Business Commons^™

Is There A New Extraterritoriality In Intellectual Property?, Timothy R. Holbrook

Faculty Articles

This Article proceeds as follows. Part I discusses the state of the law of extraterritoriality in copyright, trademark, and patent, as it stood before the Supreme Court’s recent intervention. This review demonstrates that all three disciplines were treating extraterritoriality very differently, and none were paying much attention to the presumption against extraterritoriality. Part II reviews a tetralogy of recent Supreme Court cases, describing the Court’s attempt to formalize its approach to extraterritoriality across all fields of law. Part III analyzes the state of IP law in the aftermath of this tetralogy of extraterritoriality cases. It concludes that there has been …

Law And Authors: A Legal Handbook For Writers (Introduction), Jacqueline D. Lipton

Book Chapters

Drawing on a wealth of experience in legal scholarship and publishing, Professor Jacqueline D. Lipton provides a useful legal guide for writers whatever their levels of expertise or categories of work (fiction, nonfiction, academic, journalism, freelance content development). This introductory chapter outlines the key legal and business issues authors are likely to face during the course of their careers, and emphasizes that most legal problems have solutions so law should never be an excuse to avoid writing something that an author feels strongly about creating. The larger work draws from case studies and hypothetical examples to address issues of copyright …

The Football As Intellectual Property Object, Michael J. Madison

Book Chapters

The histories of technology and culture are filled with innovations that emerged and took root by being shared widely, only to be succeeded by eras of growth framed by intellectual property. The Internet is a modern example. The football, also known as the pelota, ballon, bola, balón, and soccer ball, is another, older, and broader one. The football lies at the core of football. Intersections between the football and intellectual property law are relatively few in number, but the football supplies a focal object through which the great themes of intellectual property have shaped the game: origins; innovation and …

Critical Race Ip, Anjali Vats, Deidre A. Keller

Articles

In this Article, written on the heels of Race IP 2017, a conference we co-organized with Amit Basole and Jessica Silbey, we propose and articulate a theoretical framework for an interdisciplinary movement that we call Critical Race Intellectual Property (Critical Race IP). Specifically, we argue that given trends toward maximalist intellectual property policy, it is now more important than ever to study the racial investments and implications of the laws of copyright, trademark, patent, right of publicity, trade secret, and unfair competition in a manner that draws upon Critical Race Theory (CRT). Situating our argument in a historical context, we …

Creative Copyright: Tailoring Intellectual Property Policies And Business Strategies For Creative Content Industries In The Digital Age, Bhamati Viswanathan

SJD Dissertations

My dissertation explores intellectual property rights in three fields: fashion, music and education. I examine the varying degrees of IP rights in those fields, and ask whether the differing levels of rights are appropriate to keep these industries creative, innovative and robust. I further examine the salient characteristics of those rights and ask whether such an understanding might help to determine optimal levels of IP protection in other creative industries.

Ip Basics: Trademarks And Business Goodwill, Thomas G. Field Jr.

Law Faculty Scholarship

This is information all business owners need if they wish to preserve their hard-won goodwill. It discusses, for example, the important differences between strong and weak marks for products and services, the value of state and federal registrations and the importance of searches (to avoid wasting money).

Counterfeits, Copying And Class, Ann Bartow

Law Faculty Scholarship

Consumers who want to express themselves by wearing contemporary clothing styles should not have to choose between expensive brands and counterfeit products. There should be a clear distinction in trademark law between illegal, counterfeit goods and perfectly legal (at least with respect to trademark law) "knockoffs," in which aesthetically functional design attributes have been copied but trademarks have not. Toward that end, as a normative matter, the aesthetic features of products should not be registrable or protectable as trademarks or trade dress, regardless of whether they have secondary meaning, just as functional attributes of a utilitarian nature are not eligible …

Calling Bulls**T On The Lanham Act: The 2(A) Bar For Immoral, Scandalous, And Disparaging Marks, Megan M. Carpenter, Kathryn T. Murphy

