Law Commons^™

Updating The Berne Convention For The Internet Age: Un-Blurring The Line Between United States And Foreign Copyrighted Works, Ethan Schow

Brigham Young University Journal of Public Law

John Naughton, notable journalist and academic, has asserted that “[common sense] should also revolt at the idea that doctrines about copyright that were shaped in a pre-Internet age should apply to a post-Internet one.” And yet, in crucial aspects of international law, this is the situation in which the world finds itself today. The Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works (the “Berne Convention” or the “Convention”) is one of the most important multinational agreements concerned with copyright law, but it has not been amended since September 28, 1979. Although the internet technically existed in an early …

Overqualified And Underrepresented: Gender Inequality In Pharmaceutical Patent Law, S. Sean Tu, Paul R. Gugliuzza, Amy Semet

BYU Law Review

Pharmaceutical patents represent some of the most valuable intellectual property assets in the world: they can be worth billions of dollars if courts uphold their validity and find them infringed. But, if invalidated, generic drug manufacturers can get to market earlier, generating billions of dollars of revenue for themselves and creating enormous savings for consumers. Accordingly, drug patents are the product of careful, high-cost prosecution and are associated with high-stakes, bet-the-company litigation.

But women lawyers are noticeably absent from pharmaceutical patent practice. This article reports an original empirical study finding that women comprise only one-third of the top pharmaceutical patent …

The Copyright Wasteland, Shani Shisha

BYU Law Review

The Copyright Act grants certain exclusive rights to authors of creative works. But many of these exclusive rights are notoriously underspecified. And while a rich body of case law grapples with one copyright entitlement—the right to reproduce the copyrighted work— courts rarely engage in earnest with other exclusive rights. As a result, courts appear to have only a rudimentary understanding of the precise scope of copyright law. Because courts focus almost singularly on questions of reproduction, other exclusive rights fall by the wayside. This Article contends, counterintuitively, that the problem is traceable to a much-maligned feature of our copyright system: …

Intellectual Property In E-Commerce Retail Arbitrage: An Analysis Of The Legality Of Using Intellectual Property In Drop-Shipping, Kara J. Bloomer

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Innovation’S Hidden Externalities, Stephanie Plamondon Bair

BYU Law Review

When commentators discuss innovation’s externalities, they often classify them into one of two categories. On the positive externalities, or “spillovers” side, legal and economics scholars often speak of the benefits innovation confers on other innovators. Future innovators profit from past innovation as they “stand on the shoulders of giants” to develop progressively new and better innovation. Discussion of innovation’s negative externalities, on the other hand, has mainly focused on social harms not directly related to future innovation that particular advances impose on third parties—the classic example being pollution. Thus, the common understanding is that innovation’s spillovers positively impact innovation (among …

Thank You For Not Publishing (Unexamined Patent Applications), Lidiya Mishchenko

BYU Law Review

Since 2000, the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (“PTO”) has published nearly all patent applications as they are submitted by applicants. Scholars and practitioners have praised this practice for providing timely notice of the potential legal rights the application may eventually cover. But maximizing timeliness and transparency in this way can also create significant costs, which may chill innovation and deter the development and funding of new research areas. This Article explores these often-unrecognized costs of publishing unexamined patent applications and proposes solutions that balance the benefits of early notice with the costs of patent system uncertainty. Published patent applications …

When Imitation Is Not Flattery: Addressing Cultural Exploitation In Guatemala Through A Sui Generis Model, Paul Figueroa

BYU Law Review

Indigenous Guatemalan weavers are fighting for intellectual property laws that better protect their designs and other cultural expressions. The exploitation and appropriation by local and international companies has negatively affected the weavers’ livelihoods and resulted in culturally inappropriate uses of spiritual and t raditional symbols. Adhering to Western ideals of individual creativity and utility, intellectual property laws in most of the world (including Guatemala) are not suited to protect indigenous creations. To address this legal gap, some countries have adopte d sui generis legal regimes that align with communal notions of creation, ownership and stewardship found in indigenous knowledge systems. …

Debunking Intellectual Property Myths: Cross Cultural Experiments On Perceptions Of Property, Gregory N. Mandel, Kristina R. Olson, Anne A. Fast

