Business Commons^™

By Any Other Name: Image Advertising And The Commercial Speech Doctrine In Jordan V. Jewel, Kelly Miller

Loyola of Los Angeles Entertainment Law Review

This Comment focuses on the commercial speech doctrine as applied to modern advertising strategies, specifically, corporate image advertising. It centers on the recent litigation between basketball superstar Michael Jordan and a Chicago-area grocery chain, Jewel-Osco. When Michael Jordan was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame, Jewel-Osco was invited to submit a congratulatory ad for a commemorative issue of Sports Illustrated devoted exclusively to Jordan’s career and accomplishments. Because Jordan had spent the bulk of his storied professional basketball career with the Chicago Bulls, the ad seemed a natural fit. Jordan, who did not give permission for his name to …

Copyright Complements And Piracy-Induced Deadweight Loss, Jiarui (Jerry) Liu

Indiana Law Journal

Conventional wisdom suggests that copyright piracy may in effect reduce the deadweight loss resulting from copyright protection because it allows the public unlimited access to information goods at a price closer to marginal cost. It has been further contended that lower copyright protection would benefit society as a whole, as long as authors continue to receive sufficient incentives from alternative revenue streams in ancillary markets, for example, touring, advertising, and merchandizing. By evaluating the empirical evidence from the music, performance, and video game markets, this Article highlights a counterintuitive yet important point: copyright piracy, while decreasing the deadweight loss in …

Orphan Drug Development: Incentives Under The Orphan Drug Act, Sara H D Smith

Senior Theses and Projects

After describing the intellectual property and regulatory environment for orphan drugs in the United States, this thesis compares the investment decisions in the orphan drug market with the larger pharmaceutical industry. A series of case studies trace the development paths of different orphan products using information collected through the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Approved Drug Product and Orphan Drug Product Designation Databases. In addition to this analysis, difference-in-differences estimates calculated using annual revenues compare the relative success of different orphan products under the current incentive system. This study finds that partial orphan drugs are associated with larger revenue growth. …

The Actavis Inference: Theory And Practice, Aaron S. Edlin, C. Scott Hemphill, Herbert J. Hovenkamp, Carl Shapiro

All Faculty Scholarship

In FTC v. Actavis, Inc., the Supreme Court considered "reverse payment" settlements of patent infringement litigation. In such a settlement, a patentee pays the alleged infringer to settle, and the alleged infringer agrees not to enter the market for a period of time. The Court held that a reverse payment settlement violates antitrust law if the patentee is paying to avoid competition. The core insight of Actavis is the Actavis Inference: a large and otherwise unexplained payment, combined with delayed entry, supports a reasonable inference of harm to consumers from lessened competition.

This paper is an effort to assist courts …

Creative Copyright: Tailoring Intellectual Property Policies And Business Strategies For Creative Content Industries In The Digital Age, Bhamati Viswanathan

SJD Dissertations

My dissertation explores intellectual property rights in three fields: fashion, music and education. I examine the varying degrees of IP rights in those fields, and ask whether the differing levels of rights are appropriate to keep these industries creative, innovative and robust. I further examine the salient characteristics of those rights and ask whether such an understanding might help to determine optimal levels of IP protection in other creative industries.

Promoting Innovation, Matthew Sag, Spencer Weber Waller

Faculty Articles

This Essay proceeds as follows. We briefly introduce the concept of creative destruction and its place in Schumpeter’s work in Part II. In Part III we explain why a truly Schumpeterian competition policy demands more than a laissez faire approach. We explain why the law must preserve opportunities and incentives for creative destruction at all stages of innovation and we review four key policy areas of antitrust law from this innovation-focused perspective: unilateral conduct cases (Part III.A), cases at the intersection of IP and antitrust (Part III.B), Sherman Act section 1 cases (Part III.C), and merger policy (Part III.D). In …

Work Made For Hire – Analyzing The Multifactor Balancing Test, Ryan G. Vacca

Akron Law Faculty Publications

Authorship, and hence, initial ownership of copyrighted works is oftentimes controlled by the 1976 Copyright Act’s work made for hire doctrine. This doctrine states that works created by employees within the scope of their employment result in the employer owning the copyright. One key determination in this analysis is whether the hired party is an employee or independent contractor. In 1989, the U.S. Supreme Court, in CCNV v. Reid, answered the question of how employees are distinguished from independent contractors by setting forth a list of factors courts should consider. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court did not give further guidance on …

Ip Basics: Trademarks And Business Goodwill, Thomas G. Field Jr.

