Intellectual Property Law Commons^™

Right On Time: First Possession In Property And Intellectual Property, Dotan Oliar, James Y. Stern

James Y. Stern

How should we allocate property rights in unowned tangible and intangible resources? This Article develops a model of original acquisition that draws together common law doctrines of first possession with original acquisition doctrines in patent, copyright, and trademark law. The common denominator is time: in each context, doctrine involves a trade-off between assigning entitlements to resources earlier or later in the process of their development and use. Early awards risk granting exclusivity to parties who may not be capable of putting resources to their best use. Late awards prolong contests for ownership, which may generate waste or discourage acquisition efforts …

Brexit And Ip: The Great Unraveling?, Graeme B. Dinwoodie, Rochelle C. Dreyfuss

Graeme B. Dinwoodie

Responding To Takedown Requests For Digital Library Repositories, Kristina L. Niedringhaus

Kristina L Niedringhaus

No abstract provided.

Copyright Law: Essential Cases And Materials, Alfred Yen, Joseph Liu

Joseph P. Liu

Improvement Doctrines, Deepa Varadarajan

Deepa Varadarajan

When one party makes significant but unauthorized improvements to another's land, chattels or informational assets, should the "improving" nature of the act alter the liability or remedy calculus? Traditional property law has long had to resolve conflicts that arise when one person improves another's land or chattels without permission -- for example, if A cuts down B's trees and fashions a chair, or A erects a building on B's land. Ordinarily, A would be liable and subject to an injunction because B has a strict right to exclude that is protected by a property rule. But various doctrines in traditional …

The Irrelevance Of Nanotechnology Patents, Emily Michiko Morris

Emily Michiko Morris

Once the stuff of science fiction, nanotechnology is now expected to be the next technological revolution, but despite millions of dollars of investment, we still have yet to see the brave new world of cheap energy, cell-specific drug delivery systems, and self-replicating nanobots that nanotechnology promises. Instead, nanotechnology seems to be in a holding pattern, perpetually stuck in the status of “emerging science,” “immature field,” and “new technology” for over three decades now. Why? Professor Mark Lemley and a number of others have suggested that the answer to this puzzling question is simple: nanotechnology differs from the all of the …

Invisible Labor, Invisible Play: Online Gold Farming And The Boundary Between Jobs And Games, Julian Dibbell

Julian Dibbell

When does work become play, and play work? Courts have considered the question in a variety of economic contexts, from student athletes seeking recognition as employees to professional blackjack players seeking to be treated by casinos just like casual players. Here I apply the question to a relatively novel context: that of online gold farming, a gray-market industry in which wage-earning workers, largely based in China, are paid to play online fantasy games (MMOs) that reward them with virtual items their employers sell for profit to the same games’ casual players. Gold farming is clearly a job (and under the …

Holding Standards For Randsome: A Remedial Perspective On Rand Licensing Commitments, Layne S. Keele

Layne S. Keele

In Apple, Inc. v. Motorola, Inc., 757 F.3d 1286 (Fed. Cir. 2014), the four federal judges who considered the case—Judge Posner by designation at the trial level, and three Federal Circuit judges on appeal—all expressed differing opinions on the question of whether and to what extent extraordinary patent remedies should be available for the infringement of standard-essential patents. This article aims to simplify this muddled and confusing topic.

The article employs a teleological approach, examining the purposes behind remedies in general, the purposes of extraordinary remedies in patent law, and the purposes of RAND commitments (commitments to license standard-essential …

The Fault Of Trespass, Avihay Dorfman, Assaf Jacob

Avihay Dorfman

The conventional wisdom has it that a property owner assumes virtually no responsibility for guiding others in fulfilling their duties not to trespass on the former's property. In other words, the entire risk of making an unauthorized use of the property in question rests upon the duty-holders. This view is best captured by the Keep-Off picture of property, according to which the content of the duty in question is that of excluding oneself from a thing that is not one's own. In this article, we argue that this view is mistaken. We advance conceptual, normative, and doctrinal arguments to show …

Copyright Porn Trolls, Wasting Taxi Medallions, And The Propriety Of ‘Property’, Tom W. Bell

Tom W. Bell

What happens when the government creates privileges that have powers rivaling those that the common law accords to property? Recent events in two seemingly unrelated areas suggest a troubling answer to that question. First, in copyright, porn trolls have sued thousands of John Does for allegedly participating in illegal file sharing. These suits evidently seek not judicial vindication but merely the defendants' identities, which the plaintiffs then use to reap settlement payments from guilty and innocent alike. Second, taxi drivers in cities across the world have launched legal, political, and physical attacks against Uber and other networked transportation services, accusing …

