BTLJ Blog

By Andreia M. Tamashiro,* LL.M. 2025 *The author thanks Mr. Gary Greenstein, Partner at Wilson Sonsini, for his guidance on this post. When Taylor Swift announced she was re-recording her first six albums, she wasn’t just revisiting past hits–she was reclaiming ownership of her music. Her battle over album masters ...

By Ilke Okan LL.M., 2025 Automated decision-making technologies (ADMTs) are systems that analyze personal data to predict or decide outcomes about individuals, often without human input. These tools can determine whether someone is approved for a loan, lands a job interview, or is flagged for extra screening—all with limited transparency. ...

By Barbara Rasin, J.D. Candidate, 2027 The recent boom in generative AI technology has been hampered by accusations that AI training sets violate intellectual property laws. Various rightsholders, including the New York Times and Universal Music Group, have sued the companies behind these algorithms for training on their protected IP ...

By Gaurav Lalsinghani, J.D. Candidate, 2025 In February 2024, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) broke new ground by bringing its first-ever standalone Section 5 unfairness claims for unreasonable data retention and misleading breach notifications. The agency’s enforcement action against Blackbaud—a cloud software provider serving nonprofits, healthcare organizations, and educational institutions—marked ...

By Sauntharya Manikandan, J.D. Candidate, 2026 Overview On January 17, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously upheld the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act also known as the TikTok Sale-or-Ban Law. This law grants the federal government the authority to shut down TikTok unless ByteDance, its China-based parent ...

By Gaurav Lalsinghani, J.D. Candidate, 2025 No one wants to be left holding the bag after a break-in, but for chief information security officers (CISOs), the risk of liability is ever-present. Tasked with overseeing a firm’s cybersecurity posture, CISOs stand on the front lines of a corporation’s digital defense. They ...

By Sauntharya Manikandan, J.D. Candidate, 2026 Overview On May 17, 2024, the California Civil Rights Department (CRD) took a step towards addressing the intersection of technology and employment with its proposed modifications to employment regulations concerning automated decision systems. This initiative is indicative of lawmakers racing to catch up with ...

By Grace Murphy, J.D. Candidate, 2026 Genome sequencing, the process of determining the DNA sequence of an organism, was first introduced in the 1970s. By 2003, the Human Genome Project had generated the first human genome sequence. Since then, genome sequencing has become more accessible and affordable. This has allowed ...

By Liam Roche, LLM 2025 Introduction On the 29th of August 2024, residents of California gained the ability to add their Driver’s licenses to Google’s Wallet platform for use on mobile devices as an alternative to presenting a physical document. A few weeks later, Apple followed suit, and enabled the capability on ...

By Andreia M. Tamashiro, LLM 2025 The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has proposed a NonCompete Rule designated to promote competition and employees’ rights. This rule poses a significant challenge for companies, especially startups, which may need to allocate more resources to protect their intellectual property. If the rule becomes effective, ...