Law Commons^™

The Patent Cooperation Treaty: At The Center Of The International Patent System, Jay Erstling

Faculty Scholarship

In view of the fact that the PCT is composed of almost 130 countries and that more than 100 national and regional patent offices, as well as WIPO itself, perform PCT functions, it is remarkable that the system operates so smoothly and continues to gain momentum. Perhaps the system’s greatest strength comes from the immense diversity of legal, linguistic, and national cultures that constitute the PCT. While the system has served to harmonize divergent practices, it has also been obliged to accommodate to the sometimes inflexible peculiarities of national law and procedure. The PCT’s ability to strike a balance between …

Creative Industries In Developing Countries And Intellectual Property Protection, Lauren Loew

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

International intellectual property law (hereafter referred to as IP law) has an increasingly important significance for international trade and relations. From the music industry to the drug industry, intellectual property is a lucrative market, and both individuals and corporations have a lot to lose from the infringement of intellectual property rights. For example, music is a $40 billion worldwide industry. According to the Recording Industry Association of American (RIAA), the music industry loses approximately $4.2 billion each year to worldwide piracy. Although these facts bring to light the economic losses of industries and individuals from IP infringement, the global community …

A Brief Essay On The Importance Of Time In International Conventions On Intellectual Property Rights, Vincenzo Vinciguerra

ExpressO

The paper is a philosophical essay on the manner in which time is conceived and manipulated in four international treaties, namely the Paris Convention, the Patent Cooperation Treaty, the Madrid Agreement/Protocol, and the Berne Convention. In particular, the paper discusses the competing concepts of time as linear or circular, and how the treaties sometimes displace a linear concept of time in order to achieve specific goals.

Trips' Rebound: An Historical Analysis Of How The Trips Agreement Can Ricochet Back Against The United States, Donald P. Harris

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

Recently, scholars and commentators around the world have reexamined the role intellectual property rights (IPRs) play in hindering or helping developing countries. These scholars have questioned the doctrine the IPRs help developing countries by promoting economic development, increasing foreign direct investment, stimulating domestic innovation, and improving access to new technologies, and have concluded that imposing "Western-styled" intellectual property regimes (e.g., the U.S. patent regime) on developing countries harms those countries. In particular, such regimes fail to bring any of the purported benefits, while they impose many costs, including preventing people from obtaining life-saving drugs. This Article argues that it is …

The Spirit Of Trips And The Importation Of Medicines Made Under Compulsory License After The August 2003 Trips Council Agreement, Jessica J. Fayerman

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

The Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement has changed prospects for access to necessary medications in the developing world. The use of compulsory licensing for pharmaceutical products embodied in Article 31 of TRIPS has been a contentious issue. Prior to 2003, countries with no manufacturing capacity of their own were not allowed to import medicines made under compulsory license, rendering the protections of Article 31 of little use to them. The 2003 Motta Agreement changed this. This expansion of the compulsory licensing power is both an impractical solution and it dilutes the premises upon which TRIPS was originally …

Trademarks Under The North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta) With References To The New Trademark Law Of Spain, Effective July 31, 2002, And The Current Mexican Law, Roberto Rosas

Faculty Articles

A trademark is any distinctive sign indicating that certain products or services have been manufactured or rendered by a specific person or company. This concept is currently recognized worldwide; however, the origin of trademarks dates back to antiquity when artisans placed their signatures or “marks” on their products containing an artistic or utilitarian element. Through time, these marks have evolved to such an extent that today, a reliable and efficient system for their registration and protection has been established. Besides protecting owners of trademarks, this system also helps consumers identify and purchase goods or services, which, because of the essence …

Need Intellectual Property Be Everywhere? Against Ubiquity And Uniformity, David Vaver

Dalhousie Law Journal

Intellectual property is more prevalent in every corner of our working and leisure lives. International pressure, through both bilateral treaties and multilateral treaties is causing intellectual property law to standardize at high levels throughout the world. Legal standardization may be beneficial in general but is not so for intellectual property in either the developed or the developing world. The law in developed countries is currently incoherent and itself requires major reconsideration. The imposition of such a defective law on the developing world is helpful to neither side. The paper argues that current intensification and harmonization trends are therefore undesirable, and …

From International Treaties To Internet Norms: The Evolution Of International Trademark Disputes In The Internet Age, Ajay K. Mehrotra, Marcelo Halpern

Articles by Maurer Faculty

In today's dynamic, digital economy, there is a global clash between geographically bounded intellectual property rights and the limitless reach of the Internet. Traditionally, discrepancies in international intellectual property rights, such as trademark disputes, have been resolved through time-consuming, multilateral state-to-state treaty negotiations that have global harmonization as the primary goal.

