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Articles 1 - 30 of 120
Full-Text Articles in Law
The Angel Wears Prada, The Devil Buys It On The Realreal: Expanding Trademark Rights Beyond The First Sale Doctrine, Junajoy Vinoya Frianeza
The Angel Wears Prada, The Devil Buys It On The Realreal: Expanding Trademark Rights Beyond The First Sale Doctrine, Junajoy Vinoya Frianeza
Pepperdine Law Review
Luxury brands derive their goodwill from the high-class exclusivity and first-rate quality signified in their trademarks. The Trademark Act of 1946, commonly known as the Lanham Act, grants trademark holders the right to control use of their mark. However, under common law, the first sale doctrine restricts trademark protection after holders authorize the initial sale of their trademarked product. Such limitation particularly jeopardizes the luxury industry as trademark holders ultimately bear the loss of goodwill when counterfeit luxury goods enter the market due to the negligence of resellers. This Comment illustrates how blockchain authentication offers all luxury industry participants—the brands, …
Give Or Take—Is The Droit De Suite A Taking Without Just Compensation?, Jeremy Cohen
Give Or Take—Is The Droit De Suite A Taking Without Just Compensation?, Jeremy Cohen
Pepperdine Law Review
The Constitution mandates Congress to protect the arts and sciences directly by creating an exclusive right called copyright. However, visual artists such as painters, sculptors, and photographers in the United States still cannot participate in the significant profits from the secondary sales of their copyrighted works at public and private auctions. In over eighty countries worldwide, the droit de suite, also known as the Artist Resale Royalty (ARR), grants visual artists such royalties. Unfortunately, the United States currently lacks such a royalty, despite multiple unsuccessful attempts by Congress to pass federal legislation. Although California enacted its own version of the …
Who Owns Your Name? The Trend And Economic Impact Of Personal Trademarks In The Ncaa Nil Aftermath, Daniel Foster
Who Owns Your Name? The Trend And Economic Impact Of Personal Trademarks In The Ncaa Nil Aftermath, Daniel Foster
The Journal of Business, Entrepreneurship & the Law
To aid in understanding the prevalence of personal athlete logos and the trend of ownership and design, Section II will outline the history of this area of trademark law in the United States. It will provide background on the theory of trademark ownership and the development of this intellectual property discipline in the athletic and celebrity sphere. Section II will look at the two common and distinct processes, a company-designed logo versus an athlete-designed logo, and the modern trends in this area. Moving on from this historical discussion, Section III will examine the 2021 decision of NCAA v. Alston, the …
Choreography And Copyright: Why The Law Must Twist And Turn To Serve The Dancing Industry, Gabrielle Mix
Choreography And Copyright: Why The Law Must Twist And Turn To Serve The Dancing Industry, Gabrielle Mix
The Journal of Business, Entrepreneurship & the Law
With so many hurdles to jump over for choreographers to earn simple rights, it is time to re-evaluate the process of copyright protection for dance. In part A, this comment will discuss the history of copyright law and choreography. Part B will analyze the requirements copyright has placed on choreography and the struggles courts face in applying them. Part C will discuss the spread of online choreography and the difficulties these choreographers face regarding copyright protection. Part D will discuss additional reasons why choreographers are not seeking copyright protection. Part E will discuss the barriers choreographers face in proving infringement, …
What Covid-19 Retail Bankruptcies Can Teach Us About Intellectual Property In A Post-Pandemic World, Brenna Arbuckle
What Covid-19 Retail Bankruptcies Can Teach Us About Intellectual Property In A Post-Pandemic World, Brenna Arbuckle
The Journal of Business, Entrepreneurship & the Law
Both IP and bankruptcy laws are quite complex. With that in mind, this comment will narrowly focus on what retail bankruptcies amid COVID-19 can teach us about the value of IP, particularly trademarks and trade secrets, post-pandemic. Part II of this comment explores the relevant legal background, in particular IP and bankruptcy laws. Part III provides context regarding the retail industry and delves into relevant pre-pandemic trends. Further, Part IV discusses the impact of COVID-19 on the retail industry, particularly on consumer behaviors and bankruptcy bids. Part IV details lessons from such bankruptcies and the possible impacts on the industry …
Know When To Hold Them, When To Fold Them, And When To Walk Away: Tiktoks Are Professional Sports Franchises' Ace In Collective Bargaining Negotiations, Angelica Varona
Know When To Hold Them, When To Fold Them, And When To Walk Away: Tiktoks Are Professional Sports Franchises' Ace In Collective Bargaining Negotiations, Angelica Varona
Pepperdine Law Review
