Law Commons^™

Mediating Interactions In An Expanding International Intellectual Property Regime, Laurence R. Helfer

Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law

No abstract provided.

Defending Cyberproperty, Patricia L. Bellia

Journal Articles

This Article explores how the law should treat legal claims by owners of Internet-connected computer systems to enjoin unwanted uses of their systems. Over the last few years, this question has become increasingly urgent and controversial, as system owners have sought protection from unsolicited commercial e-mail and from robots that extract data from Web servers for competitive purposes. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, courts utilizing a wide range of legal doctrines upheld claims by network resource owners to prevent unwanted access to their computer networks. The vast weight of legal scholarship has voiced strong opposition to these cyberproperty …

Virtual Property: The Challenges Of Regulating Intangible, Exclusionary Property Interests Such As Domain Names, David Nelmark

Northwestern Journal of Technology and Intellectual Property

No abstract provided.

How The Established Business Relationship Exemption To The National Do-Not-Call Registry Forces Consumers To Pay For Unwanted Sales Calls, Shannon D. Torgerson

Northwestern Journal of Technology and Intellectual Property

No abstract provided.

Revisiting Standard-Setting Organizations' Patent Policies, Kraig A. Jakobsen

Northwestern Journal of Technology and Intellectual Property

No abstract provided.

New Strategies For Owners Of Discontinued Brands, David S. Ruder

Northwestern Journal of Technology and Intellectual Property

No abstract provided.

Bankrupting Trademarks, Xuan-Thao Nguyen

Articles

The explosive growth of technology in the last two decades has vastly expanded intellectual property jurisprudence and elevated intellectual property to a heightened status in the marketplace. Indeed, a company's intellectual property assets may now be its most valuable corporate assets. Moreover, the property value of some trademarks is significantly greater than that of the trademark owner's physical assets.

The term “intellectual property” is commonly understood to include patents, trade secrets, copyrights, and trademarks. Yet a paradigm has been constructed and enforced over the last fifteen years wherein only patents, trade secrets, and copyrights are included. The paradigm specifically excludes …

Taxing The New Intellectual Property Right, Xuan-Thao Nguyen, Jeffrey A. Maine

Articles

Current, albeit arbitrary, rules exist governing the tax treatment of traditional forms of intellectual property, such as patents, trade secrets, copyrights, trademarks, and trade names. While tax principles exist for these traditional intellectual property and intangible rights, specific tax rules do not exist for new intellectual property rights, such as domain names, that are emerging with the arrival of global electronic commerce transactions on the Internet. This article explores the proper tax treatment of domain name registration and acquisition costs, addressing these parallel questions? Are domain names merely variations of traditional forms of intellectual property and other intangible rights to …

Who Owns The 'First, Rough Draft Of History'? Reconsidering Copyright In News, Eric Easton

All Faculty Scholarship

This article asserts that newspapers' quest for copyright protection was an early step onto a slippery slope toward a property-based, rather than service-based, ethos, and that removing that protection may at the least mark a first, symbolic step back from the abyss. Part I examines the state of contemporary journalism, particularly with respect to the propertization of news. Part II traces the history of copyright protection for news from its origins in censorship to the American copyright regime today, with emphasis on the run up to the 1909 amendments that first codified protection for newspapers. Part III advocates the moral …

Render Copyright Unto Caesar: On Taking Incentives Seriously, Wendy J. Gordon

Faculty Scholarship

This Essay suggests we bifurcate our thinking. Conventional copyright rules by money, so let it rule the money-bound. Let a different set of rules evolve for more complex uses, particularly when the users have a personal relationship with the utilized text. Much recent scholarship contains dramatic suggestions to secure a freedom to be creative, rewrite, and be imaginative. My work has long sought to defend such freedoms, but I believe we understand imagination and its conditions too little to employ it as a starting point. I suggest instead that we acquire a better conceptual map of the generative process and …

Even More Parodic Than The Real Thing: Parody Lawsuits Revisited, Bruce P. Keller, Rebecca Tushnet

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

An article focusing on a copyright decision initially may appear out of place in the pages of The Trademark Reporter®. Yet Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc., in which the U.S. Supreme Court held that a parodic, transformative use of a copyrighted work, even if commercial, could qualify as a fair use, is quite significant for trademark lawyers. As a practical matter, parody cases increasingly involve copyright as well as trademark claims, so practitioners often encounter both within the same case. As a doctrinal matter, Campbell also has proved legally significant in trademark cases because the free-speech concerns underlying protection for …

