Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
- Discipline
-
- Computer Law (8)
- Constitutional Law (7)
- Science and Technology Law (7)
- Internet Law (6)
- Administrative Law (5)
-
- Antitrust and Trade Regulation (5)
- Food and Drug Law (5)
- Commercial Law (4)
- Contracts (4)
- First Amendment (4)
- Supreme Court of the United States (4)
- Entertainment, Arts, and Sports Law (3)
- Environmental Law (3)
- Health Law and Policy (3)
- Jurisdiction (3)
- Law and Economics (3)
- Legislation (3)
- State and Local Government Law (3)
- Civil Procedure (2)
- Civil Rights and Discrimination (2)
- Human Rights Law (2)
- Litigation (2)
- Property Law and Real Estate (2)
- Torts (2)
- Atmospheric Sciences (1)
- Business Organizations Law (1)
- Civil and Environmental Engineering (1)
- Climate (1)
- Keyword
-
- Copyright (20)
- Patents (17)
- Intellectual property (16)
- Patent (11)
- Trademark (9)
-
- Trade secrets (7)
- Patent law (6)
- Copyright infringement (5)
- Patent infringement (5)
- Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2015 (4)
- Federal Circuit (4)
- IP (4)
- Innovation (4)
- Moral rights (4)
- Remedies (4)
- Research (4)
- Software (4)
- Trademark infringement (4)
- Trademarks (4)
- Unfair competition (4)
- AI (3)
- Administrative law (3)
- Computers (3)
- Copyright/Computer software (3)
- Copyrights (3)
- DTSA (3)
- Development (3)
- Eminent domain (3)
- Fair use (3)
- Fair use doctrine (3)
- Publication Year
- Publication
- Publication Type
Articles 1 - 30 of 150
Full-Text Articles in Intellectual Property Law
The Wild, Wild West Of Laboratory Developed Tests, John Gilmore
The Wild, Wild West Of Laboratory Developed Tests, John Gilmore
Washington and Lee Law Review Online
Since the 1950’s, scientists have built novel technologies to screen for genetic diseases and other biological irregularities. Recently, researchers have developed a method called “liquid biopsy” (as opposed to a standard tissue biopsy) that uses a liquid sample (e.g., blood) to non‑invasively spot biomarkers indicating different types of cancers in the patient’s body. While the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has fully cleared a small number of liquid biopsy tests under its rigorous and expensive review process, most biotech companies have instead followed a less restrictive regulatory path through the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), which label …
Beyond Trade Secrecy: Confidentiality Agreements That Act Like Noncompetes, Camilla A. Hrdy, Christopher B. Seaman
Beyond Trade Secrecy: Confidentiality Agreements That Act Like Noncompetes, Camilla A. Hrdy, Christopher B. Seaman
Scholarly Articles
There is a substantial literature on noncompete agreements and their adverse impact on employee mobility and innovation. But a far more common restraint in employment contracts has been underexplored: confidentiality agreements, sometimes called nondisclosure agreements (NDAs). A confidentiality agreement is not a blanket prohibition on competition. Rather, it is simply a promise not to use or disclose specific information. Confidentiality agreements encompass trade secrets, as defined by state and federal laws, but confidentiality agreements almost always go beyond trade secrecy, encompassing any information the employer imparted to the employee in confidence.
Despite widespread use, confidentiality agreements have received little attention. …
Artificial Intelligence And Transformative Use After Warhol, Gary Myers
Artificial Intelligence And Transformative Use After Warhol, Gary Myers
Washington and Lee Law Review Online
The Supreme Court’s recent decision in Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. v. Goldsmith clarifies the scope of transformative use and the role of these uses in the fair use analysis. This important case has implications for a fair use analysis of artificial intelligence. This article evaluates the interaction between copyright law’s fair use doctrine and typical sources and uses for artificial intelligence. In other words, the article will assess whether or not the use of copyrighted material to “train” AI programs—AI inputs—and the products of AI programs—AI outputs—are likely to found to be transformative in light of …
The Perks Of Being Human, Max Stul Oppenheimer
The Perks Of Being Human, Max Stul Oppenheimer
Washington and Lee Law Review Online
The power of artificial intelligence has recently entered the public consciousness, prompting debates over numerous legal issues raised by use of the tool. Among the questions that need to be resolved is whether to grant intellectual property rights to copyrightable works or patentable inventions created by a machine, where there is no human intervention sufficient to grant those rights to the human. Both the U. S. Copyright Office and the U. S. Patent and Trademark Office have taken the position that in cases where there is no human author or inventor, there is no right to copyright or patent protection. …
The Free Exercise Of Copyright Behind Bars, Viva R. Moffat
The Free Exercise Of Copyright Behind Bars, Viva R. Moffat
Washington and Lee Law Review
People in prison produce vast amounts of creative and expressive work—from paintings and sculptures to essays, novels, music, and NFTs—but they are rarely described as artists and their work is often not described as “art.” Prisoners also do not regularly take advantage of copyright law, the primary form of protection for creative works. They should.
