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Full-Text Articles in Law
Conquering Copyright: Why Copyright Needs To Be Modernized Based On Practical Illustrations Of Inconsistent Copyright Precedent, Saipranay Vellala
Conquering Copyright: Why Copyright Needs To Be Modernized Based On Practical Illustrations Of Inconsistent Copyright Precedent, Saipranay Vellala
Akron Law Review
Copyright law establishes an author’s right to secure exclusive rights in their writings. If an author finds an infringing work, the author can file a copyright infringement suit to protect their original writings and stop an infringer from misappropriating their work. In analyzing copyright infringement, however, some legal theories, such as the Inverse Ratio Rule, mischaracterize the crux of the copyright infringement inquiry and complicate the infringement inquiry for judges and juries—adversely affecting authors. Using indie musicians as an exemplary embodiment of modern copyright jurisprudence’s adverse effects, indie musicians who merely have access to a more famous musician’s music may …
Letting Anarchy Loose On The World: The Anarchist Cookbook And How Copyright Fails The Author, Debora Halbert
Letting Anarchy Loose On The World: The Anarchist Cookbook And How Copyright Fails The Author, Debora Halbert
Akron Law Review
The Anarchist Cookbook by William Powell remains one of the most controversial books in print, even 50 years after its first publication. The story to be told about its ongoing publication can teach us about the politics of authorship, ownership, publication, copyright assignments, the public domain, and the legacies our printed words leave behind. Later in life Powell regretted publishing the book and wished that it would be removed from publication and circulation but stated that he did not own the copyright and so could not control the book. However, even at his death the book remained in print and …
The Vampire That Refused To Die: Dracula And Nosferatu, Louis J. D'Alton
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.
A Tale Of Two Copyrights, Glynn S. Lunney Jr.
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 …
The Lost Tort Of Moral Rights Invasion, Patrick R. Goold
The Lost Tort Of Moral Rights Invasion, Patrick R. Goold
Akron Law Review
Moral rights are often portrayed as an unwelcome import into U.S. law. During the nineteenth century, European lawmakers, influenced by personality theories of authorship, began granting authors rights of attribution and integrity. However, while these rights proliferated in Europe and international copyright treaties, they were not adopted in the United States. According to a common historical narrative, U.S. courts and lawmakers resisted moral rights because they were deemed incompatible with the copyright tradition of treating expressive works as alienable property. What little moral rights U.S. law provides today is thus seen as a necessary evil, grudgingly accepted, simply to comply …
Super Bowl I, Jazz Radio, And The Glass Menagerie: Copyright, Preservation, And Private Copies, R. Anthony Reese
Super Bowl I, Jazz Radio, And The Glass Menagerie: Copyright, Preservation, And Private Copies, R. Anthony Reese
Akron Law Review
Copyright law is often described as providing incentives to make and disseminate creative works. Copyright law should also seek to foster the preservation of creative works so that people can enjoy, use, study, critique, and build upon them long after they are first created. Traditionally, copyright law fostered preservation largely because most copyright owners principally exploited their works by making and distributing many tangible copies of those works. Those copies could end up in many different hands, and each copy could potentially survive into the future. Some kinds of works, though, were disseminated principally by performance, and as a result, …
Trademark Boundaries And 3d Printing, Lucas S. Osborn
Trademark Boundaries And 3d Printing, Lucas S. Osborn
Akron Law Review
3D printing technology promises to disrupt trademark law at the same time that trademark law and policy sustain repeated criticism. The controversial growth of trademark law over the last century has yielded amorphous sponsorship and affiliation confusion issues and empirically fragile post-sale and initial-interest confusion theories, among others. Into this melee marches 3D printing technology, which dissociates the process of design from that of manufacturing and democratizes manufacturing. Rather than being embodied only in physical objects, design is embodied in digital CAD files that users can post and sell on the internet. The digitization of physical objects raises fundamental questions …
Redefining The Intended Copyright Infringer, Yvette Joy Liebesman
