Law Commons^™

Cannabis Derivatives And Trademark Registration: The Case Of Delta-8-Thc, W. Michael Schuster

Indiana Law Journal

The legal environment surrounding the cannabis industry is ambiguous and constantly changing. While cannabis is prohibited under federal law, a 2018 statute legalized a variant of the cannabis plant (“hemp”) that is low in its most common intoxicating agents. Recognizing this, entrepreneurs began to process hemp to extract and sell chemicals contained therein. Included in this trend is the extraction of Delta-8 Tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ8-THC)—a psychoactive drug with an increasing market presence in states where most cannabis (e.g., “marijuana”) is illegal.

As competition in the Δ8-THC field emerged, firms sought to distinguish their wares through brand recognition and federal trademark registration. …

Arbitrating Copyright Disputes In Egypt, Islam Mohamed

Maurer Theses and Dissertations

Egypt is witnessing increasing difficulty in implementing and practicing protectionist policies for intellectual property rights, which includes copyright as a fundamental element. Since the Egyptian judicial system is exclusively concerned with adjudicating all disputes, it has become increasingly burdened in recent decades due to this monopoly. As a result, the Egyptian judiciary is witnessing a significant slowdown in resolving conflicts and procedural obstacles which delay the restitution of Intellectual property rights to its owners. Thus, we believe that applying arbitration will contribute to resolving copyright disputes in advance on one hand and will encourage an attractive climate in such matters …

Mitigating The Effects Of Intellectual Property Colonialism On Budding Cannabis Markets, Hughie Kellner

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

Globalization has reduced barriers to trade, communication, and understanding, opening opportunities that extend far beyond national borders. However, in this bounty of opportunity lie obligations, and often those obligations tie a nation's hands when trying to deal with a problem that arises. One obligation nations face is upholding the United Nations' (UN) decision to prevent the illicit use of cannabis. Another is supporting and following the World Trade Organization's (WTO) near elimination of barriers for companies to bring patent and trademark protection with them into any country they do business with. In a modern globalized economy, if a nation fails …

Privacy Vs. Transparency: Handling Protected Materials In Agency Rulemaking, Christopher S. Yoo, Kellen Mccoy

Indiana Law Journal

Agencies conducting informal rulemaking proceedings increasingly confront conflicting duties with respect to protected materials included in information submitted in public rulemaking dockets. They must reconcile the broad commitment to openness and transparency reflected in federal law with the duty to protect confidential business information (CBI) and personally identifiable information (PII) against improper disclosure.

This Article presents an analysis of how agencies can best balance these often countervailing considerations. Part I explores the statutory duties to disclose and withhold information submitted in public rulemaking dockets placed on agencies. It also examines judicial decisions and other legal interpretations regarding the proper way …

Rethinking Copyright Harmonization, Clark Asay

Indiana Law Journal

For nearly half a century, the United States has been one of the main proponents of harmonizing the world’s copyright laws. To that end, the U.S. government has worked diligently to persuade (and, in some cases, bully) most of the world’s countries to adopt copyright standards that resemble those found in the United States. The primary reason for this push to harmonize the world’s copyright laws is simple: the United States has long been a net exporter of copyrighted works, and so the U.S. government has sought to ensure that other countries provide U.S. authors with the same economic rights …

Cyber Trespass And Property Concepts, Adam Macleod

IP Theory

No abstract provided.

The Future Of Female Inventors In The United States: A Comparative Analysis To The Republic Of Korea, Payton Hoff

IP Theory

No abstract provided.

Saving Face; The Unconstitutional Use Of Facial Recognition On Undocumented Immigrants And Solutions In Ip, Audrey Knutson

IP Theory

No abstract provided.

