Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Law Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Articles 1 - 30 of 32

Full-Text Articles in Law

The Nba's Deal With The Devil: The Antitrust Implications Of The 1999 Nba-Nbpa Collective Bargaining Agreement Note, Dan Messeloff Nov 2016

The Nba's Deal With The Devil: The Antitrust Implications Of The 1999 Nba-Nbpa Collective Bargaining Agreement Note, Dan Messeloff

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.


Rio Grande: The Mp3 Showdown At Highnoon In Cyberspace, Paul Veravanich Nov 2016

Rio Grande: The Mp3 Showdown At Highnoon In Cyberspace, Paul Veravanich

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.


The Rational Basis Of Trademark Protection Revisited: Putting The Dilution Doctrine Into Context, Mathias Strasser Nov 2016

The Rational Basis Of Trademark Protection Revisited: Putting The Dilution Doctrine Into Context, Mathias Strasser

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.


Puzzles Of The Zero-Rate Royalty, Eli Greenbaum Nov 2016

Puzzles Of The Zero-Rate Royalty, Eli Greenbaum

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

Patentees increasingly exploit their intellectual property rights through royalty-free licensing arrangements. Even though patentees using such frameworks forfeit their right to trade patents for monetary gain, royalty-free arrangements can be used to pursue other significant commercial and collaborative interests. This Article argues that modern royalty-free structures generate tension between various otherwise well-accepted doctrines of patent remedies law that were designed for more traditional licensing models. As such, current doctrines provide conflicting frameworks for evaluating the royalty-free arrangement, and offer inconsistent approaches for determining the appropriate remedy for their breach. This discord grows out of courts’ inadequate attention to non-monetary consideration …


Who’S Afraid Of Forever 21?: Combating Copycatting Through Extralegal Enforcement Of Moral Rights In Fashion Designs, Irina Oberman Khagi Nov 2016

Who’S Afraid Of Forever 21?: Combating Copycatting Through Extralegal Enforcement Of Moral Rights In Fashion Designs, Irina Oberman Khagi

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

This Article examines the often underexplored theory of personality rights, or moral rights, as a justification for protection of intellectual property in the context of protection of fashion designs. Traditional forms of intellectual property protection have thus far proven inadequate to protect the overall design of an article of clothing or accessory; rather, most are only sufficient to protect portions of the design. Advocates for strengthened intellectual property rights regimes traditionally invoke utilitarian rights, or the need to provide an incentive for continued generation of new ideas. But these utilitarian theories appear to be less relevant in the fashion world, …


The Non-Contractual Nature Of Privacy Policies And A New Critique Of The Notice And Choice Privacy Protection Model, Thomas B. Norton Nov 2016

The Non-Contractual Nature Of Privacy Policies And A New Critique Of The Notice And Choice Privacy Protection Model, Thomas B. Norton

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

Notice and Choice is the model for protecting privacy online in the United States. Under the model, users of online services are given notice about services information and privacy practices in the form of privacy policies. Based on this information, users can choose whether to use particular online services and whether to exercise any options for protecting their privacy that the services might offer. In theory, Notice and Choice seems like a sound regulatory mechanism. Indeed, state and federal regulatory agencies prefer the model as a basis for privacy enforcement action. But Notice and Choice faces harsh criticism from privacy …


Gif Gaffe: How Big Sports Ignored Lenz And Used The Dmca To Chill Free Speech On Twitter, Andrew T. Warren Nov 2016

Gif Gaffe: How Big Sports Ignored Lenz And Used The Dmca To Chill Free Speech On Twitter, Andrew T. Warren

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

Many major sports leagues including the National Football League, Major League Baseball, and Ultimate Fighting Championship have consistently used the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”) to remove user-created GIFs, Vines, and related content that make use of the leagues’ copyrighted broadcast material on Twitter. This Article analyzes Twitter users’ right of fair use in the leagues’ copyrighted material, while suggesting that sports leagues and their agents may not be following the Ninth Circuit’s Lenz v. Universal Music Corp.decision, which requires copyright owners to consider fair use before submitting DMCA takedown notices. Sports leagues’ protocol and actions towards GIFs and Vines …


