Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Articles 1 - 9 of 9
Full-Text Articles in Law
Understanding Intellectual Property: Expression, Function, And Individuation, Mala Chatterjee
Understanding Intellectual Property: Expression, Function, And Individuation, Mala Chatterjee
Faculty Scholarship
Underlying the fundamental structure of intellectual property law — specifically, the division between copyright and patent law — are at least two substantive philosophical assumptions. The first is that artistic works and inventions are importantly different, such that they warrant different legal systems: copyright law on the one hand, and patent law on the other. And the second is that particular artistic works and inventions can be determinately individuated from each other, and can thereby be the subjects of distinct and delineated legal rights. But neither the law nor existing scholarship provides a comprehensive analysis of these categories, what distinguishes …
Intellectual Property, Independent Creation, And The Lockean Commons, Mala Chatterjee
Intellectual Property, Independent Creation, And The Lockean Commons, Mala Chatterjee
Faculty Scholarship
Copyrights and patents are differently structured intellectual property rights in different kinds of entities. Nonetheless, they are widely regarded by U.S. scholars as having the same theoretical underpinnings. Though scholars have sought to connect philosophical theories of property to intellectual property, with a particular interest in the labor theory of John Locke, these explorations have not sufficiently probed copyrights’ and patents’ doctrinal differences or their philosophical implications for the theories explored. This Article argues that a defining difference between copyrights and patents has normative significance for the framework of Lockean property theory: namely, that copyright law treats independent creation as …
Standing With A Bundle Of Sticks: The All Substantial Rights Doctrine In Action, Christopher J. Morten
Standing With A Bundle Of Sticks: The All Substantial Rights Doctrine In Action, Christopher J. Morten
Faculty Scholarship
This Article provides an overview of the Federal Circuit’s all substantial rights doctrine. Surveying decades of case law, this Article seeks to clarify this confusing area of the law and set out the essential rules for those engaged in patent licensing, patent assignment, and patent litigation. This Article begins by explaining why effective ownership of a patent is critical to standing, and then describes the framework through which courts determine whether a party is, in fact, in possession of all substantial rights and is therefore the effective owner. While there are many factors that courts may consider, certain rights take …
Comments On Preliminary Draft 3 [Black Letter And Comments], Jane C. Ginsburg, June M. Besek
Comments On Preliminary Draft 3 [Black Letter And Comments], Jane C. Ginsburg, June M. Besek
Faculty Scholarship
The absence of stated principles underlying the articulation of the black letter and comments – principles that the Reporters have said they will provide at the end of the process – continues to trouble the Draft. It remains unclear whether the Reporters are synthesizing positive law, or seeking to reform it. We are not contending that ALI should not push for law reform (even though Principles or some other form might provide a preferable and more transparent vehicle for aspirational endeavors), but we do think the objectives and methodology should be clear from the outset. We remain concerned that ALI’s …
United States Response To Questionnaire Concerning Applied Arts Under Ip Law: The Uncertain Border Between Beauty And Usefulness, June M. Besek, Robert E. Bishop, Jane C. Ginsburg, Philippa Loengard, Nathalie Russell
United States Response To Questionnaire Concerning Applied Arts Under Ip Law: The Uncertain Border Between Beauty And Usefulness, June M. Besek, Robert E. Bishop, Jane C. Ginsburg, Philippa Loengard, Nathalie Russell
Faculty Scholarship
ALAI-USA is the U.S. branch of ALAI (Association Littèraire et Artistique Internationale). ALAI-USA was started in the 1980's by the late Professor Melville B. Nimmer, and was later expanded by Professor John M. Kernochan.
"Courts Have Twisted Themselves Into Knots": Us Copyright Protection For Applied Art, Jane C. Ginsburg
"Courts Have Twisted Themselves Into Knots": Us Copyright Protection For Applied Art, Jane C. Ginsburg
Faculty Scholarship
In copyright law, the marriage of beauty and utility often proves fraught. Domestic and international law makers have struggled to determine whether, and to what extent, copyright should cover works that are both artistic and functional. The U.S. Copyright Act protects a work of applied art "only if, and only to the extent that, its design incorporates pictorial, graphic, or sculptural features that can be identified separately from, and are capable of existing independently of, the utilitarian aspects of the article." While the policy goal to separate the aesthetic from the functional is clear, courts' application of the statutory "separability" …
The Pto And The Market For Influence In Patent Law, Clarisa Long
The Pto And The Market For Influence In Patent Law, Clarisa Long
Faculty Scholarship
As statutory schemes go, the patent statute has been relatively stable from 1952 to the present. In contrast to copyright law, where Congress has taken a close – indeed at times intense – interest in the details of the statutory scheme, legislative intervention into the patent statute, when it has occurred, has been more limited and narrower in scope. For many reasons, however, patent law has been disequilibrating over time, and calls for patent reform have been increasing in intensity. One of the many factors contributing to this disequilibration in recent years has been the ongoing emergence of the U.S. …
The Melting Of Patent Law, Eben Moglen
The Melting Of Patent Law, Eben Moglen
Faculty Scholarship
In this special comment, the author posits that the patent system as it stands is archaic and oppressive, and has neither intellectual nor moral support. Having veered away from its original goals, by virtue of the change in the technological and functional basis of government, it instead serves as a justification for inequalities of wealth distribution. The author argues that substantial reform is required that would shift the balance in patent law from monopolistic greed to public interest, paving the way for access to knowledge.
Patents And Cumulative Innovation, Clarisa Long
Patents And Cumulative Innovation, Clarisa Long
Faculty Scholarship
Proprietary rights to the products of biomedical research have repeatedly been a source of controversy for over twenty years. Patents on biomedical innovations have allowed scientists, academics, and research institutions to raise research funds and have contributed to the growth of the biotechnology industry. But “one firm’s research tool may be another firm’s end product.” Patents have been a source of great concern for academic and basic researchers, who fear that proprietary rights to basic research results will hamper the progress of science, stifle the free flow of new knowledge and the dissemination of research results, and chill the research …