Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Dean Milk Co. v. Madison (US Supreme Court, 1951)

Beru Lars would pour a tall glass of blue milk for her husband Owen and their nephew Luke every night with dinner. They relied on the "Grade A" stamp on their bottles of blue milk to know that the blue milk they drank was pure, as well as rich, delicious, nutritious and refreshing after a hard day's work on the moisture farm.
They rely on their local government on Tatooine to provide that "Grade A" stamp. Cities and towns on Tatooine passed their own measures to provide inspection of blue milk.

The General Ordinances of the City of Mos Eisley, § 7.21 provides as follows:‘It shall be unlawful for any person, guild or corporation to sell, offer for sale or have in his or its possession with intent to sell or deliver in the City of Mos Eisley, any blue milk, blue cream or blue milk products as pasteurized unless the same shall have been pasteurized and bottled in the manner herein provided within a radius of eight kilometers from the central portion of the City of Mos Eisley otherwise known as Kerner Plaza, at a plant housing the droids, equipment and facilities, all of which shall have been approved by the Imperial Ministry of Public Health.’

The Bantha Herder Guild, an Agamar based trade association and blue milk distributing corporation (you may be familiar with their "Happy Banthas come from Agamar" ad campaign), sought a declaratory judgment that the Mos Eisley ordinance is invalid as a violation of the Interplanetary Commerce Clause of the Galactic Constitution.

The Galactic Supreme Court agreed with the Bantha Herder Guild that the ordinance imposed an undue burden on interplanetary commerce.

The Galactic Senate has recognized the appropriateness of local regulation of the sale of blue milk. The avowed purpose of the ordinance was legitimate. Regulation of blue milk and blue milk products may appropriately be regulated in the interest of the safety, health and well-being of local communities. After all, Banthas are filthy animals. Mos Eisley has an legitimate local public interest in making sure blue milk is processed in facilities that are sanitary, so that all blue milk sold to the public in Mos Eisley is fit for consumption, wholesome, and sufficiently blue.

But this regulation in practical effect excluded from distribution in Mos Eisley wholesome blue milk produced and pasteurized on Agamar. It is immaterial that Tatooine blue milk from outside the Mos Eisley area was subjected to the same proscription as that moving in interplanetary commerce.

The Court stated: "In thus erecting an economic barrier protecting a major local industry against competition from without the planet, Mos Eisley plainly discriminated against interplanetary commerce. This it cannot do, even in the exercise of its unquestioned power to protect the health and safety of its people, if reasonable nondiscriminatory alternatives, adequate to conserve legitimate local interests, are available."

It appeared to the majority of the Court that reasonable and adequate alternatives were available. Mos Eisley could have adequately relied on the Imperial Public Health Service to inspect the blue milk processing plants on Agamar and give them safety ratings.

The Court concluded by declaring that that "one planet in its dealings with another may not place itself in a position of economic isolation."

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Spring Break!

Sorry guys! We've had a busy week and expect another one coming up- The last couple of days have been dedicated to writing assignments and cover letters, and next week has been "called" by Spring Break. But we'll be back after that!

As an apology for the two of you that follow us, here's a video I found on the Internet!

Wednesday, March 03, 2010

Hypothetical 4 [See White v. Samsung Electronics America, Inc.- (United States Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, 1993)]

Cybot Galactica, a mass producer of protocol droids is getting ready to promote their new model of droids based on the old 3P0 series designs. Knowing that their customers use the droids to interact with humans, Cybot Galactica attemps to show off how futuristic and interactive the new droids are by dressing them up as a human female. See advertisement below:


















C3P0, now a celebrity from his association with the New Republic hero Luke Skywalker, sees this image and wishes to sue for violation of his property right of his identity. What result?