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Copyright Protection For Conceptually Separable Artistic Features Post-Star Athletica: A Useful Article On Useful Articles, Daan G. Erikson
Copyright Protection For Conceptually Separable Artistic Features Post-Star Athletica: A Useful Article On Useful Articles, Daan G. Erikson
Chicago-Kent Journal of Intellectual Property
In the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Star Athletica v. Varsity Brands in 2017, U.S. federal district courts and the Copyright Office Review Board have grappled with the Supreme Court’s reimagined conceptual separability test for determining the copyrightability of artistic aspects of useful articles. An examination of the decisions in the first eighteen months post-Star Athletica reveals district courts have interpreted the Supreme Court’s guidance inconsistently, with some courts adding language to the test and even using overruled portions of previous tests. The author takes an empirical approach to evaluating such decisions and the trends that …
A Path Toward An Increased Role For The United States In Patent Infringement Litigation, Caroline M. Turner
A Path Toward An Increased Role For The United States In Patent Infringement Litigation, Caroline M. Turner
Chicago-Kent Journal of Intellectual Property
A number of major statutory schemes implicate federal interests but do not provide for explicit authority for the United States to bring lawsuits for damages or to obtain injunctive relief. The patent statutes provide that the patentee may sue in the case of infringement, and court decisions have extended that right to certain licensees. Accordingly, the United States has participated in cases in which it is not a co-patentee or licensee only as an amicus. Yet the government arguably has an interest in intervening in or instituting, as a co-plaintiff, infringement cases involving certain patents. Recent scholarship has renewed attention …
Silent Similarity, Jessica Litman
Silent Similarity, Jessica Litman
Chicago-Kent Journal of Intellectual Property
From 1909 to 1930, U.S. courts grappled with claims by authors of prose works claiming that works in a new art form—silent movies—had infringed their copyrights. These cases laid the groundwork for much of modern copyright law, from their broad expansion of the reproduction right, to their puzzled grappling with the question how to compare works in dissimilar media, to their confusion over what sort of evidence should be relevant to show copyrightability, copying and infringement. Some of those cases—in particular, Nichols v. Universal Pictures—are canonical today. They are not, however, well-understood. In particular, the problem at the heart …
Protecting Religious Identity With American Trademark Law, Steven John Olsen
Protecting Religious Identity With American Trademark Law, Steven John Olsen
Chicago-Kent Journal of Intellectual Property
No abstract provided.
Continuing The Conversation Of "The Economic Irrationality Of The Patent Misuse Doctrine", Christa J. Laser
Continuing The Conversation Of "The Economic Irrationality Of The Patent Misuse Doctrine", Christa J. Laser
Chicago-Kent Journal of Intellectual Property
This Article uses economic tools to find the best way for courts to construe or for Congress to modify the patent misuse doctrine. It attempts to continue the conversation begun by Professor Mark Lemley in his often-cited Comment, The Economic Irrationality of the Patent Misuse Doctrine. It argues that a partial economic equilibrium in patent misuse doctrine can be achieved by attempting to match Congress’s intended patent scope with the actual patent scope. It then holds that the ideal patent misuse doctrine should (1) adequately discourage patentees from seeking to exceed their patent scope while (2) continuing to encourage innovation …