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Full-Text Articles in Law
Patent Markets: A Framework For Evaluation, Michael J. Burstein
Patent Markets: A Framework For Evaluation, Michael J. Burstein
Articles
Patents have become financial assets, in both practice and theory. A nascent market for patents routinely produces headline-grabbing transactions in patent portfolios, and patent assertion entities frequently defend themselves as sources of liquidity essential for a patent market to function. Much of the discourse surrounding these developments assumes that a robust, liquid market for patents would improve the operation of the patent system. In this Essay, I challenge that assumption and systematically assess the cases for and against patent markets. I do so by taking seriously both the underlying innovation promotion goal of the patent system and the lessons of …
On The Legal Consequences Of Sauces: Should Thomas Keller’S Recipes Be Per Se Copyrightable?, Christopher Buccafusco
On The Legal Consequences Of Sauces: Should Thomas Keller’S Recipes Be Per Se Copyrightable?, Christopher Buccafusco
Articles
The restaurant industry now takes in over $500 billion a year, but recent courts have been skeptical of the notion that one of its most valuable assets, original recipes, are subject to copyright protection. With more litigation looming and the contours of the debate insufficiently mapped out, this article establishes the appropriate groundwork for analyzing the copyrightability of recipes. I show that, contrary to recent appellate court opinions, recipes meet the statutory requirements for copyrightability. I argue, by analogizing to musical compositions, that written recipes work to satisfy the fixation requirement of copyright law just as musical notation does for …