Intellectual Property Law Commons^™

Adapting Indian Copyright: Bollywood, Indian Cultural Adaptation, And The Path To Economic Development, Michael P. Goodyear

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

Bollywood and the Indian film industry have enjoyed enormous success, being among the largest movie producers in the world. Yet, despite the bright image of Indian cinema producing over a thousand movies a year and selling billions of tickets, the industry has faced controversy over the practice of copying expression, sometimes practically scene for scene, from US and other international films and adapting them into a version that reflects Indian social and cinematic customs and mores (“Indian cultural adaptation”). A long-standing practice, Indian cultural adaptation in Bollywood has only attracted the attention of Hollywood studios in the past twenty years, …

How The United States Stopped Being A Pirate Nation And Learned To Love International Copyright, John A. Rothchild

Pace Law Review

From the time of the first federal copyright law in 1790 until enactment of the International Copyright Act in 1891, U.S. copyright law did not apply to works by authors who were not citizens or residents of the United States. U.S. publishers took advantage of this lacuna in the law, and the demand among American readers for books by popular British authors, by reprinting the books of these authors without their authorization and without paying a negotiated royalty to them.

This Article tells the story of how proponents of extending copyright protections to foreign authors—called international copyright—finally succeeded after more …

Confused, Frustrated, And Exhausted: Solving The U.S. Digital First Sale Doctrine Problem Through The International Lens, Alandis K. Brassel

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Users worldwide enjoy digital goods such as music and e-books on a daily basis. They have become a major part of people's lives, with uses ranging from lighthearted entertainment to serious educational pursuits. In many cases, convenience and affordability make digital goods more preferable than their analog counterparts. However, users often cannot use digital goods as freely as they would analog goods. Courts, legislation, and businesses prohibit those users, accustomed to reselling unwanted hard-copy books or vinyl records, from reselling digital books and music. This confuses users as to what they can actually do with their digital goods. This Note …

A Material World: Using Trademark Law To Override Copyright's First Sale Rule For Imported Copies, Mary Lafrance

Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review

When the Supreme Court held that the first sale rule of copyright law permits the unauthorized importation and domestic sale of lawfully made copies of copyrighted works, regardless of where those copies were made, copyright owners lost much of their ability to engage in territorial price discrimination. Publishers, film and record producers, and software and videogame makers could no longer use copyright law to prevent the importation and domestic resale of gray market copies, and therefore could no longer protect their domestic distributors against competition from cheaper imported copies. However, many of these copyright owners can take advantage of a …

Toward A Trips Truce, Patricia L. Judd

Michigan Journal of International Law

The World Trade Organization's (WTO's) Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS or Agreement), now over fifteen years old, regulates a marketplace characterized by extraordinary dynamism, influenced by the constant forces of globalization and technological evolution. Attempts to regulate this market raise natural, persistent questions concerning the Agreement's ability to serve its respective constituencies and adapt to change. The Agreement operates in the midst of an age-old dynamic pitting developing and developed countries against one another, especially when it comes to domestic enforcement against piracy and counterfeiting-a dynamic in which TRIPS has been criticized as a one-sided instrument. …

The Graying Of The American Manufacturing Economy: Gray Markets, Parallel Importation, And A Tort Law Approach, Joseph Karl Grant

Journal Publications

This Article examines the history of the gray market in the United States through an analysis of both the domestic legislative framework and judicial treatment of gray market goods, primarily under trademark and copyright law. Part I of this Article provides a general introduction into the structural factors that cause parallel importation. Part II begins a discussion of trademarked goods by looking at the purposes of trademark law. Part III starts by discussing the relevant doctrines and provisions of the Copyright Act of 1976, which frame the gray market discussion. Part III concludes by examining the current debate and the …

Here There Be Pirates: How China Is Meeting Its Ip Enforcement Obligations Under Trips, Kate Colpitts Hunter

