Law

In MGM Studios v. Grokster, a case that could affect millions of consumers who use file-sharing software to copy music and video content, the Supreme Court likely will uphold a 1984 ruling stating that companies that offer copying technologies can not be held liable for copyright infringements of users, according to University at Buffalo Law Professor Shubha Ghosh, an expert on intellectual property and cyberspace law.

As part of an effort to anticipate -- and thwart -- the plans of potential terrorists, the Federal Aviation Administration is supporting the development of a new search engine by University at Buffalo researchers that is designed to detect "hidden" information that can be gleaned from public Web sites.

The Honorable Paul L. Friedman, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, will give the keynote address at the University at Buffalo Law School's 116th commencement at 1 p.m. May 21 in the Center for the Arts on the UB North (Amherst) Campus.

Robert B. Conklin will be honored for his distinguished service to the University at Buffalo Law School and the Western New York community by law students affiliated with the Buffalo Law Review at the law review's 16th annual dinner on April 21 in The Buffalo Club, 388 Delaware Ave. Cocktails at 6 p.m. will be followed by dinner at 7 p.m.

The increasing role of artificial persons (APs) within the U.S. legal system will be the topic of the University at Buffalo Law School's annual Mitchell Lecture to be held April 18 from 3-5:30 p.m. in 106 O'Brian Hall on UB's North (Amherst) Campus.

The chief judge and the six associate judges of the New York State Court of Appeals will be the honored guests of the University at Buffalo Law Alumni Association at its 43rd Annual Meeting and Dinner to be held at 6 p.m. April 14 in the Hyatt Regency Buffalo.

In a run-down section of city street in Niagara Falls, N.Y. -- flanked by abandoned homes and across from a shuttered hospital -- a dilapidated old dormitory for nurses is getting a new start as transitional housing for homeless women and their children. The building's rehabilitation is being made possible, in large measure, by the efforts of University at Buffalo law students attracted to an unglamorous, roll-up-your-sleeves niche of law practice known as affordable housing.

The Baldy Center for Law and Social Policy in the UB Law School has announced a full schedule of events for the spring semester, including a visiting scholars series, a faculty seminar series and numerous workshops and conferences on a variety of topics.

University at Tulsa law professor Paul Finkelman, the chief expert witness in the lawsuit that forced the removal of a 5,500-pound Ten Commandments monument from the rotunda of the Alabama Supreme Court building, will discuss observations about that case and similar ones during a lecture at the University at Buffalo Law School, to be held from 12:30-2 p.m. Feb. 18 in 104 O'Brian Hall on the UB North (Amherst) Campus.

Results of a University at Buffalo study published in the January issue of the Journal of Trauma show that police officers who do not wear a seat belt are 2.6 times more likely to die if their patrol car crashes than officers who use a seat belt.