Friend Or Faux: The Trademark Counterfeiting Act's Inability To Stop The Sale Of Counterfeit Sporting Goods, Jennifer Riso

Jennifer Riso

The demand for counterfeit sporting goods, such as jerseys and other apparel, is on the rise as the prices of authentic goods continue to increase. The Trademark Counterfeiting Act of 1984 criminalizes the import and sale of counterfeit goods, but is ineffective at addressing the demand side of counterfeit goods. This paper analyzes the history behind the Act and recommends ways to ensure that the act will stay relevant as technology makes it easier to purchase counterfeit goods.

The Evolution Of The Digital Millennium Copyright Act; Changing Interpretations Of The Dmca And Future Implications For Copyright Holders, Hillary A. Henderson

Hillary A Henderson

Copyright law rewards an artificial monopoly to individual authors for their creations. This reward is based on the belief that, by granting authors the exclusive right to reproduce their works, they receive an incentive and means to create, which in turn advances the welfare of the general public by “promoting the progress of science and useful arts.” Copyright protection subsists . . . in original works of authorship fixed in any tangible medium of expression, now known or later developed, from which they can be perceived, reproduced, or otherwise communicated, either directly or with the aid of a machine or …

Critical Analysis And Case Study Of [Mmtc Vs. Sterlite Industries Pvt. Ltd.]- Role Of Arbitrators, Yashvardhan Rana

Yashvardhan Rana

Critical analysis and Case study of [MMTC vs. Sterlite Industries Pvt. Ltd.]. Supreme Court of India M.M.T.C. Limited - Versus- Sterlite Industries (India) Ltd. Decided on: 18 November, 1996 Equivalent citations: 1996 IXAD SC 25, 1997 AIHC 605, 1996 (2) ARBLR 705 SC Bench: J Verma, B Kirpal Facts: The agreement between the parties: An agreement was entered into on 14th December, 1993 between the petitioner and the respondent by which the respondent appointed the petitioner as a consignment agent for the storage, handling and marketing of continuous cast copper rods manufactured by the respondent. The agreement provided, in so …

La Transparencia En La Protección De Datos Personales, Bruno L. Costantini García

Bruno L. Costantini García

La Transparencia en la Protección de Datos Personales, ponencia elaborada dentro de los trabajos del VII Congreso Nacional de Organismos Públicos Autónomos (OPAM)

Aspectos Generales Dela Publicidad En México. "La Publicidad De Productos, Servicios, Y Actividades Reguladas Por La Ley General De Salud", Bruno L. Costantini García

Bruno L. Costantini García

Introducción a las generalidades de la regulación en materia de publicidad de insumos para el consumo humano (salud) en México.

Noción Y Elementos Existenciales Del Título De Crédito, Bruno L. Costantini García

Bruno L. Costantini García

Discernir la noción y elementos de existencia de los títulos de crédito, considerando la doctrina y la denominación expresada en nuestra Ley General de Títulos y Operaciones de Crédito, conceptualizando el término de los documentos que consignan un derecho crediticio propio de su naturaleza y deslindando de manera dogmatica y exegética los elementos que lo forman y le dan su funcionamiento, mediante una visión de las instituciones jurídicas que les dan su existencia y aplicación dentro del devenir de los actos de comercio.

Owning Digital Copies: Copyright Law And The Incidents Of Copy Ownership, Joseph P. Liu

Joseph P. Liu

As copyrighted works are increasingly distributed in digital form over the Internet, our conventional print-based understandings of the rights associated with copy ownership are coming into increasing conflict with the copyright owner's right to restrict copying. Specifically, certain common activities, such as reading and transferring physical copies of copyrighted works (such as books), are increasingly being viewed as potential acts of copyright infringement when applied to digital copies. This Article explores this conflict by taking a close look at the concept of copy ownership. It argues that conventional notions of physical property ownership play an important, unrecognized role in copyright …

Sports Merchandizing, Publicity Rights, And The Missing Role Of The Sports Fan, Joseph P. Liu

Joseph P. Liu

Sports fans play a tremendously important role in the success and popularity of sports teams and the enterprise of sports in general. It is somewhat curious, then, that fan interests are almost entirely missing from discussions about certain important legal issues that have a direct impact on them. Specifically, fan interests play a surprisingly limited role in discussions about sports team merchandising and player rights of publicity. This Article argues that modern sports licensing practices are coming into increasing conflict with the interests of sports fans, and that the law should take greater account of such interests. This Article starts …

