Law Commons^™

Copyright For A Social Species, Robert E. Suggs

Faculty Scholarship

Arguments about the proper scope of copyright protection focus on the economic consequences of varying degrees of protection. Most analysts view copyright as an economic phenomenon, and the size and health of our copyright industries measure the success of copyright policies. The constitutional text granting Congress the copyright power and the nature of special interest lobbying naturally create this economic focus; but this is a serious mistake. An exclusively economic focus makes no more sense than measuring the nutritional merits of our food supply from the size and profitability of the fast food industry.

The expressive culture that copyright protects …

The Google Book Search Settlement: Ends, Means, And The Future Of Books, James Grimmelmann

Faculty Scholarship

For the past four years, Google has been systematically making digital copies of books in the collections of many major university libraries. It made the digital copies searchable through its web site--you couldn't read the books, but you could at least find out where the phrase you're looking for appears within them. This outraged copyright owners, who filed a class action lawsuit to make Google stop. Then, last fall, the parties to this large class action announced an even larger settlement: one that would give Google a license not only to scan books, but also to sell them.

The settlement …

How To Fix The Google Book Search Settlement, James Grimmelmann

Faculty Scholarship

The proposed settlement in the Google Book Search case should be approved with strings attached. The project will be immensely good for society, and the proposed deal is a fair one for Google, for authors, and for publishers. The public interest demands, however, that the settlement be modified first. It creates two new entities—the Books Rights Registry Leviathan and the Google Book Search Behemoth—with dangerously concentrated power over the publishing industry. Left unchecked, they could trample on consumers in any number of ways. We the public have a right to demand that those entities be subject to healthy, pro-competitive oversight, …

The New Private Ordering Of Intellectual Property, Lawrence M. Sung

Faculty Scholarship

One consequence of the renewed U.S. Supreme Court interest in patent cases in recent years is an enhanced scrutiny on patent rights generally and, in particular, on the importance of better defining contracts to govern the patent rights among the parties. The Intellectual Property Law Program of the University of Maryland School of Law, in collaboratoin with the Business Law Program and the Journal of Business & Technology Law, convened a symposium on April 18, 2008 to consider the pertinent jurisprudence to inform prudent business practices in managing patent rights by private agreements. This Issue of the Journal includes a …

In The Wake Of Reinvigorated U.S. Supreme Court Activity In Patent Appeals, Lawrence M. Sung

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Privilege-Wise And Patent (And Trade-Secret)-Foolish?: How The Courts' Misapplication Of The Military And State Secrets Privilege Violates The Constitution And Endangers National Security, Davida H. Isaacs, Robert M. Farley

Faculty Scholarship

It is every inventor's nightmare: a valuable idea, stolen, with no legal recourse. Yet that is precisely what happened in Lucent v. Crater, where the Federal Circuit permitted the Federal Government to defeat the inventors' claims using the military and state secrets privilege. In light of the recent upsurge in the Government's invocation of this privilege, it is time to scrutinize more carefully courts' highly deferential response to its use. There is little question that the executive branch must be able to invoke the privilege in order to ensure that national security is not imperiled by public disclosure of information. …

The Ethical Visions Of Copyright Law, James Grimmelmann

Faculty Scholarship

This symposium essay explores the imagined ethics of copyright: the ethical stories that people tell to justify, make sense of, and challenge copyright law. Such ethical visions are everywhere in intellectual property discourse, and legal scholarship ought to pay more attention to them. The essay focuses on a deontic vision of reciprocity in the author-audience relationship, a set of linked claims that authors and audiences ought to respect each other and express this respect through voluntary transactions.

Versions of this default ethical vision animate groups as seemingly antagonistic as the music industry, file sharers, free software advocates, and Creative Commons. …

The New Private Ordering Of Intellectual Property, Lawrence M. Sung

Journal of Business & Technology Law

No abstract provided.

Ebay V. Mercexchange And Quanta Computer V. Lg Electronics, Andrew Beckerman-Rodau, F. Scott Kieff, Lawrence M. Sung, Thomas Woolston

Journal of Business & Technology Law

No abstract provided.

Medimmune V. Genentec, Kelly Casey Mullally, Gregory Castanias, Franklin E. Gibbs

Journal of Business & Technology Law

No abstract provided.

Patents Are Property: A Fundamental But Important Concept, Andrew Beckerman-Rodau

Journal of Business & Technology Law

No abstract provided.

In The Wake Of Reinvigorated U.S. Supreme Court Activity In Patent Appeals, Lawrence M. Sung

Journal of Business & Technology Law

No abstract provided.

Ksr International Co. V. Teleflex Inc.: The Supreme Court Declines The Opportunity To Finally Set The Record Straight And Articulate One Clear Standard For Determining Obviousness In Patent Cases, Ashley Houston

Journal of Business & Technology Law

No abstract provided.