Use Of Defenders Research Articles

Colonel Blotto Games in Network Systems: Models, Strategies, and Applications

Network systems, such as Internet, smart grids, transportation networks, social networks, etc., play a critical role in human society. However, due to their inherent vulnerability as well as the limited management and operational capability, these network systems are constantly under the threat of malicious attackers. Therefore, in such attack-defense scenarios, it is particularly significant to make the best use of defenders’ limited resources and capability. In this paper, we propose a networked Colonel Blotto game for the attack–defense strategy, where the attackers and defenders allocate the limited resources on each node, and their utility depends on certain network performance metrics, which are defined for evaluating the performance of the whole network system. Furthermore, considering the complexity of the equilibrium analysis in large-scale network systems, a coevolution-based algorithm is proposed for obtaining the practical action sets as well as achieving the mixed-strategy Nash equilibrium. Finally, relying on four real-world network systems, i.e., computer networks, Internet of vehicles, air transportation systems, and social networks, simulation results show the effectiveness and feasibility of our proposed model, which is conducive to the design, management, and maintenance of network systems.

Dialect on trial: use of African American Vernacular English influences juror appraisals

ABSTRACTWe investigated the effect of dialect and race on juror decision making. Mock jurors read a summary of an ambiguous criminal case, which included audio of a defense witness (Study 1) or defendant (Study 2). Both speaker dialect [General American English (GAE)/African American Vernacular English (AAVE)] and race (White/Black) were crossed; Study 2 also included three levels of case (Ambiguous/Pro-Prosecution/Pro-Defense) to evaluate any effects of evidentiary context. In both studies, jurors who listened to the AAVE recording found the AAVE-speaking witness to be less professional and less educated than their GAE-speaking counterparts. Interestingly, jurors in Study 2 who heard the defendant use GAE were more likely to find him guilty and found him less credible when the case favored the prosecution, hinting that ingroup biases such as the black sheep effect may also play a role in perceptions of dialect. Secondary analyses found that AAVE predicted more negative overall evaluations of the speaker, and these negative evaluations were associated with an increase in guilty verdicts. Together, these findings suggest that dialect plays an under-investigated role in the courtroom, and that bias against AAVE negatively impacts juror appraisals of its speakers and can potentially influence juror decision making.

Predictors of Domestic Violence Prosecution in a State Court

Successful prosecution of state-level domestic violence cases typically requires participation from the victim. However, given the unique factors associated with these cases, the assistance of a victim advocate may be beneficial in maintaining victim cooperation. This research examines 353 cases to determine if victim cooperation and case disposition could be predicted by victim advocacy, victim injuries, defendant's use of a weapon, and the presence of witnesses. Findings from logistic regression analysis suggest that victim assistance was significantly related to both victim cooperation and case disposition. Further, victim cooperation and the presence of witnesses significantly increased the likelihood of a conviction.

Consistency of Confusion? A Fifteen-Year Revisiting of Barton Beebe's Empirical Analysis of Multifactor Tests for Trademark Infringement

In a typical case of trademark infringement, a plaintiff must show, among other things, that potential consumers would be confused as to the source of a good or service, due to the defendant's use of a mark (or in the case of trade dress infringement, the same or similar product packaging, design, labeling, etc.) that creates confusion as to source, sponsorship, or affiliation. This inquiry into the likelihood of confusion is most often governed by multifactor tests, the most prominent of which is the test articulated in Polaroid Corp. v. Polarad Electronics Corp., 287 F.2d 492, 495 (2d Cir. 1961) by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Professor Barton Beebe, in his empirical of multifactor tests for trademark infringement nationwide, found that judges employ 'fast and frugal' heuristics to short-circuit the multifactor analysis and challenged the conventional wisdom that no single factor in the multifactor test is dispositive. However, the limited temporal scope of his inquiry (2000–2004) raises the question of whether his results are typical for trademark cases or just a five-year anomaly. This paper attempts both to determine whether Beebe's findings hold true over a longer, fifteen-year period and to discover any new information that sheds light on how judges decide trademark cases. It analyzes cases from the Southern District of New York, which apply the Second Circuit's Polaroid test, over a fifteen-year time span. Part I.A describes our methodology while Part I.B provides background statistics on our data set. Part II presents of factor correlation, outcome classification trees, stampeding, and each individual factor, including comparison with Beebe's results, as well as description of historical trends in our data. Part III analyzes the effect of other considerations related to the multifactor test - whether or not the products are in competition, whether the party names are the trademarks at issue, whether the court indicates one factor can be dispositive of the outcome, and whether or not the court considers factors in addition to those listed in the Second Circuit’s Polaroid test. Our results of studying the fifteen-year set of cases in the District Court for the Southern District of New York were, for the most part, consistent with Beebe's national study of 2001-2004. There seem to be only a small number of key factors, with similarity being paramount among them. We noted less stampeding than Beebe observed, although he too found less stampeding in the district courts of the Second Circuit. We did observe what may be a moderate decline in the rate of finding likelihood of confusion as well as a potential decline in the use of the tarnishment theory alone. We also observed an apparent decrease in the importance of inherent strength and its connection to commercial strength. Of the new variables we observed, the one of most interest may be the consideration by the court of additional factors, as those seemed to affect decision-making the most. We would suggest a reformed test along the lines of the one Beebe recommends - focusing on similarity, proximity as perceived by the relevant consumers, evidence of actual confusion, marketplace strength, and the infringer's intent.

