Law Commons^™

Quality In European Trade Mark Law, Andrew Griffiths

Northwestern Journal of Technology and Intellectual Property

This article addresses the capacity of trade marks to provide assurance concerning product quality and the importance of this capacity in promoting competition and various forms of innovation. It considers the meaning of “quality” in this context and shows how this can include the aesthetic and intangible characteristics of products as well as their functional and material characteristics. And it is suggested that quality assurance should cover the whole range of variable product characteristics to which at least some consumers attach value. This is because the key economic problem that underlies the need for this assurance is the difficulty that …

Addressing The Impediments Copyright Imposes On The Use Of Patent Specifications And Prior Art Documents To Improve Patent Quality, Ben Mceniery

Northwestern Journal of Technology and Intellectual Property

This article considers from an Australian perspective the impediments that copyright law places in the path of those who seek to use patent specifications and non-patent prior art documents in ways that are necessary to the proper functioning of the patent system. Until recently, copyright law in Australia had limited the uses to which members of the public could put patent specifications in that country. Those impediments have been removed as a result of an important legislative change to the way in which copyright in patent specifications can be enforced. The change gives the public a greater freedom to make …

Hero With A Thousand Copyright Violations: Modern Myth And An Argument For Universally Transformative Fan Fiction, Natalie H. Montano

Northwestern Journal of Technology and Intellectual Property

Copyright law is designed to protect the ownership and financial rights of the original author of a literary work. However, the internet has created new opportunities for amateur writers to create their own fan fiction based on such literary works. Borrowing from the ideas and characters of a work, fan fiction authors build upon and re-imagine these stories. Such fan works should be protected under the Fair Use Defense, but the power imbalance between amateur fan fiction authors and successful published authors often leads to the eradication of fan stories from the public domain.

This Comment argues that fan fiction …

The Orphan Drug Act: How The Fda Unlawfully Usurped Market Exclusivity, Sumin Kim

Northwestern Journal of Technology and Intellectual Property

The Board of KV Pharmaceutical bet the company on the success of Makena®, a pre-term birth drug. However, in the midst of a public outcry over the excessive pricing of Makena®, the FDA declared that it would not honor the market exclusivity that KV Pharmaceutical had obtained for Makena® under the Orphan Drug Act. As a result, KV Pharmaceutical filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. This Note analyzes the situation under the lens of the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment. Specifically, I argue that market exclusivity for Makena® was private property and thus, the FDA unlawfully usurped KV Pharmaceutical’s private …

Heavyweight Bots In The Clouds: The Wrong Incentives And Poorly Crafted Balances That Lead To The Blocking Of Information Online, Anjanette H. Raymond

Northwestern Journal of Technology and Intellectual Property

The United States and the European Union have long recognized the need to protect ISPs from potential liability from customers using their services to infringe intellectual property rights. These protections arise from a long-standing belief that intellectual property right holders should bear the burden of protecting their property, even in the quick moving Internet environment. However, a recent series of cases has called into question the ISPs’ liability protections as their technology is often the only real means to prevent wide scale infringing activity. This series has caused courts to revisit ISPs’ liability and to impose a ‘cooperative burden’ requiring …

Patent Claims Revisited, Dargaye Churnet

Northwestern Journal of Technology and Intellectual Property

This paper proposes that the most beneficial patent reform begins with claim drafting regulations. Part I serves as an introduction. Part II highlights the problems with the nation’s current patent system. This section discusses how each of these problems is caused in part by the current claim drafting regulations. Part III reviews the changes made by the America Invents Act. Part IV proposes new regulations for claim drafting that will offer more significant benefits than those provided by the America Invents Act. Specifically, this paper argues that by requiring applicants to include a claim chart defining each claim limitation, examiners …

See No Evil: How The Supreme Court’S Decision In Global-Tech Appliances, Inc. V. Seb S.A. Further Muddles The Intent Element Of Induced Infringement, Jeremy Adler

Northwestern Journal of Technology and Intellectual Property

The Supreme Court in Global-Tech Appliances, Inc. v. SEB S.A. clarified the requisite intent for induced patent infringement when it applied the concept of willful blindness. This Article argues that the Court’s decision was misguided and complicates an already confused doctrine. The Article first explores inducement jurisprudence up to and including the Global-Tech decision, and then reviews the doctrine of willful blindness and its application in the criminal context. The Author then argues that using willful blindness in the patent context creates practical and theoretical difficulties that only deepen uncertainty for innovators who seek to avoid infringement liability.