Law Commons^™

All The Internet's A Stage: Reform Of The Digital Millennium Copyright Act And Broadway's Bootleg Problem, Emma K. Wimberly

Georgia Law Review

Broadway is the cultural epicenter of theatre arts. While Broadway performances are internationally known and hugely profitable, they remain inaccessible to a significant number of fans. The inability to bear the increasing costs of travel, lodging, and tickets leads many fans to turn to bootlegs. Bootlegs are illegal recordings of live performances. They are widely viewed and shared online, and uploaders purposefully work to obscure the illegality of these recordings, allowing them to evade tools designed to combat copyright infringement.

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), enacted in 1998, amended U.S. copyright law to attempt to prevent digital copyright infringement. …

Taming The Wild West: The Time Is Near For Congress To Intervene In Name, Image, And Likeness Deals For Collegiate Athletes, Bradley Kilborn Kilborn

Belmont Law Review

This note proposes a multifaceted approach for congressional intervention in the NIL market. While there are many areas needing NIL regulation in the collegiate athletic market, the most critical area of need for NIL regulation involves the collectives and directives. These entities have formed and operated without any meaningful guardrails since the NCAA permitted student-athletes to be compensated for their NIL. Additionally, they have been able to influence recruiting both at the high school recruit level and in the collegiate athlete transfer portal.

Mcgucken V. Pub Ocean Ltd., Christina Robinson

Golden Gate University Law Review

This case summary details the decision in McGucken v. Pub Ocean Ltd., 42 F.4th 1149 (9th Cir. 2022), in which the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit analyzed the proper application of the fair use doctrine under the U.S. Copyright Act. The Copyright Act (17 U.S.C. §§ 101 et. seq. (1976)) seeks to further cultural advancements by protecting the exclusive rights of creators. The fair use doctrine protects the interests of those who build upon the work of creators when they use portions of previously copyrighted works. In McGucken, the Ninth Circuit reversed the sua sponte …

Direct To Consumer Or Direct To All: Home Dna Tests And Lack Of Privacy Regulations In The United States, Karen J. Kukla

IP Theory

Although the U.S. has some measures of privacy protection for genetic data, the lack of a comprehensive approach to protecting direct-to-consumer genetic testing results in privacy violations for both consumers and their relatives. This essay explores the critical need for the U.S. government to address these privacy violations and argues that the U.S. should approach the problem and strategize a solution similar to the European Union’s (EU) General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Part I identifies current United States law, both federal and state regulations that address DTC-GT and genetic privacy. Part II examines the lack of regulation surrounding current DTC-GT …

Who Owns Your Name? The Trend And Economic Impact Of Personal Trademarks In The Ncaa Nil Aftermath, Daniel Foster

The Journal of Business, Entrepreneurship & the Law

To aid in understanding the prevalence of personal athlete logos and the trend of ownership and design, Section II will outline the history of this area of trademark law in the United States. It will provide background on the theory of trademark ownership and the development of this intellectual property discipline in the athletic and celebrity sphere. Section II will look at the two common and distinct processes, a company-designed logo versus an athlete-designed logo, and the modern trends in this area. Moving on from this historical discussion, Section III will examine the 2021 decision of NCAA v. Alston, the …

The Social Value Of Intellectual Property, Alina Ng Boyte

IP Theory

No abstract provided.

Game Changers: Rewriting The Playbook A Sports And Entertainment Law Symposium, Steven Howard Roth

Akron Law Review

Attorney Steven Howard Roth participated in the following fireside chat with Akron Law Review Associate Editor Andrew Fleming as part of the Akron Law Review 2023 Symposium at The University of Akron School of Law in April 2023. Some content may be modified and/or abbreviated from its original transcript for purposes of flow and brevity.