TikTok, the social media app, has become both a central force in entertainment, creating a slew of influencers and young celebrities, as well as an important tool in all things branding and marketing. Athletes have recognized the value of social media and fan engagement and have taken to becoming content-creators on the platform. The growing presence of professional athletes on the app brings up important issues of copyrightability and ownership of the content they are producing. This Comment considers the nature of athlete content-creation on TikTok as well as the employment scheme and contractual responsibilities that form a part of …
The Current State Of Student-Athlete Nil Rights: How Congress Should Respond To The Rapidly Changing Landscape Of Inter-Collegiate Sports, Kyle Aronson
Journal of the National Association of Administrative Law Judiciary
Collegiate student-athletes began signing sponsorship deals that compensate them for their name, image and likeness beginning in July 2021. Since its inception, the NCAA has prohibited student-athletes from receiving any outside monetary compensation to preserve traditional notions of amateurism. States have begun to pass legislation that allow for student-athlete compensation following recent decisions by the Supreme Court and Ninth Circuit suggesting that the NCAA’s historic practice may run afoul of antitrust law. This comment analyzes issues with the current state-by-state patchwork of laws that formulate the current landscape of collegiate sports. Finally, this comment will show why centralized, federal regulation …
Are Cryptopunks Copyrightable?, Brian L. Frye
Are Cryptopunks Copyrightable?, Brian L. Frye
Pepperdine Law Review
Larva Labs’ CryptoPunks NFTs are iconic. Created in 2017, they were among the first NFTs on the Ethereum blockchain. Four years later, they are among the most valuable, selling for anywhere from $200,000 to millions of dollars. The CryptoPunks collection consists of 10,000 NFTs, each of which is associated with a unique CryptoPunks image. Everyone knows who owns each CryptoPunks NFT. The Ethereum blockchain provides indelible proof. But people disagree about who owns - and who should own - the copyright in the CryptoPunks images. Most CryptoPunks NFT owners believe they should own the copyright in the image associated with …
"Stronger" Together: Kanye Could Have Owned His Masters By Engaging In Collective Bargaining, L. Camille Cordova
"Stronger" Together: Kanye Could Have Owned His Masters By Engaging In Collective Bargaining, L. Camille Cordova
Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal
Because the legislature and judiciary have failed to protect recording artists’ interests, this article proposes that engaging in collective bargaining will re-balance the bargaining positions of the major record labels and recording artists to create a mutually beneficial agreement that gives recording artists a termination of rights clause that mirrors section 203 of the 1976 Copyright Act. By contracting with a major record label, recording artists are automatically eligible for union membership to the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists union (“SAG-AFTRA”), who have experience negotiating other collective-bargaining agreements with these record labels. This agreement would provide …
The Chinese Copyright Dream, Sean A. Pager, Eric Priest
The Chinese Copyright Dream, Sean A. Pager, Eric Priest
Pepperdine Law Review
Chinese President Xi Jinping’s vision of the “Chinese Dream” has captured the popular imagination. As a slogan, the Chinese Dream is intentionally broad. Intended to inspire rather than prescribe, it captures diverse aspirations including dreams of material prosperity, environmental sustainability, national rejuvenation, and global leadership. The Dream’s ramifications continue to ricochet through state policy echelons and lend themselves to competing interpretations. In that spirit, we advance a modest suggestion: that the Chinese Dream should be, at least in part, a dream about copyright law. A more effective copyright system would bolster China’s creative industries, generating a diverse supply of high-quality …
De-Gentrified Black Genius: Blockchain, Copyright, And The Disintermediation Of Creativity, Tonya M. Evans
De-Gentrified Black Genius: Blockchain, Copyright, And The Disintermediation Of Creativity, Tonya M. Evans
Pepperdine Law Review
In a 2016 acceptance speech during the Black Entertainment Television (BET) Awards, actor and activist Jesse Williams used the phrase “gentrifying our genius” to refer to the insidious process of misappropriating the cultural and artistic productions of Black creators, inventors, and innovators. In that speech, he poignantly and unapologetically condemned racial discrimination and cultural misappropriation. This Article chronicles the nefarious history of the creative disempowerment of creators of color and then imagines an empowering future for those who successfully exploit their creations by fully leveraging copyright ownership and transfer termination. To that end, I reference the considerable scholarship of Professor …
The Long And Winding Road To Effective Copyright Protection In China, Peter K. Yu
The Long And Winding Road To Effective Copyright Protection In China, Peter K. Yu
