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Three Tacoma police officers left a Pierce County courtroom Thursday acquitted of all charges in the death of Manuel Ellis, a 33-year-old Black man who died after a chaotic altercation with them on a Tacoma street nearly four years ago. The trial marked the first test of a Washington law that provided prosecutors a lower bar for holding officers liable for using deadly force. David B. Owens, assistant professor of law at the UW, is quoted.

This week, a jury in Pierce County Superior Court found three officers not guilty of the 2020 death of Manuel (Manny) Ellis, a Black man, in their custody. David B. Owens, assistant professor of law at the UW, is interviewed.

“It is now clear going into the new year that the FTC is going to incorporate model deletion into privacy security and AI related orders,” Hutson said. “Reasonable algorithm fairness practices are going to be important to organization to undertake if they wish to avoid model deletion.”

Facebook comments took an ugly turn for the Everett Police Department as people started posting threats of violence against officers and the agency, and earlier this week, the comment section got shut down. The police chief indicated that the comments section will be enabled again but offered no timeline. Alex Bolton, program manager for the Tech Policy Lab at the UW, is quoted.

David B. Owens, assistant professor of law at the UW, says he's not surprised by the acquittal of the Tacoma police officers in the 2020 killing of Manuel Ellis, and he explains further issues surrounding Thursday's verdict.

Tribal governments have used the Endangered Species Act to litigate on behalf of imperiled, culturally important species like salmon and grizzly bears, but the law does not acknowledge tribal sovereignty and hunting rights. Monte Mills, professor of law and director of the Native American Law Center at the UW, is quoted.

As Jevan Hutson and Ben Winters describe in their legal analysis, the FTC has ordered model disgorgement in five separate instances: In the Matter of Everalbum, In the Matter of Cambridge Analytica, USA v. Kurbo Inc. and WW International, FTC v. Ring, USA v. Edmodo.

European Union negotiators clinched a deal last Friday on the world’s first comprehensive artificial intelligence rules, paving the way for legal oversight of AI technology that has promised to transform everyday life and spurred warnings of existential dangers to humanity. Ryan Calo, professor of law at the UW, is interviewed.

Many people get notices in the mail and electronically notifying them that they’re eligible to receive some money from a class action lawsuit settlement. Some social media accounts and websites dedicated to tracking open class action lawsuit settlements claim some settlements will pay people without any proof they’re qualified. But is it legal to take part in a no-proof class action settlement if you’re not really entitled to it? Jeff Feldman, professor of law at the UW, is quoted.

 

The U.S. government is entering a new era of collaboration with Native American and Alaska Native leaders in managing public lands and other resources, with top federal officials saying that incorporating more Indigenous knowledge into decision-making can help spur conservation and combat climate change. A UW project is mentioned.

 

"Whoever made the decision at Starbucks, I would guess, aimed at finding literally the best appellate lawyer in America they could retain," said Jeff Feldman, the co-director of the Ninth Circuit Appellate Advocacy Clinic at the ºìÌÒÊÓƵ. "I suspect that was the goal, and that's what they did."

A rash of racist rants during public comment at local city council meetings has some Western Washington elected officials looking for solutions. Robert Gomulkiewicz, professor of law at the UW, is quoted.

Students in the Workers' Rights Clinic score a victory against wage theft with passage of legislation.

“We should- I agree with the sleep researchers, stop the biannual clock switch- but by moving to permanent Daylight Saving Time, not Standard,” ºìÌÒÊÓƵ Prof. Steve Calandrillo explained.

What’s so great about permanent daylight saving? The arguments for are compelling. More light in the evenings would make roads less deadly and reduce crime, according to data compiled by University of Washington law professor Steve Calandrillo. It could have health benefits, giving Americans more time to exercise or play outdoors.

“The claim [that] they’re making is that it’s under consumer protection,” Alex Bolton, program manager at the UW School of Law’s Tech Policy Lab, said. “That they basically knew that it caused these problems for younger people, and because they didn’t disclose it and didn’t make changes to it, that it’s basically deceptive.”

In the U.S., Daylight Saving Time ends and the clocks go back one hour on November 5. You know this. Google knows this. But here we all are. Again. Steve Calandrillo, professor of law at the UW, is quoted.

PBS discusses AI and its possible consequences with the UW's Ryan Calo, professor of law and in the Information School, and Chirag Shah, professor in the Information School and founding co-director of Center for Responsibility in AI Systems & Experiences.

“It does seem that not just the facts, but also just the whole situation make this pretty unique,” said Monte Mills, Charles I. Stone Professor of Law and director of the Native American Law Center at the University of Washington.

New York City introduced a new addition to its police force, a fully autonomous, outdoor security robot. Ryan Calo, professor of law and in the Information School at the UW, is quoted.

“I can see the frustration in this [executive order] that a lot of this should be done by Congress but they’re not doing anything,” said Ryan Calo, a law professor specializing in technology and AI at the University of Washington. It’s unclear how deeply the order will affect the private sector, given its focus on federal agencies and “narrow circumstances” pertaining to national security matters, Calo added.

Still, though all appointed by the same president, the new slate of appointees, “are fairly diverse in backgrounds and attitudes,” said Hugh Spitzer, a professor at the ºìÌÒÊÓƵ. Washington state’s nonpartisan selection panel ensures recommended nominees are “mainstream establishment bar lawyers,” a system not present in every state, Spitzer said.

Some point out that the law’s framework is widely considered to be uncontroversial when applied to offline, brick-and-mortar businesses. Ryan Calo, a professor at the ºìÌÒÊÓƵ and founding co-director at the UW Tech Policy Lab, characterized the CAADCA as “pretty routine regulation” of companies within California. “It’s not requiring the companies to say anything, nor is it censoring their speech, it is merely requiring them to be attentive to their design choices when children are involved,” Calo said. In other words, it polices the conduct rather than the speech of businesses.

Xuan-Thao Nguyen, a professor at the ºìÌÒÊÓƵ, tells Eater Seattle that Starbucks will have to clear several hurdles to prove that Starbucks Workers United is committing trademark infringement or diluting the value of Starbucks’s trademarks. Starbucks Workers United can argue that it is using the word Starbucks in its name “to identify who they are” rather than using it as a trademark. Another issue, Nguyen says, is that Starbucks Workers United has had its name since 2021 and Starbucks is only objecting now; the union can use a defense called “laches” to argue that the company has waited too long to take legal action.

Saadia Pekkanen specializes in space law. The University of Washington professor doesn’t believe Starlink should shoulder all the blame. "It is fair to say Starlink gets a lot of attention, partly because of the lion’s share that it actually holds," said Pekkanen. "Starlink is one of many other companies and the problem is not just about one company."