With the explosion of e-commerce and the birth of a New Economy, however, such a traditional process is no longer economically viable. Instead, a new approach towards international intellectual property is fast emerging - one that rests not on treaties between multiple states, but on the private contracting of …

Legal Aspects Of International Transfer Of Technology, Anna Mikhailovna Otkina

LLM Theses and Essays

For any international law practitioner issues relating to technology and proprietary information can arise in a number of a different situation. For example, transactions involving foreign distribution and sales rights relating to domestic products are a common part of the day-to-day practice of anyone engaged in the multinational business arena. Many of those transactions involve a contractual agreement in the form of a license, which is intended to transfer to the licensee the technology and related information, and the legal rights therewith, necessary to complete successfully the objective of the transaction: the distribution and sale of the domestic product at …

One Trip To The Dentist Is Enough: Reasons To Strengthen Intellectual Property Rights Through The Free Trade Area Of The Americas, Owen Lippert

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

From Patchwork To Network: Strategies For International Intellectual Property In Flux, Paul E. Geller

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Laws of intellectual property define what is bought and sold on media and technology markets, notably works, trademarks, and inventions. Laws and treaties have traditionally been made and enforced by nation-states operating in a patchwork of territories. Now, the media and technology marketplace is being globalized in digital networks. The law is only beginning to respond to this change.

To analyze this process in the field of intellectual property, this Article will consider the following questions: First, how is the patchwork of national laws lagging behind new networks in this field? Second, how does the international regime of intellectual property …

Commentary: The International Intellectual Property Order Enters The 21st Century, Frederick M. Abbott

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

This Commentary followed presentation of the first two articles in this volume at a meeting on the TRIPS Agreement. The commentator first reflects on the theme of Professor Oddi's article, and suggests that the TRIPS Agreement must be evaluated in the broad context of the Uruguay Round bargain. He observes that the potential economic impact of the TRIPS Agreement on global economic development is of central concern, and that much work remains to be done both in refining economic analysis of the Agreement, and in addressing developmental issues. The commentator then discusses renewed interest in the activities of WIPO, and …

Intellectual Property Rights And Native American Tribes, Richard A. Guest

American Indian Law Review

No abstract provided.

International Panel: Comparative Approaches To Media Protection, Joseph C. Sweeney, Ben Caspit, Andrea Hanlon, David A. Schulz

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The History Of The Patent Harmonization Treaty: Economic Self-Interest As An Influence, R. Carl Moy

Faculty Scholarship

How shall the United States decide whether to adopt the Patent Harmonization Treaty? What questions shall we ask? Whose answers shall we trust? What sources of information can provide us with the background needed for these inquiries? This article offers a framework in which to ask, and begin to answer, these questions. It focuses on the international community's past efforts to harmonize the law of patents. It asserts not only that history provides context, but also, that the same history yields lessons directly applicable to many of the treaty's basic issues. Section I discusses the immediate history of WIPO's efforts …

Chinese Traditions Inimical To The Patent Law, The Symposium: Doing Business In China, Liwei Wang

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

These phenomena remind us of a common view that China's modernization of science and technology is "burdened by a number of constraints, primarily constraints in traditional culture and in the Marxist-Leninist one-party state." 5 More specifically, in discussing the patent law of the People's Republic of China (PRO), Beaumont claimed that the "two-fold problem in stimulating innovation" is "a residual mistrust of innovation as a result of years of foreign imperialistic colonization," and of "finding ways to encourage and reward innovation which are congruent with Marxist thought."6 This article asserts that China's traditional culture is probably as inimical to patent …

Retroactivity And Reliance Rights Under Article 18 Of The Berne Copyright Convention, Katherine S. Deters

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

This Note addresses the principle of retroactive copyright protection as it applies to new adherents to the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works (the Convention). The Note first examines the primary purposes of retroactivity as evidenced by the Convention's history and subsequent revisions. Next, the Note analyzes the language of the retroactivity principle as it appears in the most recent version of the Convention. The Note then discusses problems that may result from the United States recent adherence to the Convention. The author concludes that the current domestic copyright law of the United States violates international …

The Semiconductor Chip Protection Act And Its Impact On The International Protection Of Chip Designs, Jay Erstling

Faculty Scholarship

The United States Semiconductor Chip Protection Act of 1984 (“SCPA”') has already had a profound impact on the creation of foreign legal systems of chip protection. The allure of reciprocity under the SCPA has motivated a host of nations, including Japan, the Member States of the European Communities (“EC”'), Sweden, Finland, Canada, Australia, and Switzerland, to adopt or consider adopting chip protection legislation. The SCPA has also been the impetus for multilateral discussions within the World Intellectual Property Organization (“WIPO”') and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (“GATT”') to establish an international standard of chip protection. The result has …

Intellectual Property Rights: The Issues In Gatt, David Hartridge, Arvind Subramanian

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

This Article examines the need for a multilateral framework to address the trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights (TRIPs). The authors trace the growing importance of TRIPs from its emergence at the Tokyo Round in 1978 to its present state as a major focus of multilateral negotiations at the Uruguay Round. A detailed discussion of existing GATT provisions and their relevance to intellectual property rights follows. The authors then describe the four major substantive issues related to TRIPs that are before the Negotiating Group: substantive standards of intellectual property protection; procedures for the enforcement of intellectual property protection; dispute settlement …