Pepperdine Law Review
In November 2020, China adopted the Third Amendment to the Copyright Law, providing a major overhaul of its copyright regime. This Amendment entered into effect on June 1, 2021. The last time the regime was completely revamped was in October 2001, when the Copyright Law was amended two months before China joined the World Trade Organization. While U.S. policymakers and industry groups have had mixed reactions to the recent Amendment, the new law presents an opportunity to take stock of the progress China has made in the copyright reform process. This Article begins by mapping the long and winding road …
Reflections On Music Copyright Justice, Peter S. Menell
Reflections On Music Copyright Justice, Peter S. Menell
Pepperdine Law Review
The digital revolution has upended many aspects of the copyright system, particularly as it relates to music. Drawing on creative, jurisprudential, technological, and social science insights, this article explores the broad range of music copyright justice concerns, ranging from file sharing to royalty distribution, copyright infringement standards, and the creation of music mashups.
Thieves In The Temple: The Scandal Of Copyright Registration And African- American Artists, Kevin J. Greene
Thieves In The Temple: The Scandal Of Copyright Registration And African- American Artists, Kevin J. Greene
Pepperdine Law Review
Copyright registration is the currency of copyright transactions in music, film, and television and is essential for pursuing infringement claims and ownership disputes. Despite copyright registration’s outsized reach across the copyright spectrum and importance to the copyright industries, the U.S. Copyright Office does not verify claims of copyright authorship or ownership. No express mechanism exists to challenge false copyright registrations in the Copyright Office, and the penalties for falsely claiming copyright authorship are paltry in comparison to the potential gains. This Article contends that lax copyright registration standards call into question the legitimacy of the registration system and that the …
The Hollywood Circuit’S Protection Of The Batmobile Provides An Uncertain Future For First Amendment Protections, Nicole Geiser
The Hollywood Circuit’S Protection Of The Batmobile Provides An Uncertain Future For First Amendment Protections, Nicole Geiser
The Journal of Business, Entrepreneurship & the Law
This Comment analyzes the potentially damaging impact the Ninth Circuit’s decision in Towle could have on modern copyright law and the First Amendment. Part I will provide an overview of modern copyright law, challenges faced when deciding the level of protection that should be afforded to characters, and the important difference between literary characters and visually depicted characters and how it can affect the degree of protection allowed. Part II will discuss the history of character copyright, specifically, the different tests adopted by circuit courts and the impact each one has on the protection of characters. Part III will analyze …
Songwriters V. Spotify: Is Spotify The Problem Or A Symptom Of The Problem?, Mariana L. Orbay
Songwriters V. Spotify: Is Spotify The Problem Or A Symptom Of The Problem?, Mariana L. Orbay
Pepperdine Law Review
Today, streaming is the prevailing mode of music consumption. Yet, streaming services are struggling to turn a profit, as songwriters also face significant financial challenges in the streaming era. All the while, record labels are collecting the majority of streaming revenue and seeing record profits. The 2018 Music Modernization Act attempted to address songwriters’ and streaming services’ financial problems by altering the factors considered by the Copyright Royalty Board in determining the mechanical royalty rates owed by streaming platforms to songwriters. A proper application of this newly instated factor test necessitates considering both songwriters’ and streaming services’ business operations and …
Substantial Similarity’S Silent Death, Daryl Lim
Substantial Similarity’S Silent Death, Daryl Lim
Pepperdine Law Review
Copyright litigation involving hit songs like Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines,” Justin Bieber and Usher’s “Somebody to Love,” and Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven” caused many in the music industry to vex over the line between homage and infringement. When are the two works too similar? To many courts and scholars, substantial similarity is “bizarre,” “ad hoc,” and “a virtual black hole in copyright jurisprudence.” Every creative work borrows some inspiration from other works, whether copyrighted or not. Judging when defendants appropriated too much is an inherently opaque and subjective enterprise, but unraveling its mysteries is critical for the flourishing of …
Protecting The First Amendment Rights Of Video Games From Lanham Act And Right Of Publicity Claims, Yen-Shyang Tseng
Protecting The First Amendment Rights Of Video Games From Lanham Act And Right Of Publicity Claims, Yen-Shyang Tseng
Pepperdine Law Review