Copyright provides a strong set of rights that combines strains of free expression values with elements of property rights. Copyright confers dignitary and expressive benefits and, for some creators, financial rewards. As such, copyright can be a tool to help prisoners improve their lives, both …
Creativity Without Ip? Vindication And Challenges In The Video Game Industry, Bj Ard
Creativity Without Ip? Vindication And Challenges In The Video Game Industry, Bj Ard
Washington and Lee Law Review
This Article intervenes in the longstanding debate over whether creative production is possible without exhaustive copyright protection. Intellectual property (IP) scholars have identified “negative spaces” like comedy and tattoo art where creativity thrives without IP, but critics dismiss these examples as niche. The video game industry allows for fresh headway. It is now the largest sector in entertainment—with revenues greater than Hollywood, streaming, and music combined—yet IP does not protect key game elements from duplication. Participants navigate this absence using non-IP strategies like those identified in negative-space industries: AAA developers invest in copy-resistant features while indie game developers rely on …
Check Your Bank Account First: Examining Copyright Formalities And Remedies Through A Race Conscious Lens, Emma Burri
Check Your Bank Account First: Examining Copyright Formalities And Remedies Through A Race Conscious Lens, Emma Burri
Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice
This Note examines copyright formalities through a race conscious lens and concludes that further change is necessary given the legacy of economic inequality that communities of color experience. It examines the history of copyright formalities in the United States and the disenfranchisement of Black musical creators through the theft of their intellectual property. In exploring the relationship between race, wealth, and musical copyright protection this Note explains why considering the economic inequality is relevant to ensure copyright protection for Black creators. This Note proposes abolishing the registration timeline for certain remedies and altering the filing fee structure of the copyright …
Right Of Self, Mitchell F. Crusto
Right Of Self, Mitchell F. Crusto
Washington and Lee Law Review
The exercise of free will against tyranny is the single principle that defines the American spirit, our history, and our culture. From the American Revolution through the Civil War, the two World Wars, the Civil Rights Movement, and up to today, Americans have embraced the fundamental rights of the individual against wrongful governmental intrusion. This is reflected in our foundational principles, including the Magna Carta, the Bill of Rights to the United States Constitution, the Reconstruction Amendments, the Nineteenth Amendment, and, more recently, in the Supreme Court’s recognition of fundamental individual rights within the Constitution’s penumbras. However, there is no …
Comment: On Patents And Appropriations—And Tragedies, David O. Taylor
Comment: On Patents And Appropriations—And Tragedies, David O. Taylor
Washington and Lee Law Review
I write to provide a few remarks concerning Sasha Hoyt’s illuminating work published in the pages of this journal. In it, Hoyt addresses the impact of the Supreme Court’s patent eligibility decisions on private investment in the development of medical diagnostic technologies. As an initial matter, I want to congratulate Hoyt for tackling an important topic. As Hoyt discusses, medical diagnostic technologies enable the diagnosis of diseases and other medical conditions such as genetic disorders, and early and accurate diagnosis may lead to early treatments and, ultimately, at least in some cases, saved lives. But the creation of medical diagnostic …
Intellectual Property And Tabletop Games, Christopher B. Seaman, Thuan Tran
Intellectual Property And Tabletop Games, Christopher B. Seaman, Thuan Tran
Scholarly Articles
There is a rich body of literature regarding intellectual property’s (“IP”) “negative spaces”—fields where creation and innovation thrive without significant formal protection from IP law. Scholars have written about innovation in diverse fields despite weak or nonexistent IP rights, such as fashion design, fine cuisine, stand-up comedy, magic tricks, tattoos, and sports plays. Instead, these fields rely on social norms, first- mover advantage, and other (non-IP) legal regimes to promote innovation in the absence of IP protection.
