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Balancing Open Source Paradigms And Traditional Intellectual Property Models To Optimize Innovation, Lisa M. Mandrusiak Oct 2017

Balancing Open Source Paradigms And Traditional Intellectual Property Models To Optimize Innovation, Lisa M. Mandrusiak

Maine Law Review

Copyrights and patents grant property rights to creators and inventors in order to spur further innovation through the dual approach of increasing the amount of material in the public domain and rewarding inventors and creators for their efforts. However, in recent years, it has been postulated that extensive granting of copyrights and patents may in fact stifle additional creation and development. This led to a revolt in the computer programming industry and spawned the open source movement, which provides software with its source code and a license allowing for free creation and distribution of works. This movement attempts to spur …


The Nature Of Sequential Innovation, Christopher Buccafusco, Stefan Bechtold, Christopher Jon Sprigman Oct 2017

The Nature Of Sequential Innovation, Christopher Buccafusco, Stefan Bechtold, Christopher Jon Sprigman

William & Mary Law Review

When creators and innovators take up a new task, they face a world of existing creative works, inventions, and ideas, some of which are governed by intellectual property (IP) rights. This presents a choice: Should the creator pay to license those rights? Or, alternatively, should the creator undertake to innovate around them? Our Article formulates this “build on/build around decision” as the fundamental feature of sequential creativity, and it maps a number of factors—some legal, some contextual—that affect how creators are likely to decide between building on existing IP or building around it. Importantly, creators are influenced by more than …


Wisconsin Patent Acquisition In The Final Frontier: Creating A Void, Nicholas J. Thibodeau Jan 2017

Wisconsin Patent Acquisition In The Final Frontier: Creating A Void, Nicholas J. Thibodeau

Marquette Intellectual Property Law Review

In early 2006, the Wisconsin Legislature passed 2005 Wisconsin Act 335, creating the Wisconsin Aerospace Authority (WAA). Unique to this particular act is the enumeration of the power to acquire intellectual property by the WAA. While granting them the power to acquire intellectual property is not unique, there is an interesting problem with that acquisition: the Act does not conform to the Parker Doctrine, and thus allows the WAA to be subject to antitrust litigation in its intellectual property acquisition under the proper circumstances. Specifically, the Act allows the WAA to enter into exclusive contracts that allow the WAA to …


Clarifying Uncertainty: Why We Need A Small Claims Copyright Court, John Zuercher Jan 2017

Clarifying Uncertainty: Why We Need A Small Claims Copyright Court, John Zuercher

Marquette Intellectual Property Law Review

This article is concerned with the question of whether copyright law in the United States is currently equipped to achieve its original goal, set within the U.S. Constitution, to promote innovation and progress. This article suggests that copyright law is not equipped to achieve this goal because a paradox inherent in copyright law is hindering copyright litigation and causing uncertainty. The paradox is found in 17 U.S.C. § 106, which protects transformative works that are derivative, and 17 U.S.C. § 107, which protects transformative works as fair use. Ideally, the federal courts would solve this dilemma by interpreting the appropriate …


Collision Course: State Community Property Laws And Termination Rights Under The Federal Copyright Act--Who Should Have The Right Of Way?, Loren E. Mulraine Jan 2017

Collision Course: State Community Property Laws And Termination Rights Under The Federal Copyright Act--Who Should Have The Right Of Way?, Loren E. Mulraine

Marquette Law Review

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of recapture rights under copyright law, as well as a primer on the difference between common law and community property law as it relates to property rights in a divorce proceeding. The paper will utilize as a case study the dispute between William "Smokey" Robinson and his former spouse, Claudette Robinson, and provide a statutory solution for future disputes where federal copyright law and state community property laws collide at the intersection of copyright terminations. Specifically, should these newly recaptured rights be treated as a new estate and thus not …