Copyright's Fixation Requirement: Is It Still Needed?, Attamongkol Tantratian

Maurer Theses and Dissertations

While the United States requires fixation for an original work to be entitled to federal copyright protection, many other countries ignore such requirement. The difference could lead to partial copyright protection standards across jurisdictions over certain works that are not fixed. Examples of such works include extemporaneous speeches, lectures, improvisational performances, and contemporary arts that are transitory. Moreover, with today’s rapid development of arts and technologies, creative works can be presented via new media without being fixed in a traditional way. The examples include live streams of lectures and music performances, which have become part of the “new normal.” In …

Small Pool For Big Data: Researching For Sustainable Data Focused On Open Government Data (Ogd) Movement, Sukchan Sim

Maurer Theses and Dissertations

When Sir Isaac Newton said his famous statement "standing on the shoulders of giants," it was a modest phrase and explained the necessity of sharing knowledge or information to make the next intellectual progress. The data industry is now the fastest developing area, but many ambiguities are a subject in law. The protection of data is a fascinating and still unsolved challenge for intellectual property law. Data is essential in the matter of new industry and our lifestyle at individual, corporate, and institutional levels. And the legal protection needs to work to offer vivid transactions of data for creative interactions. …

The Patent Bar Gender Gap: Expanding The Eligibility Requirements To Foster Inclusion And Innovation In The U.S. Patent System, Mary T. Hannon

IP Theory

No abstract provided.

Multilateralism, Pushback, And Prospects For Global Engagement?, Michael Donald Kirby The Honourable

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

In this article, the author draws on long engagement with multilateralism, both in domestic jurisdiction and international institutions. He describes the growth of post-War United Nations activities and the increasing impact of international law, including on universal human rights. He records international initiatives on global problems like HI V/AIDS and in individual countries, such as Cambodia and North Korea. He then describes recent examples of '"pushback" against multilateralism, especially on the part of the United States, the United Kingdom, some European countries, and Australia. He concludes with illustrations and reasons why the global community should remain optimistic about multilateralism, despite …

Afghanistan Legislative Commitments To The Wto: A Deeper Look At Afghanistan's Compliance With Trips, Hafizullah Seddiqi

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

In 2016, Afghanistan formally acceded to the World Trade Organization (WTO) to improve its worldwide trading prospects. However, this journey began much earlier. To join the WTO, one of Afghanistan's commitments was to reform its then-existing trademark laws. Intellectual property (IP)-related laws are, in general, one of the fields that countries must reform prior to joining the WTO, so as to be in accordance with the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). While Afghanistan has enacted some IPrelated statutes, including the 2009 Law on Trade Marks Registration, it continues to fall short of conforming to TRIPS because …

Measuring Trademark Dilution By Tarnishment, Suneal Bedi, David Reibstein

Indiana Law Journal

The law of trademark tarnishment—a type of trademark dilution—is in disarray. The

basic definition is deceptively simple. Trademark tarnishment occurs when a junior

mark harms the reputation of a substantially similar existing senior trademark by

associating itself with something perverse or deviant. However, it turns out that

Congress and the courts disagree over the prima facie evidence necessary to prove

its existence. The problem is that federal law and related legal principles are simply

ill-equipped to adequately analyze this unique market-driven doctrine. To make

matters worse, legal scholars cannot even agree on whether trademark tarnishment

can empirically exist in the …

Sea Change: The Rising Tide Of Pro Bono Legal Services For The Creative Community, Victoria Phillips

IP Theory

No abstract provided.

When Standards Collide With Intellectual Property: Teaching About Standard Setting Organizations, Technology, And Microsoft V. Motorola, Cynthia L. Dahl

IP Theory

No abstract provided.

