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Full-Text Articles in Law
Do Patents Drive Investment In Software?, James Hicks
Do Patents Drive Investment In Software?, James Hicks
Northwestern University Law Review
In the wake of a quartet of Supreme Court decisions which disrupted decades of settled law, the doctrine of patentable subject matter is in turmoil. Scholars, commentators, and jurists continue to disagree sharply over which kinds of invention should be patentable. In this debate, no technology has been more controversial than software. Advocates of software patents contend that denying protection would stymie innovation in a vital industry; skeptics argue that patents are a poor fit for software, and that the social costs of patents outweigh any plausible benefits. At the core of this disagreement is a basic problem: the debate …
Possessing Intangibles, João Marinotti
Possessing Intangibles, João Marinotti
Northwestern University Law Review
The concept of possession is currently considered inapplicable to intangible assets, whether data, cryptocurrency, or NFTs. Under this view, intangible assets categorically fall outside the purview of property law’s foundational doctrines. Such sweeping conclusions stem from a misunderstanding of the role of possession in property law. This Article refutes the idea that possession constitutes—or even requires—physical control by distinguishing possession from another foundational concept, that of thinghood. It highlights possession’s unique purpose within the property process: conveying the status of in rem claims. In property law, the concept of possession conveys to third parties the allocation of property rights and …
British Invasion: Importing The United Kingdom's Orphan Works Solution To United States Copyright Law, Abigail Bunce
British Invasion: Importing The United Kingdom's Orphan Works Solution To United States Copyright Law, Abigail Bunce
Northwestern University Law Review
No abstract provided.