Digital Commons Network^™

The Romantic Corporation: Trademark, Trust, And Tyranny, Malla Pollack

Malla Pollack

Humans in the United States, and many other market-centric nations, live in a world extensively populated by friendly, helpful, honest, charitable, patriotic beings worthy of our respect and support – none of whom exist. Yet these fellow-beings speak to us humans so often that they must be part of our ingrained perception of the world. Who are they? They are the marketing personas created by totally self-interested businesses. They harm humans not only by misdirection in specific instances, but by providing cover for our government’s improper prioritization of corporate interests over human interests. This systemic distortion of public perception is …

Reclassifying Reverse Passing Off As Failure To Contract Or As False Advertising, Malla Pollack

Malla Pollack

The tort of reverse passing off should be abolished. This conclusion stems from a combination of economic analysis, recognition of the disparate foundations of trade identity law versus creativity law (such as copyright and patent), realistic appraisal of product distribution, and an updated survey of existing case law. Trademark holders which desire a legally enforceable right for their marks to remain affixed to their goods downstream should be required to contract ex ante. Any likelihood of consumer deception caused by using another’s goods in an advertisement for one’s own goods should be addressed through false advertising claims. Reverse passing off …

Patriotism For Profit And Persuasion: The Trademark, Free Speech, And Governance Problems With Protection Of Governmental Marks In The United States, Malla Pollack

Malla Pollack

“Governmental marks” are words or phrases which involve the identity of a social group that is partly defined in terms of its citizenship in a government-institution. The power to name a social group (especially one from which exit is difficult) confers enormous power over the group’s members. Legally classifying such words as trademarks commodifies them, increasing the namer’s power: both by giving the word monetary value and by providing the mark-holder with the legal right to prevent others from manipulating the word’s meaning.

Destination marketing employing governmental marks has become ubiquitous. The municipal governments of both New York City and …

The Unaffordable Cost Of Not Having Positive Rights, A United States Perspective (In English, Published In Portuguese), Malla Pollack

Malla Pollack

Despite the high value of advanced economic theory and the enviable wealth of the United States of America, developing countries should be very leery of making decisions based primarily on either economic theory or the example of the United States -- including the decision not to provide positive rights. My argument, however, is limited to undercutting these two attacks on positive rights. The possible existence of better paths to utopia is beyond both this article and my expertise.

An updated version of this paper is forthcoming in English, 3 Charleston L. Rev. (2008).

The Unaffordable Cost Of Not Having Positive Rights, A United States Perspective, Malla Pollack

Malla Pollack

This is an updated version of the book chapter published in Brazil earlier in 2008. See that entry for additional information.

Warning! Experts May Be Hazardous To Your Health, Malla Pollack

Malla Pollack

The academy is now emphasizing inter-disciplinary scholarship and decision-making, especially the use of science to guide legal and political policy. This approach has many strengths, however, some caution is also appropriate. Using inter-disciplinary sources, this article discusses four inter-related problems with the scientific solution to social problems. First, and most central, science is about means, not ends. Second, expertise is often applied beyond its relevant field. Third, non-experts have difficulty judging competing experts. Fourth, experts’ predictions are often wrong. The United States is presented as a horrible example of over-valuing expertise, specifically economic theory. In conditions of uncertainty, decision-makers are …

Lanard V. Gm , Malla Pollack

Malla Pollack

No abstract provided.

Teaching Intellectual Property As A Skills Course , Malla Pollack

Malla Pollack

Students can gain experience in practical skills in substantive courses if professors spend the time to create appropriate projects. This article demonstrates by providing reproducible projects involving non-competition agreements, trademarks/trade dress, copyright, and patent. The article also explains the how projects can be expanded and how they can be transposed between counseling and litigation settings.

This paper is part of a symposium entitled “Reflections on Legal Education: How We Teach, How They Learn".

Comment To Fcc On Media Ownership Rules, Malla Pollack

Malla Pollack

Comment Submitted Jan. 2007 in Media Ownership Rules Docket.

A Listener’S Free Speech, A Reader’S Copyright, Malla Pollack

Malla Pollack

Despite the Supreme Court’s repeated use of free speech doctrine to derail media reforms, some reform is possible. As Jerome A. Barron recognized, the Court’s central error is hypothesizing a romanticized speaker. The Court’s copyright jurisprudence is similarly marred by its congruent focus on a romanticized author. The original and continuing central purpose of both copyright and free speech is the wide distribution of material to citizens – especially when politically relevant information and opinions are involved. The Constitution’s copyright clause, Article I, section 8, clause 8, allows Congress the power to enact only such statutes as encourage the “progress” …

Rebalancing Section 512 To Protect Fair Users From Herds Of Mice-Trampling Elephants, Or A Little Due Process Is Not Such A Dangerous Thing, Malla Pollack