BYU Law Review

For decades, the prevailing view in the United States and many Western countries has been that China does not appropriately respect intellectual property rights. These beliefs lie at the heart of President Donald Trump’s current trade war with China. Despite substantial geopolitical debate over differences between American an d Chinese attitudes towards intellectual property rights, and despite the critical effects that such attitudes have on international economic markets and the function of intellectual property systems, empirical evidence of these attitudes is largely lacking. This Article presents original experimental survey research that explores cross cross-cultural differences between American and Chinese attitudes …

Fan Films And Fanworks In The Age Of Social Media: How Copyright Owners Are Relying On Private Ordering To Avoid Angering Fans, Kagen Despain

BYU Law Review

Fandoms active in creating “fanworks” are increasingly able to leverage social media to coordinate and respond to owners of large media franchises who attempt to limit the creation and distribution of fan films. The resulting friction between these groups can be more efficiently addressed through private ordering rather than through formal legal reform.

Owning Nothingness: Between The Legal And The Social Norms Of The Art World, Guy A. Rub

BYU Law Review

Almost $8 million—that is what the Crystal Bridges Museum paid for one work of contemporary art in November 2015. What did that museum get for that hefty sum? From a legal perspective, absolutely nothing. The work it purchased was just an idea, and ideas of this kind escape legal protection.

Despite this lack of legal protection, the social norms of the art world lead large, sophisticated, experienced, and legally represented institutes to pay millions of dollars for this type of work. This Article is one of the first in legal scholarship to examine at depth those norms in this multibilliondollar …

Copyright’S Memory Hole, Eric Goldman, Jessica Silbey

BYU Law Review

There is growing interest in using copyright to protect the privacy and reputation of people depicted in copyrighted works. This pressure is driven by heightened concerns about privacy and reputation on the Internet, plus copyright’s plaintiff-favorable attributes compared to traditional privacy and reputation torts.

The Constitution authorizes copyright law because its exclusive rights benefit society by increasing our knowledge. But copyright law is being misdeployed by suppressing socially valuable works in a counterproductive attempt to advance privacy and reputation interests. This results in “memory holes” in society’s knowledge, analogous to those discussed in George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984.

This Article …

A Shenanigan In Ipr Denials, Jordan Brimley

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Treating Fair Use As An Easement On Intellectual Property, Karl Kowallis

BYU Law Review

Copyright holders have run with the copyright-as-property analogy to strengthen their rights, to the detriment of the public. There are few barriers to copyright holders locking all content behind paywalls regardless of the mixed public domain nature of the content or the fair use intentions of the public. If fair use is treated as an easement, fair use applies even if a law doesn’t explicitly invoke it, the public’s fair use rights cannot be eliminated, and copyright holders may be enjoined if they completely block fair use rights. In his 2016 article “Copyright Easement,” Jason Mazzone argues copyright easements are …

Patent Nationalism And The Case For A New U.S. Patent Working Requirement, Timothy T. Lau

BYU Law Review

A working requirement is a provision of intellectual property law that uses the threat of punishment to encourage holders to “work” their intellectual property. This Article examines the case for adding a working requirement to U.S. patent law. It explains that, given the current global trends in economic and technological development, a working requirement that increases the exposure of Americans to new technologies through the manufacture of inventions is necessary for the U.S. patent system to fulfill its constitutional purpose, specifically, “[t]o promote the Progress of Science and Useful Arts.” To that end, this Article analyzes elements of working requirements …

Copyright Infringement’S Blurred Lines: Allocating Overhead In The Disgorgement Of Profits, Layne S. Keele

BYU Law Review

In Williams v. Bridgeport Music, Marvin Gaye’s estate alleged that the popular song “Blurred Lines” infringed Gaye’s 1977 song “Got to Give It Up.” As part of the remedy for the infringement, the Gaye estate sought to disgorge the profits derived from defendants’ infringement, but the parties disagreed about how to calculate those profits. Specifically, they disagreed about whether the infringing song’s revenues should be offset by the infringers’ $7 million in overhead costs allocable to the song. The district court determined that the infringers’ ability to offset overhead costs would depend on whether their infringement was willful; it …