Social Relations Spatially Fixed: Construction and Maintenance of School Districts in San Antonio, Texas

More than 140 court cases filed in the United States between 1970 and 2003 argued that unacceptable and unconstitutional funding disparities exist among school districts in most states. In those arguments, stories, statistics, and maps are used to compare various school districts to prove that conditions are indeed unequal. Both sides—plaintiff and defendant—use such information to disprove each other's contentions. In so doing, each assumes that the political spaces of the school districts are absolute, timeless, and independent. Failure to recognize that these spaces—the school districts—are not objective but, in fact, constitutive of the class and race relations actually being argued and debated in court further legitimates local geographies of privilege and deprivation. I examine the formation of the school districts around San Antonio, Texas to illustrate that these districts are far from independent of one another and were formed to isolate privileged communities from the rest of the city. A relational view of space‐time allows such spaces as school districts to assume a political role, as opposed to the absolute, independent spaces they now represent.

Protecting the Public Policy Rationale of Copyright: Reconsidering Copyright Misuse

Copyright misuse protects a defendant's use of copyrighted material when the plaintiff has claimed a right in his work beyond the scope of copyright law and when such a claim is contrary to public policy. Historically, as this article demonstrates, courts have been reluctant to find in favor of defendants who claim copyright misuse and have interpreted the doctrine narrowly on the basis of antitrust considerations. However, more recent decisions and a growing body of literature suggest a greater role for copyright misuse. This article argues for such an expanded role and proposes a new section of copyright law titled "Limitations on Infringement: Copyright Misuse."

A Pattern-Oriented Approach to Fair Use

More than 150 years into development of the doctrine of in American copyright law, there is no end to legislative, judicial, and academic efforts to rationalize the doctrine. Its codification in the 1976 Copyright Act appears to have contributed to its fragmentation, rather than to its coherence. This Article suggests that fair use is neither badly conceived nor badly applied, but that it is too often badly understood. As did much of copyright law, fair use originated as a judicially-unacknowledged effort via the law to validate certain favored social practices and patterns. In the main, it has continued to be applied as such, though too often courts mask their implicit validation of these patterns in the now-conventional case-by-case application of the statutory fair use factors to the defendant's use of the copyrighted work in question. A more explicit acknowledgement of the role of these patterns in fair use analysis is consistent with fair use and copyright policy and tradition. Importantly, it helps to bridge the often-difficult conceptual gap between fair use claims asserted by individual defendants and the social implications of accepting or rejecting those claims. Finally, a pattern-oriented approach is normatively appropriate, when viewed in light of recent research by cognitive psychologists and other social scientists on patterns and creativity. In immediate terms, the approach should lead to a more consistent and predictable fair use jurisprudence. In the longer term, it should enhance the ability of copyright law to promote creative expression.

A Matter of Evidence or of Law - Battered Women Claiming Self-Defense in California

This essay examines the obstacles battered women face in the form of evidentiary rules and in the definitions of certain elements of self-defense, focusing specifically on the appellate court opinion in Aris. The essay then evaluates existing and pending legislation in California which has sought to undo the narrowing effected by Aris. Finally, the essay proposes statutory language which would be more effective in ensuring that battered women who kill their batterers in non-traditional confrontational situations may fully present their claims of self-defense. Where a defendant claims self-defense and presents evidence regarding the Battered Woman Syndrome (BWS), my proposal would require judges to instruct juries to consider such testimony when evaluating the reasonableness of the defendant's use of self-defense. Furthermore, where the defendant alternatively argues for imperfect self-defense, the proposal clarifies the definition of imminence to be whether the defendant actually believed the danger to her life was imminent.

Limiting a Criminal Defendant's Use of Peremptory Challenges: On Symmetry and the Jury in a Criminal Trial

Limiting a Criminal Defendant's Use of Peremptory Challenges: On Symmetry and the Jury in a Criminal Trial