Law Commons^™

Everything Is Connected, Kembrew Mcleod

Kembrew McLeod

The article discusses U.S. copyright law and the copyright clearance system, focusing on the author's documentary film "Copyright Criminals," which aired on Public Broadcasting System (PBS). It explores sampling and collage in audiovisual media, commenting on use of the practice by hip-hop group Public Enemy. Other topics include the Washington, D.C. Center for Social Media, intellectual property, and fair use. The author also examines his book "Freedom of Expression®: Resistance and Repression in the Age of Intellectual Property" and a prank in which he successfully copyrighted the phrase "Freedom of Expression"

Die Institutionalisierung Von Wissensbeständen In Österreich. Die Diskrepanz Zwischen Wirtschaftlicher Realität Und Politik (The Institutionalization Of Knowledge In Austria: Coming To Grips Between Economic Reality & Policy), Roya Ghafele

Roya Ghafele

The University Act 2002 redefines ownership structures over intellectual property in Austria, thus paving the way for enhanced knowledge transfer and knowledge commercialization from public research institutions. This study discusses the various featers of the different models of generating and leveraging knowledge. It does so, by explaining the characteristics of technology markets and assesses the strengths and weaknesses of proprietary versus open knowledge generation from a perspective of new institutional economics. Particular emphasis is being put on the preservation of the public interest, deemed particularly important in the context of publicly funded research. The paper concludes by offering a rough …

Accounting For Intellectual Property?, Roya Ghafele

Roya Ghafele

Accounting constitutes a very specific form of language, which is highly standardized, mathematical in nature and seeks to uniformly and systematically describe events while avoiding expressions of individual creativity or explicit political positions. In this sense, accounting is a social, cultural and historical artefact rather than a natural or technical phenomenon and can therefore be viewed as the decisive instrument to create and maintain imagined business communities. On the balance sheet, IP experiences a specific form of authorization. It is represented in the discourse of accounting by ‘intangibles’, an imprecise term associated with the increasingly observed ‘gap between the market …

Convergence And Incongruence: Trademark Law And Icann’S Introduction Of New Generic Top-Level Domains, Christine Haight Farley

Christine Haight Farley

This paper demonstrates how problematic convergences between Internet technology, the demands of a burgeoning e-market and trademark laws have created myriad issues in international governance of domain names. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the body that governs internet's infrastructure, recently approved a new policy that would allow it to accept applications for additional generic top-level domains (gTLDs). What ICANN contemplates is a uniform system to approve generic top level domains that is expected to have profound implications. Under this new plan anyone can apply for a new gTLD at any time and it could be literally …

Copyright Liability For The Playing Of 'Music On Hold': Telstra Corporation Ltd V Australasian Performing Right Association Ltd, William Van Caenegem

William Van Caenegem

Extract: This is a test case brought by the Australasian Performing Rights Association (APRA), the assignee of copyright in musical and literary works for the purpose of the public performance rights (both live and mechanical), the right of transmission to subscribers to a diffusion service (the diffusion right) and the broadcast right. The question to be determined is whether Telstra (or Telecom as it was called at the outset of proceedings) by providing certain music on hold services, is liable to APRA because of a breach of their diffusion and/or broadcast rights under the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth). APRA sought …

Patent Pleading After Iqbal: Using Infringement Contentions As A Guide, Richard Alan Kamprath

Richard Kamprath

“Patent Pleading After Iqbal: Using Infringement Contentions As A Guide” This article proposes how the new standard for pleading patent infringement related claims should be interpreted in light of the Supreme Court’s decisions in Twombly and Iqbal. The facial plausibility of a pleading requires more than bare allegations and must be supported with enough facts in order for the court to infer wrongdoing by the accused infringer. This article is dedicated to applying this theory of pleading to the practical world of the courtroom. Federal Rule 8 is discussed as the starting point to understanding pleading in the federal courts. …

Introduction, Symposium, Internet Expression In The 21st Century: Where Technology & Law Collide, Tonya M. Evans, Michael R. Dimino, Nicole M. Santo

Tonya M. Evans

No abstract provided.