Law Faculty Scholarship

This is information all business owners need if they wish to preserve their hard-won goodwill. It discusses, for example, the important differences between strong and weak marks for products and services, the value of state and federal registrations and the importance of searches (to avoid wasting money).

Ip Basics: Seeking Cost-Effective Patents, Thomas G. Field Jr.

Law Faculty Scholarship

This discussion briefly explores the range of intellectual property options in view of the nature of inventions and their market value, particularly for entrepreneurs. Specific strategies for controlling ever-increasing patent costs in the face of market uncertainty. It does not recommend that inventors prosecute patent applications themselves, lest they get much less than they pay for.

Work Made For Hire – Analyzing The Multifactor Balancing Test, Ryan G. Vacca

Ryan G. Vacca

Authorship, and hence, initial ownership of copyrighted works is oftentimes controlled by the 1976 Copyright Act’s work made for hire doctrine. This doctrine states that works created by employees within the scope of their employment result in the employer owning the copyright. One key determination in this analysis is whether the hired party is an employee or independent contractor. In 1989, the U.S. Supreme Court, in CCNV v. Reid, answered the question of how employees are distinguished from independent contractors by setting forth a list of factors courts should consider. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court did not give further guidance on …

Antitrust And The Patent System: A Reexamination, Herbert J. Hovenkamp

All Faculty Scholarship

Since the federal antitrust laws were first passed they have cycled through extreme positions on the relationship between competition law and the patent system. Previous studies of antitrust and patents have generally assumed that patents are valid, discrete, and generally of high quality in the sense that they further innovation. As a result, increasing the returns to patenting increases the incentive to do socially valuable innovation. Further, if the returns to the patentee exceed the social losses caused by increased exclusion, the tradeoff is positive and antitrust should not interfere. If a patent does nothing to further innovation, however, then …

Work Made For Hire – Analyzing The Multifactor Balancing Test, Ryan G. Vacca

Law Faculty Scholarship

Authorship, and hence, initial ownership of copyrighted works is oftentimes controlled by the 1976 Copyright Act’s work made for hire doctrine. This doctrine states that works created by employees within the scope of their employment result in the employer owning the copyright. One key determination in this analysis is whether the hired party is an employee or independent contractor. In 1989, the U.S. Supreme Court, in CCNV v. Reid, answered the question of how employees are distinguished from independent contractors by setting forth a list of factors courts should consider. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court did not give further guidance on …

The Mcdonaldization Of Academic Libraries?, Brian Quinn

Copyright, Fair Use, Scholarly Communication, etc.

George Ritzer, a sociologist at the University of Maryland, has proposed an influential thesis that suggests that many aspects of the fast food industry are making their way into other areas of society. This article explores whether his thesis, known as the McDonaldization thesis, is applicable to academic libraries. Specifically, it seeks to determine to what extent academic libraries may be considered McDonaldized, and if so, what effect McDonaldization may be having on them. It also investigates some possible alternatives to McDonaldization, and their implications for academic libraries.

The Rule Of Reason And The Scope Of The Patent, Herbert J. Hovenkamp

All Faculty Scholarship

For a century and a half the Supreme Court has described perceived patent abuses as conduct that reaches "beyond the scope of the patent." That phrase, which evokes an image of boundary lines in real property, has been applied to both government and private activity and has many different meanings. It has been used offensively to conclude that certain patent uses are unlawful because they extend beyond the scope of the patent. It is also used defensively to characterize activities as lawful if they do not extend beyond the patent's scope. In the first half of the twentieth century the …

Global Data Meets 3-D Printing: The Quest For A Balanced And Globally Collaborative Solution To Prevent Patent Infringement In The Foreseeable 3-D Printing Revolution, Tyler Macik

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

This Note explores a potential global solution to the foreseeable patent infringement problems with 3-D printing and do-it-yourself users. More specifically, at a time when 3-D printing is quickly gaining popularity and recognition for its many beneficial applications through advancements in printing and scanning technology, the current state of patent law lacks the ability to detect and prevent patent infringement among do-it-yourself users of 3-D printing. I propose a potential global solution that would provide a balance between fostering growth in 3-D printing and upholding patentees' rights by exploring the possibility of creating a collaborative, intergovernmental 3-D CAD file database …

Patent Demands And Initial Public Offerings, Robin C. Feldman, Evan Frondorf

Robin C Feldman

Do Patent Licensing Demands Mean Innovation?, Robin C. Feldman, Mark A. Lemley

Robin C Feldman