Law Commons^™

The Vampire That Refused To Die: Dracula And Nosferatu, Louis J. D'Alton

Proceedings from the Document Academy

This paper considers the efforts of the Stoker estate to stop an infringing work, Nosferatu, in a new medium while simultaneously attempting to create new vehicles to exploit the legacy of Dracula. Focusing on the works as they pass and transform through overlapping and related frames allows the consideration of both the private and public lives of the document. It also highlights the limitations of policy frames and the continuing relevance of these historical processes in discussions of the document.

Super-Statutory Contracting, Kristelia A. García

Washington Law Review

The conventional wisdom is that property rules induce more—and more efficient—contracting, and that when faced with rigid property rules, intellectual property owners will contract into more flexible liability rules. A series of recent, private copyright deals show some intellectual property owners doing just the opposite: faced with statutory liability rules, they are contracting for more protection than that dictated by law, something this Article calls “super-statutory contracting”—either by opting for a stronger, more tailored liability rule, or by contracting into property rule protection. Through a series of deal analyses, this Article explores this counterintuitive phenomenon, and updates seminal thinking on …

What The Supreme Court Is Likely To Do In The Presently Pending Case Google V. Oracle, Jennifer Campbell

The University of Cincinnati Intellectual Property and Computer Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Revisiting The License V. Sale Conundrum, Nancy S. Kim

Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review

This Article seeks to answer a question that has become increasingly more important as commerce moves from the tangible to the intangible—to what extent may a business use a contract to control the use of a fully paid product? The characterization of a transaction as a license or a sale determines what may be done with a product, who controls how the product may be used, and what happens in the event of a dispute. The past generation has seen a seismic shift in the way businesses distribute their products to consumers. Businesses often “license” rather than “sell” their products, …

Abandoning Copyright, Dave Fagundes, Aaron Perzanowski

William & Mary Law Review

For nearly two hundred years, U.S. copyright law has assumed that owners may voluntarily abandon their rights in a work. But scholars have largely ignored copyright abandonment, and case law on the subject is fragmented and inconsistent. As a result, abandonment remains poorly theorized, owners can avail themselves of no reliable mechanism to abandon their works, and the practice remains rare. This Article seeks to bring copyright abandonment out of the shadows, showing that it is a doctrine rich in conceptual, normative, and practical significance. Unlike abandonment of real and chattel property, which imposes significant public costs in exchange for …

The First Sale Doctrine And Foreign Sales: The Economic Implications In The United States Textbook Market, Garry A. Gabison

University of Massachusetts Law Review

This Article investigates the impact of the Kirtsaeng decision. After discussing the first sale doctrine, this Article presents the issues around implementing a worldwide first sale doctrine. International treaties attempt to ensure that authors can benefit from their work by affording them similar protections in different jurisdictions. But a worldwide first sale exhaustion limits the ability of copyright holders to profit from their work because it allows the author to compete with its own work that had been priced differently in different jurisdictions. Finally, this Article tests whether, in the United States, the price of textbooks has been affected by …

Poland’S Challenge To Eu Directive 2019/790: Standing Up To The Destruction Of European Freedom Of Expression, Michaela Cloutier

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

In 2019, the European Parliament and Council passed Directive 2019/790. The Directive’s passage marked the end of a fouryear- long legislative attempt to impose more liability for copyright violations on Online Service Providers, an effort which was controversial from the start. Online Service Providers fear that the 2019 Directive, especially its Article 17, will completely change the structure of liability on the Internet, forcing providers to adopt expensive content filtering systems. Free speech advocates fear that ineffective filtering technology will infringe upon Internet users’ rights to express themselves, and legal scholars have pointed out the Directive’s inconsistency with prior European …

A Tale Of Two Copyrights, Glynn S. Lunney Jr.

Akron Law Review

This essay explores two possible copyright regimes. The first uses costless and perfect price discrimination to enable copyright owners to capture the full market or exchange value of their work. The second also uses costless and perfect price discrimination, but allows copyright owners to capture only the persuasion cost for authoring and distributing a work. We can call the first regime, costless copyright maximalism, and the second, costless copyright minimalism. The choice between these two regimes is primarily distributional: Should we design copyright to allocate the surplus associated with copyrighted works to copyright owners or to copyright consumers? This essay …

Mod Money, Mod Problems: A Critique Of Copyright Restrictions On Video Game Modifications And An Evaluation Of Associated Monetization Regimes, Carl "Ott" Lindstrom

