Law Commons^™

Right On Time: First Possession In Property And Intellectual Property, Dotan Oliar, James Y. Stern

James Y. Stern

How should we allocate property rights in unowned tangible and intangible resources? This Article develops a model of original acquisition that draws together common law doctrines of first possession with original acquisition doctrines in patent, copyright, and trademark law. The common denominator is time: in each context, doctrine involves a trade-off between assigning entitlements to resources earlier or later in the process of their development and use. Early awards risk granting exclusivity to parties who may not be capable of putting resources to their best use. Late awards prolong contests for ownership, which may generate waste or discourage acquisition efforts …

The Intellectual Property Hostage In Trade Retaliation, Sarah R. Wasserman Rajec

Sarah R. Wasserman Rajec

Intellectual property law has become bound up in a debate about appropriate remedies for violations of the World Trade Organization Agreement. As an alternative to traditional countermeasures that consist of retaliation under the violated agreement, the World Trade Organization ("WTO ") contemplates that violations of one of its covered agreements may be remedied through "cross-retaliation, " or retaliation under another agreement. One form of cross-retaliation has garnered interest in recent years: the threat to suspend intellectual property rights in response to unrelated trade violations

Cross-retaliation through intellectual property rights suspension is theoretically appealing for its potential to avoid problems inherent …

How To Write A Life: Some Thoughts On Fixation And The Copyright/Privacy Divide, Laura A. Heymann

Laura A. Heymann

No abstract provided.

Overlapping Intellectual Property Doctrines: Election Of Rights Versus Selection Of Remedies, Laura A. Heymann

Laura A. Heymann

Overlaps exist across various doctrines in federal intellectual property law. Software can be protected under both copyright law and patent law; logos can be protected under both copyright law and trademark law. Design patents provide a particular opportunity to consider the issue of overlap, as an industrial design that qualifies for design patent protection might also, in particular circumstances, qualify for copyright protection as well as function as protectable trade dress.

When an overlap issue arises—that is, when an intellectual property rights holder asserts rights under more than one doctrine—the question then becomes how courts should respond. One response, of …

What Is Digital Rights Management?, Frederick W. Dingledy, Alex Berrio Matamoros

Frederick W. Dingledy

No abstract provided.

Copyrighting Facts, Michael S. Green

Michael S. Green

No abstract provided.

Data Exclusivities In The Age Of Big Data, Biologics, And Plurilaterals, Peter K. Yu

Peter K. Yu

The past decade has seen many new developments impacting the intellectual property system. The introduction of big data analytics has transformed the fields of biotechnology and bioinformatics while ushering in major advances in drug development, clinical practices, and medical financing. The arrival of biologics and personalized medicines has also revolutionized the healthcare and pharmaceutical industries. In addition, the emergence of bilateral, regional, and plurilateral trade agreements have raised serious, and at times difficult, questions concerning the evolution of domestic and international intellectual property standards.

One topic linking all three developments together concerns the establishment of international standards to protect clinical …

International Intellectual Property Scholars Series: Intellectual Property And Asian Values, Peter K. Yu, Peter K. Yu

Peter K. Yu

From Niall Ferguson to Fareed Zakaria, commentators have paid growing attention to the rise of Asia and its implications for the West. Recent years have also seen the emergence of a growing volume of literature on intellectual property developments in Asia, in particular China and India. Few commentators, however, have explored whether Asian countries will take unified positions on international intellectual property law and policy.

Commissioned for the Inaugural International Intellectual Property Scholars Series, this article fills the void by examining intellectual property developments in relation to the decades-old 'Asian values' debate. Drawing on the region's diversity in economic and …

Book Review: Choreographing Copyright: Race, Gender, And Intellectual Property Rights In American Dance By Anthea Kraut, Carys Craig

Carys Craig

Dance may be one of the world’s oldest art forms, but it is a relatively recent entrant into the sphere of copyright law—and remains something of an afterthought amongst copyright lawyers and scholars alike. For copyright scholars, at least, that should change with the publication of Anthea Kraut’s CHOREOGRAPHING COPYRIGHT: RACE, GENDER, AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS IN AMERICAN DANCE. Kraut performs a fascinating exploration of the evolution of choreographic copyright—sweeping, political, polemical—that should leave no one in doubt as to the normative significance of choreography as a subject matter of copyright law and policy. Nor should doubt remain as to …

