Law Commons^™

Setting Foot On Enemy Ground: Cease-And-Desist Letters, Dmca Notifications And Personal Jurisdiction In Declaratory Judgment Actions, Marketa Trimble

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In declaratory judgment actions brought by alleged infringers against rights holders, such as actions for declaration of invalidity or non-infringement of intellectual property rights, U.S. courts have long maintained that sending a cease-and-desist letter alone, absent other acts in an alleged infringer's forum, is not a sufficient basis for personal jurisdiction over the rights holder who mailed them to the alleged infringer's forum. Notwithstanding the similarities between cease-and-desist letters and notifications under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals recently decided that sending a notification alone does establish a basis for personal jurisdiction over the …

A Tale Of Two Theories Of Well Known Marks, Leah Chan Grinvald

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The well-known marks doctrine presents a conundrum in international trademark law. Although protecting foreign well-known trademarks has been a treaty obligation since 1925, courts around the world, and in the United States and China in particular, do not uniformly apply the doctrine. This lack of uniform protection leads to the question of whether these countries are complying with their international obligations. While brand owners and some commentators would answer this question in the negative, this Article provides a different perspective. This Article offers an alternative approach to answering the compliance question: Before considering the question, one must examine the perspective …

The Public Policy Exception To Recognition And Enforcement Of Judgments In Cases Of Copyright Infringement, Marketa Trimble

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In recent years proposals have been made for an international convention that would facilitate a smooth recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments in intellectual property matters. Like all of these proposals, the American Law Institute’s preliminary version, short titled "Draft Principles" published in March 2007, strives to eliminate most hurdles to recognition and enforcement by providing rules for jurisdiction, choice of law and coordination of multi-territorial actions. As long as the rules are applied by the court that issues a judgment (the “rendering court”), most of the obstacles to recognition and enforcement − differing jurisdictional rules and choice of law …

Cross-Border Injunctions In U.S. Patent Cases And Their Enforcement Abroad, Marketa Trimble

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In surveying recent literature on difficulties with cross-border injunctions in patent cases, one may conclude that the problem appears to be limited to the phenomenon of pan-European injunctions granted by some courts in Europe in cases concerning infringements of foreign patents. However, even in cases concerning domestic patents, injunctions reaching beyond national borders can be issued; the empirical evidence presented in the paper demonstrates a variety of such instances in U.S. patent cases. Certainly the existence of such injunctions in the U.S. raises concerns about their enforceability in other countries, particularly when they are issued against a foreign entity that …

Making Much Ado About Theory: The Chinese Trademark Law, Leah Chan Grinvald

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Although the United States has had an active hand in the implementation of trademark law in China over the past century, the same frustrations that marked the turn of the twentieth century are reflected in the twenty-first century. This Article posits that one of the reasons that the United States has not seen the desired level of progress in China's protection of trademarks lies in the imposition of an American theory of trademarks, which has inhibited U.S. reform efforts in China to date. This imposition is understandable, as little thought has been given to the Chinese theoretical justification for their …

Identical Cousins? On The Road With Dilution And The Right Of Publicity, Mary Lafrance

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The dilution doctrine and the right of publicity have a great deal in common, because both represent property-like rights that have evolved from legal doctrines largely unrelated to property concerns. Although both doctrines have engendered controversy in the United States, the dilution doctrine generally evokes greater skepticism and confusion. This Article evaluates how these concepts are viewed in a number of jurisdictions outside the United States. From this examination, two conclusions emerge. First, despite the similarities between the doctrines, countries do not tend to adopt or reject them in tandem. Second, the degree to which each doctrine achieves widespread and …

No Reason To Live: Dilution Laws As Unconstitutional Restrictions On Commercial Speech, Mary Lafrance

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Traditionally, trademark and unfair competition laws have protected trademark owners against unauthorized uses of their marks that are likely to confuse or mislead consumers about the origin of goods or services. If a particular use is not likely to confuse or mislead, then it is not actionable under traditional infringement regimes. When applied to commercial speech, as opposed to noncommercial expression, traditional trademark and unfair competition laws generally have survived scrutiny under the First Amendment, because these laws restrict only commercial speech that is false or misleading.