Comment, Section 337 And Gatt In The Akzo Controversy: A Pre- And Post-Omnibus Trade And Competitiveness Act Analysis, Mark C. Modak-Truran

Journal Articles

Section 337 of the United States Tariff Act of 1930 ("Section 337") protects intellectual property rights from international pirating and counterfeiting. It provides a mechanism for excluding infringing imports from the United States marketplace. Before the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988 (the "Omnibus Trade Act"), some argued that Section 337 should be amended to provide for further protection. Others maintained that Section 337 conflicts with United States obligations under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade ("GATT") or that further substantive amendments of Section 337 would conflict with GATT. A GATT Panel in Imports of Certain Automotive Spring …

Trademark Law, Economics And Grey-Market Policy, Lars H. Liebeler

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Sovereign Immunity: The Exception For Intellectual Or Industrial Property, Virginia Morris

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The doctrine of sovereign or state immunity exempts a state and its property from the judicial jurisdiction of any other state. The domestic courts of various nations have developed this doctrine over the years through cases in which private citizens have attempted to sue foreign states. Courts' enunciations of the principle of state immunity and their reasons for granting or denying the immunity are almost as numerous as the countries whose courts have faced this issue. The current work of the International Law Commission (the Commission) on the codification and the progressive development of the jurisdictional immunities of states and …

Case Digest, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

A Cargo Container Used to Ship Packaged Units is not a "Package" for Purposes of Limiting the Carrier's Liability for Loss under COSGA

Exemption from Compulsory Military Service will not Act as a Bar to Citizenship for an Alien if the Classification was later Changed to Make Him Eligible to Serve

Indeterminate Detension of an Excludable Alien in a Maximum Security Prison, Pending Unforeseeable Deportation, violates International Law

Patentholders do not Violate Antitrust Laws by Licensing only Foreign Patents even though the Patent Dependency created Limits Domestic Competition

Arbitral Tribunal lacks Jurisdiction to Hear the Claims of a Corporation Qualifying …

Book Review, Joel Davidow (Reviewer)

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Book Review

Antitrust and American Business Abroad James Atwood and Kingman Brewster 2d ed. New York: McGraw-Hill Publishing Co., 1981. Two-volume text. Pp. 359 and 355.

Reviewed by Joel Davidow

International antitrust is one of the gourmet specialties on the menu of United States law. The combination of competition law, international law, and patent law, spiced with complex diplomatic and trade issues as well as a dash of foreign flavor, is irresistible to the connoisseur. The proof: even though few law schools offer a separate course in international antitrust law and few lawyers deal with the subject regularly, articles, hornbooks, …

The Transfer Of Technology To Latin America, Gabriel M. Wilner

Scholarly Works

The transfer of technology to Latin America has taken place through both the licensing process and direct investments by foreign enterprises that are often transnational corporations. National law has concerned itself first with the creation of rights in technological knowledge and the protection of these rights by law. The regulation of these rights as set out in contractual relationships and the regulation of direct investment, particularly the technological component thereof, were dealt with thereafter. Other matters such as the repatriation of profits (exchange control), customs controls, and various taxes have also become a part of the national regulatory scene today. …

Unctad's Draft Code Of Conduct On The Transfer Of Technology: A Critique, James W. Skelton, Jr.

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

UNCTAD's fourteenth plenary meeting on May 6, 1980, produced the latest of several attempts to draft such a code. The document is entitled "Draft International Code of Conduct on the Transfer of Technology" (Draft Code), and this draft will be the primary subject of analysis in this article. The drafters of the code face a number of problems, the least of which is the ultimate determination of the code's legal character and, consequently, its legal effect. This determination and other problem areas confronting the drafters, including the code's special preferences for developing countries, the core chapter on restrictive practices, and …

The European Patent System, Friedrich - Karl Beier

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The formation of the European patent system, which I have presented here only in part and which is still missing one essential element, the Common Market patent, constitutes a milestone in the development of international patent law. No event since the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property in 1883 has so drastically changed the system of protection of inventions as the European patent system will. I do not except the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) signed in Washington in 1970 and entered into force over two years ago. It certainly overcomes the territorial approach of the Paris Convention in …

Recent Cases, Journal Staff

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Plaintiff, a West German foundation, sued to enjoin infringement of United States trademarks by defendant, an East German "peoples-owned enterprise." The original Carl Zeiss Stiftung was created at Jena in 1889 with the required approval of the Duchy of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach for the purpose of owning and operating an optical business for profit. In 1945, before Jena became part of the Soviet Zone, United States military authorities evacuated all members of the Zeiss Board of Management, as well as key personnel, to Heidenheim, Wuerttemberg, in the United States zone. In 1948, the Soviet Union expropriated all Zeiss assets in Jena, including …