Digital Commons Network^™

Reading Together And Apart: Juries, Courts, And Substantial Similarity In Copyright Law, Laura A. Heymann

Laura A. Heymann

No abstract provided.

Trapped In Public: The Regulation Of Street Harassment And Cyber-Harassment Under The Captive Audience Doctrine, Joanne Sweeny

JoAnne Sweeny

No abstract provided.

Intellectual Property Geographies, Peter K. Yu

Peter K. Yu

Written for a special issue on intellectual property and geography, this article outlines three sets of mismatches that demonstrate the vitality, utility and richness of analyzing intellectual property developments through a geographical lens. The article begins by examining economic geography, focusing on the tensions and conflicts between territorial borders and sub-national innovation (including those relating to obligations under the WTO TRIPS Agreement). This article then examines the oft-found mismatch between political geography and cultural geography. Illustrating this mismatch is the challenge of protecting traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expressions. The article concludes by exploring the growing mismatch between legal geography …

The Chinese-Korean Co-Production Pact: Collaborative Encounters And The Accelerating Expansion Of Chinese Cinema, Brian Yecies

Dr Brian Yecies

Official film co-production treaties are designed by policymakers to stimulate a range of collaboration and media flows as determinants of country rankings. China, where , technology transfer, and joint funding initiatives in the industry. Since July 2004, the Chinese government has used this top-down approach to cultural diplomacy as a symbolic tool for advancing Chinese cinema and opening the domestic market to a host of willing international partners. Korean filmmakers in particular have exploited the (often informal) opportunities presented, engaging in vigorous cooperation between film industry firms and practitioners is making significant inroads, is one such case, having fallen outside …

What We Buy When We Buy Now, Aaron Perzanowski, Chris Jay Hoofnagle

Chris Jay Hoofnagle

No abstract provided.

Review Of Humans And Paragons: Essays On Super-Hero Justice, Thomas E. Simmons

Thomas E. Simmons

No abstract provided.

Individual Creators In The Cultural Commons, Robert P. Merges

Robert P Merges

No abstract provided.

When Privacy Almost Won: Time, Inc. V. Hill (1967), Samantha Barbas

Samantha Barbas

Drawing on previously unexplored and unpublished archival papers of Richard Nixon, the plaintiffs’ lawyer in the case, and the justices of the Warren Court, this article tells the story of the seminal First Amendment case Time, Inc. v. Hill (1967). In Hill, the Supreme Court for the first time addressed the conflict between the right to privacy and freedom of the press. The Court constitutionalized tort liability for invasion of privacy, acknowledging that it raised First Amendment issues and must be governed by constitutional standards. Hill substantially diminished privacy rights; today it is difficult if not impossible to recover against …

Handout - Right Of Publicity (10-24-2018), William K. Ford

William K. Ford

No abstract provided.

Panel Ii: The Death Or Rebirth Of The Copyright?, Hugh C. Hansen, Diane Zimmerman, Robert Kasunic, Brett Frischmann

Brett Frischmann

No abstract provided.

Jessicahlawrencemastersportfolio.Pdf, Jessicah Lawrence

Jessicah Lawrence

No abstract provided.

Fair Use And Appropriation Art, Niels Schaumann

Niels Schaumann

Part I provides some background regarding aesthetic vocabulary in the arts, and traces the use of appropriated images in the twentieth- and twenty-first centuries. Part II discusses the general application of copyright law to appropriation art. Part III examines the current status of the fair use cases that address appropriation art and concludes that the fair use results are better than before, largely because of the ascendancy of “transformativeness” as an important fair use factor. It also concludes, however, that fair use remains insufficient to protect appropriation art. Finally, Part IV re-proposes a solution—an exception to copyright, limited to fine …

Copyright Law's Delicate Balancing Act, Alan E. Garfield

Alan E Garfield

No abstract provided.

Daredevil: Legal (And Moral?) Vigilante, Stephen E. Henderson

Stephen E Henderson

What We Buy When We "Buy Now", Aaron Perzanowski, Chris Jay Hoofnagle

Chris Jay Hoofnagle

La Meme Chose: Lawyers' Use Of Exemplary Reasoning In Persuasive Writing, Brian Larson

Brian Larson

No abstract provided.

Overlapping Copyright And Trademark Protection: A Call For Concern And Action, Irene Calboli

Irene Calboli

In this Article, I tackle a controversial topic-the overlapping trademark and copyright protection that can apply to creative works such as fictional characters, pictures, video clips, and songs. In particular, I highlight the possible negative consequences that granting trademark protection to these works-concurrently or after the expiration of copyright protection- can have on the societal bargain upon which copyright protection is built and justified. To date, scholars have only limitedly addressed these consequences, and more academic attention is needed in this area. In contrast, the advantages of trademark rights in creative works (in their entirety or in separated features of …

Literature’S Idea-Expression Distinction: Drawing A Line With Distinctive Elements Of Alternate Worlds, Joshua Jeng

Joshua Jeng

The line between ideas and expressions in copyright law has never been particularly clear. We want to protect what authors create so that they are motivated to create more, but we want broad concepts to remain free so that others may produce even more works. The distinction concept and an author's take on a concept has always been very difficult to define, even among legal scholars, and has largely remained misunderstood by the average author. However, as derivative works increase in prevalence and economic importance, the need for workable framework for understanding copyright that the lay author can understand is …

Games Are Not Coffee Mugs: Games And The Right Of Publicity, 29 Santa Clara Computer & High Tech. L.J. 1 (2012), William K. Ford, Raizel Liebler

