Law Commons^™

Human Rights And Copyright: The Introduction Of Natural Law Considerations Into American Copyright Law , Orit Fischman Afori

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Copyright's Communications Policy, Timothy Wu

Michigan Law Review

There is something for everyone to dislike about early twenty-first century copyright. Owners of content say that newer and better technologies have made it too easy to be a pirate. Easy copying, they say, threatens the basic incentive to create new works; new rights and remedies are needed to restore the balance. Academic critics instead complain that a growing copyright gives content owners dangerous levels of control over expressive works. In one version of this argument, this growth threatens the creativity and progress that copyright is supposed to foster; in another, it represents an "enclosure movement" that threatens basic freedoms …

Are Decss T-Shirts Dirty Laundry? Wearable, Non-Executable Computer Code As Protected Speech, Sara Crasson

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Nickled And Dimed: The Dispute Over Intellectual Property Rights In The Bluenose Ii, Teresa Scassa

Dalhousie Law Journal

The Bluenose Schooner forms part of the folk history of Nova Scotia, and is a Canadian icon. Popular assumptions that Its name and image formed part of the public domain were put to the test in 2003 when the Bluenose II Preservation Trust Society brought suit against a Halifax business for Infringement of its official marks, trademarks and copyrights relating to the ship and its name. The litigation garnered local and national media attention, and the provincial government soon became involved in the dispute In this article, the author provides some background to the dispute before moving on to consider …

Peer-To-Peer File Sharing And Technological Sabotage Tactics: No Legislation Required, Hillary M. Kowalski

Marquette Intellectual Property Law Review

This comment examines the current state of downloading of copyrighted material using peer-to-peer (P2P) technology. The author overviews the P2P technology and details tactics being used by copyright holders to protect their works on the P2P networks. The author next analyzes various legal issues surrounding the copyright-protection tactics. The author concludes by examining proposed legislation designed to benefit copyright holders and asserts that Congressional intervention enabling sabotage tactics will not solve the P2P problem because such retaliatory measures will only worsen the situation by aggravating music lovers.

What Does Pruneyard Have To Do With California Internet Trade Secret Law?, Adam J. Sheridan

Marquette Intellectual Property Law Review

This comment discusses the facts of the Bunner case and the decisions of the Sixth District and the Supreme Court. The Bunner case involves Andrew Bunner and his act of putting a link on his Web page allowing visitors to access a Digitial Video Disc (DVD) descrambler program, which allowed a computer user to decrypt DVDs. The DVD Copy Control Association sought an injunction against Bunner under the California Uniform Trade Secrets Act (UTSA). The author analyzes the historical protection given free speech and trade secrets under California law. Looking at the Bunner case in light of Pruneyard, the author …

Protection For Indigenous Peoples And Their Traditional Knowledge: Would A Registry System Reduce The Misappropriation Of Traditional Knowledge?, Thomas J, Krumenacher

Marquette Intellectual Property Law Review

This Comment examines the controversy over whether a registry system is the best way to prevent Western inventors from obtaining intellectual property protection for traditional knowledge that has been misappropriated from underdeveloped parts of the world. This dilemma exists because traditional knowledge often constitutes patentable subject matter, most indigenous peoples do not subscribe to a Western "property rights" view of the world, and exploitation of traditional knowledge has become easier through improved communication capabilities. This Comment argues in favor of a registry system to catalog traditional knowledge; patent examiners would deny patent protection to any invention that replicates traditional knowledge. …

For Of All Sad Words Of Tongue Or Pen, The Saddest Are “It Might Have Been”—Free Culture: How Big Media Uses Technology And The Law To Lock Down Culture And Control Creativity, Katherine Kelly

William Mitchell Law Review

Review of Free Culture: How Big Media Uses Technology and the Law to Lock Down Culture and Control Creativity. By Lawrence Lessig. Penguin Press, 2004. 348 pages, $24.95

Market Definition In Intellectual Property Law: Should Intellectual Property Courts Use An Antitrust Approach To Market Definition?, Anna F. Kingsbury

Marquette Intellectual Property Law Review

In her Article, Ms. Kingsbury notes that American courts do not use antitrust law's market definition approach in intellectual property cases. She discusses five potential rationales for this dichotomy: (1) intellectual property cases involve new products without defined markets; (2) market definition limits judicial flexibility; (3) courts do not want to burden intellectual property litigants with the time and expense of economic evidence; (4) judges reason from precedent, and that precedent did not consider market definition; and (5) "market" conveys a different meaning in intellectual property law than it does in antitrust law. Kingsbury presents counterarguments to these rationales and …

Counting Down Another Music Marathon: Copyright Arbitration Royalty Panels And The Case Of Internet Radio, Sara J. O'Connell

Marquette Intellectual Property Law Review

Ms. O'Connell won the Computer Law Association's 2003 Information Technology Law Writing Competition for this article discussing the controversy over Copyright Arbitration Royalty Panels ("CARPs"). A CARP sets royalty rates for the performance of copyrighted works when the copyright owner and the broadcaster have not agreed on those rates. Congress created CARPs as a way to encourage the creation of creative works and to promote public access to these creative works. Recently, a CARP recommended royalty rates for webcasting; the broadcasting of copyrighted works over the Internet. The CARP's recommendation was rejected by the Librarian of Congress, criticized by both …

Communication Breakdown: The Recording Industry's Pursuit Of The Individual Music User, A Comparison Of U.S. And E.U. Copyright Protections For Internet Music File Sharing, Ryan Bates

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

While music file sharing over the internet has become a common practice in recent years, record companies blame the illegal swapping for a 31% drop in compact disk sales since mid-2000. In an ever-evolving attempt to gain a stronghold on the distribution of digital music via the internet, the recording industry recently began filing lawsuits against the individual internet "file sharer" in both the United States the European Union.

This comment examines the development of copyright protections in the United States and the European Union, including recent legislation under each system, and argues that a balance of rights and technical …

Through The Years:The Supreme Court And The Copyright Clause, Ruth L. Okediji

William Mitchell Law Review

No abstract provided.