Law Commons^™

Procd, Inc. V. Zeidenberg: Enforceability Of Shrinkwrap Licenses Under The Copyright Act, Jennifer L. Hawkins

Richmond Journal of Law & Technology

"I didn't read all of the shrink-wrap license agreement on my new software until after I opened it. Apparently I agreed to spend the rest of my life as a towel boy in Bill Gates' new mansion."

Computer Science Concepts In Copyright Cases: The Path To A Coherent Law, Marci A. Hamilton, Ted Sabety

Articles

No abstract provided.

The Repeal Of The Financial Interest And Syndication Rules: The Demise Of Program Diversity And Television Network Competition?, Marc L. Herskovitz

Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Protecting Software And Information On The Internet, Ronald Cass, Steve Bauer, Pamela Samuelson, Maureen A. O'Rourke, Omar Khudari, George S. Takach

Faculty Scholarship

Welcome. My name is Ron Cass. I am Dean of the Law School here at Boston University. This is part of an ongoing series of symposia on the Internet and Internet law. The program has been put together by Michael Baram, of our Center for Law and Technology, and Steve Bauer, of the law firm Testa, Hurwitz & Thibeault, which has contributed generously to the series and made it possible to line up a number of speakers. I am going to turn over the program now, but I wanted to take this opportunity to thank both Mr. Baram and Mr. …

On The Economics Of Copyright, Restitution And "Fair Use": Systemic Versus Case-By-Case Responses To Market Failure, Wendy J. Gordon

Faculty Scholarship

The 'public goods' characteristics possess by intangible works of authorship and invention present the basic market failure problem usually relied on to justify intellectual property rights. What is ordinarily less emphasized is that such market failure is no more than half of the prerequisite for an economically desirable copyright or patent system: another requisite condition is that there be less costly market imperfections after intellectual property is instituted than there would have been in the absence of the intellectual property regime. Intellectual property rights are best justified in the presence of "asymmetric market conditions", that is where (1) in the …

An Analysis Of The Personal Use Principle Under Copyright Law, Hsin-Chih Cheng

LLM Theses and Essays

Personal use is when an individual uses a copyrighted work for private purposes, such as learning or entertainment. Personal use is a right given in the Copyright Clause of the U.S. Constitution, however, an issue arises when the individual wants to make a copy of the copyrighted work. New technologies like photocopying and videotaping make this issue more prominent today. Some copyright owners think that the individual’s copying for private use is harmful to their potential market and they argue for compensation. Does the individual have the right under the personal use principle to reproduce the copyrighted work for private …

Fair Use In American And Continental Laws, Omar M.A. Obeidat

LLM Theses and Essays

Intellectual property, unlike tangible property, does not exclusively occupy one place at a designated time. Instead, intellectual property is composed of information which can be reproduced or used in multiple places at any given time. This fundamental difference between intellectual and tangible property is reflected in the legal provisions that regulate these types of property. There are two dominant theories that justify the legal protection of intellectual property: the individualistic European approach, and the commercial Anglo-American approach. Under the European approach, the protection of the creation is a natural right guaranteed to the author. In other words, natural law guarantees …

Protecting Intellectual Property Rights Through Civil Litigation: A Symposium, Eric Easton

All Faculty Scholarship

On September 30, 1996, nineteen lawyers, law professors and judges from the People's Republic of China began a six-week program of classroom study, practical experience, and scholarly exchange that focused on the American system of protecting intellectual property rights through civil litigation. The program was funded by a $107,000 grant from the United States Information Agency's Office of Citizen Exchange Programs to the University of Baltimore's Center for International and Comparative Law, in cooperation with the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development.

The initial, two-week phase of the program included field trips to the U.S. Copyright Office, the Patent …

The Property Concept Of Trade Secrets In Anglo-American Law: An Ongoing Debate, Miguel Deutch

University of Richmond Law Review

The law of trade secrets is central to the protection of commercial interests in information. The protection of information by way of this law has certain advantages not provided by the more "traditional" laws regulating intellectual property, advantages which amplify the growing interest of modern jurisprudence in trade secrets law.1 As has been correctly pointed out, the "traditional" rules governing intellectual property are ill suited to the demands of new technological developments.2 This reality has increased the importance of the law of trade secrets, in as much as it is both more flexible and general, and thus, more easily applied …

Markman V. Westview Instruments, Inc.: Patent Construction Is Within The Exclusive Province Of The Court Under The Seventh Amendment, Sue Ann Mota

Richmond Journal of Law & Technology

In Suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise re-examined in any Court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.