Malla Pollack

I agree with the basic concept of 17 U.S.C. § 512; to protect Internet functionality, ISPs should have robust safe harbors against liability for their subscribers' copyright infringement. However, the current details of the notice and take down system are both unfair to the general public and unnecessary to the economic health of the United States. I suggest a robust, statutorily established digital fair use right backed by a notice and take down procedure protecting fair users. At a minimum, use of a purchased music file on any of the purchaser's equipment should be fair use. Preferably, all personal non-commercial …

Towards A Feminist Theory Of The Public Domain, Or The Gendered Scope Of United States’ Copyrightable And Patentable Subject Matter, Malla Pollack

Malla Pollack

Feminism does not speak with a single voice. Each voice tells a different story. These stories include attacks on the gendered scope of United States copyrightable and patentable subject matter. The first wave of feminism, liberal feminism, argued that women were as rational and competent as men. It complained about the objective exclusion of women from opportunity. This feminist view might applaud the expansion of copyright and the greater ease of its availability (due to the end of formalities pursuant to the Berne Implementation Act). Liberal feminism, however, finds unacceptable copyright’s exclusion of traditional women’s work: food and clothing. Essentialist …

Ebay Inc. V. Mercexchange, Llc , Malla Pollack

Malla Pollack

Brief argues that Constitution and public policy support a presumption against graniting injunctive relief to a patent holder who is not working the infringed patent. Decision 126 S.Ct. 1837 (2006).

Originalism, J.E.M., And The Food Supply, Or Will The Real Decision Maker Please Stand Up?, Malla Pollack

Malla Pollack

In 2001, the United States Supreme Court decided that sexually reproduced plants (which include major crop plants such as corn) are statutorily proper subject matter for utility patents. See J.E.M. Ag Supply, v. Pioneer Hi-Bred Int'l, Inc., 534 U.S. 124 (2001). Since that decision, critics from many disciplines have argued that the world's food supply is at risk from giant agribusinesses' manipulation of utility patents on genetically modified plants and animals. In light of these fears, this paper revisits J.E.M. and then highlights a related, still-open legal problem with biotechnology patents.

Looking backwards to J.E.M., the paper reaches several negative …

Dampening The Illegitimacy Of The United States' Government: Reframing The Constitution From Contract To Promise, Malla Pollack

Malla Pollack

Realistic political philosophers working in the United States face a serious problem. The public accepts as axiomatic the fundamental status of the 1789 Constitution. That Constitution, however, even as amended, is blatantly illegitimate, thus undermining any theoretical claim that citizens should respect (as opposed to obey) the existing national government. This paper tenders a method for shoring up the legitimacy of the federal government through the Constitution-as-promise. Realism is central to this project; I am discussing the words of the ratified document with its twenty-seven Article V-created amendments. I am not taking the common path of deflecting problems by building …

Mgm V. Grokster, Malla Pollack

Malla Pollack

This brief makes three aguments against copyright liability for Grokster. First, Petitioners’ request to close down offending technology is not supported by clear statutory authority. While the Court has power to create common law, in an area, such as this, where Congress has enacted detailed statutes, the Court’s common law power is minimal. Title 17 U.S.C. § 1201(c)(2) does not delegate authority for the Court to promulgate new common law. Second, In the absence of congressional action, the Copyright Clause of the Constitution sets the default position as a public right of access to copyrightable and patentable subject matter. The …

The Democratic Public Domain: Reconnecting The Modern First Amendment And The Original Progress Clause (A.K.A. Copyright And Patent Clause), Malla Pollack

Malla Pollack

Empirical investigation of public usage of the word "progress" in the United States of 1789 demonstrates that the word meant "dissemination." The original meaning of art. I, sec. 8, cl. 8, therefore, is that Congress has the right to grant only such temporally limited exclusive rights in writings and new technology as encourage the dissemination of knowledge and new technology to the population. This article explains the major differences between current United States positive intellectual property law and the logical dictates of this original constitutional meaning. Additionally, the article asserts that the original meaning of clause 8 supports modern calls …

Kp Permanent Make-Up V. Lasting Impression, Malla Pollack

Malla Pollack

Brief argues for allowing fair use defense in trademark despite existence of likelihood of confusion. Opinion at 125 S. Ct. 542 (2004).

Dastar Corp. V. 20th Century Fox Film Corp., Malla Pollack

Malla Pollack

Amicus brief filed in support of Dastar regarding use of Lanham Act to stop distribution of copyrightable works which are no longer within copyright protection. Supreme Court decision 123 S. Ct. 2041 (2003).

