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Full-Text Articles in Law
Taxing Creativity, Jeffrey A. Maine
Taxing Creativity, Jeffrey A. Maine
Faculty Publications
The recent sell offs of song catalogs by Bob Dylan, Stevie Nicks, Neil Young, and Mick Fleetwood for extraordinarily large sums of money raise questions about the law on creativity. While patent and copyright laws encourage a wide array of creative endeavors, tax laws governing monetization of creative works do not. The Songwriters Capital Gains Equity Act, in particular, solidifies creativity exceptionalism, exacerbates tax inequities among creators, and perpetuates racial disparities in the tax Code. This Article asserts that the law must encourage creativity from all creators. It is time to eliminate tax exceptionalism for musical compositions or expand its …
Attacking Innovation, Jeffrey A. Maine
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 …
Taxing Facebook Code: Debugging The Tax Code And Software, Xuan-Thao Nguyen, Jeffrey A. Maine
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
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
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
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.
Giving Intellectual Property, Xuan-Thao Nguyen, Jeffrey A. Maine
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
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?
Patent Donations And Tax Policy, Xuan-Thao Nguyen, Jeffrey A. Maine
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
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.
The Effect Of Bankruptcy Upon A Firm Using Patents And Trademarks As Collateral, Lois R. Lupica
The Effect Of Bankruptcy Upon A Firm Using Patents And Trademarks As Collateral, Lois R. Lupica
Faculty Publications
The Bankruptcy Code sets forth an orderly process for the distribution of a debtor-in-bankruptcy's assets. This process has the effect of altering many of the procedural and substantive rights and obligations of the debtor, as well as of the debtor's creditors. Parties asserting a property interest in assets of a debtor in bankruptcy, however, must rely on nonbankruptcy law to determine the nature and extent of their property interests. The most commonly asserted interest by creditors involved in a bankruptcy are security interests.