Parallel Importation, Patent Right Exhaustion, And Strategies For Navigating The Evolving Landscape, Bryan J. Su

Bryan J Su

Parallel importation provides a means for purchasers and consumers of commercial goods protected by intellectual property law to acquire products for prices lower than the price set by intellectual property right holders. This form of “legal piracy” of grey-market goods is conducted by legally purchasing products in jurisdictions with lower prices, which allows distributors to import products into jurisdictions with higher prices, leading to a competitive advantage. The doctrine of patent exhaustion, especially when applied internationally, allows this practice by giving authorized purchasers of products unfettered ownership and control over the specific articles they acquire.

Analysis of how the United …

Constructing Commons In The Cultural Environment, Katherine J. Strandburg, Michael J. Madison, Brett M. Frischmann

Katherine J. Strandburg

This Article sets out a framework for investigating sharing and resource pooling arrangements for information and knowledge-based works. We argue that the approach to commons arrangements in the natural environment pioneered by Elinor Ostrom and collaborators provides a template for examining the construction of commons in the cultural environment. The approach promises to lead to a better understanding of how participants in commons and pooling arrangements structure their interactions in relation to the environments in which they are embedded, in relation to information and knowledge resources that they produce and use, and in relation to one another.

An improved understanding …

Valuing Intellectual Property: An Experiment, Christopher Sprigman, Christopher Buccafusco

Christopher Sprigman

In this article we report on the results of an experiment we performed to determine whether transactions in intellectual property (IP) are subject to the valuation anomalies commonly referred to as “endowment effects”. Traditional conceptions of the value of IP rely on assumptions about human rationality derived from classical economics. The law assumes that when people make decisions about buying, selling, and licensing IP they do so with fixed, context-independent preferences. Over the past several decades, this rational actor model of classical economics has come under attack by behavioral data showing that people do not always make strictly rational decisions. …

Intellectual Property And Consumer Law, Andrea Stazi, Davide Mula

Andrea Stazi

Knowledge economy is led by - and leads, at the same time - a sudden and never-ending acceleration of the technological growth and the consequent development of means of social and business relationships. In this framework, the regulation of the suppliers’ right of access to the network and the consumers/users’ right of access to digital works constitutes the main challenge that lawmakers and competent authorities shall undertake. As specifically concerns the business relations between suppliers and consumers, while the former aim at providing goods and services without limits and receiving fair prices for them, the latter look forward to participating …

Constructing Commons In The Cultural Environment, Katherine J. Strandburg, Michael J. Madison, Brett M. Frischmann

Brett Frischmann

This Article sets out a framework for investigating sharing and resource pooling arrangements for information and knowledge-based works. We argue that the approach to commons arrangements in the natural environment pioneered by Elinor Ostrom and collaborators provides a template for examining the construction of commons in the cultural environment. The approach promises to lead to a better understanding of how participants in commons and pooling arrangements structure their interactions in relation to the environments in which they are embedded, in relation to information and knowledge resources that they produce and use, and in relation to one another.

An improved understanding …

How China Succeeded In Protecting Olympic Trademarks And Why This Success Will Not Generate Immediate Improvements In Intellectual Property Protection In China, Aileen M. Mcgill

Aileen M McGill

After centuries of stagnant growth and international isolation, China has emerged as the fastest-growing economy in the world and one of the most important parties in international trade. This staggering growth and influx of foreign goods has led to rampant counterfeiting of brand-name goods in a society with little cultural basis for individual intellectual property rights. When Beijing was awarded the 2008 summer Olympics in 2001, the Chinese government moved quickly to prepare for this beloved international event, rallying this massive country for, what many considered to be their grand emergence onto the world stage. One of the reforms enacted …

Symposium, Internet Expression In The 21st Century: Where Technology & Law Collide: Introduction, Michael R. Dimino, Tonya M. Evans-Walls, Nicole M. Santo

Michael R Dimino

Pharmaceutical Patent Bargains: The Brazilian Experience, Bruno Meyerhof Salama, Daniel Benoliel

Bruno Meyerhof Salama