitsch, Cano and Wentworth filed their lawsuit too many years after the allegedly illegal behavior of the studios took place. Koh only let the case go forward once the plaintiffs showed that the studios may have fraudulently concealed their activities. (As part of the prior settlement with the plaintiffs, Blue Sky Studios, Sony Pictures Animation, and Sony Pictures Imageworks have already agreed to not challenge the class certification sought by the plaintiffs.)

But the studios now argue that even if they concealed their actions, many artists—those who would be part of the certified class—knew about the alleged conspiracy among the studios. The studios point to emails between Pixar employees—one of whom would be a class member—referring to a “gentleman’s agreement” between Pixar and another studio.

They also point to a 2006 meeting between Disney animation employees and the studio’s “president”—presumably, Ed Catmull—in which the president reportedly admitted to a non-poaching agreement among the studios. There is also a meeting between Pixar’s general manager and several interns that mentioned the “gentleman’s agreement,” and that Pixar uploaded the video of the meeting to the company’s intranet, available for all employees to see (and thus learn of the alleged conspiracy).

The studios refer to blog posts (including those made by the Animation Guild Blog), additional meetings, and other evidence, all arguably indicating that a substantial number of artists who make up the certified class had knowledge of the allegedly fraudulently concealed conspiracy.

And if they had knowledge of it, then that knowledge voids any concealment defense to the statute of limitations. In layman’s terms, any Disney, Pixar, Lucasfilm, or Dreamworks employee who had knowledge that they were being screwed by the studios should not be eligible to be a part of the lawsuit.

Judge Koh, in her certification ruling, addressed some of these concerns, pointing out that, for example, three months after being uploaded onto Pixar’s intranet, the video referencing the anti-poaching agreement had been edited to delete references to the agreement, and then re-uploaded. Judge Koh found much of the studios’ evidence of prior knowledge too general, that the information may have been available generally, but specific instances of knowledge were too few to warrant a limited class certification, and pointed out that the studios can later raise individualized statute of limitations defenses against specific class members.

The studios were obviously unconvinced, and now appeal to a higher court. No ruling from the Ninth Circuit is expected for several weeks. Until then, the class of artists covered by the lawsuit will remain in limbo.

The post Disney and Dreamworks Have Come Up With A New, Kooky Reason Why Wage-Theft Lawsuit Is Invalid appeared first on Cartoon Brew.

A Los Angeles animation studio creating work that appeared on Disney and Nick-owned platforms didn't pay it artists for months and suddenly shut down.

The post L.A. Studio Cosmic Toast Shut Down Without Paying Its Artists: A Cartoon Brew Investigation appeared first on Cartoon Brew.

Running an animation studio can be very profitable...especially if you destroy the studio.

The post Former Digital Domain CEO John Textor Wins $8.5 Million For Bankrupting The Studio appeared first on Cartoon Brew.

In September 2013, during a visit to Central and Southeast Asia, Chinese President Xi Jinping first proposed the initiative of jointly building the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road. Consequently, the Collaborative Innovation Centre of Silk Road Economic Belt Studies has been established in Xi’an, China, which was the eastern starting point of the ancient road.

The post The “Silk Road Spirit” in a time of globalization appeared first on OUPblog.

Youtube is trying to fix its broken copyright claim system, but there's still plenty of room for improvement.

The post Youtube Announces Improvements to Copyright Claim System, But Does It Really Fix The Problem? appeared first on Cartoon Brew.

While Disney, Pixar, Lucasfilm, and Dreamworks are still fighting against their employees, Sony has reached a settlement with the animation workers.

The post Sony Takes The High Road And Settles Animation Wage-Theft Lawsuit appeared first on Cartoon Brew.

Information now moves at a much greater speed than migrants. In earlier eras, the arrival of refugees in flight was often the first indication that grave human rights abuses were underway in distant parts of the world.

The post Why hasn’t the rise of new media transformed refugee status determination? appeared first on OUPblog.

In June 2015, EU Regulation 2015/848 of 20 May 2015 on insolvency proceedings entered into force. This Regulation reformed – or, to be more precise, recast – EC Regulation 1346/2000, in order to tackle in a much more modern way cross-border insolvency cases involving at least one Member State of the EU (except Denmark).

The post A new European Regulation on insolvency proceedings appeared first on OUPblog.

The precarious humanitarian situation at Europe's borders is creating what seems to be an irresolvable tension between the interests of European states to seal off their borders and the respect for fundamental human rights. Frontex, EU's External Border Control Agency, in particular has been since its inception in 2004 embroiled in a fair amount of public controversy.

The post Human rights and the (in)humanity at EU’s borders appeared first on OUPblog.

Discussion on company law and corporate governance tends to focus on the role of the board of directors, the shareholders, the creditors, and the auditor, but surprisingly little attention is paid to company secretaries. Indeed, outside of the corporate sector, it is likely that many people would never have heard of the office of company secretary.

The post No “mere servant”: The evolving role of the company secretary appeared first on OUPblog.

On 20 April 2016, after hearing harrowing testimony coming from victims, the UK House of Commons unanimously adopted a resolution declaring "That this House believes that Christians, Yazidis, and other ethnic and religious minorities in Iraq and Syria are suffering genocide at the hands of Daesh; and calls on the Government to make an immediate referral to the UN Security Council [SC] with a view to conferring jurisdiction upon the International Criminal Court [ICC] so that perpetrators can be brought to justice" (HC Hansard 20 April 2016 columns 957-1000).

The post International criminal law and Daesh appeared first on OUPblog.

On 5 February 2015, the National Audit Office (NAO) published a report entitled "The UK Competition Regime". The report assesses the performance of the UK competition regulators, focussing on the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). It concludes that the CMA has inherited certain strengths, including a positive legacy of merger and market investigation work.

The post The UK Competition Regime and the CMA appeared first on OUPblog.