A Serendipitous Experiment In Percolation Of Intellectual Property Doctrine, Daniel R. Cahoy, Lynda J. Oswald

Indiana Law Journal

This Article fills a gap in the literature by providing novel and unique empirical evidence of the impact of percolated intellectual property doctrine versus the impact of isolated doctrine from a specialized court. It relies on the U.S. Supreme Court’s paired decisions in 2014 in Octane Fitness, LLC v. ICON Health & Fitness, Inc.15 and Highmark, Inc. v. Allcare Health Management Systems, Inc.16 to highlight a natural forum for evaluating the effects of percolation on federal legal doctrine. At issue in those cases was the fee-shifting language of Section 285 of the Patent Act: “The court in exceptional cases may …

Artificial Creativity: A Case Against Copyright For Ai-Created Visual Artwork, Megan Svedman

IP Theory

Artificial intelligence is becoming increasingly complex, and provides examples of compelling, human-like performances. One such artificial intelligence technology is known as Creative Adversarial Network (“CAN”) technology, which relies on inputs of preexisting pieces of art to create pieces of original art that pass as human-made. Whether the coders responsible for CAN-technology should be granted coverage for the resultant art remains an open question in United States jurisprudence. This paper seeks to explore why, given both software’s historical legacy in copyright law and bedrock copyright justifications, extending copyright coverage to the coders responsible for CAN technology would be a grave misstep …

Understanding Illicit Insemination And Fertility Fraud From Patient Experience To Legal Reform, Jody L. Madeira

Articles by Maurer Faculty

Recently, several cases have been filed in North America and Europe alleging that fertility physicians inseminated former patients with their own sperm only to have this conduct come to light decades later when their unsuspecting adult children use direct-to-consumer genetic tests and learn that they are not biologically related to their fathers and often that they have multiple half-siblings. For instance, Donald Cline of Indianapolis, Indiana, has over sixty doctor-conceived children, with more continuing to come forward. Although these cases induce disgust, it has thus far proven difficult to hold these physicians legally accountable because their conduct falls within gaps …

Using Ai To Analyze Patent Claim Indefiniteness, Dean Alderucci, Kevin Ashley

IP Theory

We describe how to use artificial intelligence (AI) techniques to partially automate a type of legal analysis, determining whether a patent claim satisfies the definiteness requirement. Although fully automating such a high-level cognitive task is well beyond state-of-the-art AI, we show that AI can nevertheless assist the decision maker in making this determination. Specifically, the use of custom AI technology can aid the decision maker by (1) mining patent text to rapidly bring relevant information to the decision maker’s attention, and (2) suggesting simple inferences that can be drawn from that information.

We begin by summarizing the law related to …

A Production View On Patent Procurement, Ian C. Schick

IP Theory

When we think of a “production environment,” a law firm patent practice is not usually the first thing that comes to mind. But why not? Patent practices are highly process-oriented, and they certainly involve “manufacturing” work product, primarily in the form of new patent applications and office action responses. This article discusses how, with a production view on patent procurement, exploiting the principles of lean production can be a compelling way to adapt to tough issues presently roiling the patent ecosystem.

Internet (Re)Search By Judges, Jurors, And Lawyers, H. Albert Liou, Jasper L. Tran

IP Theory

How can Internet research be used properly and reliably in law? This paper analyzes several key and very different issues affecting judges, jurors, and lawyers. With respect to judges, this paper discusses the rules of judicial conduct and how they guide the appropriate use of the Internet for research; the standards for judicial notice; and whether judges can consider a third category of non-adversarially presented, non-judicially noticed factual evidence. With respect to jurors, this paper discusses causes of and deterrents to jurors conducting Internet research during trials; and the recourse available to parties who are adversely impacted by such behavior. …

Money That Costs Too Much: Regulating Financial Incentives, Kristen Underhill

Indiana Law Journal

Money may not corrupt. But should we worry if it corrodes? Legal scholars in a range of fields have expressed concern about “motivational crowding-out,” a process by which offering financial rewards for good behavior may undermine laudable social motivations, like professionalism or civic duty. Disquiet about the motivational impacts of incentives has now extended to health law, employment law, tax, torts, contracts, criminal law, property, and beyond. In some cases, the fear of crowding-out has inspired concrete opposition to innovative policies that marshal incentives to change individual behavior. But to date, our fears about crowding-out have been unfocused and amorphous; …

World Trade, Imperial Fantasies And Protectionism: Can You Really Have Your Cake And Eat It Too?, Csongor I. Nagy

