Lucas Bento (New York University) has posted The 'Piratisation' of Environmental Activism (Lloyd's Maritime and Commercial Law Quarterly, p. 152, 2014) on SSRN. Here is the abstract:
In Institute of Cetacean Research v Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, Japanese whalers brought an action against Sea Shepherd, a Washington-based conservation organisation, under the US Alien Tort Statute and Washington law, alleging a violation of their right to free navigation at sea and piracy. The Ninth Circuit held that Sea Shepherd's activities amounted to piracy. This article deconstructs and criticizes the Ninth Circuit's decision on a number of grounds, and recommends a better test for interpreting and applying the "private ends" proviso under international law's definition of piracy.