As a comparison to these studies, this Article comprehensively analyzes the role of IP law in facilitating innovation in tabletop gaming, including board …
Patent Eligibility And Cancer Therapy, Christopher B. Seaman
Patent Eligibility And Cancer Therapy, Christopher B. Seaman
Washington and Lee Law Review
As an empirical legal scholar, I am pleased to report that Sasha Hoyt has done what very few law students—and even many law professors—could achieve. She successfully conducted a novel empirical study to assess the real-world impact of a U.S. Supreme Court decision, Mayo Collaborative Services v. Prometheus Laboratories, Inc., on venture capital (VC) investment in startups and other companies that develop medical diagnostic technology.
As Ms. Hoyt notes, patent protection is particularly important for startup companies, as it can help protect their innovations from unauthorized use, attract funding and other investments, and foster collaboration with third parties. In …
The Justiciability Of Cancelled Patents, Greg Reilly
The Justiciability Of Cancelled Patents, Greg Reilly
Washington and Lee Law Review
The recent expansion of the Patent Office’s power to invalidate issued patents raises a coordination problem when there is concurrent litigation, particularly where the federal courts have already upheld the patent’s validity. The Federal Circuit has concluded that Patent Office cancellation extinguishes litigation pending at any stage and requires vacating prior decisions in the case. This rule is widely criticized on doctrinal, policy, and separation of powers grounds. Yet the Federal Circuit has reached (almost) the right outcome, except for the wrong reasons. Both the Federal Circuit and its critics overlook that the Federal Circuit’s rule reflects a straightforward application …
The Impact Of Uncertainty Regarding Patent Eligible Subject Matter For Investment In U.S. Medical Diagnostic Technologies, A. Sasha Hoyt
The Impact Of Uncertainty Regarding Patent Eligible Subject Matter For Investment In U.S. Medical Diagnostic Technologies, A. Sasha Hoyt
Washington and Lee Law Review
Historically, 35 U.S.C. § 101, the statute governing patent eligible subject matter, has been construed broadly—with its legislative history indicating that it should cover “anything under the sun that is made by man.” The Supreme Court crafted three exceptions to § 101: (1) abstract ideas, (2) laws of nature, and (3) natural phenomena. In recent years, the Supreme Court’s eligibility jurisprudence has further narrowed § 101 to effectively exclude meritorious medical diagnostic methods. Indeed, since the Court’s decision in Mayo Collaborative Services v. Prometheus Laboratories, Inc., the Federal Circuit has held every single diagnostic method claim brought before it …
Past The Tipping Point, But With Hope Of Return: How Creating A Geoengineering Compulsory Licensing Scheme Can Incentivize Innovation, Brooke Wilson
Past The Tipping Point, But With Hope Of Return: How Creating A Geoengineering Compulsory Licensing Scheme Can Incentivize Innovation, Brooke Wilson
Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice
This Note explores the patenting of geoengineering technologies and issues arising from the early stages of this high-risk, high-reward technology. This Note focuses on one possible solution to solving the issues surrounding the patenting of geoengineering technology: Creating a specialized compulsory licensing scheme.
Pgs, I Love You: Rebuilding Copyright For Architecturally-Situated Pictorial, Graphic, And Sculptural Works, Llewellyn Kittredge Shamamian
Pgs, I Love You: Rebuilding Copyright For Architecturally-Situated Pictorial, Graphic, And Sculptural Works, Llewellyn Kittredge Shamamian
Washington and Lee Law Review Online
Over twenty years ago, in Leicester v. Warner Bros., the Ninth Circuit limited copyright protection for a certain sculptural complex located within a downtown Los Angeles high‑rise. The court determined that the sculpture, otherwise protected from pictorial reproduction, could be visually replicated without infringing on the artist’s copyright because it was part of its architectural context.