Dilution laws, however, do not restrict speech that is false or misleading. Dilution …

Steam Shovels And Lipstick: Trademarks, Greed, And The Public Domain, Mary Lafrance

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Although the law of trademarks and unfair competition at one time concerned itself only with false designations of origin that were likely to confuse consumers about the origin of goods or services, with the emergence of the dilution doctrine during the twentieth century individual states--and ultimately Congress--began offering the owners of particularly strong marks the opportunity to prevent others from using these marks even in ways which were unlikely to lead to consumer confusion. In so doing, the law began to treat trademarks as property in themselves--the product of a trademark owner's investment in good will--rather than merely as signals …

The Study Of Intellectual Property At The William S. Boyd School Of Law, Mary Lafrance

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This article discusses the intellectual property program at William S. Boyd School of Law.

When You Wish Upon Dastar: Creative Provenance And The Lanham Act, Mary Lafrance

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This Article examines the application of section 43(a) of the Lanham Act to claims of reverse passing off through the lens of the Supreme Court's unpersuasive effort in Dastar Corp. v. Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp. to exclude a single class of reverse passing off-claims - those involving “expressive” works as opposed to physical commodities - from the scope of section 43(a). The Article critiques the Court's analysis of section 43(a) in light of case law and the pertinent legislative history, including, the Trademark Law Revision Act of 1988, the Berne Convention Implementation Act of 1988, and the Visual Artists …

A Comparative Study Of United States And Japanese Laws On Collaborative Inventions, And The Impact Of Those Laws On Technology Transfers, Mary Lafrance

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This research examines United States and Japanese laws regarding patent rights in collaborative inventions, and inquires whether these laws may impede technology transfers by creating uncertainty regarding the ownership, validity, or enforceability of the resulting patents, or by imposing undue obstacles to the licensing or assignment of such patents. Where the laws of the two countries differ, this paper compares the merits of each approach and also assesses whether the differing approaches could be troublesome for cross-border transactions.

One of the most significant differences between United States and Japanese law regarding joint inventions is in the requirement of consent for …

Something Borrowed, Something New: The Changing Role Of Novelty In Idea Protection Law, Mary Lafrance

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Ideas that do not qualify for legal protection, it is well settled, are free to the world once they have been disclosed. Yet states vary considerably in the scope of, and prerequisites for, legal protection granted to ideas. Variations in state approaches to idea protection are well documented. The states most often highlighted for their contrasting approaches are New York and California. Idea protection doctrine in these two jurisdictions differs primarily in the role played by the concept of “novelty.” There is no one authoritative definition of novelty in this context; indeed, courts typically use the term without defining it. …

Innovations Palpitations: The Confusing Status Of Geographically Misdescriptive Trademarks, Mary Lafrance

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The United States' two major international trade agreements of the 1990s—the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)—included intellectual property provisions that led Congress to amend a number of federal intellectual property statutes, including, inter alia, the Lanham Act provisions dealing with federal registration of trademarks. Specifically, pursuant to Article 1712 of NAFTA, Congress revised the rules that determine whether, and under what circumstances, federal registration is permitted for trademarks that contain geographical indications of origin. In the decade since these enactments, it appeared that the courts had reached a reasonable interpretation …

Nevada’S Employee Inventions Statute: Novel, Nonobvious, And Patently Wrong, Mary Lafrance

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In its Seventy-First Session, the Nevada Legislature enacted a new statute, S. B. 558, granting employers complete ownership of any work-related inventions created by their employees, regardless of whether the employer contributed any resources whatsoever to the inventive process. This stunning reversal of longstanding common law was little noticed by the public, and was debated only superficially in the state legislature before receiving its overwhelming vote of approval.

This Article examines Nevada's new employee invention statute from the perspectives of common law and public policy. It compares Nevada's new statute with the traditional common law rules governing employee inventions, as …

Congress Trips Over International Law: Wto Finds Unfairness In Music Licensing Act, Mary Lafrance

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Intellectual property law reform in the United States frequently involves balancing the interest rights of holders against the interests of users. As international agreements play an increasingly important role in the development of domestic intellectual property law, striking this balance has become a more complicated process.

