Intellectual Property Law Commons^™

A Definite Claim On Claim Indefiniteness: An Empirical Study Of Definiteness Cases Of The Past Decade With A Focus On The Federal Circuit And The Insolubly Ambiguous Standard, Christa J. Laser

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

This empirical study of patent claim definiteness cases of the past decade makes several novel findings including: (1) slightly more than half of final Federal Circuit definiteness cases hold the asserted claims not indefinite; (2) the percentage of non-Federal Circuit definiteness cases holding claims not indefinite increased approximately 60 percentage points over the ten-year period focused on in this analysis;(3) the Federal Circuit more often held chemical claims not indefinite, but electrical claims indefinite; and (4) the Federal Circuit more often held claims with term clarity issues not indefinite, but claims with means-plus-function issues indefinite. These differences partially result from …

Strategies Under Pressure: Usa-China Copyright Dispute, Dexin Tian, Chin-Chung Chao

Communication Faculty Publications

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the Chinese and American efforts in keeping the balance of innovation and copyright protection, with an emphasis on China’s strategies under Western, especially American pressure. The research findings are expected to enhance mutual efforts from the two countries to protect copyright and boost innovation and facilitate genuine communication between both sides in their decade-long intellectual property right (IPR) disputes.

Design/methodology/approach – For data collection, this study adopted in-depth interviews of 45 participants who were either copyright holders as publishers and authors, or ordinary consumers in China. Under the theoretical guidance …

The Regulation Of Personal Health Record Systems In Canada, James Williams, Jens H. Weber-Jahnke

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

This paper analyzes the regulatory regime for PHR systems in Canada. The first part of the paper consists of an introduction to some of the major issues associ- ated with these applications, with a focus on privacy, security, data quality, and interoperability. Following this preliminary discussion, the bulk of the analysis deals with the legal instruments that apply to PHR products developed by private sector organizations. Due to space constraints, the paper concentrates on legislative and regulatory instruments, deferring a discussion of the possible impacts of tort, product liability, and contract law on PHR systems. Despite this omission, it is …

The Global Ip Upward Ratchet, Anti-Counterfeiting And Piracy Enforcement Efforts: The State Of Play, Susan Sell

Joint PIJIP/TLS Research Paper Series

Proponents of an IP maximalist agenda increasingly have been rebuffed in recent years. Developing country governments, NGOs, and Access to Knowledge (A2K) advocates have thwarted their efforts to ratchet up standards of intellectual property protection in multilateral intergovernmental forums such as the World Trade Organization, the World Intellectual Property Organization, and the World Health Organization. A2K advocates challenge the premises behind ever higher and broader intellectual property protection and seek, if not a rolling back of IP rights, at the very least a standstill. They argue that in the balance between rights and obligations, IP maximalists assert their rights without …

Where Copyright Enforcement And Net Neutrality Collide - How The Eu Telecoms Package Supports Two Corporate Political Agendas For The Internet, Monica Horten

Joint PIJIP/TLS Research Paper Series

This paper discusses a change to European Union (EU) telecoms law which de facto permits operators to impose restrictions on network traffic, and which enables such restrictions to be imposed for the purposes of copyright enforcement—thus it simultaneously facilitates two different policy agendas from the copyright and telecoms industries—‘three-strikes’ as well as ‘traffic management.’ The mechanism is a provision concerning users’ contracts, supported by generic provisions addressed to EU governments and regulators. The change went into law in late 2009, within the so-called ‘Telecoms Package,’ which, together with the E-commerce directive, establishes the EU legal framework for telecoms networks. In …

Operating Efficiently Post-Bilski By Ordering Patent Doctrine Decision-Making, Dennis D. Crouch, Robert P. Merges

Faculty Publications

Now that the Supreme Court has decided Bilski v. Kappos, there is an enormous amount of speculation about the case’s impact on patent applicants, litigants, and other participants in the patent system. Most of the commentary is concerned with the holding in Bilski, how this holding will be applied by courts and the Patent Office, and ultimately, the effect of the holding on inventors, and those who hold and seek patents.

Space Age Love Song: The Mix Tape In A Digital Universe, Megan M. Carpenter

Nevada Law Journal

No abstract provided.

From Knowledge To Ideas: The Two Faces Of Innovation, James Bessen

Faculty Scholarship

Innovative ideas have unique properties arising from low communication costs. But ideas come from knowledge that is costly to communicate. “Formalizing” knowledge — codifying, developing standards, etc. — reduces these costs. In a simple model, formalization is associated with changes in the nature of competition between two equilibrium regimes. In one, knowledge is formalized, new technology replaces old and patents increase innovation incentives. In the other, knowledge is not formalized, old technology coexists with new, patents decrease innovation incentives and firms sometimes freely exchange knowledge. The equilibrium changes as technology improves over a life-cycle, affecting firm strategy, innovation policy, geographic …

A Failure Of Uniform Laws?, Michael Risch

Michael Risch

The Uniform Trade Secrets Act, adopted in forty-six states over 30 years, illustrates an important purpose of uniform laws: allowing states to adopt sister-state statutory interpretation when they enact the uniform statute. The case law of each UTSA state should theoretically apply in every other state adopting it, which provides an important benefit for small states that do not have enough litigation activity to generate their own substantial trade secret case law. This essay tests this purpose. It examines one small state’s opinions to see how much uniformity the UTSA provides. The results are somewhat surprising: the test state’s courts …

Los Derechos De Autor Y El Dominio Público, Rodolfo C. Rivas Rea Esq.