Redefining The Intended Copyright Infringer, Yvette Joy Liebesman
Akron Law Review
The contemporary copyright infringer is pretty much anyone who can get caught. Yet, who could be caught back when the Copyright Act of 1976 was enacted is just a subset of those who can be caught today—we had very different concepts about who was the intended target of an infringement action than who fits into that mold today. The advent and growth of cyberspace communication now makes it both easier to infringe and for IP owners, with very little effort, to capture infringers. The ability of individuals to both easily infringe and easily be found infringing has altered the IP …
Copyright Easements, Jason Mazzone
Copyright Easements, Jason Mazzone
Akron Law Review
When authors assign the copyright in their work to publishers, some productive uses of the work are impeded. The author loses opportunities to use or to authorize others to use the work unless the publisher consents; the publisher does not permit all uses of the work that the author would like or that would benefit a consuming audience. Copyright easements can solve the problem. Under a system of copyright easements, an easement holder would have designated rights in a creative work that would permit uses of the work that would ordinarily require permission of the copyright owner. If the author …
Lights! Camera! Infringement? Exploring The Boundaries Of Whether Fan Films Violate Copyrights, Jyme Mariani
Lights! Camera! Infringement? Exploring The Boundaries Of Whether Fan Films Violate Copyrights, Jyme Mariani
Akron Intellectual Property Journal
This Thesis examines the situation that de los Rios and other fan filmmakers face because of the inherent conflict fan films have with the original author’s intellectual property rights. It outlines the culture and specifics of fan fiction and the different subgenres within it and their relationship with one another. This Thesis also traces the origins of fan films to gain a better understanding of why filmmakers create them and the potential legal battles that have developed over time. The potential legal issues discussed address the rights of the original author and how courts have interpreted copyright protection for individual …
Andy Warhol's Pantry, Brian L. Frye
Andy Warhol's Pantry, Brian L. Frye
Akron Intellectual Property Journal
This Article examines Andy Warhol’s use of food and food products as a metaphor for commerce and consumption. It observes that Warhol’s use of images and marks was often inconsistent with copyright and trademark doctrine, and suggests that the fair use doctrine should incorporate a “Warhol test.”
Food Patents: The Unintended Consequences, Jay Dratler Jr.
Food Patents: The Unintended Consequences, Jay Dratler Jr.
Akron Intellectual Property Journal
This short paper explores the unintended consequences of this strong economic incentive. The underlying assumptions of patent law and its economic incentive are that innovation is good, and newer is better. But is that always so? Science and history suggest maybe not, for some very fundamental reasons. And there are reasons to believe that the risks of unintended consequences of innovation in food may be more hazardous than those in other fields of innovation.
Redigi And The Resale Of Digital Media: The Courts Reject A Digital First Sale Doctrine And Sustain The Imbalance Between Copyright Owners And Consumers, Monica L. Dobson
Redigi And The Resale Of Digital Media: The Courts Reject A Digital First Sale Doctrine And Sustain The Imbalance Between Copyright Owners And Consumers, Monica L. Dobson
Akron Intellectual Property Journal
Part II of this comment will explain the history of the first sale doctrine, observe how Congress has modified the doctrine over time, and examine how the courts have interpreted the doctrine in light of various technological innovations. Part III will address the problems associated with digital media and examine the concerns of both copyright owners and consumers surrounding a digital first sale doctrine. Part IV will discuss the recent federal district court case, Capitol Records, LLC v. ReDigi Inc., which dealt with the issue of the first sale doctrine’s applicability to digital media, and explain why the court …
Checks, Balance And Judicial Wizardry: Constitutional Delegation And Congressional Legislation, Robert I. Reis
Checks, Balance And Judicial Wizardry: Constitutional Delegation And Congressional Legislation, Robert I. Reis
Akron Intellectual Property Journal
