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A Fair Use To Remember: Restoring Application Of The Fair Use Doctrine To Strengthen Copyright Law And Disarm Abusive Copyright Litigation, Lauren Gorab Nov 2018

A Fair Use To Remember: Restoring Application Of The Fair Use Doctrine To Strengthen Copyright Law And Disarm Abusive Copyright Litigation, Lauren Gorab

Fordham Law Review

The primary goal of copyright law is to benefit the public. By rewarding authors with exclusive rights, such as the power to enforce copyright infringement, copyright protection is the means through which copyright law accomplishes this goal. Another way that copyright law pursues its goal is through the fair use doctrine—an invaluable utilitarian limit on copyright protection. However, fair use is, among other things, vague. The current application of fair use as an affirmative defense magnifies the doctrine’s problems and makes copyright law hospitable to abusive copyright litigation. Current proposals in this area of reform target either fair use or …


More Than An Academic Question: Defining Student Ownership Of Intellectual Property Rights, Kurt M. Saunders, Michael A. Lozano Jan 2018

More Than An Academic Question: Defining Student Ownership Of Intellectual Property Rights, Kurt M. Saunders, Michael A. Lozano

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

Intellectual property is increasingly important due to technology’s rapid development. The importance of intellectual property is also reflected within universities as traditional centers of research and expression, where students and faculty are encouraged to develop inventions and creative works throughout the educational experience. The commercialization potential of the intellectual property that emerges from these efforts has led many universities to adopt policies to determine ownership of intellectual property rights. Many of these policies take different approaches to ownership, and most students are unaware of their rights and are unlikely to consider whether the university has a claim to ownership. The …


Let’S Play: A Walkthrough Of Quarter-Century-Old Copyright Precedent As Applied To Modern Video Games, Kyle Coogan Jan 2018

Let’S Play: A Walkthrough Of Quarter-Century-Old Copyright Precedent As Applied To Modern Video Games, Kyle Coogan

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

Looking to the copyright protection over the audiovisual displays of video games, current precedent—created by extensive litigation in the 1980s over early arcade games—may be a round hole into which the square peg of today’s highly complex video games would have difficulty fitting. This is an issue that has increasing importance as the market for the passive consumption of video game audiovisual displays through tournament streams, walk-throughs, etc., continues to balloon. If courts were to apply precedent from litigation in the 1980s to video games as they exist today, the idea that copyright protection automatically attaches to any and all …


Public Fora Purpose: Analyzing Viewpoint Discrimination On The President’S Twitter Account, James M. Lopiano Jan 2018

Public Fora Purpose: Analyzing Viewpoint Discrimination On The President’S Twitter Account, James M. Lopiano

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

Today, protectable speech takes many forms in many spaces. This Note is about the spaces. This Note discusses whether President Donald J. Trump’s personal Twitter account functions as a public forum, and if so, whether blocking constituents from said account amounts to viewpoint discrimination—a First Amendment freedom of speech violation. Part I introduces the core legal devices and doctrines that have developed in freedom of speech jurisprudence relating to issues of public fora. Part II analyzes whether social media generally serves as public fora, whether the President’s personal Twitter account is a public forum, and whether his recent habit of …


Making The Ftc ☺: An Approach To Material Connections Disclosures In The Emoji Age, Christina Sauerborn Jan 2018

Making The Ftc ☺: An Approach To Material Connections Disclosures In The Emoji Age, Christina Sauerborn

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

In examining the rise of influencer marketing and emoji’s concurrent surge in popularity, it naturally follows that emoji should be incorporated into the FTC’s required disclosures for sponsored posts across social media platforms. While current disclosure methods the FTC recommends are easily jumbled or lost in other text, using emoji to disclose material connections would streamline disclosure requirements, leveraging an already-popular method of communication to better reach consumers. This Note proposes that the FTC adopts an emoji as a preferred method of disclosure for influencer marketing on social media. Part I discusses the rise of influencer marketing, the FTC and …


Watching Big Brother: A Citizen’S Right To Record Police, Vincent Nguyen Jan 2018

Watching Big Brother: A Citizen’S Right To Record Police, Vincent Nguyen

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

Due to growing technological advances and the ubiquity of mobile phones, it has become increasingly common for citizens to use these devices to photograph and record events. Though largely uncontroversial, when used to record public police activity, some citizens have been arrested and charged under state wiretapping r eavesdropping statutes. Over time, various circuit courts have held that this right to record public police actions is a protected activity. Most recently, however, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit affirmed a lower court decision, which held that this act of recording is unprotected, thereby exemplifying how circuit courts …


Finding The Barre: Fitting The Untried Territory Of Choreography Claims Into Existing Copyright Law, Kara Krakower Jan 2018

Finding The Barre: Fitting The Untried Territory Of Choreography Claims Into Existing Copyright Law, Kara Krakower

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

The American dance scene has been growing, both in popularity and profitability, since its inception in the early 1900s. After fighting for decades for Congress to include it in Copyright laws, the dance community saw “choreographic works” added as a protected medium in the Copyright Act of 1976. The Copyright Act does not define choreography, something this Note seeks to do. Since its enactment, very few choreographers have brought claims under the statute. This Note seeks to evaluate the standards that would apply in a potential choreography copyright infringement suit by following two hypotheticals through the determination and application of …


A Bridge Between Copyright And Patent Law: Towards A Modern-Day Reapplication Of The Semiconductor Chip Protection Act, Timothy T. Hsieh Jan 2018

A Bridge Between Copyright And Patent Law: Towards A Modern-Day Reapplication Of The Semiconductor Chip Protection Act, Timothy T. Hsieh

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

This Paper analyzes the history of the Semiconductor Chip Protection Act (SCPA), 17 U.S.C. §§ 901–914, and asks why the statute is so seldom used in intellectual property litigation. Afterwards, this Paper makes the argument that the SCPA should be used more in intellectual property litigation, perhaps in tandem with patent litigation, and can be a viable form of protection for semiconductor micro-fabrication companies or integrated circuit design companies engaged in pioneering innovations within the cutting-edge field of semiconductor technology.