San Diego International Law Journal

This paper will examine whether China is meeting its obligations to protect IP rights under the TRIPS agreement, an international intellectual property trade agreement China acceded to upon joining the World Trade Organization (WTO). Moreover, it will address whether China's increased IP protection in law equals increased protection in fact. Part II will describe China's legal structure, its TRIPS obligations upon joining the WTO, and China's IP laws. Part III will discuss China's enforcement of these IP laws from the perspective of developed nations and from China's own perspective. Part IV includes suggestions on how China can improve its enforcement …

Global Copyright, Local Speech, Michael Dan Birnhack

ExpressO

Copyright is no longer a matter of "promoting the progress of science" in the words of the U.S. Constitution. It is now more than ever before a matter of trade. Furthermore, under the WTO's TRIPS Agreement, we now have a global copyright (G©) regime.

The globalization of copyright law destabilized previous balances. The shift to a trade environment requires us to reevaluate the previous balance. The concern explored in this article is that the old foundations will collapse under the heavy weight of global forces. The concern is that local culture, access to information, research and free speech in general, …

Copyright And International Trips Compliance (Symposium: Fifth Annual Conference On International Intellectual Property Law And Policy), Shira Perlmutter, Jerome H. Reichman, Whitmore Gray

Other Publications

MS. PERLMUTTER: We have heard today about copyright in two different regions of the world, in Central and Eastern Europe' and in China. In recent years there has been an increasing convergence in the substance of national laws in different regions of the world. One of the major factors has been the TRIPs Agreement? I will focus on the current efforts toward implementing the TRIPs Agreement, and this will be a procedure-oriented talk.

Goodbye To All That--A Reluctant (And Perhaps Premature) Adieu To A Constitutionally-Grounded Discourse Of Public Interest In Copyright Law, Peter A. Jaszi

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

In this Article, Professor Jaszi suggests that there is a need to develop new, policy-grounded arguments against expansionist legislative and judicial tendencies in copyright that diminish the traditional public domain. In recent years, he contends, a new understanding of the purposes of a copyright system has emerged, which has changed the U.S. copyright discourse in support of increased proprietary rights. According to Professor Jaszi, the objective of this new understanding is to improve the competitive position of companies that have significant investments in Inventories of copyrighted works. Recognizing the Uruguay Round Amendments Act (URAA) as an episode in this new …

The Trips Agreement: Imperialistic, Outdated, And Overprotective, Marci A. Hamilton

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

According to Professor Hamilton, the TRIPS Agreement constructs international copyright law in the image of Western, Protestant-based capitalist copyright law. She suggests that the Agreement imposes presuppositions about human value, effort, and reward that contain political, sociological, and legal ramifications. In fact, the Agreement, with its focus upon valuing individual human creative achievement, could spur further developments in Western-based human rights in the rest of the world. By transplanting Western ideas to the rest of the world, TRIPS may actually encourage anti-authoritarian revolution. She further suggests that the TRIPS Agreement seeks to establish a free market of intellectual property goods. …

U.S.-Thailand Trade Disputes: Applying Section 301 To Cigarettes And Itellectual Property, Ted L. Mcdorman

Michigan Journal of International Law

Irrespective of the close economic and strategic relationship between Thailand and the United States, the United States has utilized Section 301 (and Special 301), and the consequent threat of trade retaliation, in its relations with the Land of Smiles. The purpose of this article is to examine the operation of Section 301 and Special 301 regarding trade in cigarettes and intellectual property.

The Validity Of The Manufacturing Clause Of The United States Copyright Code As Challenged By Trade Partners And Copyright Owners, Annette V. Tucker

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Trade treaty partners recently have determined that the manufacturing clause violates United States obligations under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). If the clause does violate GATT, sanctions may be imposed unless the clause is eliminated. Even so, two bills have been introduced in the United States Congress to make the clause a permanent feature of the copyright law, and to apply the manufacturing requirement to all printed materials. Meanwhile, a group of United States publishers and authors is challenging the clause in court, claiming it violates both the first and fifth amendments to the United States Constitution. …