This Note explores two recent copyright cases where companies capitalized on painted street art, using the works as backdrops for social media advertising. The resulting litigation calls into question Leicester’s holding and the extent to which it may allow visual reproduction of …
Noncompetes And Other Post-Employment Restraints On Competition: Empirical Evidence From Trade Secret Litigation, Christopher B. Seaman
Noncompetes And Other Post-Employment Restraints On Competition: Empirical Evidence From Trade Secret Litigation, Christopher B. Seaman
Scholarly Articles
Noncompete clauses in employment agreements are both common and controversial. An estimated twenty-eight million Americans—nearly twenty percent of the U.S. workforce—are currently bound by a noncompete. The traditional view that noncompete agreements can facilitate increased productivity by encouraging employers to invest in employee training has been challenged by numerous legal and economics scholars in recent years, who contend noncompetes hinder employment options for skilled workers and limit information spillovers, which are both vital drivers of innovation. Based on these claims, several states have recently limited the enforcement of noncompetes, and legislation is pending at the federal level to effectively ban …
Ebay, Permanent Injunctions, And Trade Secrets, Elizabeth A. Rowe
Ebay, Permanent Injunctions, And Trade Secrets, Elizabeth A. Rowe
Washington and Lee Law Review
This Article presents the first qualitative empirical review of permanent injunctions in trade secret cases. In addition, it explores the extent to which the Supreme Court’s patent decision in eBay v. MercExchange has influenced the analysis of equitable principles in federal trade secret litigation. Among the more notable findings are that while equitable principles are generally applied in determining whether to grant a permanent injunction to a prevailing party after trial, the courts are not necessarily strictly applying the four factors from eBay. The award of monetary relief does not preclude equitable injunctive relief, and courts can find irreparable harm …
Disguised Patent Policymaking, Saurabh Vishnubhakat
Disguised Patent Policymaking, Saurabh Vishnubhakat
Washington and Lee Law Review
Patent Office power has grown immensely in this decade, and the agency is wielding its power in predictably troubling ways. Like other agencies, it injects politics into its decisions while relying on technocratic justifications. It also reads grants of authority expansively to aggrandize its power, especially to the detriment of judicial checks on agency action. However, this story of Patent Office ascendancy differs from that of other agencies in two important respects. One is that the U.S. patent system still remains primarily a means for allocating property rights, not a comprehensive regime of industrial regulation. Thus, the Patent Office cannot …
Demystifying Patent Holdup, Thomas F. Cotter, Erik Hovenkamp, Norman Siebrasse
Demystifying Patent Holdup, Thomas F. Cotter, Erik Hovenkamp, Norman Siebrasse
Washington and Lee Law Review
Patent holdup can arise when circumstances enable a patent owner to extract a larger royalty ex post than it could have obtained in an arms length transaction ex ante. While the concept of patent holdup is familiar to scholars and practitioners—particularly in the context of standard-essential patent (SEP) disputes—the economic details are frequently misunderstood. For example, the popular assumption that switching costs (those required to switch from the infringing technology to an alternative) necessarily contribute to holdup is false in general, and will tend to overstate the potential for extracting excessive royalties. On the other hand, some commentaries mistakenly presume …
An Inside History Of The Burger Court's Patent Eligibility Jurisprudence, Christopher B. Seaman, Sheena X. Wang
An Inside History Of The Burger Court's Patent Eligibility Jurisprudence, Christopher B. Seaman, Sheena X. Wang
Scholarly Articles
Patent eligibility is one of the most important and controversial issues in intellectual property law. Although the relevant constitutional and statutory text is extremely broad, the Supreme Court has significantly narrowed the scope of patentable eligibility by creating exceptions for inventions directed to abstract ideas, laws of nature, and natural phenomenon. In particular, the Supreme Court’s decisions on this issue over the past decade have created considerable uncertainty regarding the patentability of important innovations. As a result, numerous stakeholders have called for reform of the current rules regarding patent eligibility, and members of Congress have introduced legislation to amend the …
Left With No Name: How Government Action In Intra-Church Trademark Disputes Violates The Free Exercise Clause Of The First Amendment, Mary Kate Nicholson
Left With No Name: How Government Action In Intra-Church Trademark Disputes Violates The Free Exercise Clause Of The First Amendment, Mary Kate Nicholson
Washington and Lee Law Review
The United States was founded in part on the principle of freedom of religion, where citizens were free to practice any religion. The founding fathers felt so strongly about this principle that it was incorporated into the First Amendment. The Free Exercise Clause states that “Congress shall make no law . . . prohibiting the free exercise thereof . . . .” The Supreme Court later adopted the neutral principles approach to avoid Free Exercise violations resulting from courts deciding real property disputes. Without the application of the same neutral principles to intellectual property disputes between churches, however, there is …
Reaching Through The “Ghost Doxer:” An Argument For Imposing Secondary Liability On Online Intermediaries, Natalia Homchick
Reaching Through The “Ghost Doxer:” An Argument For Imposing Secondary Liability On Online Intermediaries, Natalia Homchick
