Law Commons^™

Reclassifying Reverse Passing Off As Failure To Contract Or As False Advertising, Malla Pollack

Malla Pollack

The tort of reverse passing off should be abolished. This conclusion stems from a combination of economic analysis, recognition of the disparate foundations of trade identity law versus creativity law (such as copyright and patent), realistic appraisal of product distribution, and an updated survey of existing case law. Trademark holders which desire a legally enforceable right for their marks to remain affixed to their goods downstream should be required to contract ex ante. Any likelihood of consumer deception caused by using another’s goods in an advertisement for one’s own goods should be addressed through false advertising claims. Reverse passing off …

Patriotism For Profit And Persuasion: The Trademark, Free Speech, And Governance Problems With Protection Of Governmental Marks In The United States, Malla Pollack

Malla Pollack

“Governmental marks” are words or phrases which involve the identity of a social group that is partly defined in terms of its citizenship in a government-institution. The power to name a social group (especially one from which exit is difficult) confers enormous power over the group’s members. Legally classifying such words as trademarks commodifies them, increasing the namer’s power: both by giving the word monetary value and by providing the mark-holder with the legal right to prevent others from manipulating the word’s meaning.

Destination marketing employing governmental marks has become ubiquitous. The municipal governments of both New York City and …

Teaching Intellectual Property As A Skills Course , Malla Pollack

Malla Pollack

Students can gain experience in practical skills in substantive courses if professors spend the time to create appropriate projects. This article demonstrates by providing reproducible projects involving non-competition agreements, trademarks/trade dress, copyright, and patent. The article also explains the how projects can be expanded and how they can be transposed between counseling and litigation settings.

This paper is part of a symposium entitled “Reflections on Legal Education: How We Teach, How They Learn".

A Listener’S Free Speech, A Reader’S Copyright, Malla Pollack

Malla Pollack

Despite the Supreme Court’s repeated use of free speech doctrine to derail media reforms, some reform is possible. As Jerome A. Barron recognized, the Court’s central error is hypothesizing a romanticized speaker. The Court’s copyright jurisprudence is similarly marred by its congruent focus on a romanticized author. The original and continuing central purpose of both copyright and free speech is the wide distribution of material to citizens – especially when politically relevant information and opinions are involved. The Constitution’s copyright clause, Article I, section 8, clause 8, allows Congress the power to enact only such statutes as encourage the “progress” …

Rebalancing Section 512 To Protect Fair Users From Herds Of Mice-Trampling Elephants, Or A Little Due Process Is Not Such A Dangerous Thing, Malla Pollack

Malla Pollack

I agree with the basic concept of 17 U.S.C. § 512; to protect Internet functionality, ISPs should have robust safe harbors against liability for their subscribers' copyright infringement. However, the current details of the notice and take down system are both unfair to the general public and unnecessary to the economic health of the United States. I suggest a robust, statutorily established digital fair use right backed by a notice and take down procedure protecting fair users. At a minimum, use of a purchased music file on any of the purchaser's equipment should be fair use. Preferably, all personal non-commercial …

Towards A Feminist Theory Of The Public Domain, Or The Gendered Scope Of United States’ Copyrightable And Patentable Subject Matter, Malla Pollack

Malla Pollack

Feminism does not speak with a single voice. Each voice tells a different story. These stories include attacks on the gendered scope of United States copyrightable and patentable subject matter. The first wave of feminism, liberal feminism, argued that women were as rational and competent as men. It complained about the objective exclusion of women from opportunity. This feminist view might applaud the expansion of copyright and the greater ease of its availability (due to the end of formalities pursuant to the Berne Implementation Act). Liberal feminism, however, finds unacceptable copyright’s exclusion of traditional women’s work: food and clothing. Essentialist …

Originalism, J.E.M., And The Food Supply, Or Will The Real Decision Maker Please Stand Up?, Malla Pollack

Malla Pollack

In 2001, the United States Supreme Court decided that sexually reproduced plants (which include major crop plants such as corn) are statutorily proper subject matter for utility patents. See J.E.M. Ag Supply, v. Pioneer Hi-Bred Int'l, Inc., 534 U.S. 124 (2001). Since that decision, critics from many disciplines have argued that the world's food supply is at risk from giant agribusinesses' manipulation of utility patents on genetically modified plants and animals. In light of these fears, this paper revisits J.E.M. and then highlights a related, still-open legal problem with biotechnology patents.