Whereas, a few decades ago, resolving the competing needs of owners and users often could be accomplished purely as a matter of domestic policy – whether the outcome was based on high-minded principle, interest group politics, or simple pragmatism – today the proposed resolution to such a conflict more often than not must be …

Authorship And Termination Rights In Sound Recordings, Mary Lafrance

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In late 1999, Congress amended the definition of "works made for hire" in § 101 of the Copyright Act to make explicit its intent to include sound recordings as a category of works eligible for this status. The amendment was repealed with retroactive effect less than a year later. All this happened—pardon the expression—in record time.

This odd course of events was precipitated by a request from the record industry, represented by the Recording Industry Association of America ("RIAA"), which persuaded Congress, shortly before passage of the Intellectual Property and Omnibus Communications Reform Act of 1999, to add a "technical …

New Laws, New Technology: Copyright Law Struggles With Change, Mary Lafrance

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This article examines the development of copyright law in 2000 and 2001.

Recent Developments In Copyright Law: Technology And International Trade Play Starring Roles, Mary Lafrance

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The once staid field of copyright law has undergone a dramatic revolution in recent years, as new technologies and international trade pressures have spurred legislative change, while challenging the federal courts to find answers to those questions that Congress has not resolved or, in some cases, to questions that recent acts of Congress have created. This article explores recent developments in copyright law in 2002.

Authorship, Dominance, And The Captive Collaborator: Preserving The Rights Of Joint Authors, Mary Lafrance

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For copyright purposes, determining whether a work has a single author or joint authors is important for a variety of reasons. Perhaps the most significant legal consequence of joint authorship is joint ownership, under which the authors enjoy equal and undivided ownership of the copyright, allowing each to exploit the work freely, subject to a duty to account to the others for a ratable share of the exploitation profits. Absent an agreement to the contrary, each author of a joint work has an equal claim to those profits and an equal right to exploit the work, even if the authors' …

Trouble In Transamerica: Deferred Compensation, Contingent Debt, And Overstated Basis, Mary Lafrance

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For many years, owners of motion pictures and television films have optimized the tax benefits of depreciation deductions by employing a broad concept of basis. In addition to their cash investment, these taxpayers have increased their basis to reflect both fixed and contingent liabilities incurred in creating or acquiring these assets. Some of these liabilities represent royalties for the use of intellectual property such as music and literary works incorporated in the film. Others constitute deferred compensation for the services performed by producers, directors, actors, musicians, and others during the production process. The fixed liabilities do not depend on the …

Days Of Our Lives: The Impact Of Section 197 On The Depreciation Of Copyrights, Patents And Related Property, Mary Lafrance

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For federal income tax purposes, owners of intangible property generally must capitalize the costs of creating or acquiring that property. In the past, the tax rules for recovering these capitalized costs through depreciation deductions varied greatly according to the nature of the intangible. Certain types of acquired intangibles--notably, goodwill and going concern value--were nondepreciable. In contrast, taxpayers purchasing interests in copyrights or patents could depreciate those assets under the straight-line method or, in most cases, could opt for more rapid cost recovery under the income forecast method.

In the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993, Congress greatly enlarged the class …

Book Review, Mary Lafrance

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Learning the business side of the film industry can be a daunting task. On-the-job training is treacherous, basic texts quickly become outdated, and treatises can overwhelm with detail. Moreover, it is one thing to know the general outlines of the business and legal aspects of film production, and quite another to feel prepared to negotiate a contract. This is particularly true in the area of film financing, where new techniques emerge with every deal. Producing, Financing and Distributing Film fills a unique niche by providing a concise one-volume introduction to the business side of film that is detailed and transaction-oriented. …

Note, Developments Under The Freedom Of Information Act—1984, Mary Lafrance

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The eighteenth year of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) witnessed a continuation of the trend toward restricting public access to government information. This article discusses the developments under the FOIA in 1984, including legislative developments, administrative developments, and judicial developments.