The Basics Matter: At The Periphery Of Intellectual Property, F. Scott Kieff, Troy A. Paredes

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

Controversies often arise at the interfaces where intellectual property ("IP") law meets other topics in law and economics, such as property law, contract law, and antitrust law. Participants in the debates over how to mediate these interfaces often view each interface as a special case deserving unique treatment under the law. The doctrines of copyright and patent misuse are cases in point: they graft select antitrust principles onto copyright or patent law, even though there is an entirely distinct body of law - antitrust law - designed to deal with the putative concerns about competition that allegedly give rise to …

Gaining Momentum: A Review Of Recent Developments Surrounding The Expansion Of The Copyright Misuse Doctrine And Analysis Of The Doctrine In Its Current Form, Woodrow Hartzog

Faculty Scholarship

The United States intellectual property ("IP") system is the foundation for incentives for authors and inventors to create and invent so that their work will be distributed to the public for the betterment of society. These incentives, in the form of limited monopolies over creations via patents, copyrights, and trademarks, are becoming increasingly important as the United States depends upon intellectual property to sustain its economy. As the intellectual property industry grows, it becomes vital to preserve the impetus behind its creation: the public good, or more specifically, the public's ability to make use of and enjoy new ideas and …

Intellectual Property In Transition Economies: Assessing The Latvian Experience, Simon Helm

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Several Lives Of Mickey Mouse: The Expanding Boundaries Of Intellectual Property Law, Ben Depoorter

ExpressO

No abstract provided.

Trademarks Under The North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta) With References To The New Trademark Law Of Spain, Effective July 31, 2002, And The Current Mexican Law, Roberto Rosas

Faculty Articles

A trademark is any distinctive sign indicating that certain products or services have been manufactured or rendered by a specific person or company. This concept is currently recognized worldwide; however, the origin of trademarks dates back to antiquity when artisans placed their signatures or “marks” on their products containing an artistic or utilitarian element. Through time, these marks have evolved to such an extent that today, a reliable and efficient system for their registration and protection has been established. Besides protecting owners of trademarks, this system also helps consumers identify and purchase goods or services, which, because of the essence …

Spiritual But Not Intellectual? The Protection Of Sacred Intangible Traditional Knowledge, Daniel J. Gervais

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

The use of sacred aboriginal art is nothing new. It is fairly common to see dream catchers hanging from rear view mirrors in cars. In Australia, sacred aboriginal designs are often found on tea towels, rugs and restaurant placemats. In the United States, people routinely Commercialize Navajo rugs containing both sacred and profane designs with no connection to the Navajo nation. Millions of dollars of Indian crafts imported from Asia are sold in the United States each year. Another example is the taking of sacred Ami chants by the German rock group Enigma for its song Return to Innocence. Can …

I Didn't Take The Road Less Traveled, And What A Long, Strange Trip It's Been, Brian A. Glassman

Journal of Legal Education

No abstract provided.

Cooperative Research And Technology Enhancement (Create) Act Of 2003: Hearing On H. R. 2390 Before The H. Subcomm. On Courts, The Internet And Intellectual Property Of The H. Comm. On The Judiciary, 108th Cong., June 10, 2003 (Statement Of John R. Thomas, Prof. Of Law, Geo. U. L. Center), John R. Thomas

Testimony Before Congress

No abstract provided.

Promoting Intellectual Property For Economic Growth, Rita Hayes

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The World Intellectual Property Organization, based in Geneva, is a specialized agency of the United Nations that deals with international intellectual property matters. The Organization is perhaps best known for international agreements such as the Patent Cooperation Treaty (the PCT), The Madrid Agreement, and the Hague Agreement, which provide international registration and protection for patents, trademarks, and industrial designs, respectively.