Looking backwards to J.E.M., the paper reaches several negative …

The Democratic Public Domain: Reconnecting The Modern First Amendment And The Original Progress Clause (A.K.A. Copyright And Patent Clause), Malla Pollack

Malla Pollack

Empirical investigation of public usage of the word "progress" in the United States of 1789 demonstrates that the word meant "dissemination." The original meaning of art. I, sec. 8, cl. 8, therefore, is that Congress has the right to grant only such temporally limited exclusive rights in writings and new technology as encourage the dissemination of knowledge and new technology to the population. This article explains the major differences between current United States positive intellectual property law and the logical dictates of this original constitutional meaning. Additionally, the article asserts that the original meaning of clause 8 supports modern calls …

Dealing With Old Father William, Or Moving From Constitutional Text To Constitutional Doctrine: Progress Clause Review Of The Copyright Term Extension Act, Malla Pollack

Malla Pollack

The author suggests a textual approach to the choice of review standards for statutes enacted purusant to the so-called Intellectual Property Clause, which is more properly named the Progress Clause. Turning to text of the Constitution s relatively unproblematic because the Progress Clause contains unusually detailed constitutional text. Furthermore, what little the Court has stated about the fundamental goals of the Clause matches the author's reading of its text. Any approach based on the drafting or ratification discussions stumbles on the thinness of the record, as well as the record's possible unreliability. The text supports a standard of review higher …

What Is Congress Supposed To Promote? Defining ‘Progress” In Article I, Section 8, Clause 8 Of The U.S. Constitution, Or Introducing The Progress Clause, Malla Pollack

Malla Pollack

Empirical reserach into ratification-era uses of the word "progress" in the United States demonstrates that this word, as used in Article One, Section Eight, Clause Eight, means "spread," i.e. diffusion, distribution. To the extent that Congress chooses not to act under this clause, the default position is that each person in the United States has a property right not to be excluded from publicly accessible knowledge and technology. Congress has only a very limited power to create private quasi-property, i.e., rights to exclude the rest of the commoners. Congress may only create temporary individual rights for "authors" or "inventors" to …

The Multiple Unconstitutionality Of Business Method Patents: Common Sense, Congressional Choice, And Constitutional History, Malla Pollack

Malla Pollack

Business method patents are of sufficiently doubtful constitutionality that the Supreme Court should either render them void or, at the least, require a clear Congressional fact finding that they are likely to promote the "Progress of . . . [the] Useful Arts." Four separate arguments support this conclusion. First, common sense shows that patents on business methods do not promote progress. Second, Congress has not considered whether business method patents are likely to promote progress. Third, "useful arts," as that phrase is used in the Constitution, does not include mere commerce. Lastly, the historical background of the Intellectual Property Clause …

Purveyance And Power Or Over-Priced Free Lunch: The Intellectual Property Clause As An Ally Of The Takings Clause In The Public’S Control Of Government, Malla Pollack

Malla Pollack

Government can bypass citizen control if it can use revenue not publicly scrutinized through the public taxing/spending system. One method of bypass is paying with non-monetary compensation such as (i) property, or (ii) the right to charge others for some necessary good or service, intangible property. The Takings/Just Compensation Clause of the Fifth Amendment is one authority controlling government's ability to bypass financial scrutiny. In this article, I argue that the Intellectual Property Clause also should be used to control some governmental bypass. I attempt to justify this suggestion both theoretically and historically. The historical material included focuses on English …

The Owned Public Domain: The Constitutional Right Not To Be Excluded – Or The Supreme Court Chose The Right Breakfast Cereal In Kellogg V. National Biscuit Co., Malla Pollack

Malla Pollack

Before the rise of law and economics, the Supreme Court decided several cases involving patent holders' attempts to use trademark doctrines to slow down competitors after the expiration of their utility patents; in each of these cases, the Court enforced a public right to use material in the public domain. To give one famous example, Kellogg Co. v. National Biscuit Co., the "shredded wheat case," came to the Court after the expiration of a product and process utility patent on that once-innovative breakfast cereal. The Court held that a competitor could freely copy the product's name and its well known …

The Right To Know?: Delimiting Database Protection At The Juncture Of The Commerce Clause, The Intellectual Property Clause, And The First Amendment, Malla Pollack

Malla Pollack

The people of the United States have a constitutional right to know; the government has a duty not to block access to information. The First Amendment and the Intellectual Property Clause cabin the Commerce Clause. Congress cannot create a quasi-property right to exclude others from information without clearly demonstrating market failure. Sui generis protection of data bases does not meet this threashold requirement.