Washington and Lee Law Review
Imagine you have decided to run for office, to speak out publicly against an injustice, to enter the job market, or even to join a new online forum. Now, imagine after starting your chosen endeavor, you go online to discover that someone who disagrees with your position posted your personal information on the internet and called for others to harass you. To make matters worse, you realize that you cannot determine who posted your personal data. You have been doxed. Because you cannot identify the person who posted your information, where can you turn for recourse? The next logical party …
Patents As Credentials, Jason Rantanen, Sarah E. Jack
Patents As Credentials, Jason Rantanen, Sarah E. Jack
Washington and Lee Law Review
The conventional explanation for why people seek patents draws on a simple economic rationale. Patents, the usual story goes, provide a financial reward: the ability to engage in supracompetitive pricing by excluding others from practicing the claimed technology. People are drawn to file for patents because that is how these economic rewards are secured. While scholars have proposed variations on the basic exclusionary mechanism, and there is a general acknowledgement that patents can affect a firm’s reputation, the actual mechanisms of patents’ effect on individuals — human beings — remains relatively uncharted. In this Article we offer a concrete theory …
Artificial Intelligence And Patent Ownership, W. Michael Schuster
Artificial Intelligence And Patent Ownership, W. Michael Schuster
Washington and Lee Law Review
Invention by artificial intelligence (AI) is the future of innovation. Unfortunately, as discovered through Freedom of Information Act requests, the U.S. patent regime has yet to determine how it will address patents for inventions created solely by AI (AI patents). This Article fills that void by presenting the first comprehensive analysis on the allocation of patent rights arising from invention by AI. To this end, this Article employs Coase Theorem and its corollaries to determine who should be allowed to secure these patents to maximize economic efficiency. The study concludes that letting firms using AI to create new technologies (as …
Facing The Inevitable: The Inevitable Disclosure Doctrine And The Defend Trade Secrets Act Of 2016, M. Claire Flowers
Facing The Inevitable: The Inevitable Disclosure Doctrine And The Defend Trade Secrets Act Of 2016, M. Claire Flowers
Washington and Lee Law Review
Multiple federal courts have recognized and applied the inevitable disclosure doctrine in cases brought by employers against former employees under the DTSA. The inevitable disclosure doctrine allows a business to temporarily enjoin the new employment of a former employee by a competitor on the theory that the employee learned confidential information while working for that business which the employee cannot possibly forget or refrain from relying on during her employment with the competitor. The application of this doctrine under the DTSA is controversial for two reasons. First, some states refuse to recognize the inevitable disclosure doctrine due, in part, to …
Patently Absurd: Critiquing The Uspto’S Disparate Treatment Of Tribal And State Immunity In Inter Partes Review, Maya Ginga
Washington and Lee Law Review
No abstract provided.
The Dtsa At One: An Empirical Study Of The First Year Of Litigation Under The Defend Trade Secrets Act, David S. Levine, Christopher B. Seaman
The Dtsa At One: An Empirical Study Of The First Year Of Litigation Under The Defend Trade Secrets Act, David S. Levine, Christopher B. Seaman
Scholarly Articles
This article represents the first comprehensive empirical study of the Defend Trade Secrets Act (“DTSA”), the law enacted by Congress in 2016 that created a federal civil cause of action for trade secret misappropriation. The DTSA represents the most significant expansion of federal involvement in intellectual property law in at least 30 years. In this study, we examine publicly-available docket information and pleadings to assess how private litigants have been utilizing the DTSA. Based upon an original dataset of nearly 500 newly-filed DTSA cases in federal court, we analyze whether the law is beginning to meet its sponsors’ stated goals …
Cannabis Trademarks: A State Registration Consortium Solution, Russell W. Jacobs
Cannabis Trademarks: A State Registration Consortium Solution, Russell W. Jacobs
Washington and Lee Law Review Online
This article proposes a solution to a problem in the cannabis industry resulting from the unavailability of federal trademark registration for that sector. The author offers modest changes to the existing state trademark registration systems to make up for the gaps at the federal level. The proposed reforms would strengthen the trademark framework by conferring on cannabis trademark registrations presumptions of ownership, exclusive rights, and validity beyond the presumption of registration currently afforded under state laws. To extend protection throughout the geographic breadth of the cannabis marketplace, the states with legalized recreational cannabis would offer reciprocal recognition of state cannabis …
The Ttab Should Drink A Beer And Relax: Implications For Trademark Consent Agreements In The Craft Brewing Industry After In Re Bay State Brewing Company, Inc., Spencer T. Wiles
The Ttab Should Drink A Beer And Relax: Implications For Trademark Consent Agreements In The Craft Brewing Industry After In Re Bay State Brewing Company, Inc., Spencer T. Wiles
Washington and Lee Law Review Online
No abstract provided.
Notice And Takedown In The Domain Name System: Icann’S Ambivalent Drift Into Online Content Regulation, Annemarie Bridy
Notice And Takedown In The Domain Name System: Icann’S Ambivalent Drift Into Online Content Regulation, Annemarie Bridy
Washington and Lee Law Review
No abstract provided.