The Organization's work in standard setting--through the development of international intellectual property law--covers the range of intellectual property from industrial property to copyright. Many of you are familiar with the WIPO Internet Treaties, two international treaties that came into force …

A Primer On U.S. Intellectual Property Rights Applicable To Music Information Retrieval Systems, Michael Carroll

PIJIP Faculty Scholarship

Digital technology has had a significant impact on the ways in which music information can be stored, transmitted, and used. Within the information sciences, music information retrieval has become an increasingly important and complex field. This brief article is addressed primarily to those involved in the design and implementation of systems for storing and retrieving digital files containing musical notation, recorded music, and relevant metadata – hereinafter referred to as a Music Information Retrieval System (“MIRS”). In particular, this group includes information specialists, software engineers, and the attorneys who advise them. Although peer-to-peer computer applications, such as Napster’s MusicShare or …

Intellectual Property Rights And The Digital Era: Argentina And Brazil, Marcos J. Basso, Adriana C.K. Vianna

University of Miami Inter-American Law Review

No abstract provided.

Panel Iii: Www.Thegovernmenthasdecideditisinyour(Read:Our)Bestinterestsnottoviewthis.Com: Should The First Amendment Ever Come Second?, Ann Beeson, Jacob M. Lewis, Charles Sims, Lee Tien

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Patenting Genome Research Tools And The Law., Rebecca S. Eisenberg

Articles

Patenting genes encoding therapeutic proteins was relatively uncontroversial in the early days of biotechnology. Controversy arose in the era of high-throughput DNA sequencing, when gene patents started to look less like patents on drugs and more like patents on scientific information. Evolving scientific and business strategies for exploiting genomic information raised concerns that patents might slow subsequent research. The trend towards stricter enforcement of the utility and disclosure requirements by the patent offices should help clarify the current confusion.

Perfecting Patent Prizes, Michael Abramowicz

Vanderbilt Law Review

When anthrax attacks recently led to a run on the patented antibiotic drug Cipro, politicians and commentators suggested that the government consider purchasing generic alternatives. Some used the occasion to illustrate what they perceived as a broader problem with patent protection: that pharmaceutical companies seeking profits would not allow the sick to obtain access to needed medications. The argument repeated a familiar refrain in the intellectual property debate, as a long history of articles has inquired whether society would be better off with no patent or copyright law at all. Even recently, commentators have questioned the broad scope of intellectual …

Draft Of Rendering Copyright Into Caesar - 2003, Wendy J. Gordon

Scholarship Chronologically

This article makes a simple suggestion. Copyright rules by money, so let it rule the money-bound. Let a different set of rules evolve for more complex uses, particularly when the users have a personal relationship with the utilized text. Copyright. When new artists make transformative use of existing works in settings not characterized by pre-use commercial negotiations, copyright should avoid imposing a distorting burden.

Navigating Unchartered Waters: Intellectual Property Rights Surrounding Genomics Research & Development Information, Lawrence M. Sung

Journal of Health Care Law and Policy

No abstract provided.

Some Realism About Indigenism, Michael Henry Davis

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

The debate about creating so-called intellectual property (“IP”)--legal monopolies--over indigenous information (a product mostly of Third World countries) is habitually (almost stereotypically) characterized by qualifications that such monopolies really don't fit, and further qualifications that although they don't fit they are the best alternative. But underlying both sets of qualifications is often a confusion about what the real problem is. Because of a frequent failure to analyze closely the problem (and sometimes because of misinformation mixed with an unhealthy dose of romanticism), critics far too often jump to the legal monopoly solution to problems that ironically may be in large …

Engaging Facts And Policy: A Multi-Institutional Approach To Patent System Reform, Arti K. Rai

Faculty Scholarship

The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, charged with adjudicating appeals in patent cases, has adopted an unusual approach that arrogates power over fact finding while it simultaneously invokes rule-formalism. Although the Federal Circuit's approach may be justified by the fact-finding and policy application deficiencies of the trial courts and the Patent and Trademark Office (PTO), it has had a negative impact on innovation policy and has resulted in a patent system that is sorely in need of reform. This Article argues that because of the interdependence of the various institutions within the patent system, reform of the system …

The New Software Jurisprudence And The Faltering First Amendment, Liam S. O'Melinn

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

Given that courts reviewing restrictions on the development and distribution of software are increasingly invoking the First Amendment, it should follow that software will receive strong protection. Yet, while there have been judicial decisions which lend credence to the view that the Constitution can be invoked to protect software, subsequent developments in this area, which I term "the new software jurisprudence" cast severe doubt on the ability of the courts to apply the First Amendment so as to shield software effectively. These developments include the faults of previous strains of First Amendment analysis and then add more, with the ironic …