Law Commons^™

Unregistered Complaints, Christine Galbraith Davik

Faculty Publications

In March, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its highly-anticipated decision in Fourth Estate Public Benefit Corporation v. Wall-Street.com, LLC which resolved a split among U.S. Court of Appeals concerning the point in time when a copyright owner is first able to file suit against an alleged infringer. While at first glance this case may merely appear to be a simple issue of statutory interpretation, namely whether it is upon application for registration or once a determination has been made on registration by the U.S. Copyright Office, I argue this decision is a clarion call for a much-needed amendment to …

Attacking Innovation, Jeffrey A. Maine

Faculty Publications

Economists generally agree that innovation is important to economic growth and that government support for innovation is necessary. Historically, the U.S. government has supported innovation in a variety of ways: (1) a strong legal system for patents; (2) direct support through research performed by government agencies, grants, loans, and loan guarantees; and (3) indirect support through various tax incentives for private firms. In recent years, however, we have seen a weakening of the U.S. patent system, a decline in direct funding of research, and a weakening of tax policy tools used to encourage new innovation. These disruptive changes threaten the …

Much Ado About The Tpp's Effect On Pharmaceuticals, Emily M. Morris

Faculty Publications

The Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement’s many provisions that were beneficial to the pharmaceutical industry have caused a good deal of controversy. Specifically, critics allege that the TPP’s provisions requiring that member states expand patentable subject matter, adjust pharmaceutical patent terms, and link regulatory marketing approval to a drug's patent status would have raised drug prices and hindered access to medicines, particularly in developing countries. Closer examination of these provisions as well as the various ways in which member states can modify or ameliorate the effects of these provisions suggests that their potential effect on drug prices and access to health care …

Multinational Efforts To Limit Intellectual Property Income Shifting: The Oecd's Base Erosion And Profit Shifting (Beps) Project, Jeffrey A. Maine

Faculty Publications

Before 2017, there were two major international movements going on at the same time: (1) the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement; and (2) the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD’s) Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) Project. The movements presented a unique opportunity to consider the intersection of a behemoth multinational trade agreement and ambitious multinational efforts to close international tax loopholes.

Although the TPP is essentially dead, as newly elected U.S. President Donald Trump unsigned the TPP as a matter of unilateral Executive power, the OECD’s BEPS Project is not. Indeed, many nations have been adopting BEPS Project proposals …

The Irrelevance Of Nanotechnology Patents, Emily M. Morris

Faculty Publications

Although scientists have for decades now had the ability to manipulate matter at the atomic level, we have yet to see the nanotechnological revolution that these scientists predicted would follow. Despite the years of effort and billions of dollars that have been invested into research and development thus far, nanotechnology has yielded surprisingly few end-user applications. A number of commentators have blamed this lack of progress on the Bayh-Dole Act and other changes to patent law, arguing that, although these laws are supposed to stimulate technological development, they have in fact had the exact opposite effect when it comes to …

Taxing Facebook Code: Debugging The Tax Code And Software, Xuan-Thao Nguyen, Jeffrey A. Maine

Faculty Publications

This article sets out to analyze both intellectual property laws and tax systems as applied to software. The article also analyzes software within the intellectual property doctrinal framework, and examines both the federal and state tax systems governing software.

The Unequal Tax Treatment Of Intellectual Property, Xuan-Thao Nguyen, Jeffrey A. Maine

Faculty Publications

The tax treatment of intellectual property receives surprisingly little attention despite intellectual property's important role in the economy. In this article, Maine and Nguyen evaluate the fairness of the intellectual property tax system, identifying differences in the tax treatment of what appear to be similar transactions.

The History Of Intellectual Property Taxation: Promoting Innovation And Other Intellectual Property Goals?, Xuan-Thao Nguyen, Jeffrey A. Maine

Faculty Publications

An important issue deserving scholarly attention concerns the proper role of the federal tax system in achieving intellectual property law's innovation objectives. The article traces the historic development of the specific tax rules governing intellectual property, identifies present areas of policy dissonance in the intersection of intellectual property and taxation, and calls for an appropriate legal framework for future intellectual property tax legislation.