Law Faculty Scholarship

As the Lanham Act approaches the age of 65, it is a good time to take stock of its application to, and place within, the object and purpose of trademark law. Trademark law seeks to promote fair competition by reducing consumer search costs and preventing confusion in the minds of consumers as to the source of goods and services. However, Section 2(a) of the Lanham Act prevents registration of marks that are “immoral,” “scandalous,” “disparaging,” “deceptive,” or which “create a false association” with persons, institutions, beliefs, or national symbols. The 2(a) bar expands trademark law well beyond its basic goals. …

Towards Symmetry In The Law Of Branding, Rebecca Tushnet

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Companies sometimes want to abandon an old identity and rebrand with a new one. Trademark law probably does not have much to say about rebranding in itself. But we should be careful about how we think about rebranding and other undisclosed source relationships because, if not handled properly, law’s recognition of such techniques could end up reinforcing trademark owners’ ability to deter competition and control free speech.

Looking At The Lanham Act: Images In Trademark And Advertising Law, Rebecca Tushnet

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Words are the prototypical regulatory subjects for trademark and advertising law, despite our increasingly audiovisual economy. This word-focused baseline means that the Lanham Act often misconceives its object, resulting in confusion and incoherence. This Article explores some of the ways courts have attempted to fit images into a word-centric model, while not fully recognizing the particular ways in which images make meaning in trademark and other forms of advertising. While problems interpreting images are likely to persist, this Article suggests some ways in which courts could pay closer attention to the special features of images as compared to words.

Vol. Ix, Tab 47 - Ex. 36 - Deposition Of Nino Ninov (Rosetta Stone Vice President - Strategic Research And Analysis), Nino Ninov

Rosetta Stone v. Google (Joint Appendix)

Exhibits from the un-sealed joint appendix for Rosetta Stone Ltd., v. Google Inc., No. 10-2007, on appeal to the 4th Circuit. Issue presented: Under the Lanham Act, does the use of trademarked terms in keyword advertising result in infringement when there is evidence of actual confusion?

Vol. Ix, Tab 46 - Ex. 63 - Deposition Of Van Leigh (Rosetta Stone Director Of Online Marketing), Van Leigh

Rosetta Stone v. Google (Joint Appendix)

Exhibits from the un-sealed joint appendix for Rosetta Stone Ltd., v. Google Inc., No. 10-2007, on appeal to the 4th Circuit. Issue presented: Under the Lanham Act, does the use of trademarked terms in keyword advertising result in infringement when there is evidence of actual confusion?

New-School Trademark Dilution: Famous Among The Juvenile Consuming Public, Alexandra J. Roberts

Law Faculty Scholarship

The recently enacted Trademark Dilution Revision Act of 2006 recalibrated the degree of fame necessary to garner protection: the TDRA applies only to a mark "widely recognized by the general consuming public of the United States as a designation of source of the goods or services of the mark’s owner." By privileging those major players who succeed in turning their brands into household names, the TDRA strengthens incentives for mark-owners to ensure their logos and brand names are well-recognized not only among adult consumers, but also among children. This Article examines a set of marketing behaviors aimed at children that …

Celebrity In Cyberspace: A Personality Rights Paradigm For Personal Domain Name Disputes, Jacqueline D. Lipton

Articles

When the Oscar-winning actress, Julia Roberts, fought for control of the domain name, what was her aim? Did she want to reap economic benefits from the name? Probably not, as she has not used the name since it was transferred to her. Or did she want to prevent others from using it on either an unjust enrichment or a privacy basis? Was she, in fact, protecting a trademark interest in her name? Personal domain name disputes, particularly those in the space, implicate unique aspects of an individual's persona in cyberspace. Nevertheless, most of the legal rules developed for these disputes …

A Winning Solution For Youtube And Utube? Corresponding Trademarks And Domain Name Sharing, Jacqueline D. Lipton

Articles

In June of 2007, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio ruled on a motion to dismiss various claims against the Youtube video-sharing service. The claimant was Universal Tube and Rollform Equipment Corp ("Universal"), a manufacturer of pipes and tubing products. Since 1996, Universal has used the domain name utube.com - phonetically the same as Youtube's domain name, youtube.com. Youtube.com was registered in 2005 and gained almost-immediate popularity as a video-sharing website. As a result, Universal experienced excessive web traffic by Internet users looking for youtube.com and mistakenly typing utube.com into their web browsers. Universal's servers …