Recent Supreme Court activity regarding "intellectual property" may lead some to believe the increase in cases has some further meaning beyond the decisions themselves. The interests they represent and the source of power to enact legislation in the field raise distinct issues that may inform of current judicial interest and concern. These don't necessarily delineate the constitutional role of the Court relative to the delegation under Article I, Section Eight, Clause 8 of the United States Constitution. A gathering of cases using conventional search resources and techniques yielded 666 patent cases and 73 copyright cases. This essay is not intended …
Threatening The Founding Ideal Of A Republic Of Letters: An Assessment Of The Supreme Court's Copyright Decisions Over The First Decade Of The Twenty-First Century, Susanna Frederick Fischer
Threatening The Founding Ideal Of A Republic Of Letters: An Assessment Of The Supreme Court's Copyright Decisions Over The First Decade Of The Twenty-First Century, Susanna Frederick Fischer
Akron Intellectual Property Journal
Disregard for the social value of a modern Republic of Letters like that so revered by Madison and Jefferson is a conspicuous hallmark of the Supreme Court's recent copyright case law. The four decisions in which the Court has issued full opinions since 2001 (New York Times Co. v. Tasini (2001), Eldred v. Ashcroft (2003), MGM Studios, Inc. v. Grokster, Ltd. (2005), and Reed Elsevier, Inc. v. Muchnick (2010)) indicate that a majority of the Court does not share with Jefferson and Madison a belief in the civic importance of protecting widespread public access to creative works and knowledge. …
Extending Copyright Misuse To An Affirmative Cause Of Action, Michael E. Rubinstein
Extending Copyright Misuse To An Affirmative Cause Of Action, Michael E. Rubinstein
Akron Intellectual Property Journal
This Comment will discuss the copyright misuse doctrine. Part I will introduce Redbox, explain how its business model functions, and describe the history between Redbox and the movie studios involved in the recent litigation. Part II will provide a history and background of the copyright misuse doctrine and how it has been applied in the various circuit courts that have adopted the doctrine. Part II will also touch upon the first sale doctrine, which will be applied to the litigation between Redbox and the studios. Part III will present a proposal for extending the copyright misuse doctrine into an affirmative …
What Blogging Might Teach About Cybernorms, Jacqueline D. Lipton
What Blogging Might Teach About Cybernorms, Jacqueline D. Lipton
Akron Intellectual Property Journal
While the literature on social norms as online regulators has achieved some prominence in the cyberlaw area, there is still scant examination of particular online norms and of the ways in which norms interact with other forms of regulation. The aim of this article is to reverse that trend by providing a detailed examination of one apparently emerging norm in the blogosphere-the norm against "hijacking" a blog post by hyperlinking to another blog in the comment feed for the original blog post. For example, consider a situation where Blogger A posts her advice for cooking a souffle and allows readers …
How (Not) To Discourage The Unscrupulous Copyist, Peter Ludwig
How (Not) To Discourage The Unscrupulous Copyist, Peter Ludwig
Akron Intellectual Property Journal
This article explores how the U.S. and Japanese courts implement the doctrine of equivalents when determining patent infringement. The doctrine of equivalents is a balance of, on one hand, the public's interest to know the metes and bounds of the patent, and on the other hand, the private interest of the patentee to be granted a sufficient scope for the granted patent. After comparing and contrasting the implementation of the doctrine in Japan and the United States, I propose a new method that places the burden on the patent practitioner, before infringement proceedings begin, to determine the proper scope of …
Fashion Design Protection: The Eternal Plight Of The "Soft Sculpture", Kimberly A. Harchuck
Fashion Design Protection: The Eternal Plight Of The "Soft Sculpture", Kimberly A. Harchuck
Akron Intellectual Property Journal
This writing begs to answer the ninety-year-old question of whether or not fashion designs should be protected by law. In answering this question, Section II explores design protection in the United States and the actions taken for almost a full century in determining the legal protection of fashion. Section III discusses the many facets of fashion design, as information technology and art. Section IV reviews the evolution of copying, its benefits and detriments, and the theories proposing protection against copies. Section V addresses current U.S. intellectual property laws affecting fashion as well as the protections of individual European countries and …
If Hip-Hop Were Classified And The Pentagon Papers Had Been Copyrighted: An Analysis Of Whether The Fair Use Defense In Copyright Law Is Broad Enough To Protect First Amendment Concerns, Sean Buchanan
