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Intellectual Property Law

Duke Law

Journal

2010

Articles 1 - 9 of 9

Full-Text Articles in Law

Limitation Of Sales Warranties As An Alternative To Intellectual Property Rights: An Empirical Analysis Of Iphone Warranties’ Deterrent Impact On Consumers, Marc L. Roark Nov 2010

Limitation Of Sales Warranties As An Alternative To Intellectual Property Rights: An Empirical Analysis Of Iphone Warranties’ Deterrent Impact On Consumers, Marc L. Roark

Duke Law & Technology Review

Apple's success with the Apple iPhone has brought with it certain problems. Its success has engendered a community that has attempted to circumvent Apple's exclusive service agreement with AT&T. Unfortunately for Apple (and similarly situated manufacturers), intellectual property law allows consumers to alter their products so as to circumvent relationships that manufacturers may have with others. The patent and copyright law first sale doctrine allows consumers to manipulate a product after it is purchased. As a result, manufacturers are increasingly turning to alternatives to intellectual property to secure control over the device after the sale. One such alternative is the …


Applying Copyright Abandonment In The Digital Age, Matthew W. Turetzky Nov 2010

Applying Copyright Abandonment In The Digital Age, Matthew W. Turetzky

Duke Law & Technology Review

Copyright law protects orphan and parented works equally--but it shouldn't. Consequently, current law unnecessarily restrains public access to works that authors have not exercised dominion over for decades. This problem has come to the fore in the Google Books settlement, which critics argue will give Google a de facto monopoly over orphan works. But this criticism implicates an obvious question: Why are orphan works protected by copyright law in the first place? If orphan works were in the public domain, then no one would worry about Google's supposed "monopoly" because Google's competitors would be free to copy the works without …


Standards × Patents ÷ Antitrust = ∞: The Inadequacy Of Antitrust To Address Patent Ambush, Jonathan Hillel Nov 2010

Standards × Patents ÷ Antitrust = ∞: The Inadequacy Of Antitrust To Address Patent Ambush, Jonathan Hillel

Duke Law & Technology Review

"Patent ambush" describes certain rent-seeking behavior by the owner of patent rights to a technology that is essential to an industry standard. Two cases, Qualcomm and Rambus, represent attempts of the Third and D.C. Circuits, respectively, to address patent ambushes using federal antitrust statutes. In both cases, antitrust law proves inadequate to the task. Under Qualcomm, licensees gain too much power to extort undervalued royalty rates from patent holders who have disclosed their rights during standard-setting. Under Rambus, coupled with the dearth of other options to combat patent ambushes, non-disclosing patent holders are given free reign over standardized markets, to …


Private Ordering And Orphan Works: Our Least Worst Hope?, Keith Porcaro Sep 2010

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.


Keeping The Leds On And The Electric Motors Running: Clean Tech In Court After Ebay, Eric Lane Sep 2010

Keeping The Leds On And The Electric Motors Running: Clean Tech In Court After Ebay, Eric Lane

Duke Law & Technology Review

The recent rise of non-practicing patentees (NPPs) in the clean technology space comes at a time when the international community is debating the role of intellectual property rights in the deployment and implementation of technologies to combat climate change. While the impact of intellectual property rights on the deployment of clean technology has been studied, less attention has been given to the role intellectual property regimes play in maintaining the operation of those technologies already deployed in the fight against global warming. This iBrief focuses on clean technologies that have already achieved substantial market penetration and observes that recent trends …


Chatter, Clatter, And Blinks: Defective Car Alerts And The Role Of Technological Advances In Design Defect/Failure To Warn Cases, James Forrest Mckell Jr. Aug 2010

Chatter, Clatter, And Blinks: Defective Car Alerts And The Role Of Technological Advances In Design Defect/Failure To Warn Cases, James Forrest Mckell Jr.

Duke Law & Technology Review

Car owners are familiar with the warning lights on the dashboard and the beeping sound reminding them to use their seatbelt. But, neither the legislature nor courts have concretely defined the legal nature of these alerts. This iBrief will analyze when a deficient alert becomes a defective product tort claim and determine the appropriate theory under which such claims should be brought.


The Class Defense: Why Dispersed Intellectual Property Defendants Need Procedural Protections, Jonathan Reich Aug 2010

The Class Defense: Why Dispersed Intellectual Property Defendants Need Procedural Protections, Jonathan Reich

Duke Law & Technology Review

The intersection of antitrust and intellectual property circumscribes two century-long debates. The first pertains to questions about how antitrust law and intellectual property law interact, and the second pertains to questions about how parties can exploit property rights, including intellectual property rights, to exclude competitors. This iBrief finesses these questions and turns to practical considerations about how innovation and intellectual property can impinge antitrust enforcement. This iBrief develops two propositions. First, although collaborative research and development has often been and remains unwittingly misunderstood, what is understood about it is consistent with the long- standing observation that antitrust has rarely interfered …


In Re Bilski And The “Machine-Or-Transformation” Test: Receding Boundaries For Patent Eligible Subject Matter, Matthew Moore Apr 2010

In Re Bilski And The “Machine-Or-Transformation” Test: Receding Boundaries For Patent Eligible Subject Matter, Matthew Moore

Duke Law & Technology Review

In order for a hopeful applicant to be granted a patent over his invention, his application must satisfy several procedural and substantive requirements. Among the substantive hurdles that an applicant must clear is the mandate that patents only be issued to applications claiming statutory subject matter within the meaning of §101 of the Patent Act. However, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (Federal Circuit) has not construed that Section consistently over the years. Since that court’s formation in 1982, it has espoused two tests for statutory subject matter, and each time has substantially abrogated, if not overruled, the …


Antitrust, Innovation, And Uncertain Property Rights: Some Practical Considerations, Dean V. Williamson Jan 2010

Antitrust, Innovation, And Uncertain Property Rights: Some Practical Considerations, Dean V. Williamson

Duke Law & Technology Review

The intersection of antitrust and intellectual property circumscribes two century-long debates. The first pertains to questions about how antitrust law and intellectual property law interact, and the second pertains to questions about how parties can exploit property rights, including intellectual property rights, to exclude competitors. This iBrief finesses these questions and turns to practical considerations about how innovation and intellectual property can impinge antitrust enforcement. This iBrief develops two propositions. First, although collaborative research and development has often been and remains unwittingly misunderstood, what is understood about it is consistent with the long- standing observation that antitrust has rarely interfered …