Crop Updates 2007 - Cereals, R. Loughman, R. Lance, I. Barclay, G. Crosbie, S. Harasymow, W. Lambe, C. Li, R. Mclean, C. Moore, K. Stefanova, A. Tarr, R. Wilson, Matu Peipi, Matt Whiting, Christine Zaicou, Shahajahan Miyan, Brenda Shackley, Len J. Wade, Lindsay W. Bell, Felicity Byrne (Nee Flugge), Mike A. Ewing, Blakely Paynter, Andrea Hills, Raj Malik, Kelly Winfield, Harmohinder Dhammu, Vince Lambert, Chris Roberts, Jeromy Lemon, Geoff Thomas, Ian Hartley, Andrew Taylor, Manisha Shankar, John Majewski, Vivien Vanstone, Brenda Coutts, Monica Kehoe, Roger Jones, Geoffrey Dwyer, Belinda Welsh, Cuiping Wang, Linda Price

Crop Updates

This session covers twenty six papers from different authors:

CEREAL BREEDING

1. Strategies for aligning producer and market imperatives in cereal breeding in Western Australia, R. Loughman, R. Lance, I. Barclay, G. Crosbie, S. Harasymow, W. Lambe, C. Li, R. McLean, C. Moore, K. Stefanova, A. Tarr and R. Wilson, Department of Agriculture and Food

2. LongReach plant breeders wheat variety trials – 2006, Matu Peipi and Matt Whiting, LongReach Plant Breeders

WHEAT AGRONOMY

3. Response of wheat varieties to sowing time in the northern agricultural region in 2006, Christine Zaicou, Department of Agriculture and Food

4. Response …

On-Line Tutorial Project: Intellectual Property In E-Commerce, William J. Murphy

Law Faculty Scholarship

Copyrights, Trademarks and Patents make up most of the area of law known as Intellectual Property. Intellectual Property's importance in Electronic Commerce is difficult to overstate. The Internet has been defined as a global network of networks through which computers communicate by sending information in packets, and each network consists of computers connected by cables or wireless links. It is the Intellectual Property laws of Copyright, Trademark and Patents that are attempting to harmonize the effects that E-Commerce and the Internet have had on the individual's ability to access and use this information. It should be remembered that most countries …

The Federal Trademark Dilution Act Of 1995: Potent Weapon Or Uphill Battle?, Erin J. Roth, Robert B. Bennett

Scholarship and Professional Work - Business

Following a brief discussion of the history of trademark infringement law, the events leading to the FTDA, and an overview of the FTDA, this paper discusses the major causes of the FTDA's ineffectiveness. We will then review the application of the act, discuss its implications on the future of trademark ownership in business, and suggest improvements to the legal application of the act.

The Impact Of The Kodak Decision To Antitrust Tying Challenges In Trademark Licensing: The Search For Legal Certainty, Clotilde Forest

LLM Theses and Essays

The recent increase in trademark licensing has drawn the attention of antitrust authorities. This paper focuses on establishing patterns as to the validity, under antitrust law, of “hot” clauses present in medium to long term marketing programs especially in the light of the recent decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in Eastman Kodak Co. v. Image Technical Services, Inc., 504 U.S. 451 (1992). The paper explores the contractual policy of having stable legal standards to ensure an efficient implementation of contractual terms that are immunized from adverse antitrust challenges throughout the term of the contract. This paper …

Using Section 337 Of The Tariff Act Of 1930 To Block Materially Different Gray Market Goods In The Common Control Context: Are Reports Of Its Death Greatly Exaggerated?, Margo A. Bagley

Faculty Articles

This Comment examines the primary reasons for trademark owners within the common control exception to revisit section 337 when faced with materially different gray market goods. Part One discusses the issues in and history of the gray market goods controversy, and the common control exception. Part Two focuses on section 337: how it works, its use in gray market goods cases, and how it has changed as a result of amendments in the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988 and in the Uruguay Round Agreements Act of 1994. Part Three traces the changes in the gray market landscape favorable …