Comment To Fcc On Media Ownership Rules (2002), Malla Pollack

Malla Pollack

Comment to FCC on media ownership rules, 2002

Dealing With Old Father William, Or Moving From Constitutional Text To Constitutional Doctrine: Progress Clause Review Of The Copyright Term Extension Act, Malla Pollack

Malla Pollack

The author suggests a textual approach to the choice of review standards for statutes enacted purusant to the so-called Intellectual Property Clause, which is more properly named the Progress Clause. Turning to text of the Constitution s relatively unproblematic because the Progress Clause contains unusually detailed constitutional text. Furthermore, what little the Court has stated about the fundamental goals of the Clause matches the author's reading of its text. Any approach based on the drafting or ratification discussions stumbles on the thinness of the record, as well as the record's possible unreliability. The text supports a standard of review higher …

What Is Congress Supposed To Promote? Defining ‘Progress” In Article I, Section 8, Clause 8 Of The U.S. Constitution, Or Introducing The Progress Clause, Malla Pollack

Malla Pollack

Empirical reserach into ratification-era uses of the word "progress" in the United States demonstrates that this word, as used in Article One, Section Eight, Clause Eight, means "spread," i.e. diffusion, distribution. To the extent that Congress chooses not to act under this clause, the default position is that each person in the United States has a property right not to be excluded from publicly accessible knowledge and technology. Congress has only a very limited power to create private quasi-property, i.e., rights to exclude the rest of the commoners. Congress may only create temporary individual rights for "authors" or "inventors" to …

The Multiple Unconstitutionality Of Business Method Patents: Common Sense, Congressional Choice, And Constitutional History, Malla Pollack

Malla Pollack

Business method patents are of sufficiently doubtful constitutionality that the Supreme Court should either render them void or, at the least, require a clear Congressional fact finding that they are likely to promote the "Progress of . . . [the] Useful Arts." Four separate arguments support this conclusion. First, common sense shows that patents on business methods do not promote progress. Second, Congress has not considered whether business method patents are likely to promote progress. Third, "useful arts," as that phrase is used in the Constitution, does not include mere commerce. Lastly, the historical background of the Intellectual Property Clause …

Moseley V. V Secret Catalogue, Malla Pollack

Malla Pollack

Brief argues that Lanham Act requires actual dilution. Opinion at 123 S. Ct. 1115 (2003). Congress amended statute to change requirement to mere likelihood of dilution.

Eldred V. Ashcroft, Malla Pollack

Malla Pollack

Brief argues that statutes passed subject to the Progress Clause (also known as the Intellectual Property Clause and the Copyright and Patent Clause) should be subject to an elevated standard of review. Decision 537 U.S. 186 (2003).

Purveyance And Power Or Over-Priced Free Lunch: The Intellectual Property Clause As An Ally Of The Takings Clause In The Public’S Control Of Government, Malla Pollack

Malla Pollack

Government can bypass citizen control if it can use revenue not publicly scrutinized through the public taxing/spending system. One method of bypass is paying with non-monetary compensation such as (i) property, or (ii) the right to charge others for some necessary good or service, intangible property. The Takings/Just Compensation Clause of the Fifth Amendment is one authority controlling government's ability to bypass financial scrutiny. In this article, I argue that the Intellectual Property Clause also should be used to control some governmental bypass. I attempt to justify this suggestion both theoretically and historically. The historical material included focuses on English …

Opt-In Government: Using The Internet To Empower Choice – Privacy Application, Malla Pollack

Malla Pollack

This article proposes a relatively novel model of government regulation and illustrates how the model might work with respect to Internet privacy protection for U.S. residents. [I suggest "opt-in government" as a practical method to integrate the democratic concept of voice with the market model of choice. "Opt-in government" either (i) creates "a safe place" that persons may enter only if they wish to do so, or (ii) enables a choice that the so-called private sector has not offered.

J.E.M. Ag Supply V. Pioneer, Malla Pollack

Malla Pollack

Brief argues against allowing utility patents on plants reproduced from seed without a clearer statement by Congress. Decision at 534 U.S. 124 (2002).

The Owned Public Domain: The Constitutional Right Not To Be Excluded – Or The Supreme Court Chose The Right Breakfast Cereal In Kellogg V. National Biscuit Co., Malla Pollack

Malla Pollack

Before the rise of law and economics, the Supreme Court decided several cases involving patent holders' attempts to use trademark doctrines to slow down competitors after the expiration of their utility patents; in each of these cases, the Court enforced a public right to use material in the public domain. To give one famous example, Kellogg Co. v. National Biscuit Co., the "shredded wheat case," came to the Court after the expiration of a product and process utility patent on that once-innovative breakfast cereal. The Court held that a competitor could freely copy the product's name and its well known …

Traffix Devices V. Marketing Displays, Malla Pollack

Malla Pollack

Brief argues against allowing extension of utility patent through trade dress protection. Opinion at 523 U.S. 23 (2001).