William & Mary Business Law Review

Video game modifications (mods) have had a tremendously positive impact on the game industry, both in terms of commercial success and evolution of the medium. But the present court doctrine, enabled by Micro Star v. Formgen and abetted by restrictive End User License Agreements, greatly underserves the mod community and undermines the principal tenet of copyright law: the fundamental right to reap the benefits of what one has created. This Note examines and critiques the current doctrine and its ethical pitfalls. It also explores the pros and cons of current methods of mod monetization, including remakes, developer partnerships, and donation …

The Problem Of Modern Monetization Of Memes: How Copyright Law Can Give Protection To Meme Creators, Mark Marciszewski

Pace Intellectual Property, Sports & Entertainment Law Forum

Some legal questions answered in this article on the horizon for the courts and lawyers is how should courts apply copyright law to popular media made by small scale creators and shared on the internet, otherwise known as "memes."

Part II of this article will focus on validity of potential copyright protection in internet memes. It will start by describing the increased monetization surrounding memes and how this monetization calls for greater interest for meme creators to protect their work. It will then describe the merits of individual copyright interests in internet memes.

Part III of this article will focus …

Creative Destruction: Copyright's Fair Use Doctrine And The Moral Right Of Integrity, Cathay Y. N. Smith

Pepperdine Law Review

This Paper explores the role of copyright’s fair use doctrine as a limit on the moral right of integrity. The moral right of integrity gives an author the right to prevent any distortion, modification, or mutilation of their work that prejudices their honor or reputation. Actions that have been found to violate an author’s moral right of integrity include, for instance, altering a mural by painting clothing over nude figures, selling separated panels of a single work of art, and displaying sculptures with holiday ribbons. At the same time, copyright’s fair use doctrine allows follow-on creators to transform original works …

Feeling Cute, Might [Have To] Delete Later: Defending Against The Modern Day Copyright Troll, Austin Joseph

Journal of Intellectual Property Law

The age-old clash between celebrities and paparazzi has reached a new high. With the trend moving towards the monetization of social media, evolution in mobile camera technology, and lighting-fast sharing capabilities, the need for paparazzi decreases with each year. Because paparazzi want to remain desirable, the infamous conduct of “copyright trolling” is sweeping the intellectual property scene. “Copyright trolling” is the act of searching social media and suing multiple celebrities when the celebrity post a photo of themselves without first paying the licensing fee. Within this year alone, multiple celebrities like Rebel Wilson, Ariana Grande, and Liam Hemsworth have been …

"You Got Too Much Dip On Your Chip!" How Stagnant Copyright Law Is Stifling Creativity, Taylor Bussey

Journal of Intellectual Property Law

Over time, our concept of what qualifies as an author has changed–specifically with the dominance of the internet. Tangentially, our idea of what it means to be a joint author has changed. What once would have required physical proximity now can be accomplished via the internet in a matter of seconds. Authors from all around the globe can collaborate. Geographic limitations present virtually no constraint on the number of individuals that can contribute to a work. Human creativity, however, has remained the same. When creating, authors naturally draw on their human experience. Without tailoring modern copyright law to modern trends …

Intellectual Property's First Sale Doctrine And The Policy Against Restraints On Alienation, Lorie M. Graham, Stephen M. Mcjohn

Texas A&M Law Review

The first sale doctrine decouples intellectual property and physical property. Suppose, at an auction at Sotheby’s, someone bought a contemporary painting by Chuck Close. The buyer now owns the physical painting, but the copyright to the painting remains with the owner of the copyright—the painter Chuck Close or whomever Close may have transferred the copyright to. Absent the first sale doctrine, if the buyer either sold the painting or displayed it to the public, the buyer would potentially infringe the copyright in the painting. The copyright owner has the exclusive right to display copies (including the original, the first copy) …

The Copyright Act’S Mandatory-Deposit Requirement: Unnecessary And Unconstitutional, Drew Thornley

Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review

Many people are unaware of a federal copyright statute that requires owners of material published in the United States to furnish the federal government with two copies of each item published. Section 407(a) of the Copyright Act of 1976 (17 U.S.C. § 407) states that “the owner of copyright or of the exclusive right of publication in a work published in the United States shall deposit, within three months after the date of such publication—(1) two complete copies of the best edition; or (2) if the work is a sound recording, two complete phonorecords of the best edition, together with …

A Copy Of A Copy Of A Copy: Internet Mimesis And The Copyrightability Of Memes, Elena Elmerinda Scialabba

Duke Law & Technology Review

No abstract provided.