What’S So Special About Patent Law?, Michael Goodman Jun 2016

What’S So Special About Patent Law?, Michael Goodman

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

The widespread belief that patent law is special has shaped the development of patent law into one of the most specialized areas of the law today. The belief in patent law’s exceptionalism manifests itself as two related presumptions with respect to the judiciary: first, that generalist judges who do not have patent law expertise cannot effectively decide patent cases, and second, that judges can develop necessary expertise through repeated experience with patent cases. Congress showed that it acquiesced to both views when it created the Federal Circuit and the Patent Pilot Program. In recent years, however, the Supreme Court has …


The Air Jordan Rules: Image Advertising Adds New Dimension To Right Of Publicity–First Amendment Tension, Stephen Mckelvey, Jonathan Goins, Frederick Krauss Jun 2016

The Air Jordan Rules: Image Advertising Adds New Dimension To Right Of Publicity–First Amendment Tension, Stephen Mckelvey, Jonathan Goins, Frederick Krauss

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

Every year, corporations spend on average nearly thirty-five billion dollars on sports-related marketing, ranging from stadium naming rights and promotional sponsorships, to commercials and endorsement deals. In mining through some of the potential legal traps, corporate advertisers understand that utilizing the name, image, or likeness of athletes or celebrities in marketing and promotional campaigns requires some form of consent and compensation. Corporations hire lawyers for “advertising clearance”: to ensure that slogans, logos, and images are available for use, and that video and music in audio-visual recordings are otherwise licensed. The concept of getting permission or authorization is relatively straight-forward. However, …


The Fourth Amendment Implications On The Real-Time Tracking Of Cell Phones Through The Use Of “Stingrays”, W. Scott Kim Jun 2016

The Fourth Amendment Implications On The Real-Time Tracking Of Cell Phones Through The Use Of “Stingrays”, W. Scott Kim

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

The rights secured to us by the Fourth Amendment were the driving force behind the American Revolution. Today, law enforcement seems to forget that fact when they use cell-site simulators, commonly referred to by the brand name “Stingray,” without first securing a warrant. These devices mimic cell phone towers and force cell phones near them to connect to the cell-site simulator instead of a tower, thereby allowing the user of the simulator device to track a cell phone to its precise location. Ninety-two percent of Americans own a cell phone and forty-six percent of smartphone users say they could not …


A Comparative Analysis Of The Nfl’S Disciplinary Structure: The Commissioner’S Power And Players’ Rights, Cole Renicker Jun 2016

A Comparative Analysis Of The Nfl’S Disciplinary Structure: The Commissioner’S Power And Players’ Rights, Cole Renicker

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

The power of professional sports commissioners to determine what is in the “best interests” of their respective sport is a significant aspect of sports today, and can be traced back to 1921, when the federal courts authorized then-Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis to act with a broad range of discretion in protecting the “best interests” of baseball. This precedent set in motion a long history of commissioners using the “best interests” of the game power to accomplish various goals, and most recently has been used to discipline players for alleged misconduct. The Commissioner of the National Football League, Roger Goodell, has …


The Political Economy Of The Research Exemption In American Patent Law, Nicholas Short May 2016

The Political Economy Of The Research Exemption In American Patent Law, Nicholas Short

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

This Article approaches the research exemption, and related legal developments, as a case study in the political economy of patent law. Part I recounts the history of the research exemption, touching briefly on historical origins but emphasizing developments since the 1970s in legislative, executive, and judicial forums. It also examines changes during the same time frame in related areas of patent law, like the Bayh-Dole legislation and the attempted repeal of state immunity from patent infringement liability. These legal developments indirectly affected the research exemption, or implicated similar concerns about imbalance in the patent system and the use of patents …


