Criminal procedure - search and seizure - Tenth Circuit finds that thermal imaging scan of a home constitutes a search. - United States v. Cusumano, 67 F.3d 1497 (10th Cir. 1995)

Article Abstract:

The US Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit ruled in United States v. Cusumano that the defendants had a reasonable expectation of privacy to be free of the use of thermal imaging of the heat patterns emanating from their home. The 10th Circuit departed from rulings in three other circuits that had found that use of thermal scanning technology was not a search because residents had no reasonable expectation of privacy. The 10th Circuit's interpretation is preferable because it does not allow improved technology to erode expectations of privacy as the public develops an awareness of new investigatory techniques.

Usage, Innovations, Criminal investigation, Infrared imaging

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42 U.S.C. s. 1983 - qualified immunity - Eleventh Circuit finds students' Fourth Amendment rights not 'clearly established.'

Article Abstract:

The US 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in 1997's Jenkins v. Talladega City Board of Education incorrectly held that qualified immunity attached to the defendant educators who conducted strip searches on school children. The violation of the childrens' 4th Amendment rights was left unremedied as a result of the court's misinterpretation of two US Supreme Court precedents. The court incorrectly interpreted the principles concerning the underlying searches and the principles determining whether reasonable public officials should have known their actions violated a clearly established right.

Students, Privileges and immunities, Public officers, Government officials

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Intellectual property - patent and trade dress law - Tenth Circuit applies "significant inventive aspect" test to determine whether utility patent precludes trade dress protection. - Vornado Air Circulation Systems, Inc. v. Duracraft Corp

Article Abstract:

The US Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit ruled in Vornado Air Circulation Systems v. Duracraft Corp. that utility patent issues raised precluded trade dress liability for copying the spiral design of the grill on a household fan. The Court established a test assering trade dress protection was unavailable where the design is a significant inventive aspect of a utility patent claim. The Court failed to provide any guidance on how to determine whether a design aspect is a significant component of the invention in question.

Interpretation and construction, Laws, regulations and rules, Trade dress (Trademark law), Trade dress, Patent law

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