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Full-Text Articles in Law
Should Patent Infringement Require Proof Of Copying?, Mark A. Lemley
Should Patent Infringement Require Proof Of Copying?, Mark A. Lemley
Michigan Law Review
Patent infringement is a strict liability offense. Patent law gives patent owners not just the right to prevent others from copying their ideas, but the power to control the use of their idea--even by those who independently develop a technology with no knowledge of the patent or the patentee. This is a power that exists nowhere else in intellectual property (IP) or real property law, but it is a one that patentees have had, with rare exceptions, since the inception of the Republic. In an important paper in the Michigan Law Review, Samson Vermont seeks to change this, arguing …
Television Sponsor And Advertising Agency Held Vicariously Liable For Copyright Infringement--Davis V. E.I. Dupont De Nemours & Co., Michigan Law Review
Television Sponsor And Advertising Agency Held Vicariously Liable For Copyright Infringement--Davis V. E.I. Dupont De Nemours & Co., Michigan Law Review
Michigan Law Review
DuPont sponsored a dramatization of Edith Wharton's novel Ethan Frome presented by the CBS television network. Petitioner claimed an infringement of his earlier copyrighted dramatization of the same novel and sought a declaration of liability against CBS, the producer of the program, DuPont, and its advertising agency, Batten, Barton, Durstine & Osborn, Inc. (BBDO). Although DuPont and BBDO were notified before the performance of the possibility of copyright infringement liability and could have stopped the producers from using petitioner's play, they made no attempt to interfere. In petitioner's action in the federal district court, DuPont and BBDO contended that they …