Rodolfo C. Rivas

The author discusses the subtle differences between Copyright and Author's Rights. Then he goes into analyzing the different ways a work can become part of the public domain and how it varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction and from time to time.////////////////////////////////////////////////////El autor analiza las sutiles diferencias entre los derechos de autor y el copyright. Posteriormente se adentra en el análisis de las formas en las que una obra entra dentro del dominio público, y como estas varían dependiendo del territorio y de la época.

An Offensive Weapon?: An Empirical Analysis Of The 'Sword' Of State Sovereign Immunity In State-Owned Patents, Tejas N. Narechania

Tejas N. Narechania

Public Consultations On Net Neutrality 2010: Usa, Eu And France, Sulan Wong, Julio Rojas Mora, Eitan Altman

Julio Rojas-Mora

The evolution of the Internet has come to a point where almost at the same time, governments all around the world feel the need for legislation to regulate the use of the Internet. In preparing the legislation, consultations were called by various governments or by the corresponding regulation bodies. We describe in this paper the various consultations as well as the background related to the Net Neutrality question in each case. Rather than describing the answers to each consultation, which are available and which have already been analyzed, we focus on comparing the consultations and the statistical figures related to …

Private Ordering And Orphan Works: Our Least Worst Hope?, Keith Porcaro

Duke Law & Technology Review

The political capture of copyright law by industry groups has inadvertently led to orphan works problems arising in less organized industries, such as publishing. Google Book Search (GBS) is a prime example of how private ordering can circumvent legislative inefficiencies. Digital technologies such as GBS can open up a new business model for publishers and other content industries, centered around aggregated rights holdings. However, the economic inertia that private ordering represents may pose a threat to the knowledge-oriented goals of copyright law.

Five Ways To Make The Entertainment Industry’S Enforcement Strategies More Convincing, Peter Yu

Peter K. Yu

No abstract provided.

The Intel And Microsoft Settlements, Robert H. Lande

All Faculty Scholarship

This article briefly compares and contrasts the recent U.S. Federal Trade Commission's antitrust settlement with Intel, and the antitrust cases brought against Microsoft. The article praises the FTC's settlement with Intel, and predicts that history will judge it very favorably compared to the settlement by the U.S. Department of Justice of its antitrust case against Microsoft.

Intellectual Property - Brookfield Communications, Inc. V. West Coast Entertainment Corp., Patricia Elizabeth Caldwell

Golden Gate University Law Review

In Brookfield Communications, Inc. v. West Coast Entertainment Corp., the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit discusses whether trademark or unfair competition laws prohibit the use of another's trademark in its web site's domain name and metatag. The court concluded there was a likelihood of confusion between the marks. Therefore, using the mark in the web site's domain name constitutes trademark infringement. In addition, using the mark in the site's metatag created initial interest confusion.

Don't Be Cruel: Scope Of Parody Curtailed In Elvis Presley Enterprises, Inc. V. Capece, Deborah Wright

Golden Gate University Law Review

This Note explores how the Fifth Circuit limited the legal boundaries of parody in the context of trademark law. Section II provides a background of trademark law and how parody fits into a court's determination as to whether infringement has occurred. Section III presents the facts and procedural history of the case, including the district court's analysis. In Section IV, this Note examines how the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal approached the application of parody in the trademark context. Finally, Section V discusses the severe limitation on the legal use of parody set forth by the Fifth Circuit, and offers …

Intellectual Property Law - Newcombe V. Adolf Coors Co., Nairi Chakalian

Golden Gate University Law Review

In Newcombe v. Adolf Coors Co., the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that a Major League baseball pitcher, retired for over thirty years, had valid publicity infringement claims against defendants who created an advertisement using a drawing of his stance. According to the court, a material factual issue existed as to whether the drawing of the stance in the advertisement conjured up images of the pitcher, even though the pitcher's face could not be identified from the drawing, and his name did not appear anywhere in the advertisement. Thus, the court found a subtle image …

Intellectual Property Law - Kendall-Jackson Winery V. E. & J. Gallo Winery, Rema M. Titcomb

Golden Gate University Law Review

In Kendall-Jackson v. Gallo,l the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that grape leaf designs on wine bottles are not protected as trademarks under the Lanham Trademark Act because of widespread use in the industry. Accordingly, the Ninth Circuit upheld the district court's decision to grant Gallo's summary judgment motion in favor of Gallo.

Intellectual Property Law - Dreamwerks Production Group, Inc. V. Skg Studio, Thomas J. Murphy

Golden Gate University Law Review

In Dreamwerks Production Group, Inc. v. SKG Studio the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit evaluated whether the trademarks "Dreamwerks" and "Dream Works" were likely to confuse the reasonable consumer. Traditionally, a well-known, senior trademark user will sue a lesser-known, junior trademark user in order to protect its goodwill and prevent customer confusion. In Dreamwerks, however, the parties' positions were reversed, with the lesser-known, senior user, Dreamwerks Production Group, suing the better-known, yet junior user, SKG Studio. The Ninth Circuit held that, like every other new company, SKG Studio was required to select a name that would …