Attorney Roth is the Founder and a Principal of Roth Firm, LLC, a law firm that represents individuals and domestic and international companies within the middle and upper middle market in business and transactional matters. Attorney Roth’s practice focuses on the areas of mergers and …

Parallel Play: The Simultaneous Professional Responsibility Campaigns Against Unethical Ip Practitioners By The United States And China, Mark A. Cohen

Akron Law Review

“Parallel Play: The Simultaneous Professional Responsibility Campaigns Against IP Practitioners by the United States and China” describes efforts by the United States Patent and Trademark Office and the China National IP Administration to discipline trademark and patent practitioners through contemporaneous campaign-style approach directed to bad faith filings. At the USPTO, many of these bad faith filings have originated from China. In both countries, these bad faith activities have imposed significant burdens on IP agencies, the courts, and legitimate rights holders. The campaign is likely the largest professional responsibility campaign undertaken by an IP agency, and the largest cross-border IP disciplinary …

Reinterpreting Repeat Infringement In The Digital Millennium Copyright Act, Hunter Mcghee

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

In 1998, Congress passed the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which aimed to balance the growth of the internet with the enforcement interests of copyright holders. In exchange for immunity from third-party infringement, the DMCA imposes certain conditions on internet and online service providers. Unfortunately, the law continues to contain many ambiguities in its statutory scheme, not least of which is the requirement that service providers maintain a “repeat infringer policy” to remove individuals that repeatedly infringe intellectual property rights. In response to a review of the Copyright Act conducted by the House Judiciary Committee, the US Copyright Office authored a …

When Patent Litigators Become Neurosurgeons, Katie Chang

Washington Law Review Online

Patent law is where the law meets the most cutting-edge and innovative technology of its time. Usually, subject matter experts, with the help of lawyers, are the ones applying for patents. But when it comes to granting and enforcing patent rights, the job falls onto lawyers and judges, who, for the most part, are likely not experts in the relevant technical field. Bridging the gap between technological expertise and legal expertise has been a pain point in patent litigation, one that Congress has tried to rectify for many years. This Comment primarily examines one of Congress’s solutions—the Patent Pilot Program—and …

Give Starving Artists A Piece Of The Ip Pie: Making Room At The Table For Performers’ Rights, Meagan A. Sharp

Journal of Intellectual Property Law

Creators protect their valuable intellectual property interests through copyright. Historically, stage performers struggled to secure copyright ownership in their performances within a larger production. As the theatre landscape changes, however, trends indicate that producers will increasingly rely on performers to develop characters and shows. This reliance could prove to be an exploitative practice if performers do not receive additional compensation for their part in creating successful works. This Note first examines the meanings of authorship, fixation, and control under the Copyright Act of 1976, then widens its lens to consider alternate interpretations of these technical terms in light of an …

Rethinking "Reasonableness": Implementation Of A National Board To Clarify The Trade Secret Standard Now That The Work-From-Home Culture Has Changed The Rules, Hannah E. Brown

Journal of Intellectual Property Law

Under the federal Defend Trade Secrets Act (“DTSA”), almost any type of information can qualify as a trade secret but only if the owner has taken “reasonable measures” to keep such information secret. Under case law, what is “reasonable” varies and may differ based on the court, the company size, and the particular facts of each situation. The interpretation of what is “reasonable” must change with the times, specifically, to take into consideration the sharp increase in remote work that accompanied the COVID-19 pandemic. The rise in remote work necessarily means more servers accessing data and more remote transmission of …

Comment: Copyright Registration: Fourth Estate Implications For Photographers In The Modern World, Izabella Kanoza

Northern Illinois University Law Review

In 2019, the Supreme Court has settled a long-standing split issue among the Circuit Courts. The issue revolved around the interpretation of the word “registration” with the Copyright Office in order for a copyright owner to be able to initiate a copyright infringement lawsuit. However, the now settled precedent has presented challenges to the ever-evolving internet world and those who use it to create, advertise, and share their digital content. Digital photographers, specifically, have found this registration requirement inefficient when it comes to sharing their work on social media platforms, such as Instagram or Facebook, where copyright infringement in the …

Note: Artistic Relevance In Artificial Intelligence? “Roger” That!, Kelly Heilman

Notre Dame Journal on Emerging Technologies

In an era of technological revolution, artificial intelligence is shocking the legal field with its increasing popularity, power, and potential. The limits of property, personhood, and creativity are in question by both the public and the courts, leaving significant ambiguities in the law. Legal standards regarding the regulation of advanced technologies have raised unique and critical substantive questions for intellectual property rights, particularly that of trademarks, where the traditional purpose is source identification between consumers and goods.

