Law Commons^™

When You Wish Upon Dastar: Creative Provenance And The Lanham Act, Mary Lafrance

Scholarly Works

This Article examines the application of section 43(a) of the Lanham Act to claims of reverse passing off through the lens of the Supreme Court's unpersuasive effort in Dastar Corp. v. Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp. to exclude a single class of reverse passing off-claims - those involving “expressive” works as opposed to physical commodities - from the scope of section 43(a). The Article critiques the Court's analysis of section 43(a) in light of case law and the pertinent legislative history, including, the Trademark Law Revision Act of 1988, the Berne Convention Implementation Act of 1988, and the Visual Artists …

A Comparative Study Of United States And Japanese Laws On Collaborative Inventions, And The Impact Of Those Laws On Technology Transfers, Mary Lafrance

Scholarly Works

This research examines United States and Japanese laws regarding patent rights in collaborative inventions, and inquires whether these laws may impede technology transfers by creating uncertainty regarding the ownership, validity, or enforceability of the resulting patents, or by imposing undue obstacles to the licensing or assignment of such patents. Where the laws of the two countries differ, this paper compares the merits of each approach and also assesses whether the differing approaches could be troublesome for cross-border transactions.

One of the most significant differences between United States and Japanese law regarding joint inventions is in the requirement of consent for …