Law Commons^™

Note On Singer's The Legal Rights Debate In Analytical Jurisprudence From Betham To Hohfeld - 1984, Wendy J. Gordon

Scholarship Chronologically

The economic realm is the area in which these sorts of privileges are most obviously to be found; it is in the economic realm that the evidence of "damnum absque injuria" began to accumulate, leading Homes, Salmond and others to recognize that the legal system did sometimes allow persons to inflict harm on others.

Note On Goetz's Law And Economics: Cases And Materials - 1984, Wendy J. Gordon

Scholarship Chronologically

No abstract provided.

Protecting Intellectual Property In Taiwan—Non-Recognized United States Corporations And Their Treaty Right Of Access To Courts, Michael M. Hickman

Washington Law Review

As global trade grows, intellectual property rights become increasingly important. United States corporations must often seek redress for infringement of their intellectual property rights in foreign forums. Taiwan has an international reputation for commercial counterfeiting. United States corporations with no presence in Taiwan are sometimes victims of infringement there. This Note describes the problems a non-recognized United States corporation presently faces in protecting its intellectual property rights in Taiwan and proposes a solution embodied in the United States-Republic of China (ROC) Treaty of Friendship, Commerce, and Navigation (FCN Treaty). A criminal case instituted by Apple Computer in Taiwan illustrates the …

Protecting Research: Copyright, Common-Law Alternatives, And Federal Preemption, David E. Shipley, Jeffrey S. Hays

Scholarly Works

Under federal copyright law, an author's expression is protected but his ideas and discoveries are not. Professor Shipley explores the possibility of expanding copyright to protect the research of nonfiction authors, but concludes that such an expansion would undermine federal copyright policy. State-law remedies exist that will provide such protection if they are not preempted by federal law. Professor Shipley concludes that most contract claims and some misappropriation claims will survive preemption and therefore are a means by which nonfiction authors can protect their research.

Park 'N Fly, Inc. V. Dollar Park And Fly, Inc., Lewis F. Powell Jr.

Supreme Court Case Files

No abstract provided.

Mills Music, Inc. V. Snyder, Lewis F. Powell Jr.

Supreme Court Case Files

No abstract provided.

Dowling V. United States, Lewis F. Powell, Jr.

Supreme Court Case Files

No abstract provided.

Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc. V. Nation Enterprises, Lewis F. Powell Jr.

Supreme Court Case Files

No abstract provided.

The Challenge Of Computer-Crime Legislation: How Should New York Respond?, Amalia M. Wagner

Buffalo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Six Copyright Theories For The Protection Of Computer Object Programs, I. Trotter Hardy

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Note On The House Of Cards: Revisiting Calabresi's Cathedral - 1984, Wendy J. Gordon

Scholarship Chronologically

No one has taught us as much about law and economics as Calabresi, and nowhere so much as in the "Property Rights" article he wrote with Douglas Melamed twenty years ago. While the insights of that piece still retain their clarifying power, it's time for a reassessment. In giving us a newly empowered vocabulary and a mode of analysis, Calabresi and Melamed gave us a somewhat flawed picture of the world.

Litigating The Validity And Infringement Of Software Patents, William L. Anthony, Jr., Robert C. Colwell

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Copyrightability Of Computer Operating Systems

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Fair Use In Commercial Advertising

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

A Common Law For The Ages Of Intellectual Property, Dan Rosen

University of Miami Law Review

This Article maintains that the rapid pace of technological advances requires that courts take an activist posture in intellectual property cases by updating the Copyright Act and the Patent Law instead of awaiting congressional response.

Satellite/Dish Antenna Technology: A Copyright Owner's Dilemma, Sydnee Robin Singer

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Patenting Inventions That Embody Computer Programs Held As Trade Secrets—White Consolidated Industries V. Vega Servo-Control, 713 F.2d 788 (Fed. Cir. 1983), Ellen Lauver Weber

Washington Law Review

An inventor develops a numerical control system that allows a computer program to control the complex operation of machine tools such as drill bits. One of the elements in the numerical control system is a trade secret available only from the inventor. The inventor would like to patent the system as a whole, but an inventor must generally disclose how the invention works in order to obtain a patent. Must this inventor completely disclose how the trade secret works in order to obtain a patent on the whole system? The Federal Circuit Court of Appeals said "yes" in White Consolidated …

The Freelancer's Trap: Work For Hire Under The Copyright Act Of 1976, Johanna Fisher Stewart

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Fair Use Old And New: The Betamax Case And Its Forebears, M. B. W. Sinclair

Buffalo Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Syndication And Financial Interest Rules: Is It A Prime Time For A Change, Robert M. Osher

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

The FCC has recently proposed a repeal of the television network syndication and financial interest rules (Rules). The Rules, enacted in 1970, regulate certain network programming practices in an effort to shift more wealth to producers and thereby encourage more diverse and creative programming. The author questions the assumptions underlying the Rules and argues that drastic changes in the television marketplace have rendered the Rules ineffective. He concludes that the Rules should be replaced by new regulations more carefully constructed to prevent unwanted network dominance.