Akron Intellectual Property Journal
This paper will show that copyright law conflicts with the First Amendment in that the fair use doctrine is insufficient to protect the fundamental rights and interests that underlie the First Amendment's protection of speech. To do this, the paper will examine three primary justifications of the First Amendment: individual liberty, the marketplace of ideas, and political participation. The paper will also analyze multiple situations, in which parties bring copyright suits and the defendants claim fair use, to determine whether the fair use doctrine protects the First Amendment. This paper will show that if one accepts either a marketplace of …
The Sony Legacy: Secondary Liability Perspectives, Robert I. Reis
The Sony Legacy: Secondary Liability Perspectives, Robert I. Reis
Akron Intellectual Property Journal
Sony seeded the ongoing conundrum of balancing protected intellectual property rights with the potential of technologies that enhance the use of intellectual content. New technologies that enable use also remove many copy limitations. Traditional remedies against individual infringers served their purpose of compensation and deterrence. These forms of action have been weakened where the jurisdictional, monetary and administrative underpinnings of legal administration are compromised. This complex of factors is further exacerbated by the clash between conflicting ends of protecting intellectual property rights while at the same time ensuring appropriate public beneficial use. Most enabling technologies have the potential for fundamental …
The Saga Continues: Secondary Liability For Copyright Infringement Theory, Practice And Predictions, Connie Davis Powell
The Saga Continues: Secondary Liability For Copyright Infringement Theory, Practice And Predictions, Connie Davis Powell
Akron Intellectual Property Journal
This article begins by outlining the development of secondary liability theory for copyrights, followed by a discussion highlighting the overly-active role the judiciary has played in its development, and closes with addressing the future of secondary liability for copyrights based on its potential application in current litigation.
Making Others Do The Work: Secondary Liability And The Creation Of A General Obligation To The Copyright Industries, Liam O'Melinn
Making Others Do The Work: Secondary Liability And The Creation Of A General Obligation To The Copyright Industries, Liam O'Melinn
Akron Intellectual Property Journal
This Essay argues that the growth of secondary liability actions represents a larger attempt to impose a general obligation to protect the copyrights of the content industries, and that the full significance of secondary liability cannot be understood unless it is considered alongside other manifestations of this tendency. This Essay contends that secondary liability takes on a much greater meaning when it is seen as closely related to other efforts in extending responsibility for protecting copyrights: in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, in various measures intended to increase the government's responsibility for copyright enforcement, in attempts to make universities accountable …
Looking For Fair Use In The Dmca's Safety Dance, Ira S. Nathenson
Looking For Fair Use In The Dmca's Safety Dance, Ira S. Nathenson
Akron Intellectual Property Journal
Today, it is encouraging to hear another Senator - now, Senator McCain - speak up for fair use, but it is also worth noting that McCain voted for the Senate version of the DMCA. Regardless, McCain's request to YouTube contains an intriguing premise: implicit in it is the assumption that fair use can be protected under Section 512 as it exists without amendment. In this Article, I test McCain's assumption, asking whether we can interpret Section 512 to better foster fair use. I believe that we can. In this Article, I argue that copyright owners must consider fair or other …
Secondary Liability And The Fragmentation Of Digital Copyright Law, Jacqueline D. Lipton
Secondary Liability And The Fragmentation Of Digital Copyright Law, Jacqueline D. Lipton
Akron Intellectual Property Journal
The digital age brought many challenges for copyright law. While offering enticing new formats for the production and dissemination of copyright content, it also raised the specter of large scale digital piracy. Since the end of the 20th century, content industries have reeled to keep up with technological developments that offer significant promise as well as threats of large scale piracy. There has always been some tension between promoting innovation in content creation and promoting innovation in technologies that enable the enjoyment of copyright works, such as photocopiers, audio tape recorders, video tape recorders, and peer-to-peer file sharing systems. The …