Globalizing User Rights-Talk: On Copyright Limits And Rhetorical Risks, Carys Craig

Carys Craig

Around the world, the focus of copyright policy reform debates is shifting from the protection of copyright owners’ rights towards defining their appropriate limits. There is, however, a great deal of confusion about the legal ontology of copyright “limits,” “exceptions,” “exemptions,” “defenses,” and “user rights.” While the choice of terminology may seem to be a matter of mere semantics, how we describe and conceptualize lawful uses within our copyright system has a direct bearing on how we delimit and define the scope of the owner’s control. Taking seriously the role of rhetoric in shaping law and policy, this Paper critically …

Economic Implications Of State Sovereign Immunity From Infringement Of Federal Intellectual Property Rights, Peter S. Menell

Peter Menell

No abstract provided.

What Is Digital Rights Management?, Fred Dingledy, Alex Berrio Matamoros

Alex Berrio Matamoros

No abstract provided.

Introduction: The Defend Trade Secrets Act Of 2015, Christopher B. Seaman

Christopher B. Seaman

This is an introduction to a Roundtable on the Defend Trade Secrets Act published by the Washington and Lee Law Review Online in 2015.

Introduction: The Defend Trade Secrets Act Of 2015, Christopher B. Seaman

Christopher B. Seaman

This is an introduction to a Roundtable on the Defend Trade Secrets Act published by the Washington and Lee Law Review Online in 2015.

The Canadian Public Domain: What, Where, And To What End?, Carys J. Craig

Carys Craig

This essay explores the important body of scholarship that has emerged on the substance, nature, and role of the public domain in intellectual property law. I offer some concrete definitions of the public domain in the copyright context, identify some ongoing sources of debate in the literature, and highlight some particularly significant voices in public domain discourse. In doing so, my aim is twofold: first, I mean to present a reasonably comprehensive but concise review of the academic public domain movement, which has been directed towards substantiating and politicizing the concept of the public domain, second, I hope to re-situate …

Improving Patent Quality With Applicant Incentives, Stephen Yelderman

Stephen Yelderman

This Article offers an alternative approach to the widely recognized problem of low-quality patents being granted by the patent office. Traditional reforms have focused almost exclusively on making the patent office more effective at examination. This Article instead looks at patent quality from an applicant’s perspective, and evaluates how certain patent rules might be encouraging inventors to file higher or lower quality claims. It proposes a variety of reforms to take advantage of applicants’ existing interests in obtaining patents that are both broad enough to create infringing activity and narrow enough to be valid. The result is a distinctive set …

Intellectual Property, Asian Philosophy And The Yin-Yang School, Peter K. Yu

Peter K. Yu

As an introduction to a special issue on intellectual property philosophy, this article focuses on insights from Asian thought. Such a focus is needed not only to provide balance within this special issue, which includes articles focusing primarily on Western philosophy, but also to highlight the compatibility between Asian philosophy and the notion of intellectual property rights. More importantly, this article aims to demonstrate that Asian philosophy may suggest new ways to address the ongoing and highly complex intellectual property challenges confronting emerging economies and the digital environment.

This article begins by providing a brief discussion of the many different …

Intellectual Property And Related Rights In Climate Data, Michael W. Carroll

Michael W. Carroll

Indigenous Peoples, Intangible Cultural Heritage And Participation In The United Nations, Ana Filipa Vrdoljak

Ana Filipa Vrdoljak

This chapter concentrates on the participation of indigenous peoples in multilateral initiatives to protect cultural heritage, with specific reference to intangible heritage. While an international instrument for the protection of intangible heritage was adopted over a decade ago, the importance of intangible heritage for indigenous peoples is evident in their work in various UN fora. I examine indigenous peoples’ interventions before UNESCO and bodies established to implement the Convention on the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage; within WIPO in respect of ongoing moves to adopt specialist instruments on traditional knowledge and cultural expressions; and finally, within UNEP and the implementation …

Prioritising Human Development In African Intellectual Property Law, Janewa Osei Tutu