Intellectual Property And The Prisoner’S Dilemma: A Game Theory Justification Of Copyrights, Patents, And Trade Secrets, Adam D. Moore Jan 2018

Intellectual Property And The Prisoner’S Dilemma: A Game Theory Justification Of Copyrights, Patents, And Trade Secrets, Adam D. Moore

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

In this article, I will offer an argument for the protection of intellectual property based on individual self-interest and prudence. In large part, this argument will parallel considerations that arise in a prisoner’s dilemma game. In brief, allowing content to be unprotected in terms of free access leads to a sub-optimal outcome where creation and innovation are suppressed. Adopting the institutions of copyright, patent, and trade secret is one way to avoid these sub-optimal results.


Group Defamation, Power, And A New Test For Determining Plaintiff Eligibility, Jeffrey Greenwood Jan 2018

Group Defamation, Power, And A New Test For Determining Plaintiff Eligibility, Jeffrey Greenwood

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

In the fall of 2014, Rolling Stone Magazine published an article describing the rape of a woman at a University of Virginia fraternity house. The story turned out to be false, and members of the fraternity sued for defamation. The suit raises an interesting question: under what circumstances may anonymous individual members of the fraternity recover? This Note describes the case, related common and constitutional law, as well as differences in group defamation doctrine across jurisdictions. After detailing problems with the existing paradigm, the Note proposes a new method for performing the analysis.


Tinker Meets The Cyberbully: A Federal Circuit Conflict Round-Up And Proposed New Standard For Off-Campus Speech, Benjamin A. Holden Jan 2018

Tinker Meets The Cyberbully: A Federal Circuit Conflict Round-Up And Proposed New Standard For Off-Campus Speech, Benjamin A. Holden

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, the seminal school speech case interpreting the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, was decided by the U.S. Supreme Court long before mobile devices and social media upended accepted norms governing how students behave at school. The new reality has brought with it new line-drawing challenges for public schools faced with the warring requirements of school discipline on the one hand, and the First Amendment on the other. The threshold unanswered question this Article presents is whether Tinker should give jurisdiction to public schools over student speech which originates off campus. …


License To Bill: The Validity Of Coupling Automatic Subscription Renewals With Free Trial Offers By Online Services, Koren Grinshpoon Jan 2018

License To Bill: The Validity Of Coupling Automatic Subscription Renewals With Free Trial Offers By Online Services, Koren Grinshpoon

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

A prominent and expanding list of online services rely on a business model which pairs free trial offers with subsequent automatic subscription renewals (e.g., Amazon Prime, Blue Apron, etc.). Offering free trials to lure new users, while employing automatic renewal clauses in its terms of use to perpetuate recurring revenue, poses a substantial legal risk to online services. Numerous claims citing unfair and deceptive business practices are filed each year against such online services, primarily raising issues of informed consent, adequate disclosure, and notice. This Article reviews applicable federal law and regulations, as well as the applicable laws of all …


Protecting The Mickey Mouse Ears: Moving Beyond Traditional Campaign-Style Enforcement Of Intellectual Property Rights In China, Adela Hurtado Jan 2018

Protecting The Mickey Mouse Ears: Moving Beyond Traditional Campaign-Style Enforcement Of Intellectual Property Rights In China, Adela Hurtado

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

Multinational corporations often struggle to protect their intellectual property rights in China. The Walt Disney Company, which has a long relationship with China, knows this all too well. In fact, counterfeit Mickey Mouse ears—along with numerous other Disney character goods—are now sold in plain sight at the new Shanghai Disneyland Resort. In an attempt to combat counterfeiting, companies such as Disney rely on a traditional method of enforcement of intellectual property rights: government campaigns. Campaigns are short periods of time during which multiple raids and government enforcement actions occur to crack down on counterfeiting. The irony of Disney’s situation is …


Standing With A Bundle Of Sticks: The All Substantial Rights Doctrine In Action, Mark J. Abate, Christopher J. Morten Jan 2018

Standing With A Bundle Of Sticks: The All Substantial Rights Doctrine In Action, Mark J. Abate, Christopher J. Morten

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

This Article provides an overview of the Federal Circuit’s all substantial rights doctrine. Surveying decades of case law, this Article seeks to clarify this confusing area of the law and set out the essential rules for those engaged in patent licensing, patent assignment, and patent litigation. This Article begins by explaining why effective ownership of a patent is critical to standing, and then describes the framework through which courts determine whether a party is, in fact, in possession of all substantial rights and is therefore the effective owner. While there are many factors that courts may consider, certain rights take …


University Trademarks And “Mixed Speech” On College Campuses: A Case Study Of Gerlich V. Leath And Student Free Speech Rights, Nathan Converse Jan 2018

University Trademarks And “Mixed Speech” On College Campuses: A Case Study Of Gerlich V. Leath And Student Free Speech Rights, Nathan Converse

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

Higher education has long been a fundamental building block upon which American democracy is based. The guarantee of free speech is itself a revered liberty in the American polity; it has, in turn, served as the catalyst for higher education. Recent events on college campuses continue to reexamine universities’ role in their students’ education and push the legal boundaries on student speech rights. In many instances, however, students’ speech and expressive viewpoint conflicts with that of other students. Other times, students’ speech conflicts with the expressive interests of their university. This Article examines the latter instance in the context of …