Intellectual Property Law Commons^™

Free Trade In Patented Goods: International Exhaustion For Patents, Sarah R. Wasserman Rajec

Sarah R. Wasserman Rajec

Modern international trade law seeks to increase global welfare by lowering barriers to trade and encouraging international competition. This “free trade” approach, while originally applied to reduce tariffs on trade, has been extended to challenge non-tariff barriers, with modern trade agreements targeting telecommunication regulations, industrial and product safety standards, and intellectual property rules. Patent law, however, remains inconsistent with free-trade principles by allowing patent holders to subdivide the world market along national borders and to forbid trade in patented goods from one nation to another. This Article demonstrates that the doctrines thwarting free trade in patented goods are protectionist remnants …

Patents Absent Adversaries, Sarah R. Wasserman Rajec

Sarah R. Wasserman Rajec

No abstract provided.

U.S. Patent Extraterritoriality Within The International Context, Amy L. Landers

Amy L. Landers

A Realist Approach To Copyright Law's Formalities, Michael W. Carroll

Michael W. Carroll

Rejecting the conventional story that formalities in copyright law were abolished by the Berne Convention, this Article demonstrates that privately administered systems of formalities play a significant role in the administration of copyright law worldwide. Indeed, they must because copyright is designed to support a transaction structure which requires rightsholders who seek to attract licensing partners to go through some formal step to identify themselves and the works in which they have a legal or beneficial interest. Canvassing the landscape of mandatory and voluntary public and private systems of formalities, this article argues that: (1) national policymakers retain more policy …

International Trade V. Intellectual Property Lawyers: Globalization And The Brazilian Legal Profession, Vitor M. Dias

Vitor M. Dias

No abstract provided.

Sustainable Cybersecurity: Applying Lessons From The Green Movement To Managing Cyber Attacks, Scott J. Shackelford, Tim Fort

Scott Shackelford

According to Frank Montoya, the U.S. National Counterintelligence Chief, “We’re an information-based society now. Information is everything. That makes . . . company executives, the front line – not the support mechanism, the front line – in [determining] what comes.”[1] Chief Montoya’s remarks underscore the central role played by the private sector in ongoing efforts aimed at enhancing cybersecurity, much like the increasingly vital role firms are playing in fostering sustainability. For example, according to Accenture surveys, the number of managers who consider sustainability to be critical to the future success of their organizations jumped from fifty to more …

China's Role In Well-Known Marks Protection: It's Now Or Never...Or Dilution, Ava Farshidi

Ava Farshidi

Infringement over the transliteration, converting text to another script, of well-known marks is a major problem for foreign companies in China. If a multinational company does not create its own Chinese transliteration, the Chinese public may create one, which will ultimately affect the company’s ownership of the mark in a different language. Although China became a member of both the Paris Convention for the Protection of Intellectual Property (“Paris Convention”) and the agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (“TRIPS”), China has adopted laws that directly conflict with these international guidelines for well-known marks, which has paved the way …

Plain Packaging And The Interpretation Of The Trips Agreement, Daniel J. Gervais, Susy Frankel

Daniel J Gervais

Plain packaging of cigarettes as a way of reducing tobacco consumption and its related health costs and effects raises a number of international trade law issues. The plain packaging measures adopted in Australia impose strict format requirements on word trademarks (such as Marlboro or Camel) and ban the use of figurative marks (colors, logos, etc.). As a result, questions have been raised as to plain packaging’s compatibility with the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement). WTO members can validly take measures to protect and promote public health, but in doing so they …

U.S.-Latin American Free Trade Agreements And Access To Medicine, Dominique Lochridge-Gonzales

Dominique Lochridge-Gonzales

U.S.-Latin American Free Trade Agreements and Access to Medicine analyzes the effects of FTA provisions on access to medicine. Access to medicine lies at the heart of the crossroads between the international human right to health and international intellectual property law delineated in TRIPS. True availability of essential medicines to millions of people depends on a balance between the formations of these medicines in the first place (through rewarding innovation) and promulgating rules that allow for practicable access to those medicines. FTAs provide a method for implementing the right to health by fostering practicable access to essential medicines in the …

E Unum Pluribus: The Limitations On State Law Because Of Foreign Policy Uses Of State Law As A Gap Filler To Meet The International Obligations Of The United States, Llewellyn Gibbons

Llewellyn Joseph Gibbons

Unlike many nations where the ratification of a treaty immediately changes its internal laws, in the United States, unless the language of the treaty is self-executing, Congress must affirmatively change domestic laws to conform to the obligations of the treaty. Increasing, it is a modern trend for the United States to represent in international forums that the United States is in conformity with its international obligations because of state statutes or because of common law court decisions. This article looks whether the foreign policy representations of the United States to other countries (in the context of the international intellectual property …

A Submission To The Joint Standing Committee On Treaties On The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement 2011 (#Acta), Matthew Rimmer

Matthew Rimmer

“If Hollywood could order intellectual property laws for Christmas, what would they look like? This is pretty close.” David Fewer“While European and American IP maximalists have pushed for TRIPS-Plus provisions in FTAs and bilateral agreements, they are now pushing for TRIPS-Plus-Plus protections in these various forums.” Susan Sell“ACTA is a threat to the future of a free and open Internet.” Alexander Furnas“Implementing the agreement could open a Pandora's box of potential human rights violations.” Amnesty International.“I will not take part in this masquerade.” Kader Arif, Rapporteur for the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement 2011 in the European ParliamentExecutive SummaryAs an independent scholar …

International Law And Transnational Corporations: Towards A Final Summation, Varun Vaish

Varun Vaish

The regulation of transnational corporations (TNCs) by an international legal order fundamentally centred on states proves to be difficult when they exercise political influence and have the ability to generate revenue which can eclipse the economies of many countries in comparison. According to the World Investment Report 2007, as of 2006 there were 78,411 parent corporations and 777,647 affiliates worldwide.4 The scale of the concentration of economic power is illustrated by the statistics: of the world’s hundred largest economic entities, 51 are multinational companies and 49 are nation states. The Texaco Corporation functioned for years in Ecuador with annual global …

Do Stronger Patent Rights Raise High-Tech Exports To The Developing World?, Olena Ivus

Olena Ivus

Despite over 20 years of debate, the TRIPs agreement remains very contentious. This paper evaluates the impact of strengthening patent rights (PRs) in developing countries on developed countries' exports over the 1962–2000 period. Colonial origin is used to isolate exogenous variation in PRs. The impact is then identified by examining the cross-industry difference in sensitivity to PRs. I find that the increase in PRs made in response to the TRIPs agreement added about $35 billion (2000 US dollars) to the value of developed countries' patent-sensitive exports into 18 developing countries. This amount is equivalent to an 8.6% increase in these …