Since the 1989 holding in Rogers v. Grimaldi, the use of trademarks for creative purposes, as a matter of First Amendment jurisprudence, …

Patenting Genetic Information, David S. Olson, Fabrizio Ducci

Indiana Law Journal

The U.S. biotechnology industry got its start and grew to maturity over roughly three decades, beginning in the 1980s. During this period genes were patentable, and many gene patents were granted. University researchers performed basic research— often funded by the government—and then patented the genes they discovered with the encouragement of the Bayh-Dole Act, which sought to encourage practical applications of basic research by allowing patents on federally funded inventions and discoveries. At that time, when a researcher discovered the function of a gene, she could patent it such that no one else could work with that gene in the …

Curiosities Of Standing In Trade Secret Law, Charles T. Graves

Northwestern Journal of Technology and Intellectual Property

Standing under the Uniform Trade Secrets Act – the right to pursue a misappropriation claim – is a vexing question when compared to patent, copyright, and trademark law. Instead of requiring ownership or license rights as a condition to sue, courts often find that mere possession of an asserted trade secret suffices for standing, even when the provenance of the information is murky. In some cases, courts even allow trade secret plaintiffs to claim intellectual property rights in the preferences and desires expressed to them by their customers in lawsuits designed to stop former employees from doing business with those …

The Power Of Local: Nearby Innovators Dominate Patented Technology Development, Richard Gruner

Northwestern Journal of Technology and Intellectual Property

Advances by nearby innovators – close enough to interact in person – play key roles in patented technology development. Patents frequently cite nearby innovations, identifying these local innovations as the background for further patented inventions. Such citations reveal narrow geographic areas with intensely active innovation communities advancing similar projects and technologies. Local innovators – working within a commutable distance of 40 miles or less of each other – accounted for 25 percent of all patent citations between 2010 and 2019 and about 21 percent of citations by disinterested patent examiners reviewing patent applications. These percentages of citations to local advances …

A Loaded God Complex: The Unconstitutionality Of The Executive Branch’S Unilaterally Withholding Zero-Days, Brendan Gilligan

Northwestern Journal of Technology and Intellectual Property

No abstract provided.

Video Games And The First Amendment, Eli Pales

Northwestern Journal of Technology and Intellectual Property

The video game industry is massive, with an annual revenue of $180 billion worldwide; $60 billion of that in America alone. For context, the industry’s size is greater than that of the movie, book, and music industries combined. Yet, despite this market dominance, the video game industry is relatively new. Only in the 2011 decision of Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association did the Supreme Court extend First Amendment protection to games. Still, the Court failed to define the scope of the game medium. As understood by an average person, a video game could be something as simple as Pac-Man or …

Toothless Trade? Implications Of The Federal Circuit’S Clearcorrect Decision For The Enforceability Of Intellectual Property Protections In Digital Trade Under Usmca, Alissa Chase

Catholic University Law Review

Digital trade is growing faster than trade in goods and services and comprises a key area for innovation and intellectual property concerns. The United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (“USMCA”) acknowledged this development by including chapters devoted to both digital trade and intellectual property. In 2015, the Federal Circuit held that the International Trade Commission (“ITC”) does not have jurisdiction over unfairly traded digital goods. Without exclusion orders issued by the ITC, the United States lacks a powerful tool to enforce the USMCA provisions protecting intellectual property in unfairly traded digital goods. This comment explores the implications of the Federal Circuit’s 2015 ClearCorrect …

A Compulsory Solution To The Machine Problem: Recognizing Artificial Intelligence As Inventors In Patent Law, Cole G. Merritt

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is already disrupting and will likely continue to disrupt many industries. Despite the role AI already plays, AI systems are becoming increasingly powerful. Ultimately, these systems may become a powerful tool that can lead to the discovery of important inventions or significantly reduce the time required to discover these inventions. Even now, AI systems are independently inventing. However, the resulting AI-generated inventions are unable to receive patent protection under current US patent law. This unpatentability may lead to inefficient results and ineffectively serves the goals of patent law.