The Proposed Repeal Of The Financial Interest And Syndication Rules: Network Domination Or Public Interest Representation, Evie L. Klintzer

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

In 1970, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) adopted the Financial Interest and Syndication Rules (FISR) and the Prime Time Access Rule to increase programming diversity and permit independent producers greater access to prime time viewing hours. Now, fourteen years later, the FCC is seeking repeal of the FISR and deregulation of network affiliation in the syndication of independently produced programs. The author carefully examines the changes occurring in the television industry since the adoption of the FISR and the arguments favoring and opposing the proposed repeal, concluding that the FISR should be retained.

Tuning Out The Electorate: Early Network Projections And Decreased Voter Turnout, Jeff Polsky

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

The author offers evidence that television and radio coverage of elections prior to the closing of polls nationwide influences election results and thereby interferes with the electoral process. The author examines several possible solutions and concludes that the most effective solutions are restrictions on exit-polling and prohibitions against early broadcasts of election result projections. Acknowledging that such restrictions or prohibitions raise first amendment issues, the author argues that the primary purpose of the first amendment is protection of our system of self-government. The author concludes that broadcasts of early election projections deter people from voting and that the first amendment …

Sports And The Law: A Comprehensive Bibliography Of Law-Related Materials, Five Year Supplement (1979-1984), Frank G. Houdek

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

No abstract provided.

The Prime Time Access Rule: Six Commandments For Inept Regulation, Thomas G. Krattenmaker

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

The Federal Communications Commission's Prime Time Access Rule (PTAR) forbids television stations affiliated with the major networks from broadcasting certain programs during certain hours if the programs were produced for one of the major networks. The author examines the reasons PTAR is favored by the networks but concludes that PTAR should be repealed since it does not further any goals of network regulation, disregards viewer welfare, and clashes with anticensorship policies. The author suggests that regulatory inaction will increase competition among the networks for viewers, eventually forcing the networks themselves to push for PTAR's repeal.

Who's Watching The Watchdog: Self-Evaluative Privilege And Journalistic Responsibility In Westmoreland V. Cbs, Inc., Paul A. Weiss

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

This note explores the self-evaluative privilege and its application to newsgathering media defendants in defamation trials. In Westmoreland v. CBS, Inc., defendant CBS was found to have waived the privilege. The author discusses the possible effects of this ruling and argues that the public interest in fostering responsible journalism should foreclose punishing newsgathering organizations that publicly take responsibility for their mistakes. The author concludes that the privilege, with limitations, should be extended to newsgathering media defendants.

The Applicability Of State Action Doctrine To Private Broadcasters, Ruth Walden

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

In light of the "deregulatory fever" currently in vogue in Washington, claims of a first amendment right of access to the broadcasting media are being heard again. Many groups are hoping to use the Constitution

to fill the access gap that would be left by elimination of policies like the fairness doctrine. Before such an approach can succeed, however, the government action requirement of the first amendment must be met; without state action, the first amendment is simply inapplicable. In this article, the author analyzes previous attempts to apply state action doctrine to broadcasters and the judicial responses they engendered. …

An Overview Of Sex Discrimination In Amateur Athletics, Jeffrey K. Riffer

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

Sex-based discrimination in interscholastic sports has recently been challenged by both male and female athletes. The courts have reached conflicting decisions as to whether such discrimination should be allowed and, if so, under what circumstances. The author analyzes the constitutional and statutory bases of these decisions. The author argues that this area remains in confusion because many of these decisions inadequately consider the issues involved or are based on stereotypical views of male and female athletic ability.

The Seven-Year Itch: California Labor Code Section 2855, Jonathan Blaufarb

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

California Labor Code section 2855 applies a seven-year limit to the enforceability of personal service contracts. This note discusses section 2855 as it applies to the unique contractual practices of the entertainment industry, particularly the industry's use of mid-term contractual extensions and agreements. The author analyzes the courts' application of section 2855 in two representative cases and concludes that greater statutory guidance is needed in order for the courts to better interpret section 2855. The author suggests that an interpretive provision be added to section 2855 to create a "rebuttable presumption" that a personal service contract which is renegotiated mid-term …

Mother Knows Best: Reconciling Parental Consent With Minors' Rights In Shields V. Gross, Charmaine Jefferson

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

The author analyzes the possibility that New York courts have eliminated a minor's common law right to disaffirm contracts under some circumstances. Sections 50 and 51 of New York's Civil Rights Law require the consent of a minor's parent or guardian for use of the minor's name, portrait, or picture. A parent's or guardian's consent may preclude the minor from later disaffirming a contract for the use of his or her name or photograph. The author suggests possible changes in legislation to protect the minor, as well as alternative legal approaches to prevent the use of photographs to which the …

A Tale Of Two Standards: Antitrust, The Public Interest, And The Television Industry, Edward P. Sangster

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

Until recently, competitive advertising practices required by antitrust laws might have interfered with the statutory obligation of broadcasters to program in the public interest. In United States v. National Association of Broadcasters, the court invalidated a television industry trade agreement that helped broadcasters fulfill their public interest requirement. The court held that the antitrust requirement of free competition outweighed the programming requirement. This note examines the court's decision and analyzes its effect on the FCC's recent deregulation of television advertising practices. The author questions the wisdom of deregulating the industry before the FCC has had the opportunity to study advertising …