Toward Non-Neutral First Principles Of Private Law: Designing Secondary Liability Rules For New Technological Uses, Thomas C. Folsom
Toward Non-Neutral First Principles Of Private Law: Designing Secondary Liability Rules For New Technological Uses, Thomas C. Folsom
Akron Intellectual Property Journal
A series of recent cases revisits secondary liability in intellectual property law, solving some particular problems but without providing completely specified rules that are predictable and principled. Prior law already includes several varieties of secondary liability with a rationale for each. Together, these old and new sources point the way towards a synthesis, which may allow for a designed solution that is more fully specified, at least in respect of new technological uses. When all is said, secondary liability in intellectual property law still turns on two essential questions: (1) is there someone who is liable for direct infringement, and …
Truth In Intellectual Property Revisited: Embracing Ebay At The Edge, Thomas C. Folsom
Truth In Intellectual Property Revisited: Embracing Ebay At The Edge, Thomas C. Folsom
Akron Intellectual Property Journal
In addition to whatever else it might do to serve the public interest, intellectual property diminishes the commons. To that extent, any particular intellectual property claim intersects the public interest and affects more than just the immediate parties. Not only does intellectual property diminish the commons, but also each of its disciplines contains an almost casually incoherent metaphysic. There is incoherence, if not at the core, at least at the critical edges of intellectual property law that is systemic and fundamental. Notwithstanding over 200 years of practice in the United States, the goal of establishing a sufficiently principled, practical and …
Russia And Allofmp3.Com: Why The Wto And Wipo Must Create A New System For Resolving Copyright Disputes In The Digital Age, Brian A. Benko
Russia And Allofmp3.Com: Why The Wto And Wipo Must Create A New System For Resolving Copyright Disputes In The Digital Age, Brian A. Benko
Akron Intellectual Property Journal
This article uses Russian law and Russian-based AllofMP3.com to analyze the private dispute resolution system of the World Intellectual Property Organization 14 ("WIPO"), and the nation-based dispute resolution system of the World Trade Organization 15 ("WTO"). Section I provides an overview of AllofMP3.com and the current system of resolving international copyright dispute. Section 11 applies and analyzes the WIPO Center's private party based dispute resolution system, and the WTO's nation based dispute resolution system. Section III proposes a new system for resolving international copyright disputes in the Digital Age. Section IV concludes this article with a few thoughts on the …
"And If It Wasn't For Me[Rrick], Then Where Would You Be Ms. Gypsy Rose Lee?" An Argument For Copyright Protection For Theatre Directors Through A Reasonable Definition Of Theatrical Stage Directions And An Understanding Of The Theatre Company, Carlos A. Guerrero
Akron Intellectual Property Journal
Federal courts have yet to decide whether stage directions are copyrightable works, and it is unlikely that the Tam Lim lawsuit or the Urinetown controversy will bring such a decision. In the past decade, a federal court resolution as to the copyrightability of theatrical stage directions has been delayed by out of court settlements. Additionally, conflicting views by the legal6 and the artistic community's predictions of catastrophic consequences if copyright protection is extended to theatrical directors have blurred the predictability of a resolution. This article argues that theatrical stage directions should be afforded copyright protection. First, this article gives a …
The Effects Of The Fair Use Doctrine On Text-Book Publishing And Copying; Part Ii, Roger Billings
The Effects Of The Fair Use Doctrine On Text-Book Publishing And Copying; Part Ii, Roger Billings
Akron Law Review
Although not expressly authorized by law, it has, through custom, become regarded as a fair use for scholars to make handwritten copies of copyrighted materials needed for research. The basis for allowing hand-copying is that it is such a slow, tedious method of reproduction that scholars usually choose to purchase the complete work rather than to hand-copy excerpts from it. Consequently, hand-copying does not significantly reduce publishers' sales. However, this reasoning obviously cannot be applied to photocopying. As photocopying, a fast and convenient process, becomes cheaper than buying the book, when a professor desires to make a complete volume for …