J. Janewa Osei-Tutu

Human Development As A Core Objective Of Global Intellectual Property, Janewa Osei Tutu

J. Janewa Osei-Tutu

Why K-Pop Will Continue To Dominate Social Media: Jenkins' Convergence Culture In Action, Keidra Chaney, Raizel Liebler

Raizel Liebler

The New Servitudes, Molly Shaffer Van Houweling

Molly Van Houweling

In the age of electronic commerce, consumers routinely acquire intangible products without engaging in any direct human interaction. These products-computer programs, digital music, et cetera—often arrive bearing terms that purport to limit the sticks in the consumers' bundles of rights in ways that depart from the background limitations imposed by intellectual property law. For example, a consumer who has downloaded a computer program from the Internet might be presented with a screen of text imposing myriad restrictions on how the program may be used; installation commences only when the consumer clicks “I agree.” Courts in the United States have increasingly …

Touching And Concerning Copyright: Real Property Reasoning In Mdy Industries, Inc. V. Blizzard Entertainment, Inc, Molly Shaffer Van Houweling

Molly Van Houweling

No abstract provided.

La Insoportable Levedad Del Legislador Argentino En Materia De Derecho De Autor Digresiones Jurídico-Económicos En Torno Al Proyecto Legislativo Que Propone Extender La Duración De Las Obras Fotográficas, Maximiliano Marzetti

Maximiliano Marzetti

Este aporte tiene una doble finalidad, catártica y educativa. Por un lado quiero desahogarme al ver como la historia se repite: la vetusta ley de propiedad intelectual N° 11.723 sólo se retoca para extender privilegios económicos de un sector y no en beneficio del bien común. Por otro, continúo mi prédica para intentar convencer a colegas y legisladores para que se adentren en el fabuloso mundo de la multidisciplina. Necesitamos legisladores que sepan de derecho, economía y ciencias sociales, o al menos que sepan escuchar a quienes saben.

Climate Change And Human Rights: Intellectual Property Challenges And Opportunities, Alexandra Phelan

Matthew Rimmer

Mitigating and adapting to the effects of climate change will require innovation and the development of new technologies. Intellectual property laws have a key part to play in the global transfer of climate technologies. However, failures to properly utilize flexibilities in intellectual property regimes or comply with technology transfer obligations under international climate change agreements calls for a human rights based analysis of climate technology transfer. Climate change is an unprecedented challenge and requires unprecedented strategies. Given the substantial impact of climate change on all of humanity and the ethical imperative to act, a complete rethink of traditional intellectual property …

Owning The New Economy: A Guide To Intellectual Property Management For Australia's Clean Technology Sector, Kane Wishart

Matthew Rimmer

Australia's history of developing and managing the intellectual property rights of domestic innovations is – at best – mixed. The relevant immaturity of Australia's public sector commercialisation infrastructure has, over recent decades, been the subject of both stinging academic commentary and not insubstantial juridical disbelief. That said, improvements have been observed, and increasingly, private sector involvement in public sector innovation has allowed for a deepening refinement of domestic approaches to IP retention and ongoing management. Rather than a bare critique of Australia's IP management track-record, or a call for specific law reform, this manual engages at a more practical level …

El Derecho Al Secreto Y La Teoría Del Cono, Juan Carlos Riofrío Martínez-Villalba

Juan Carlos Riofrío Martínez-Villalba

El presente estudio contiene una teoría general del derecho de los secretos, que sirve para determinar el peso específico de cada secreto, a efectos de realizar una correcta ponderación de derechos. La teoría explica las relaciones que existen entre los diversos tipos de secreto, utilizando y desarrollando la teoría del cono de García Morente, que se muestra como una herramienta apropiada para dilucidar cuándo hay derecho al secreto, cuando no lo hay y en qué medida. La metodología utilizada es inductiva. El análisis se estructura de la siguiente manera: (i) se recapitula la teoría general del derecho de los secretos; …

Proposed Secondary Liability Regimes For Trademark Infringement Online: Commentary, Irene Calboli, Jane Ginsburg, Amy Cotton, Bob Weigel, Bruce Rich, Miguel Peguera

Irene Calboli

No abstract provided.

Sharing Research Data And Intellectual Property Law: A Primer, Michael W. Carroll

Michael W. Carroll