Copyright On The Www: Linking And Liability, Edward A. Cavazos, Coe F. Miles

Richmond Journal of Law & Technology

The World Wide Web (WWW) is so often used as a way of interacting with the Internet that many people mistakenly confuse the two, referring to the Internet as the "Web" and vice versa. Of course, the Internet and its native applications predate the development of the WWW protocols by decades. Still, given the overwhelming amount of available Internet bandwidth now devoted to the transmission of web pages, there is no doubt that the WWW is the interface of choice for most users of the world's most pervasive computer network. The WWW is not the Internet, but there can be …

Procd, Inc. V. Zeindenberg: An Emerging Trend In Shrinkwrap Licensing?, Jerry David Monroe

Marquette Intellectual Property Law Review

The author discusses the implications of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit's decision in ProCD, Inc. v. Zeindenberg. As Monroe explains, until this decision, the courts have been reluctant to uphold the legal consequences of shrinkwrap licenses. Monroe provides an analysis of the interplay between contract law and copyright law to provide a thorough understanding of this emerging trend in intellectual property.

Patenting Medical Procedures: A Search For A Compromise Between Ethics And Economics, Beata Gocyk-Farber

Cardozo Law Review

When doctor Samuel Pallin, an Arizona ophthalmologist, brought an infringement suit for his patent covering the "stitchless" incision in cataract surgery, he probably did not expect that he would provoke one of the most emotional patent debates in history. Physicians across the country expressed condemnation of medical process patents, calling such patents "horrendous" and warning that Dr. Pallin's victory may have "profoundly devastating and mind-boggling consequences" for medical science. The resonance in the medical community was so strong that the American Medical Association House of Delegates passed a resolution "vigorously" condemning the patenting of medical and surgical procedures and promising …

An Investigation Into The Australian Position On Software Copyright, Nicholas Pinakis

Theses : Honours

Copyright Is the primary means most software authors seek to protect their software. Software, that is work (the ordered expression of thought) put into some tangible form (such a being written down, stored in a computer, programs, data and distributed files) is a truly international product. Where does this copyright protection come from? The current governing laws in Australia are the Australian Copyright Act of 1968 (Cwlth) and the Australian Copyright Amendments Act 1984 (Cwlth) which afford copyright protection to computer software. In copyright law, a number of words and terms have specialised meanings, which are different to their meanings …

Biotechnology And The Patenting Of Living Organisms, Matthew Mcgovern

Animal Law Review

Mr. McGovern discusses the reasoning behind the leap from patentability of non-living things to the living thing~ within the last twenty years. He concludes that neither the Supreme Court or Court of Customs and Patent Appeals has offered a convincing rationale for the inclusion of living things within 35 U.S.C. Section 101.

Product Differentiation Through Space And Time: Some Antitrust Policy Issues, Jonathan Baker

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

No abstract provided.

Protecting Folklore Of Indigenous Peoples: Is Intellectual Property The Answer?, Christine Farley

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

What can the Navajos do to prevent non-Navajos from using Navajo rug patterns to produce rugs overseas using cheap material and labor, thereby undercutting the Navajos themselves in a market for their famous rugs? What can the Australian Aboriginal peoples do when their sacred and secret imagery is reporduced on carpets they did not make, and sold to non-Aboriginals, who will inevitably walk on them? Do these communities have any legal rights to these pieces of their culture? Does the law provide any means for them to take back their culture or to prevent further poaching? https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=923410

Legal Fictions: Copyright, Fan Fiction, And A New Common Law, Rebecca Tushnet

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

A girl owns a number of Barbie dolls. She makes outfits for them and constructs elaborate scenarios in which they play starring roles. She enacts her dramas in her front yard, where passers-by can easily see. Does she violate the law? What if the girl writes down her stories starring Barbie? What happens when she lets her friends read them? What if she e-mails those stories to a Barbie mailing list? What if she posts those stories and a picture of Barbie in her new outfit on her Web page?

Copyright law has long been a concern more for corporations …

The Internet: Is It Broadcasting?, Jonathan I. Ezor, Peter Brown, Peggy Miles

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Licensing Issues On The Internet, Steven Masur, Neil J. Friedman, Judith M. Saffer

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Some Reflections On Copyright Management Systems And Laws Designed To Protect Them, Julie E. Cohen

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Copyright management systems (CMS)—technologies that enable copyright owners to regulate reliably and charge automatically for access to digital works—are the wave of the very near future. The advent of digital networks, which make copying and distribution of digital content quick, easy, and undetectable, has provided the impetus for CMS research and development. CMS are premised on the concept of "trusted systems" or "secure digital envelopes" that protect copyrighted content and allow access and subsequent copying only to the extent authorized by the copyright owner. Software developers are testing prototype systems designed to detect, prevent, count, and levy precise charges for …

