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Full-Text Articles in Law

On Virtual Worlds: Copyright And Contract Law At The Dawn Of The Virtual Age, Erez Reuveni Apr 2007

On Virtual Worlds: Copyright And Contract Law At The Dawn Of The Virtual Age, Erez Reuveni

Indiana Law Journal

This Article argues that copyright law can and should apply to artistic and literary creations occurring entirely in virtual worlds. First, the Article introduces the concept of virtual worlds as places millions of people visit not only for entertainment but also for life and work. Second, the Article reviews the philosophical justifications for copyright, examines objections to applying copyright to virtual, rather than real, creative works, and concludes that neither precludes copyright for virtual creations. Third, the Article articulates how copyright law would function within virtual spaces and reviews copyrightable creations from the perspective of both game developers and players. …


Copyright And Youtube: Pirate's Playground Or Fair Use Forum?, Kurt Hunt Jan 2007

Copyright And Youtube: Pirate's Playground Or Fair Use Forum?, Kurt Hunt

Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review

The entertainment industry has a history of framing new technology as piracy that threatens its very existence, regardless of the potential benefits of the technology or the legal limits of copyright rights. In the case of YouTube, copyright owners' attempts to retain content control negatively impact the public's ability to discuss culture in an online world. This implicates the basic policy behind fair use: to prevent copyright law from "stifl[ing] the very creativity which that law is designed to foster." The internet has become a powerful medium for expression. It is a vital tool in today's world for sharing original …


Lessons From The Trademark Use Debate, Mark D. Janis, Graeme B. Dinwoodie Jan 2007

Lessons From The Trademark Use Debate, Mark D. Janis, Graeme B. Dinwoodie

Articles by Maurer Faculty

In their response to our article Confusion Over Use: Contextualism in Trademark Law, Professors Dogan and Lemley discard more all-encompassing versions of the trademark use requirement. Instead, they seek to delineate and defend a "more surgical form" of trademark use doctrine. In this reply, we demonstrate that the language of the Lanham Act does not impose a trademark use requirement even when that requirement is defined "surgically" and sections 32 and 43(a) are read "fluidly," as Dogan and Lemley suggest. Moreover, their interpretation still renders section 33(b)(4) redundant and unduly limits appropriate common law development of trademark law. We also …


Keep Your Eye On Your Ball: Patent Holders' Evolving Duty To Patrol The Marketplace For Infringement, Aaron B. Rabinowitz Jan 2007

Keep Your Eye On Your Ball: Patent Holders' Evolving Duty To Patrol The Marketplace For Infringement, Aaron B. Rabinowitz

Northwestern Journal of Technology and Intellectual Property

No abstract provided.


Choosing Between The Advice Of Counsel Defense To Willful Patent Infringement Or The Effective Assistance Of Trial Counsel: A Bridge Or The Troubled Waters, Christopher A. Harkins Jan 2007

Choosing Between The Advice Of Counsel Defense To Willful Patent Infringement Or The Effective Assistance Of Trial Counsel: A Bridge Or The Troubled Waters, Christopher A. Harkins

Northwestern Journal of Technology and Intellectual Property

Trouble is brewing for patent infringement defendants who use lawyers from one law firm to act as trial counsel and other lawyers from the same or different firm (albeit perfectly screened off from the trial team) to prepare a non-infringement opinion as an advice of counsel defense to allegations of willful infringement. The 2006 Federal Circuit decision in EchoStar has set off a veritable feeding frenzy of attacks by patentees' counsel on the most sacred of attorney client communications and work product: that of trial counsel. In a case of first impression, one federal court has even granted a motion …


National Cable & Telecommunications Association V. Brand X Internet Services: Resolving Irregularities In Regulation?, Amy L. Signaigo Jan 2007

National Cable & Telecommunications Association V. Brand X Internet Services: Resolving Irregularities In Regulation?, Amy L. Signaigo

Northwestern Journal of Technology and Intellectual Property

No abstract provided.


Is Apple Playing Fair? Navigating The Ipod Fairplay Drm Controversy, Nicola F. Sharpe, Olufunmilayo B. Arewa Jan 2007

Is Apple Playing Fair? Navigating The Ipod Fairplay Drm Controversy, Nicola F. Sharpe, Olufunmilayo B. Arewa

Northwestern Journal of Technology and Intellectual Property

No abstract provided.