To embrace the development and power of AI, Congress …

The Data Trust Solution To Data Sharing Problems, Kimberly A. Houser, John W. Bagby

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

A small number of large companies hold most of the world’s data. Once in the hands of these companies, data subjects have little control over the use and sharing of their data. Additionally, this data is not generally available to small and medium enterprises or organizations who seek to use it for social good. A number of solutions have been proposed to limit Big Tech “power,” including antitrust actions and stricter privacy laws, but these measures are not likely to address both the oversharing and under-sharing of personal data. Although the data trust concept is being actively explored in the …

How To Get Away With Discrimination: The Use Of Algorithms To Discriminate In The Internet Entertainment Industry, Sumra Wahid

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

In July 2021, Ziggi Tyler posted a video on TikTok, a popular video sharing platform, where he expressed his frustration with being a Black content creator on TikTok. The video showed Ziggi typing phrases such as “Black Lives Matter” or “Black success” into his Marketplace creator bio, which the app would immediately flag as inappropriate content. However, when Ziggi replaced those words with “white supremacy” or “white success,” no inappropriateness warning appeared. Although a TikTok spokesperson responded to the video clarifying that the app had mistakenly flagged phrases without considering word order, Ziggi refused to let an algorithm absolve TikTok …

Conceptualizing A "Right To Research" And Its Implications For Copyright Law: An International And European Perspective, Christophe Geiger, Bernd Justin Jutte

American University International Law Review

Copyright, at international, European, and national levels, does not provide a legal framework that prioritizes enabling and incentivizing research using protected works and information to the extent necessary and desirable in a digital, data-driven society in order to build a sustainable ecosystem for innovation and creativity. While small progress has been made, for example with the recent introduction of specific exceptions for research purposes and for text and data mining in certain national legislations as well as in the European Union law, a horizontal approach towards a more research-friendly copyright ecosystem has so far failed to evolve. By revisiting international …

Systematizing Scents: The Case For Chemically Standardized Nontraditional Scent Trademarks, Jared Novitzke

Marquette Intellectual Property & Innovation Law Review

None.

A Named Inventor Of A Patent Should Be Expanded To Include Artificial Intelligence, Min Li

Touro Law Review

Why should patent inventors be limited to only natural persons under the current United States patent law? In fact, the present US patent law should be expanded to allow an Artificial Intelligence (“AI”) to be a named inventor of a patent. This would incentivize patent owners to use AI to produce more inventions that would benefit the public. There is no negative impact to expand the current US patent law. Many scholars, law professors, and practitioners believe that the patent law (or intellectual property law in general) is outdated due to the massive growth of modern technology. This Note argues …

Copyright Co-Ownership In Uncertain Times: How Security Interests Can Save The Day, Evie Whiting, Ashleigh Stanley

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

Films and television series are increasingly being created undera co-production model, making copyright co-ownership a common occurrence in the world of Hollywood content creation. So long as each co-owner’s rights are pre-negotiated and specifically delineated in their contracts, the co-owners can rest assured that their rights to the project and any potential derivative works are safe. Or can they?

In the modern entertainment landscape, where tentpole programming and related spinoffs and derivatives are the gold standard of content creation, the proper protection of co-owned copyrights is more important than ever. But tenuous financial outlooks pose a looming, existential threat to …

How Santa Clara Law's "Tech Edge Jd" Program Improves The School's Admissions Yield, Diversity, & Employment Outcomes, Laura Lee Norris, Eric Goldman

Marquette Intellectual Property & Innovation Law Review

No abstract provided.

Questions Of Intellectual Property And Fundamental Values In The Digital Age, Jessica Silbey

Marquette Intellectual Property & Innovation Law Review

None

Paws Off My Profile: Protecting The Persona In A Modern Digital Age, Samantha P. Mccaleb

Marquette Intellectual Property & Innovation Law Review

None.