Deceptive Patents: Deconstructing Juicy Whip, Paul Spiel

BYU Law Review

Moral utility largely prevents the granting of a patent if the patent would be injurious to the well-being of society. The moral utility doctrine has prevailed through much of American patent history and still endures in many parts of the world. In Juicy Whip I, the Federal Circuit chose to abandon the doctrine, but the court’s rationale in support of the decision was ill-suited. The court’s holding sanctioned deceptive patent applications but, intentionally or unintentionally, neglected applicable unfair competition, free speech, and consumer deception doctrines. In light of the Intellectual Property Clause of the U.S. Constitution, deceptive patents should be …

From Library To Liability—Importing Trade Secret Doctrines To Erase Unfair Copyright Risks Lurking In Youtube’S Creative Commons Library, Adam Balinski

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Is Using Call Of Duty In This Comment Infringement?, Brittany Frandsen

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Intellectual Property Law’S Plagiarism Fallacy, Gregory N. Mandel, Anne A. Fast, Kristina R. Olson

BYU Law Review

Intellectual property law is caught in a widespread debate over whether it should serve incentive or natural rights objectives, and what the best means for achieving those ends are. This article reports a series of experiments revealing that these debates are actually orthogonal to how most users and many creators understand intellectual property law. The most common perception of intellectual property among the American public is that intellectual property law is designed to prevent plagiarism.

The plagiarism fallacy in intellectual property law is not an innocuous misperception. This fallacy likely helps explain pervasive illegal infringing activity on the Internet, common …

Patent Claim Interpretation Review: Deference Or Correction Driven?, Christopher A. Cotropia

BYU Law Review

This Article examines the Federal Circuit’s review of claim constructions by lower tribunals to determine whether the Federal Circuit defers to lower court constructions or is making its own, independent determination as to the “correct” construction and ultimate result in the case.

The data collected from 2010 to 2013 indicates that the Federal Circuit affirms about 75% of lower court claim interpretations. While this finding is itself surprising, even more surprising is that these reviews do not appear to be driven by deference. Instead, the Federal Circuit is less likely to correct constructions that resulted in a patentee loss below, …

Intellectual Property Without Borders? The Effect Of Copyright Exhaustion On Global Commerce, Diepiriye A. Anga

Brigham Young University International Law & Management Review

No abstract provided.

The First Sale Doctrine And The Economics Of Post-Sale Restraints, Ariel Katz

BYU Law Review

The first sale doctrine limits the exclusive rights that survive the initial authorized sale of an item protected by intellectual property (IP) rights, and therefore limits the ability of IP owners to impose post-sale restraints on the distribution or use of items embodying their IP. While the doctrine has deep common law and statutory roots, its exact rationale and scope have never been fully explored and articulated. As a result, the law remains somewhat unsettled, in particular with respect to the ability of IP owners to opt-out of the doctrine and with respect to the applicability of the doctrine to …

Protecting The Environment By Addressing Market Failure In Intellectual Property Law: Why Compulsory Licensing Of Green Technologies Might Make Sense In The United States Institutional Religious Exemptions: A Balancing Approach, Adam Gunderson

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Modding: Amateur Authorship And How The Video Game Industry Is Actually Getting It Right, Ryan Wallace

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Implementing The E.U. Unified Patent Court: Lessons From The Federal Circuit, Robert D. Swanson

Brigham Young University International Law & Management Review

No abstract provided.

The Meaning Of Science In The Copyright Clause, Ned Snow

BYU Law Review

The Constitution premises Congress's copyright power on promoting "the Progress of Science." The word Science therefore seems to define the scope of copyrightable subject matter. Modern courts and commentators have subscribed to an originalist view of Science, teaching that Science meant general knowledge at the time of the Framing. Under this interpretation, all subject matter may be copyrighted because expression about any subject increases society's store of general knowledge. Science, however, did not originally mean general knowledge. In this Article, I examine evidence surrounding the Copyright Clause and conclude that at the Framing of the Constitution, Science meant a system …

Towards A Critical Ip Theory: Copyright, Consecration, And Control, John Tehranian

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Keep Your Program Out Of My Game: The Ninth Circuit’S Convoluted Copyright Analysis In Mdy Industries, Inc. V. Blizzard Entertainment, Inc, Brandon T. Crowther

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Redefining Boundaries: How Cohesive Technologies Altered Literal And Equivalent Infringement, Tyler Jeffs

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Negativing Invention, Jacob S. Sherkow

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.