Law Commons^™

Open Source Perfume, Amanda Levendowski

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

ABRIDGED ABSTRACT: Perfume is a powerful art and technology, but its secrets are closely held by a privileged few - by some counts, there are more astronauts than there are perfumers. As critics have noted increasingly since 2020, those select few perfumers often share similar backgrounds. As interviews with American, British, and French perfumemakers reveal, intellectual property (IP) also plays a gatekeeping role in perfumery. Drawing on work by perfumer and educator Saskia Wilson-Brown, this Article suggests that perfumery is overdue for a transformation. One is emerging: open source perfume. For those seeking ways to share scents and signal commitment …

Resisting Face Surveillance With Copyright Law, Amanda Levendowski

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Face surveillance is animated by deep-rooted demographic and deployment biases that endanger marginalized communities and threaten the privacy of all. But current approaches have not prevented its adoption by law enforcement. Some companies have offered voluntary moratoria on selling the technology, leaving many others to fill in the gaps. Legislators have enacted regulatory oversight at the state and city levels, but a federal ban remains elusive. Both approaches require vast shifts in practical and political will, each with drawbacks. While we wait, face surveillance persists. This Article suggests a new possibility: face surveillance is fueled by unauthorized copies and reproductions …

The Corruption Of Copyright And Returning It To Its Original Purposes, Michelle M. Wu

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Since its inception, Copyright has had two purposes: the private interest of the author in being paid for her work and the public interest served by the dissemination of these works. Within the last two decades, though, some industries have systematically undermined both of those interests, redirecting the benefits of copyright towards themselves instead of the intended beneficiaries. This paper looks at the book, music, and entertainment industries, examines how copyright has been used to suppress the uses it was intended to foster, and explores ongoing and proposed avenues for course correction.

Copyright Reform: Imagining More Balanced Copyright Laws, Michelle M. Wu

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Earlier chapters of this book provide a history of copyright and libraries in the United States, a review of outdated language in the existing copyright code, and a discussion of actions by both copyright owners and the public to rebalance copyright outside of legislation. This chapter simply imagines what copyright could be if we disregard the known political and legal obstacles. It starts with no constraints, which one might argue is both impractical and foolish. Why spend time discussing what could be when treaties, self-interest, and powerful industry lobbies stand in the way?

The answer is simply that environments can …

Revisiting Controlled Digital Lending Post-Redigi, Michelle M. Wu

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Now that the Second Circuit has ruled on the ReDigi appeal, some libraries and users may be curious to see how the decision factors into controlled digital lending (CDL) efforts. To understand the interest and the implications, we first need to establish the basic contours of copyright, fair use, CDL, and ReDigi.

Collaborative Academic Library Digital Collections Post- Cambridge University Press, Hathitrust And Google Decisions On Fair Use, Michelle M. Wu

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Academic libraries face numerous stressors as they seek to meet the needs of their users through technological advances while adhering to copyright laws. This paper seeks to explore one specific proposal to balance these interests, the impact of recent decisions on its viability, and the copyright challenges that remain after these decisions.