In 2013 and 2015, the Ninth Circuit decided two nearly identical cases in which professional football players alleged a video game publisher used their likenesses without authorization in a game that simulates real football games. One plaintiff brought a false endorsement claim under the Lanham Act, while others brought state law right of publicity claims. That made all the difference. The Ninth Circuit found the First Amendment protected the game against the false endorsement claim, but not against the right of publicity claims. These contradictory results stem from court’s application of the Rogers v. Grimaldi test to Lanham Act claims …
The Music Industry: Drowning In The Stream, Jonathan Croskrey
The Music Industry: Drowning In The Stream, Jonathan Croskrey
Journal of the National Association of Administrative Law Judiciary
The Department of Justice is reviewing two of it's oldest consent decrees, which were entered into with ASCAP and BMI. ASCAP and BMI are the two original performing rights organizations and existed well before streaming. This article analyzes copyright and antirust law through the lens of modern technology and the current landscape of the music industry. It examines whether the consent decrees should be removed or modified and what the consequences of each would be.
Creative Destruction: Copyright's Fair Use Doctrine And The Moral Right Of Integrity, Cathay Y. N. Smith
Creative Destruction: Copyright's Fair Use Doctrine And The Moral Right Of Integrity, Cathay Y. N. Smith
Pepperdine Law Review
This Paper explores the role of copyright’s fair use doctrine as a limit on the moral right of integrity. The moral right of integrity gives an author the right to prevent any distortion, modification, or mutilation of their work that prejudices their honor or reputation. Actions that have been found to violate an author’s moral right of integrity include, for instance, altering a mural by painting clothing over nude figures, selling separated panels of a single work of art, and displaying sculptures with holiday ribbons. At the same time, copyright’s fair use doctrine allows follow-on creators to transform original works …
‘Substantial Portion’ Of A Patent: Quantitative Or Qualitative?, Matthew Rollin
‘Substantial Portion’ Of A Patent: Quantitative Or Qualitative?, Matthew Rollin
Journal of the National Association of Administrative Law Judiciary
This Article examines the U.S. Supreme Court’s holding in Life Technologies Corp., where the Court issued another requirement for patent infringement. Part II of this Article examines the text of the Patent Act and the history behind it. Part III further discusses the facts of Life Technologies Corp., to give more relevant background facts and history. Part IV focuses on the prior opinions of the case, including the district court’s ruling, appellate court’s decision, and the Supreme Court’s decision. Part V examines and concludes with the legal significance of Life Technologies Corp., the impact that it will have on future …
Placebo Marks, Jake Linford
Placebo Marks, Jake Linford
Pepperdine Law Review
Scholars often complain that sellers use trademarks to manipulate consumer perception. This manipulation ostensibly harms consumers by limiting their ability to make informed choices. For example, holding other things constant, consumers spend more money on goods with a high-performance reputation. Critics characterize that result as wasteful, if not anticompetitive. But recent marketing research shows that trademarks with a high-performance reputation may sometimes influence perception to the benefit of the consumer. A trademark with a high-performance reputation can deliver a performance-enhancing placebo effect. Research subjects perform better at physical and mental tasks when they prepare or play with a product bearing …
Copyrighting Experiences: How Copyright Law Applies To Virtual Reality Programs, Alexis Dunne
Copyrighting Experiences: How Copyright Law Applies To Virtual Reality Programs, Alexis Dunne
The Journal of Business, Entrepreneurship & the Law
This note will attempt to shed light on the question of what kind of protection copyright law affords VR experiences. Part II discusses the nature of VR experiences and their implementation through specifically tailored VR technology. Part III provides an overview of copyright protection, its limitations, and specifically the history of the copyrightability of computer programs. Parts IV and V outline case law relevant to the discussion of the copyrightability of different types of VR experiences and how that case law similarly or dissimilarly apply to the protection of VR experiences. Part IV focuses on protecting VR experiences as a …
Government-Sponsored Patent Monetizing Entities, Garry A. Gabison
Government-Sponsored Patent Monetizing Entities, Garry A. Gabison
The Journal of Business, Entrepreneurship & the Law
Government-sponsored patent assertion entities have materialized all over the world. This article looks at the market failure associated with the patent system. These entities have an opportunity to address these market inefficiencies. But, these entities can damage the innovation more by decreasing competition and increasing protectionism. This article looks at three such entities and argues that the US could use such an entity.