Trademark’S Ebay Problem, Peter J. Karol May 2016

Trademark’S Ebay Problem, Peter J. Karol

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

This Article addresses the current debate over whether to extend, to trademark law, the rule in eBay, Inc. v. MercExchange, L.L.C. denying prevailing patent plaintiffs presumptive entitlement to injunctive relief. Its central concern, however, is not whether or how eBay should apply to trademark law, but rather the way in which the debate resurfaces structural flaws undermining foundational provisions of the Lanham Act. Namely, the Act purports to grant ex ante exclusive rights to mark owners against all confusingly similar uses, but then reserves discretion to district courts to deny statutory injunctive relief without further guidance. This ambiguity, a familiar …


“Going Viral” By Stealing Content: Can The Law Cure The Problem Of Viral Content Farming?, Sara Gates May 2016

“Going Viral” By Stealing Content: Can The Law Cure The Problem Of Viral Content Farming?, Sara Gates

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

Part I introduces the concept of viral content farming, examines its origins, points out how it differs from aggregation, and consid-ers the purpose behind the practice. The Part looks at how compa-nies such as Google and Facebook have responded, and examines the overall impact on journalism and the Internet. Part II presents a possible ethical solution within the journalism industry and consid-ers resolutions in the law by describing the “hot news” misappro-priation doctrine and copyright law. Part III scrutinizes three pro-posals and discusses why copyright law is the most appropriate solution to the problem, then analyzes content farming within the …


A Long-Overdue Reform: China’S Grant-Back Regime In Technology Transfer, Xiaoqiong Liu May 2016

A Long-Overdue Reform: China’S Grant-Back Regime In Technology Transfer, Xiaoqiong Liu

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

Technology transfer occurs when the owner of a technology grants access to that technology to another party. Today, companies consider technologies—as opposed to physical assets—the most important business assets that are directly tied to their products’ competitiveness. Intellectual property (“IP”) law protects those technologies. One type of technology transfer is contract manufacturing, where foreign companies employ Chinese companies to manufacture products for the Chinese markets. Contract manufacturing is beneficial to foreign companies because it saves them shipping costs and time. To facilitate contract manufacturing in China, however, foreign companies—often the owners of the technologies—must authorize Chinese companies access to their …


State Anti-Slapps And Erie: Murky, But Not Chilling, Yando Peralta May 2016

State Anti-Slapps And Erie: Murky, But Not Chilling, Yando Peralta

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

This Note compares the different treatment of state anti-SLAPP laws in federal courts, especially in light of the Supreme Court’s decision in Shady Grove. This Note posits two reasons why special motions to dismiss should not apply in federal courts sitting in diversity jurisdiction. First, state anti-SLAPPs conflict directly with Rules 12 and 56 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure because these Federal Rules directly address the question as to dismissal on the pleadings and on summary judgment. Second, a finding that the state anti-SLAPP procedures conflict with the Federal Rules will not frustrate legislatures’ interests in swatting down …


Musicians, Politicians, And The Forgotten Tort, Arlen W. Langvardt Apr 2016

Musicians, Politicians, And The Forgotten Tort, Arlen W. Langvardt

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

Election seasons regularly reveal uses of songs and recordings at campaign events and in campaign ads. Frequently, well-known performers who have recorded the songs object to the uses of the songs and recordings (and their recognizable voices). Often, the performers do not own the copyright to the songs or the recordings, so they have no copyright infringement claim to bring. Performers who seek legal relief against those responsible for the political uses have relied, thus far, on right of publicity claims or false endorsement claims under section 43(a) of the Lanham Act. However, judicial concerns about the proper reach and …


Locking Out Locke: A New Natural Copyright Law, Joseph A. Gerber Apr 2016

Locking Out Locke: A New Natural Copyright Law, Joseph A. Gerber

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

For decades lawyers, professors, philosophers, and law students have been trapped in an endless, two-sided debate regarding the justification for copyright law in the United States. On one side stand the utilitarians, who argue that modern American copyright law amounts to nothing more than positive law2 in the form of an economic incentive for authors to express themselves creatively. Natural law theorists, on the other hand, argue that there is some- thing more substantial behind the current copyright regime—that copyright is not merely a formulation of positive law, but a recogni- tion of philosophical principles of ownership inherent in the …


Trademark Trial And Appeal Board, Meet The Constitution, David S. Welkowitz Apr 2016