Copyright Law's Theory Of The Consumer, Joseph P. Liu

Joseph P. Liu

Copyright law has a rather well-developed theory of the author, but it has no similarly well-developed conception of the consumer. This exploratory Article is an attempt to begin piecing together a coherent image of the copyright consumer. The author argues that copyright law currently conceives of consumers in one of two ways, either as passive consumers of copyrighted works or as active authors in their own right. This binary conception of the consumer, however, is incomplete, as it neglects important and complex consumer interests in autonomy, communication, and creative self-expression. By examining these additional interests, it is possible to begin …

Generalidades De La Propiedad Intelectual En México, Bruno L. Costantini García

Bruno L. Costantini García

Presentación de las Generalidades de la Propiedad Intelectual en México (Propiedad Industrial y Derechos de Autor), legislación que la rige, aplicación y modalidades

La Jurisprudencia En México, Bruno L. Costantini García

Bruno L. Costantini García

Breve presentación de la jurisprudencia en México, su aplicación, objetivos y fines para el Derecho Mexicano. ¿Por qué es util para el derecho? ¿Quién la emite?

Notariado Y Correduria Y Su Registro En México, Bruno L. Costantini García

Bruno L. Costantini García

Introducción al Derecho Notarial y Registral en México, cuyo objeto es conocer los elementos de las figuras del notario y del corredor público, la formalización de sus actos y su registro.

El Derecho De Sucesiones Se Debe Atemperar A Los Cambios De La Sociedad Del Siglo Xxi, Edward Ivan Cueva

Edward Ivan Cueva

No abstract provided.

Innovation Cooperation: Energy Biosciences And Law, Prof. Elizabeth Burleson

Prof. Elizabeth Burleson

This Article analyzes the development and dissemination of environmentally sound technologies that can address climate change. Climate change poses catastrophic health and security risks on a global scale. Universities, individual innovators, private firms, civil society, governments, and the United Nations can unite in the common goal to address climate change. This Article recommends means by which legal, scientific, engineering, and a host of other public and private actors can bring environmentally sound innovation into widespread use to achieve sustainable development. In particular, universities can facilitate this collaboration by fostering global innovation and diffusion networks.

Cancun Climate Negotiations, Prof. Elizabeth Burleson

Prof. Elizabeth Burleson

The United Nations Climate Change Conference, held from November 29 to December 11, 2010, in Cancún, Mexico, relaunched the United Nation's multilateral facilitation role.

Tribes As Essential Partners In Achieving Sustainable Governance, Prof. Elizabeth Burleson

Prof. Elizabeth Burleson

Indigenous peoples have modeled sustainable development around the world. Incentivizing the innovation and instillation of wind, solar, and other renewable energy sources can come in the form of public funding, including renewable portfolio standards, feed in tariffs and green tag programs. This article analyzes ways in which tribal communities are helping to expand cooperative good governance.

Energy Revolution And Disaster Response In The Face Of Climate Change, Prof. Elizabeth Burleson

Prof. Elizabeth Burleson

Nuclear meltdown in Japan and civil society strife across the Middle East highlight the degree to which resilience is core to international peace and security. This article considers the means by which communities can become increasingly resilient through shared best practices across a range of climate change measures.

Editor-In-Chief Of The Journal Of The Copyright Society Of The U.S.A. For 2011-15, Joseph Liu

Joseph P. Liu

Requirements Of A Valid Islamic Marriage Vis-À-Vis Requirements Of A Valid Customary Marriage In Nigeria, Olanike Sekinat Odewale Mrs

Olanike Sekinat Adelakun

Uso Social Del Suelo Ejidal Y Comunal Para El Desarrollo Equilibrado De Las Áreas Urbanas Del Estado De Puebla, Bruno L. Costantini García

Bruno L. Costantini García

De origen, difundir los diversos esquemas permitidos por la Ley para posibilitar la realización de proyectos con fines inmobiliarios, a efecto de que los núcleos agrarios y sus integrantes se beneficien equitativamente de la urbanización de sus tierras, coadyuvando con ello al desarrollo urbano planificado y ordenado de los centros de población del Estado de Puebla; como consecuencia, impulsar el desarrollo habitacional equilibrado de éste. Eliminar el circulo.- “necesidad de tierra – asentamiento irregular – solución de conflicto”, mediante la planeación socioeconómico de los núcleos agrarios ejidales y comunales, a fin de diseñar un mecanismo eficaz que satisfaga las necesidades …