Foucault In Cyberspace: Surveillance, Sovereignty, And Hardwired Censors, James Boyle

Faculty Scholarship

This is an essay about law in cyberspace. I focus on three interdependent phenomena: a set of political and legal assumptions that I call the jurisprudence of digital libertarianism, a separate but related set of beliefs about the state's supposed inability to regulate the Internet, and a preference for technological solutions to hard legal issues on-line. I make the familiar criticism that digital libertarianism is inadequate because of its blindness towards the effects of private power, and the less familiar claim that digital libertarianism is also surprisingly blind to the state's own power in cyberspace. In fact, I argue that …

Obtaining And Enforcing Trade Dress For Computer Graphical User Interfaces - A Practitioner's Guide, John P. Musone

Richmond Journal of Law & Technology

A computer program that successfully incorporates an intuitive graphical user interface possesses a tremendous competitive advantage over its competitors. Interface development accordingly has become a critical aspect of software development. Without legal protection, however, this advantage is illusory as competitors are otherwise free to copy unprotected interface features. Interface creators have predominately used copyright law to protect the overall "look and feel" of their interfaces. However, copyright protection for interfaces increasingly appears to be the exception rather than the rule.

Language Of The Law: The Special Role And Trademarks, Trade Names, And Other Trade Emblems., John T. Cross

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

In 1979, the United States Supreme Court decided Friedman v. Rogers, a case involving a First Amendment challenge to a Texas statute that prohibited optometrists from practicing under an assumed trade name. Although an important case, Friedman certainly is not one of the major milestones of First Amendment jurisprudence. Prior Supreme Court decisions established that although commercial speech is protected by the First Amendment, government may regulate speech to prevent deception or confusion. Because a majority in Friedman found a possibility of deception, the Court held that Texas could constitutionally prohibit the use of a trade name. Friedman becomes much …

Judicial Plagiarism: It May Be Fair Use But Is It Ethical?, Jaime S. Dursht

Cardozo Law Review

Plagiarism is the intentional appropriation of the creative product or scholarship of another without attribution. Judicial plagiarism arises when judges author opinions that employ materials from copyrighted sources such as law journals or books, but neglect to give credit to the author. In opinion writing-a form of writing in which use and citation to authority is customary-the offense of plagiarism lies simply in neglecting to identify the source. In the academic world, plagiarism is considered to be a "capital offense, punishable by academic death for student or faculty," and it is treated no more favorably in professions in which responsible …

Is Turn About Fair Play? Copyright Law And The Fair Use Of Computer Software Loaded Into Ram, Chad G. Asarch

Michigan Law Review

Computer systems, especially those in heavy-use commercial settings, often require routine maintenance to continue functioning properly. Many businesses turn to an independent service organization ("IS0") to provide computer maintenance services because ISOs frequently charge less than the original equipment manufacturer ("OEM") for those services. The tremendous growth in computer use has spawned a multi-billion dollar computer maintenance industry in the United States, and ISOs and OEMs have become engaged in fierce competition for this computer service business. The struggle between ISOs and OEMs to capture this expanding market has spilled over into the courts, spawning a number of recent decisions …

National Sovereignty And Transnational Problem Solving, Judith H. Bello

Cardozo Law Review

Many of the most difficult problems that challenge nation states in the increasingly interdependent world do not respect borders: illicit drug trafficking, refugees, illegal immigration, environmental degradation, illegal arms sales, nuclear proliferation, terrorism, bribery, and corruption. Nation states acting alone are helpless to resolve or most effectively alleviate these problems.

National Laws And International Markets: Strategies Of Cooperation And Harmonization In The Enforcement Of Competition Law, Spencer Weber Waller

Cardozo Law Review

This Article contrasts how two leading competition law systems, the United States and the European Union ("EU"), have reacted to the growing internationalization of markets and the relative decline of the ability of any single jurisdiction to regulate transnational business behavior. For reasons unique to their respective histories, cultures, and politics, these two jurisdictions have adopted very different strategies for dealing with this problem.

Reviving The Rhetoric Of The Public Interest: Choir Directors, Copy Machines, And New Arrangements Of Public Domain Music, Paul J. Heald

Scholarly Works

The decision to photocopy or not to photocopy has significant consequences for the music consumer's pocketbook. Photocopies cost around three cents per page, while an original printed version of a choral work costs about thirty cents per page. The expense of buying rather than copying public domain sheet music is directly absorbed by the taxpayers who fund music education in public schools, the church congregations who must raise money for the church music budget, and the patrons of the fine arts who finance music ensembles with their admission fees or donations.

To recognize the high cost of sheet music is …

Dedication To The Honorable William Hughes Mulligan, John D. Feerick

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.