Trademark Trial And Appeal Board, Meet The Constitution, David S. Welkowitz

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

For many years, the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board has re-fused to address constitutional claims raised in the course of registration or cancellation proceedings. A recent example involves the Washington Redskins trademark, which is the subject of a cancellation proceeding now before a U.S. Court of Appeals. The Board’s refusal to address constitutional issues rests on the assumption that the Board lacks the authority to make constitutional decisions. That may seem odd, given the fact that the Board is an arm of the federal government, and its members are bound to uphold the Constitution. This Article examines the basis of …


Obviousness As Fact: The Issue Of Obviousness In Patent Law Should Be A Question Of Fact Reviewed With Appropriate Deference, Ted L. Field Apr 2016

Obviousness As Fact: The Issue Of Obviousness In Patent Law Should Be A Question Of Fact Reviewed With Appropriate Deference, Ted L. Field

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

One of the most common defenses that an accused infringer raises in a patent infringement lawsuit is that the patent claims at issue are invalid for obviousness. The question of obviousness is based on several factual determinations, and the U.S. Supreme Court and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit should sensibly review these determinations with deference to the jury’s or trial court’s findings. But these courts instead treat the ultimate determination of obviousness as a question of law to be reviewed de novo. This Article challenges the correctness of this standard of review and argues that courts …


The Riddle Of The Mysterious Patent Dance Wrapped In An Enigma: Is The Patent Dance Of The Bpcia Optional Or Mandatory?, Dov Hirsch Apr 2016

The Riddle Of The Mysterious Patent Dance Wrapped In An Enigma: Is The Patent Dance Of The Bpcia Optional Or Mandatory?, Dov Hirsch

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

Recently, the nature of one of the aspects of the Biosimilar, Price, Competition, and Innovation Act of 2009 (“BPCIA”) has been called into question: Is the “patent dance,” the structured patent dispute resolution process of the BPCIA, mandatory or optional? A mandatory patent dance requires a biosimilar applicant to comply with all its requirements, while an optional patent dance allows the biosimilar applicant to opt out of the entire dance if it so chooses. This question is important because it has the potential to affect that delicate balance of the BPCIA. This Note focuses on some of the consequential implications …


Using Copyright To Remove Content: An Analysis Of Garcia V. Google, Elizabeth Martin Feb 2016

Using Copyright To Remove Content: An Analysis Of Garcia V. Google, Elizabeth Martin

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

This Note will investigate how individuals attempt to use copyright law, instead of seeking damages for emotional distress or privacy, by using Garcia I and Garcia II as examples. Part I will provide background on Garcia I and Garcia II, the facts leading up to the lawsuit, the first decision and the criticism surrounding it, and the second decision. Part II will discuss what other legal methods Garcia may have used to achieve the same result and potentially obtain the same relief if she decided not to sue for copyright infringement. Part III will look beyond Garcia I and Garcia …


The Lost Language Of The First Amendment In Copyright Fair Use: A Semiotic Perspective Of The “Transformative Use” Doctrine Twenty-Five Years On, David Tan Feb 2016

The Lost Language Of The First Amendment In Copyright Fair Use: A Semiotic Perspective Of The “Transformative Use” Doctrine Twenty-Five Years On, David Tan

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

It has been twenty-five years since Judge Pierre Leval published his iconic article, “Toward a Fair Use Standard,” urging that courts adopt a new guiding principle of “transformative use” to determine whether an unauthorized secondary use of a copy-righted work is fair. The Supreme Court’s emphatic endorsement of this approach in 1994 has resulted in a remarkable judicial expansion of the transformative use doctrine which today covers virtually any “creation of new information, new aesthetics, new in-sights and understandings.” While the Supreme Court reiterated in Golan v. Holder in 2012 that the fair use defense is one of copyright law’s …


Gender Biases In Cyberspace: A Two-Stage Model, The New Arena Of Wikipedia And Other Websites, Shlomit Yanisky-Ravid, Amy Mittelman Jan 2016

Gender Biases In Cyberspace: A Two-Stage Model, The New Arena Of Wikipedia And Other Websites, Shlomit Yanisky-Ravid, Amy Mittelman