William K. Ford

Are games more like coffee mugs, posters, and T-shirts, or are they more like books, magazines, and films? For purposes of the right of publicity, the answer matters. The critical question is whether games should be treated as merchandise or as expression. Three classic judicial decisions, decided in 1967, 1970, and 1973, held that the defendants needed permission to use the plaintiffs' names in their board games. These decisions judicially confirmed that games are merchandise, not something equivalent to more traditional media of expression. As merchandise, games are not like books; instead, they are akin to celebrity-embossed coffee mugs. To …

Fictional Persona Test: Copyright Preemption In Human Audiovisual Characters, Peter K. Yu

Peter K. Yu

Whether a producer's copyright in human audiovisual characters preempts the actors' rights of publicity claims is the focus of this Note. Part I outlines the framework of state right of publicity law and traces the development of case law involving such a right. Because "[a]dvertisers who want to run a particular advertisement nationally must comply with the law of all fifty states," this Note focuses on the right of publicity of the state with the broadest interpretation-the state of California. This Part shows that, under existing California right of publicity law, virtually anything evoking one's personal identity, including copyrighted materials, …

Copyright, Derivative Works, And The Economics Of Complements, Glynn S. Lunney Jr

Glynn Lunney

From an economic perspective, copyright is irrational. In defining the scope of a copyright owner's exclusive rights, it treats situations that have similar economic consequences differently, as infringement in one case and not in the other, and situations that have radically different economic consequences similarly. This essay explores such area in which copyright exhibits economic irrationality: Copyright's treatment of complements. Where a lower price on a substitute reduces demand for the original, a lower price on a complement increases it. So defined, copyright addresses whether a copyright owner will control three different types of complements: (i) complementary products, such as …

The Flawed U.S. Approach To Rule Of Law Development, Cynthia Alkon

Cynthia Alkon

The key flaw to the United States' approach to rule of law development is routinely including the "standard menu" of rule of law development assistance as a part of the overall development effort without regard to whether the recipient country is at a developmental stage where it is able to absorb some or all of this type of aid. This article uses Afghanistan as a case study. Despite a decade of assistance, Afghanistan remains a fragile and conflict-affected country, thus raising concerns about the value of the aid given and whether rule of law development aid should continue to be …

Autonomy And Independence: The Normative Face Of Transaction Costs, Robert P. Merges

Robert P Merges

No abstract provided.

Unbundling Fair Uses, Pamela Samuelson

Pamela Samuelson

The copyright fair use caselaw is more coherent and more predictable than many commentators seem to believe. Fair use cases tend to fall into common patterns, or what this Article calls policy-relevant clusters. The policies underlying modern fair use law include promoting freedom of speech and of expression, the ongoing progress of authorship, learning, access to information, truth telling or truth seeking, competition, technological innovation, and the privacy and autonomy interests of users. If one analyzes putative fair uses in light of cases previously decided in the same policy cluster, it is generally possible to predict whether a use is …

Art-Iculating The Analysis: Systemizing The Decision To Use Visuals As Legal Reasoning, Ruth Anne Robbins, Steve Johansen

Ruth Anne Robbins

This Article first assumes that visuals belong and are ethically permitted in legal documents -- something explored by other authors -- and then begins to answer the questions of effective inclusion. The article explores the specific use of analytical visuals, which are those that do not attempt to prove what happened in a legal dispute, but instead help explain how the dispute should be resolved under the legal standards. Thus, the included analytical visual, when used effectively, creates a stronger understanding of the abstract legal analysis. The article suggests a taxonomy for categories of analytical visuals. It also acknowledges that …

What Zombies Can Teach Law Students: Popular Text Inclusion In Law And Literature, Thomas E. Simmons

Thomas E. Simmons

No abstract provided.

Copyright And Ownership Of Fan Created Works: Fanfiction And Beyond, Raizel Liebler

Raizel Liebler

A Person's A Person: Children's Rights In Children's Literature, Jonathan Todres, Sarah Higinbotham

Jonathan Todres

Although the Convention on the Rights of the Child is the most widely ratified human rights treaty in history, children’s rights are still seen in many circles as novel and quaint ideas but not serious legal theory. The reality, however, is that the realization of children’s rights is vital not only for childhood but for individuals’ entire lives. Similarly, although the books children read and have read to them are a central part of their childhood experience, so too has children’s literature been ignored as a rights-bearing discourse and a means of civic socialization. We argue that children’s literature, like …

“Can I Profit From My Own Name And Likeness As A College Athlete?” The Predictive Legal Analytics Of A College Player’S Publicity Rights Vs. First Amendment Rights Of Others, Roger M. Groves

Roger M. Groves

Two federal court decisions during 2013 have changed the game for college students versus the schools, the NCAA and video game makers. This article explores whether for the first time in history these athletes can profit from their own name and likeness and prevent others from doing so. But those cases still leave many untested applications to new facts – facts that the courts have not faced. Particularly intriguing is how 21st Century technology will apply to this area in future litigation. No publicity rights case or article to date has explored the application of predictive analytics, computer programs, algorithms, …

Intermediaries Revisited: Is Efficient Certification Consistent With Profit Maximization?, Jonathan M. Barnett

Jonathan M Barnett

Private certification mechanisms are a key component of the regulatory infrastructure in the financial sector and other commercial settings. It is generally assumed that certification intermediaries have profit-based incentives to deliver accurate information to the certified market. But this view does not account for repeated failures in certification markets. Those failures can be explained by an inherent defect in the incentive structure of certification intermediaries: entry barriers both support and undermine the consistent supply of accurate information to the certified market. Certification markets tend to converge on a handful of providers protected by switching costs, product opacity and reputational noise. …