The Formation Of A National Legal System Against Cultural Piracy, O. Okyulov

Review of law sciences

This article describes the peculiarity of piracy as a legal category, and as a system of offenses. Different views from scientific researches and literatures on combating piracy are analyzed. The article also elaborates and supports conceptual decisions on combating piracy in Uzbekistan. At present, it is clearly seen that cultural piracy has become widespread as an offense, while the public attitude in the form of censure is rather weakly expressed. It is noted that in order for Uzbekistan to enter the WTO and increase the international rating, in our country it is necessary to take drastic measures against cultural piracy. …

The Clash Between Terrestrial And Digital Radio: Pinned By The Music Modernization Act, Dianlyn Cenidoza

Seattle University Law Review

Copyright law, specifically music licensing, has long been outdated due to changes in the way people listen to music. With the proliferation of technology, listeners can now enjoy music via channels that did not exist just a few decades ago. As a consequence, music creators have faced years of economic inequality. Songwriters, artists, and musicians have fought a long, and often fruitless, battle for justice—legislation that would change music law for the better has continuously been struck down. However, in 2018, the Music Modernization Act (MMA) was signed into law, representing a battle won for music creators. This Comment will …

Who Owns The Law? Why We Must Restore Public Ownership Of Legal Publishing, Leslie A. Street, David R. Hansen

Journal of Intellectual Property Law

Each state has its own method for officially publishing the law. This article looks at the history of legal publishing for the fifty states before looking at how legal publishing even in moving to electronic publishing may not ensure public access to the law. The article addresses barriers to free access to the law in electronic publishing including copyright, contract law, and potentially, the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. The article concludes with prescriptions for how different actors, including state governments, publishers, libraries, and others can ensure robust public access to the law moving forward.

A Siri-Ous Societal Issue: Should Autonomous Artificial Intelligence Receive Patent Or Copyright Protection?, Samuel Scholz

Cybaris®

No abstract provided.

Artificial Creativity: A Case Against Copyright For Ai-Created Visual Artwork, Megan Svedman

IP Theory

Artificial intelligence is becoming increasingly complex, and provides examples of compelling, human-like performances. One such artificial intelligence technology is known as Creative Adversarial Network (“CAN”) technology, which relies on inputs of preexisting pieces of art to create pieces of original art that pass as human-made. Whether the coders responsible for CAN-technology should be granted coverage for the resultant art remains an open question in United States jurisprudence. This paper seeks to explore why, given both software’s historical legacy in copyright law and bedrock copyright justifications, extending copyright coverage to the coders responsible for CAN technology would be a grave misstep …

Artificial Intelligence, Copyright, And Copyright Infringement, Zach Naqvi

Marquette Intellectual Property Law Review

None.

Introduction: What Is Real? Authenticity, Transparency, And Trust In The Digital Age Of Fashion, Joseph M. Forgione

NYLS Law Review

No abstract provided.

Copyright & Fashion: The Shoe That Does Not Fit, Cassandra Baloga

NYLS Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Power Of Social Media As An Evolving Force And Its Impact On Intellectual Property, Whitney N. Alston

Cybaris®

No abstract provided.

Human Rights Laws And Authorship Norms, Roberta Rosenthal Kwall

Mitchell Hamline Law Review

No abstract provided.

Copyright And Human Rights In The Ballroom: A Minuet Between The United States And The Eu, Maria Lillà Montagnani, Alina Trapova

Mitchell Hamline Law Review

No abstract provided.

Privative Copyright, Shyamkrishna Balganesh

Vanderbilt Law Review

“Privative” copyright claims are infringement actions brought by authors for the unauthorized public dissemination of works that are private, unpublished, and revelatory of the author’s personal identity. Driven by considerations of authorial autonomy, dignity, and personality rather than monetary value, these claims are almost as old as Anglo-American copyright law itself. Yet modern thinking has attempted to undermine their place within copyright law and sought to move them into the domain of privacy law. This Article challenges the dominant view and argues that privative copyright claims form a legitimate part of the copyright landscape. It shows how privative copyright claims …

Protectable “Art”: Urinals, Bananas, And Shredders, Richard H. Chused

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

Creative souls have long played with our imaginations, as well as our tastes, about what art may be. The resulting absurdist, dada, and everyday object art forces us to step back and ask a few intellectual property questions about what this art has done, undone, or reconstructed in the copyright world. The Copyright Act grants protection to “original works of authorship fixed in any tangible medium of expression, now known or later developed, from which they can be perceived, reproduced, or otherwise communicated, either directly or with the aid of a machine or device.” This Article explores how pranksterism, eccentricity, …

Anything You Can Do, Ai Can't Do Better: An Analysis Of Conception As A Requirement For Patent Inventorship And A Rationale For Excluding Ai Inventors, Kaelyn R. Knutson

Cybaris®

No abstract provided.