Law Commons^™

Keinitz V. Sconnie Nation, Llc: The Seventh Circuit's Necessary Resistance To Defining The Fair Use Doctrine Solely In Terms Of Transformativeness, Alexander Perwich

Marquette Intellectual Property Law Review

Under the fair use doctrine, use of a copyrighted work is not an infringement on a copyright if, after consideration of four factors, a court considers the use to be fair. The four factors courts are required to consider are: (1) “the purpose and character of the use;” (2) “the nature of the copyrighted work;” (3) “the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole;” and (4) the effect the use has on “the potential market for or value of the original copyrighted work.” A circuit split exists between the Second and …

A Cure For Twitch: Compulsory License Promoting Video Game Live-Streaming, Yang Qiu

Marquette Intellectual Property Law Review

New technology always bring challenges to Chinese legislation. In recent years, based on technological development of network transmission, video game streaming platforms like “Twitch.tv” have made “big” money. The problem, however, is that the streaming content on those platforms involve copyrightable video games, which infringe game publishers’ copyright, if the streaming platform lacks authorization. And only a few of the streaming platforms and streamers have licenses from game publishers. Nowadays, most game publishers allow streaming to exist because they view the streaming as free advertisement for their games. By making these allowances, the game publishers stay in their fans’ good …

Clarifying Uncertainty: Why We Need A Small Claims Copyright Court, John Zuercher

Marquette Intellectual Property Law Review

This article is concerned with the question of whether copyright law in the United States is currently equipped to achieve its original goal, set within the U.S. Constitution, to promote innovation and progress. This article suggests that copyright law is not equipped to achieve this goal because a paradox inherent in copyright law is hindering copyright litigation and causing uncertainty. The paradox is found in 17 U.S.C. § 106, which protects transformative works that are derivative, and 17 U.S.C. § 107, which protects transformative works as fair use. Ideally, the federal courts would solve this dilemma by interpreting the appropriate …

Inspiration Versus Exploitation: Traditional Cultural Expressions At The Hem Of The Fashion Industry, Elizabeth M. Lenjo

Marquette Intellectual Property Law Review

The fashion industry is a multitrillion dollar global industry. In 2016, consumers in the United States of America alone, spent almost $380 billion on apparel and footwear. Some may deride the fashion industry as lacking substance and mere “fluff,” but the numbers validate that it is important and extremely valuable “fluff.” After all, clothing and footwear are human necessities and are the main output from this sector that spans from high-end luxury brands to low-end necessities.

Clothing and fashion help define a culture and reflect individual identity. Throughout most of human history, regional variations in style and clothing served as …

What's Your Story? Every Famous Mark Has One: Persuasion In Trademark Opposition Briefs, Candace Hays

Marquette Intellectual Property Law Review

A key contention of legal writing scholarship is that the legal resolution is rooted in storytelling. The law consists of an endless telling and retelling of stories. Clients tell stories to their lawyers, who must figure out how to frame their client’s narrative into a legal context. Lawyers retell their clients’ stories to judges using pleadings, motions, and legal briefs. Judges and administrators retell these stories in the form of an opinion or verdict.

Storytelling in the legal context is an important element of persuasion. For the purpose of this comment, legal storytelling is defined as the use of fiction-writing …