Making Room For Big Data: Web Scraping And An Affirmative Right To Access Publicly Available Information Online, Amber Zamora
Making Room For Big Data: Web Scraping And An Affirmative Right To Access Publicly Available Information Online, Amber Zamora
The Journal of Business, Entrepreneurship & the Law
This paper will explore the legality of web scraping through the lens of recent litigation between web scraper hiQ Labs and the online professional networking platform, LinkedIn. First, the paper will study the background of web scraping litigation, some challenges courts face in issuing consistent verdicts, and the most common claims companies make against web scrapers. Then the paper will address three of the most common claims and identify court motivations and limitations within the doctrines. The first claims are those arising from the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA). Next, the paper will investigate copyright claims and defenses …
Star Athletica Tells The Fashion Industry To Knock-It-Off With The Knockoffs, Samantha Burdick
Star Athletica Tells The Fashion Industry To Knock-It-Off With The Knockoffs, Samantha Burdick
Pepperdine Law Review
At any given fast fashion store, there may be a near exact replica of a ‘designer’ clothing item that sells for four times less than the amount it would at a luxury retailer. Wait—isn’t that illegal? After the Supreme Court’s landmark separability test created in Star Athletica, the answer may soon be yes. Fast fashion chains make their money exploiting the historical lack of copyright protection in the fashion industry. Lamps, shoes, and clothes have long been held ineligible for copyright protection because the utilitarian features are inseparable from the artistic. In other words, the part of clothing that is …
Trends In Fashion Law: Striking The Proper Balance Between Protecting The Art Form And Sustaining A Thriving Online Market, Elisabeth Johnson
Trends In Fashion Law: Striking The Proper Balance Between Protecting The Art Form And Sustaining A Thriving Online Market, Elisabeth Johnson
The Journal of Business, Entrepreneurship & the Law
No abstract provided.
Definite Indefiniteness Of "Molecular Weight" As A Claim Term For Polymer-Related Patents, Ping-Hsun Chen
Definite Indefiniteness Of "Molecular Weight" As A Claim Term For Polymer-Related Patents, Ping-Hsun Chen
The Journal of Business, Entrepreneurship & the Law
The molecular weight of a polymer is not just a number for a single molecule. In fact, molecular weight measurement is based on a large volume of molecules of the same polymer. Due to the non-uniformity of molecular weights, there are several methods to measure an “average molecular weight” of a polymer. Unfortunately, the Federal Circuit in Teva Pharms. USA, Inc. v. Sandoz, Inc., 789 F.3d 1335 (Fed. Cir. 2015), held that the term “molecular weight” in several polymer claims was indefinite, because the term could mean either peak average molecular weight, number average molecular weight, or weight average molecular …
Ignoring Administrative Decisions Through Settlement: A Holistic Approach, Vincent Escoto
Ignoring Administrative Decisions Through Settlement: A Holistic Approach, Vincent Escoto
Journal of the National Association of Administrative Law Judiciary
No abstract provided.
Piracy On Peer-To-Peer File Sharing Networks: Why A Streamlined Online Dispute Resolution System Should Not Be Forgotten In The Shadow Of A Federal Small Claims Tribunal, Naomi Gemmell
Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal
This Article proposes application of an ADR system for resolving online copyright disputes related to P2P file sharing. Section II provides an overview of P2P file sharing networks and associated copyright infringement. Section III explores current approaches that fall short in resolving P2P copyright disputes, namely the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, litigation, and private agreements. Section IV examines the two primary proposed solutions to online copyright disputes: alternative dispute resolution and federal small claims. Section V recommends that a streamlined online dispute resolution system is necessary (even if a federal small claims tribunal is adopted), and concludes.