Law Commons^™

Opening The Door To Efficient Infringement: Ebay, Inc. V. Mercexchange, L.L.C., Sheri J. Engelken

Akron Intellectual Property Journal

Before the Supreme Court's decision in eBay, Inc. v. MercExchange, L.L.C., the Federal Circuit's "general rule" held sway: after a finding of patent infringement, trial courts were expected to issue permanent injunctions to halt any continuing infringement "absent exceptional circumstances." That general rule was intended to protect a patentee's right to exclude others from making, using, selling, or offering to sell the invention during the monopoly period enjoyed by the patentee. The Supreme Court in eBay rejected the Federal Circuit's general rule, placing the determination of whether and on what terms, if any, to grant a permanent injunction in …

Reconciling The "Moral Rights" Of Authors With The First Amendment Right Of Free Speech, John T. Cross

Akron Intellectual Property Journal

The article concludes that the First Amendment does not significantly limit the enforcement of those moral rights recognized by state and federal law. Several features of moral rights laws support this conclusion. First, many acts that infringe moral rights do not qualify as speech, and therefore receive no First Amendment protection. For example, the droit de suite, or resale right, is clearly constitutional under this rationale, as it involves no speech whatsoever. Second, even when the offending act is speech, most moral rights laws can be justified, depending on the circumstances, by one or more of several arguments. Indeed, many …

Patent Litigation In Japan, David W. Hill, Shinichi Murata

Akron Intellectual Property Journal

This article will explore how patent litigation in Japan has changed and will also compare and contrast aspects of patent litigation in the U.S. and Japan.

In Part II, we show recent statistical data on Japanese patent infringement litigation. Parts III and IV briefly review the Japanese judicial system and legal professionals in the area of intellectual property. Part V addresses patent-infringement actions in Japan and the recent amendments of the Code of Civil Procedure and the Patent Law. Next, Parts VI and VII discuss infringement analysis and possible defenses in patent-infringement litigation. Part VIII reviews how to calculate the …

The Return Of The Supreme Court To Patent Law, Timothy R. Holbrook

Akron Intellectual Property Journal

The diverse set of patent-related cases decided by the Supreme Court has demonstrated that the Court is not only concerned with narrow issues that generally fall within the penumbra of constitutional issues. Instead, the recent set of cases selected for certiorari primarily related to the core aspects of patent law. During this unsettled period in patent law, with calls for reform coming from commentators and Congress itself, the Court is beginning to articulate its viewpoints on the appropriate scope of protection afforded by patents. The following section discusses the most recent cases before the Court that either are patent cases …