Equity And Efficiency In Intellectual Property Taxation, Xuan-Thao Nguyen, Jeffrey A. Maine

Faculty Publications

This article evaluates the Current US income tax regime governing intellectual property by focusing on the traditional principles of tax policy - tax fairness and efficiency. It highlights the shortcomings of the current tax system in fulfilling both of these tenets.

A Panoptic Approach To Information Policy: Utilizing A More Balanced Theory Of Property In Order To Ensure The Existence Of A Prodigious Public Domain, Christine Galbraith Davik

Faculty Publications

Public access to ideas and information is critically important to creativity, competition, innovation, and a democratic culture. Nonetheless, material that belongs in the public domain is increasingly being transformed into private property. Data which was once freely available has become inaccessible as a result of legislatively or judicially sanctioned technological and contractual constraints. This is due in large part to the fact that lawmakers promulgating legislation and judges resolving disputes concerning data have failed to adequately take into account the multi-dimensional problems involved in controversies concerning access to ideas and information. The focus is often inappropriately centered on the tangible …

Giving Intellectual Property, Xuan-Thao Nguyen, Jeffrey A. Maine

Faculty Publications

The interdisciplinarity of intellectual property and taxation poses many challenges to the disparate existing norms in each field of law. This Article identifies and critiques the current tax regime governing the giving of intellectual property as a manifestation of the failure to understand the principles and policies underlying intellectual property and the firm. It proposes an incentives-based system that would encourage firms to extricate part of their repository of residual rights by surrendering their monopolistic ownership of intellectual property for the benefit of charitable organizations and, in turn, the development and growth of society.

Taxing Trademarks And Domain Names, Xuan-Thao Nguyen, Jeffrey A. Maine

Faculty Publications

With the arrival of global electronic commerce transactions on the Internet, new forms of intellectual property rights, such as Internet domain names, have emerged. Today, Internet domain names are some companies' most valuable assets. Yet law professors, attorneys, and judges struggle with the legal nature of domain names, which is far from settled. Questions drawing recent attention include: How should domain names be valued? Can domain names be used as collateral in secured transactions, and how does one perfect a security interest in domain names? What will happen to domain names in bankruptcy?

Remembering The Public Domain, Christine Galbraith Davik

Faculty Publications

Rapid advances in communication technology over the past decade have resulted in the previously unimaginable ability to seamlessly exchange ideas and data on a global basis. Nonetheless, despite the undeniable progress that has been made, access to information is ironically becoming progressively more. This is due in large part to the fact that resources which belong in the public domain are increasingly being transformed into private property. The carefully balanced provisions of copyright law are gradually becoming displaced by contractual, technological, and legislative constraints that allow for the tight control of access to and use of the materials in question. …

Patent Donations And Tax Policy, Xuan-Thao Nguyen, Jeffrey A. Maine

Faculty Publications

To achieve the policy goals of ultimate innovation, the government should provide incentives to encourage the patentees to donate, rather than abandon, their "orphan" patents to universities, hospitals, and other nonprofit organizations with research and development facilities that can properly exploit the patents. The authors advocate for the implementation of incentives that would encourage donors to surrender their monopolistic ownership of patents for the benefit of charitable organizations and, in tum, the development and growth of society.

Taxing The New Intellectual Property Right, Xuan-Thao Nguyen, Jeffrey A. Maine

Faculty Publications

How should the acquisition of domain names be treated under the current tax regime for intellectual property? This article proposes that domain names that function as source identifiers should be treated under the tax regime applicable to trademarks. Generic domain names, however, possess inherent goodwill that dictates different treatment.

Electronic Billboards Along The Information Superhighway: Liability Under The Lanham Act For Using Trademarks To Key Internet Banner Ads, Christine Galbraith Davik

Faculty Publications

With almost one billion web pages on the Internet today, a search engine is a necessity at times. But search engines are also for-profit ventures and the financial success of these sites hinges on advertising revenue. One of the ways in which these sites generate income is by selling “keywords” to advertisers. Although there has been only one judicial decision – Playboy Enterprises, Inc. v. Netscape Communications – involving banner ads keyed to trademarks, it will undoubtedly not be the last. This article argues that despite the invisible nature of this unauthorized trademark use, the common practice of keying a …