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

Populism is telling voters what they want to hear, knowing that it is neither true, nor feasible. Lately, trade and economic integration has seen the spread of untrue and unfeasible tenets, which have proved to be highly popular and have received a warm welcome. Fueled by imperial fantasies and nostalgia for the long-gone era of protectionism, the tectonic movements of world trade have generated a good deal of populist resistance based on the self-delusion that the Gordian knot of world trade needs not to be disentangled but can be simply cut. Unfortunately, however popular and appealing these allegations are, they …

Training Post-Millennial Ip Lawyers: A Field Guide, Mark D. Janis, Norman J. Hedges

Articles by Maurer Faculty

We’re intellectual property (IP) law professors. Postmillennials are our current and future customers. So we’re figuring out a few things about who post-millennials are and how we can mentor them effectively to start them on the path to becoming the next generation of outstanding IP lawyers.

Here are a few things we’re learning, and a few teaching strategies that we’ve developed. We hope that by sharing them, we can give IP lawyers some insights about what to expect from their new hires and how to help them advance professionally.

Design Patent Damages: A Critique Of The Government’S Proposed 4-Factor Test For Determining The “Article Of Manufacture”, Perry J. Saidman

IP Theory

The Supreme Court in Samsung Electronics Co. v. Apple, Inc. wrestled with the question of determining the meaning of “article of manufacture” in 35 U.S.C. § 289 when it comes to calculating the total profit of the infringer that is awarded to the patentee.

In its Petition for Certiorari, Samsung raised the novel theory that the article of manufacture could be less than the entire product sold by the infringer. The Supreme Court agreed to hear the following issue, as framed in Samsung’s Petition:

Where a design patent is applied to only a component of a product, should an …

Tc Heartland: It’S Time To Take Stock, Daniel Kazhdan, Sanjiv P. Laud

IP Theory

It has been a little over a year and a half since the Supreme Court issued its groundbreaking venue decision in TC Heartland LLC v. Kraft Foods Group Brands LLC, shaking up the status quo in U.S. patent infringement litigation. The first months after TC Heartland saw a flurry of activity as litigants and courts wrestled with the impact of the decision on pending cases, pondered the true meaning of a “regular and established place of business,” and explored many other questions left by the TC Heartland decision. Eighteen months and several writs of mandamus later, it is now …

The Invention Secrecy Act: The Uspto As A Gatekeeper Of National Security, Scott Locke

IP Theory

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) has the privilege of reviewing hundreds of thousands of inventions each year before the public learns about them. Consequently, the USPTO is uniquely positioned as a funnel through which the Government can collect information about new technologies and determine which ones have implications for the safety and welfare of the nation. Under the Invention Secrecy Act, the Commissioner for Patents may order that an invention for which patent protection is sought be kept secret if disclosure of the invention might be detrimental to national security.

In order for the USPTO to review …

Evaluating A Unified Intellectual Property System Of Internet Service Providers In The Electronic Commerce Law -- A Comparative Research Between China And The U.S., Yifan Huang

Maurer Theses and Dissertations

As the Electronic Commerce Law went into effective in Jan. 1st, 2019, not only did China establish a unified IP protection system of ISPs, but also set up a blueprint for a comprehensive mechanism of ISPs for the future improvement. The question is whether this new law can effectively prevent the serious IP infringement issues of ISPs and therefore successfully improve the IP protection in China. To answerer this question, the dissertation analyzes the development of the mechanism of ISPs in copyright and trademark regimes before the Electronic Commerce Law, and seeks to demonstrate the impact of the Electronic Commerce …

The Global Person: Pig-Human Embryos, Personhood, And Precision Medicine, Yvonne Cripps

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

Chimeras, in the form of pig-human embryos engineered by CRISPR-Cas9 and other biotechnologies, have been created as potential sources of organs for transplantation. Against that background, and in an era of "precision medicine," this Article examines the concept of the global genetically modified person and asks whether humanness and personhood are being eroded, or finding new boundaries in intellectual property and constitutional law.