Illinois Tool Works: Allocating The Burden Of Proving Market Power In Patent Tying Cases, Dennis J. Abdelnour Jan 2007

Illinois Tool Works: Allocating The Burden Of Proving Market Power In Patent Tying Cases, Dennis J. Abdelnour

Northwestern Journal of Technology and Intellectual Property

No abstract provided.


Extra-Judicial Decision Making For Drug Safety And Risk Management: Evidence From The Fda, Hazel Mcmullin, Andrew B. Whitford Jan 2007

Extra-Judicial Decision Making For Drug Safety And Risk Management: Evidence From The Fda, Hazel Mcmullin, Andrew B. Whitford

Northwestern Journal of Technology and Intellectual Property

No abstract provided.


Times May Have Changed, But The Song Is Still The Same: Why The Supreme Court Was Incorrect To Stray From Sony's Reasoning In Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, Inc. V. Grokster, Ltd., Julie A. Wooten Jan 2007

Times May Have Changed, But The Song Is Still The Same: Why The Supreme Court Was Incorrect To Stray From Sony's Reasoning In Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, Inc. V. Grokster, Ltd., Julie A. Wooten

Northwestern Journal of Technology and Intellectual Property

No abstract provided.


Overcoming The Achilles Heel Of Copyright Law, Haochen Sun Jan 2007

Overcoming The Achilles Heel Of Copyright Law, Haochen Sun

Northwestern Journal of Technology and Intellectual Property

No abstract provided.


Confusion Over Use: Contextualism In Trademark Law, Mark D. Janis, Graeme B. Dinwoodie Jan 2007

Confusion Over Use: Contextualism In Trademark Law, Mark D. Janis, Graeme B. Dinwoodie

Articles by Maurer Faculty

This paper tackles an intellectual property theory that many scholars regard as fundamental to future policy debates over the scope of trademark protection: the trademark use theory. We argue that trademark use theory is flawed and should be rejected. The adoption of trademark use theory has immediate practical implications for disputes about the use of trademarks in online advertising, merchandising, and product design, and has long-term consequences for other trademark generally. We critique the theory both descriptively and prescriptively. We argue that trademark use theory over-extends the search costs rationale for the trademark system, and that it unhelpfully elevates formalism …


The Rule Of Intellectual Property Law In The Internet Economy, Joel R. Reidenberg Jan 2007

The Rule Of Intellectual Property Law In The Internet Economy, Joel R. Reidenberg

Faculty Scholarship

This article argues that the technological attacks on intellectual property are a movement against democratically chosen intellectual property rules. They form a basic challenge to the rule of law and to the control of the rules wired into the network. In making this argument, the Article first maintains that intellectual property rights have an important public function in democracy in that they mark political, economic, and social boundaries. Next, the Article shows that the public law, as enacted by governments, has reallocated intellectual property rights to adapt to the information economy. While many aspects of this new allocation of rights …


Introducing A Takedown For Trade Secrets On The Internet, Elizabeth A. Rowe Jan 2007

Introducing A Takedown For Trade Secrets On The Internet, Elizabeth A. Rowe

UF Law Faculty Publications

This Article explores, for the first time, an existing void in trade-secret law. When a trade-secret owner discovers that its trade secrets have been posted on the Internet, there is currently no legislative mechanism by which the owner can request that the information be taken down. The only remedy to effectuate removal of the material is to obtain a court order, usually either a temporary restraining order or a preliminary injunction. When a trade secret appears on the Internet, the owner often loses the ability to continue to claim it as a trade secret and to prevent others from using …


Saving Trade Secret Disclosures On The Internet Through Sequential Preservation, Elizabeth A. Rowe Jan 2007

Saving Trade Secret Disclosures On The Internet Through Sequential Preservation, Elizabeth A. Rowe

UF Law Faculty Publications

When an employee discloses an employer's trade secrets to the public over the Internet, does our current trade secret framework appropriately address the consequences of that disclosure? What ought to be the rule that governs whether the trade secret owner has lost not only the protection status for the secret, but also any remedies against use by third parties? Should the ease with which the Internet permits instant and mass disclosure of secrets be taken into consideration in assessing the fairness of a rule that calls for immediate loss of the trade secret upon disclosure? Given that trade secret law …