Time To Dilute The Dilution Statute And What Not To Do When Opposing Legislation: Beyond A Comment On Professor Port's The "Unnatural" Expansion Of Trademark Rights: Is A Federal Dilution Statute Necessary?, Malla Pollack

Malla Pollack

This article has three goals: to state clearly the practical problems with the Federal Trademark Dilution Act of 1995, to suggest modifications to deal with these problems, and to explore why prior opposition pieces did not garner support from the uncommitted. This last project requires a subject for the dissection table. Because it won the coveted Ladas Memorial Award for the best trademark article in 1994 and because it was published by the Trademark Reporter just before Congress voted on the Act, this article focuses on Kenneth Port's article, "The 'Unnatural' Expansion of Trademark Rights: Is a Federal Dilution Statute …

Unconstitutional Incontestability?: The Intersection Of The Intellectual Property And Commerce Clauses Of The Constitution: Beyond A Critique Of Shakespeare Co. V. Silstar Corp., Malla Pollack

Malla Pollack

This article makes several assertions: (1) The Intellectual Property Clause of the Constitution, even read with the Commerce Clause, prevents Congress from giving authors or inventors exclusive rights unbounded by premeasured time limitations; (2) Because such limits exist, even incontestable trademarks must be subject to functionality challenges in order to prevent conflict with the Patent Clause; (3) The Intellectual Property Clause requires a similar challenge to prevent conflict with the Copyright Clause; (4) The states are also limited by either direct constitutional mandate or statutory preemption. Based on the first two assertions, this article argues that the Fourth Circuit's decision …

A Rose Is A Rose Is A Rose--But Is A Costume A Dress?, Malla Pollack

Malla Pollack

Law differs from life. If a judge, or more importantly a justice, calls a tail a leg, the tail does become a leg. Or, to be precise, the owner of the tail is treated as if he owned a leg. This short essay deals with the changeable meaning of the words "utilitarian function" and "useful article" in the Copyright Act. To be specific, is the Eastern District of New York correct in grouping a Halloween costume with a dress, rather than with a nose mask? This absurd question, timely reraised just after Halloween, is another chimera in the horror house …

Your Image Is My Image: When Advertising Dedicates Trademarks To The Public Domain--With An Example From The Trademark Counterfeiting Act Of 1984, Malla Pollack

Malla Pollack

Trademark laws protect the mental association between the source n4 of a product and the product itself. This protection allows consumers to locate merchandise of known quality, and motivates suppliers to produce better merchandise. The extent to which trademarks are property rights owned by the controller of the items they identify is controversial. These dual purposes of trademark protection are often phrased as if the objectives reinforce one another. Sometimes, however, the interests conflict. If the public's interests are not recognized they cannot be protected. This article suggests the existence of an ignored public ownership interest. Trademarks may become communicative …

The Author In Copyright: Notes For The Literary Critic, Monroe Price, Malla Pollack

Malla Pollack

This article discusses disparate approaches to the under-theorized concept of authorship in American copyright jurisprudence. This article has been reprinted in "The Construction of Authorship" (eds. Martha Woodmansee & Peter Jazi, 1994).

Intellectual Property Protection For The Creative Chef, Or How To Copyright A Cake: A Modest Proposal, Malla Pollack

Malla Pollack

This Note presents an original proposal for extending copyright protection to food (not to the appearance of the food, nor to the recipe for the food, but to the food itself). Because of the unusual nature of the suggestion, the Note begins with a detailed statement of the proposal: the intended beneficiaries, the dearth of current protection, and the recommended judicial action. It then covers the proposal's relationship to the Constitution and the legislative history of the 1976 Copyright Act. Finally, the Note briefly discuss the proposal's administrability. The Note also includes several wonderful recipes -- especially the epidome of …