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E-Commerce And Equivalence: Defining The Proper Scope Of Internet Patents--Foreword, Sanjay Prasad, James T. Carmichael Jun 2001

E-Commerce And Equivalence: Defining The Proper Scope Of Internet Patents--Foreword, Sanjay Prasad, James T. Carmichael

Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review

The diverse expression of views provided in the following papers provides a rich foundation for consideration of the issues surrounding the scope of Internet-type patents. On behalf of the Symposium writers and sponsors we invite you to continue consideration of the legal rules and policy implications surrounding this interesting and important subject.


International And Comparative Law Perspectives On Internet Patents, Toshiko Takenaka Jun 2001

International And Comparative Law Perspectives On Internet Patents, Toshiko Takenaka

Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review

The Internet and e-commerce have created a borderless market. Goods and services sold on the Internet are subject to the patent statutes and regulations of all countries in which customers have access. Because the presence or absence of patent protection--or variations in that protection--hinders the movement of goods and services throughout the Internet, it is necessary to harmonize the protection afforded by Internet patents in their early stages of development. Among the three papers, however, only Professor Chiappetta touched upon the problem of compliance with the provisions in TRIPS. None of the papers paid attention to the feasibility of harmonizing …


Internet Business Model Patents: Obvious By Analogy, Margo A. Bagley Jun 2001

Internet Business Model Patents: Obvious By Analogy, Margo A. Bagley

Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review

This Article contends that part of the problem of Internet business model patents is the narrow view of analogous art employed by judges and USPTO examiners which largely excludes relevant "real-world" prior art in the determination of non-obviousness under § 103 of the Patent Act. Consequently, part of the solution lies in helping courts and the USPTO properly to define analogous art for a particular invention. To do so, judges and examiners must recognize the interchangeability of computer programming (i.e. "e-world" activities) to perform a function, with human or mechanical performance of the same function (i.e. "real world" activities). Such …


Defining The Proper Scope Of Internet Patents: If We Don't Know Where We Want To Go, We're Unlikely To Get There, Vincent Chiappetta Jun 2001

Defining The Proper Scope Of Internet Patents: If We Don't Know Where We Want To Go, We're Unlikely To Get There, Vincent Chiappetta

Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review

Part I of this Article addresses the appropriateness of protecting Internet innovations under the current patent regime. It concludes that the doctrinal, historical and policy arguments require different outcomes regarding computing (patentable subject matter) and competitive arts (at best a difficult fit) innovation. Part II argues that the new electronic economy has given rise to a particular kind of competitive arts "market failure" (interference with first-to-move lead-time incentives) which must be addressed. It concludes, however, that tinkering with the existing patent or copyright regimes is not only complex, but poses significant risks, and should be avoided. Part III sketches the …


Should The Law Ignore Commercial Norms? A Comment On The Bernstein Conjuncture And Its Relevance For Contract Law Theory And Reform, Jason Scott Johnston Jun 2001

Should The Law Ignore Commercial Norms? A Comment On The Bernstein Conjuncture And Its Relevance For Contract Law Theory And Reform, Jason Scott Johnston

Michigan Law Review

Professor Bernstein's study of the interaction between private law and norms in the cotton industry is the latest installment in her ongoing investigation into the relationship between law and norms in trades ranging from the diamond market to grain and feed markets. Her incredibly detailed and thorough exploration of private lawmaking and commercial norms - and their interaction - stands as one of the most significant contributions to contract and commercial law scholarship made in the last half-century. The cotton industry study upon which I focus in this Comment not only reports fascinating findings about dispute resolution practices, but also …


Private Commercial Law In The Cotton Industry: Creating Cooperation Through Rules, Norms, And Institutions, Lisa Bernstein Jun 2001

Private Commercial Law In The Cotton Industry: Creating Cooperation Through Rules, Norms, And Institutions, Lisa Bernstein

Michigan Law Review

The cotton industry has almost entirely opted out of the public legal system, replacing it with one of the oldest and most complex systems of private commercial law. Most contracts for the purchase andsale of domestic cotton, between merchants or between merchants andmills, are neither consummated under the Uniform Commercial Code("Code") nor interpreted and enforced in court when disputes arise. Rather, most such contracts are concluded under one of several privately drafted sets of contract default rules and are subject to arbitration in one of several merchant tribunals. Similarly, most international sales of cotton are governed neither by state-supplied legal …


Rejection Versus Termination: A Sublessee's Rights In A Lease Rejected In A Bankruptcy Proceeding Under 11 U.S.C. § 365(D)(4), Vivek Sankaran Feb 2001

Rejection Versus Termination: A Sublessee's Rights In A Lease Rejected In A Bankruptcy Proceeding Under 11 U.S.C. § 365(D)(4), Vivek Sankaran

Michigan Law Review

When a party files for bankruptcy under chapter 11 of the United States Code, the court typically appoints a trustee to handle all of the party's financial obligations. The trustee's responsibilities include investigating the financial condition of the debtor, the operation of the business, the desirability of continuing the business, and any other matter relevant to the disposition of the bankrupt estate. If a bankrupt party holds a commercial lease, the trustee possesses two options for dealing with the lease. One option is to reject the lease, which ends the bankrupt party's obligation to adhere to the provisions of the …


Performance Risk, Form Contracts And Ucita, Leo L. Clarke Jan 2001

Performance Risk, Form Contracts And Ucita, Leo L. Clarke

Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review

No scholarly commentator has suggested that the form contract rules provide a satisfactory answer to the commercial problem of performance risk. So, one might think that the dawn of the "information economy" would be a propitious time to implement a new doctrinal approach. Apparently not: the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws (the "Conference") has promulgated a comprehensive commercial statute that fails to remedy or even modify the law of form contracts in purely commercial transactions. The Uniform Computer Information Transactions Act ("UCITA")--drafted to provide the background law for many of the most significant transactions in the information …


Good Faith And The Cooperative Antagonist (Symposium On Revised Article 1 And Proposed Revised Article 2 Of The Uniform Commercial Code), James J. White Jan 2001

Good Faith And The Cooperative Antagonist (Symposium On Revised Article 1 And Proposed Revised Article 2 Of The Uniform Commercial Code), James J. White

Articles

One of Karl Llewellyn's most noted achievements in the Uniform Commercial Code was to impose the duty of good faith on every obligation under the Uniform Commercial Code.1 Some (I am one) have privately thought that imposition of this unmeasurable, undefinable duty was Llewellyn's cruelest trick, but no court, nor any academic writer, has ever been so bold or so gauche as to suggest that good faith should not attend the obligations of parties under the UCC. Notwithstanding this silent indorsement of the duty of good faith, the courts2 and commentators3 have had difficulty in determining what is and what …