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

Increasingly, there has been a focus on creating democratic standards and norms in order to best facilitate open exchange of information and communication online―a goal that fits neatly within the feminist aim to democratize content creation and community. Collaborative websites, such as blogs, social networks, and, as focused on in this Article, Wikipedia, represent both a cyberspace community entirely outside the strictures of the traditional (intellectual) proprietary paradigm and one that professes to truly embody the philosophy of a completely open, free, and democratic resource for all. In theory, collaborative websites are the solution for which social activists, intellectual property …


“It’S Been A Hard Day’S Night” For Songwriters: Why The Ascap And Bmi Consent Decrees Must Undergo Reform, Brontë Lawson Turk Jan 2016

“It’S Been A Hard Day’S Night” For Songwriters: Why The Ascap And Bmi Consent Decrees Must Undergo Reform, Brontë Lawson Turk

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

In order to guarantee reasonable fees for songwriters, composers, and publishers, the consent decrees must undergo critical reform to account for how music is licensed in new media. Part I of this Note will provide background on the mechanics of music licensing, both traditional and through modern mediums, in order to explain why the two largest PROs initially entered into governmental consent decrees. Part II will discuss recent judicial determinations of “reasonable” licensing rates for public performances in new media and demonstrate the discrepancy in compensation between songwriters and their sound recording counterparts, namely record companies and recording artists. Finally, …


Newsgathering Takes Flight In Choppy Skies: Legal Obstacles Affecting Journalistic Drone Use, Clay Calvert, Charles D. Tobin, Matthew D. Bunker Jan 2016

Newsgathering Takes Flight In Choppy Skies: Legal Obstacles Affecting Journalistic Drone Use, Clay Calvert, Charles D. Tobin, Matthew D. Bunker

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

This Article examines legal challenges confronting journalists who use drones to gather images. Initially, it traces the history of drones and the Federal Aviation Administration’s efforts to regulate them, as well as new state legislation that aims to restrict drones. This Article then illustrates that a wide array of legal remedies already exist for individuals harmed by journalistic drone usage, and it argues that calls for additional, piecemeal state laws to regulate drones are unnecessary and unduly hinder First Amendment interests in newsgathering and the public’s right to know. Furthermore, this Article asserts that the reasonable-expectation-of-privacy jurisprudence developed in aerial …


The Need For "Supreme" Clarity: Clothing, Copyright, And Conceptual Separability, Jacqueline Lefebvre Jan 2016

The Need For "Supreme" Clarity: Clothing, Copyright, And Conceptual Separability, Jacqueline Lefebvre

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

For the first time in history, the U.S. Supreme Court will address copyright protection in the context of apparel in the case Star Athletica, LLC v. Varsity Brands, Inc. This case tackles arguably the most vexing, unresolved question in copyright law: How to determine whether artistic features of a useful article—such as a garment or piece of furniture—are conceptually separable from the article and thus protectable. Indeed, this case comes more than sixty years after Mazer v. Stein, the Supreme Court’s first and,until this date, only decision in this area. A lack of clear guidance from the Supreme Court and …


The Clean Water Rule- A Clarification Of The Definition Of 'Waters Of The United States' Or Agency Overreach, April Collaku Jan 2016

The Clean Water Rule- A Clarification Of The Definition Of 'Waters Of The United States' Or Agency Overreach, April Collaku

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.


Human Survival, Risk, And Law: Considering Risk Filters To Replace Cost-Benefit Analysis, John William Draper Jan 2016

Human Survival, Risk, And Law: Considering Risk Filters To Replace Cost-Benefit Analysis, John William Draper

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.


Wildlife Crime And Degradation In Africa: An Analysis Of The Current Crisis And Prospects For A Secure Future, Kofi Ernest Abotsi, Paolo Galizzi, Alena Herklotz Jan 2016

Wildlife Crime And Degradation In Africa: An Analysis Of The Current Crisis And Prospects For A Secure Future, Kofi Ernest Abotsi, Paolo Galizzi, Alena Herklotz

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.