Law Commons^™

The Lost Tort Of Moral Rights Invasion, Patrick R. Goold

Akron Law Review

Moral rights are often portrayed as an unwelcome import into U.S. law. During the nineteenth century, European lawmakers, influenced by personality theories of authorship, began granting authors rights of attribution and integrity. However, while these rights proliferated in Europe and international copyright treaties, they were not adopted in the United States. According to a common historical narrative, U.S. courts and lawmakers resisted moral rights because they were deemed incompatible with the copyright tradition of treating expressive works as alienable property. What little moral rights U.S. law provides today is thus seen as a necessary evil, grudgingly accepted, simply to comply …

The Porous Court-Agency Border In Patent Law, Saurabh Vishnubhakat

Akron Law Review

The progression toward reevaluating patent validity in the administrative, rather than judicial, setting became overtly substitutionary in the America Invents Act. No longer content to encourage court litigants to rely on Patent Office expertise for faster, cheaper, and more accurate validity decisions, Congress in the AIA took steps to force a choice. The result is an emergent border between court and agency power in the U.S. patent system. By design, the border is not absolute. Concurrent activity in both settings over the same dispute remains possible. What is troubling is the systematic weakening of this border by Patent Office encroachments …

Three New Metrics For Patent Examiner Activity: Office Actions Per Grant Ratio (Ogr), Office Actions Per Disposal Ratio (Odr), And Grant To Examiner Ratio (Ger), Shine Tu

Law Faculty Scholarship

The current metric for examiner prosecution activity is allowance rate, which is calculated by dividing the total number of allowances by the sum of the allowances and abandonments (allowance rate = total allowance/(total allowances total abandonments)). Importantly, however, allowance rates do not consider an examiner’s pending docket. Specifically, allowance rates do not fully capture if the examiner is simply writing office actions thereby prolonging prosecution or allowing cases. This study rectifies this failure by creating and analyzing a dataset that captures every active examiner’s current docket. Calculating the Office Action per Grant Ratio (OGR = Total # of Office Actions/Total …

Our 19th Century Patent System, Gregory Reilly

IP Theory

The patent system is in flux. Concerns abound about the imperfect fit between traditional patent rights and the Information Age, excessive numbers of patents, overbroad patent rights, poor patent quality, and allegedly exploitative actors, like so-called “patent trolls.” In response, courts, commentators, and Congress have proposed, debated, and sometimes adopted a series of reforms and changes to patent rights, patent doctrines, and patent institutions. The America Invents Act of 2011 (AIA) introduced the most significant changes to the patent system since 1952 and was even described by one commentator (hyperbolically, as we will see) as “the most significant overhaul to …

Domestic Asset Tracing And Recovery Of Hidden Assets And The Spoils Of Financial Crime, Nathan Wadlinger, Carl Pacini, Nicole Stowell, William Hopwood, Debra Sinclair

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract forthcoming

Music As A Matter Of Law, Joseph P. Fishman

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

What is a musical work? Philosophers debate it, but for judges the answer has long been simple: music means melody. Though few recognize it today, that answer goes all the way back to the birth of music copyright litigation in the nineteenth century. Courts adopted the era’s dominant aesthetic view identifying melody as the site of originality and, consequently, the litmus test for similarity. Surprisingly, music’s single-element test has persisted as an anomaly within the modern copyright system, where typically multiple features of eligible subject matter are eligible for protection. Yet things are now changing. Recent judicial decisions are beginning …

The Battle To Define Asia’S Intellectual Property Law: From Tpp To Rcep, Anupam Chander, Madhavi Sunder

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

A battle is under way to decide the intellectual property law for half the world’s population. A trade agreement that hopes to create a free trade area even larger than that forged by Genghis Khan will define intellectual property rules across much of Asia and the Pacific. The sixteen countries negotiating the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) include China, India, Japan, and South Korea, and stretch to Australia and New Zealand. A review of a leaked draft reveals a struggle largely between India on one side and South Korea and Japan on the other over the intellectual property rules that …

Oops!... I Infringed Again: An Analysis Of U.S. Copyright And Its Intended Beneficiaries, Gabriele A. Forbes-Bennett

Student Theses and Dissertations

This paper seeks to establish the reasons why federal copyright protection was created, discuss the shifts in reasoning behind major amendments, and explore its effects on copyright holders and the public, with a slight focus on the music industry. Federal copyright has existed in the United States since the late 1700s, with the creation of the Copyright Act in 1790. Adopted from the first copyright law ever created, the English Statute of Anne (1710), the Copyright Act was meant to protect citizens from piracy in a world where the risk of such a thing was rapidly increasing. The stated objective …

Harmonizing The Tension Between The First Amendment And Publicity Rights And Finding The Right Balance: Discerning How Much Freedom Is Warranted And What Needs Protection, William Buchsbaum

The University of Cincinnati Intellectual Property and Computer Law Journal

This paper examines the tension between the First Amendment and Publicity Rights considering why and how friction is emerging, the legal underpinnings and theories behind the development of publicity rights and how to reconcile this with values raised in support of the First Amendment. This collision course of rights occurs where property interests have vested in human identity itself which brings us face to face with the outer limits of free speech and expression under the First Amendment and evens tests the notion of how we define speech. The paper takes a dive into some of the currently arising issues …

Balances Of Power Between Ip Creators: Ethical Issues In Scholarly Communication, Kristin Laughtin-Dunker

Library Presentations, Posters, and Audiovisual Materials

Scholarly communications often values free access above all else, but what happens when that drive for openness conflicts with ethical issues of consent and ownership? In this CARL IG Showcase panel, members of SCORE (Scholarly Communication and Open Resources for Education) will discuss some of the thorny issues of ethics and scholarly communication, including: consent (particularly among diverse communities outside of the institution) and digital collections, students as information creators / library as publisher, and decolonizing who we consider scholars and what we consider scholarship. This panel will feature speakers who will share current discussions and personal stories on issues …

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Sharealike 4.0 International Public License (Cc By-Nc-Sa 4.0), Creative Commons

Concepts in Animal Parasitology

Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)

You are free to:

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Intellectual Property, Surrogate Licensing, And Precision Medicine, Jacob S. Sherkow, Jorge L. Contreras

IP Theory

The fruits of the biotechnology revolution are beginning to be harvested. Recent regulatory approvals of a variety of advanced therapies—Keytruda (pembrolizumab), Kymriah (tisagenlecleucel), and patisiran—have ushered in an age of “precision medicine” treatments that target patients’ specific genetic, physiological, and environmental profiles rather than generalized diagnoses of disease. Therapies like these may soon be supplemented by gene editing technologies such as CRISPR, which could enable the targeted eradication of deleterious genetic variants to improve human health. But the intellectual property (IP) surrounding precision therapies and their foundational technology remain controversial. Precision therapies ultimately rely—and are roughly congruent with—basic scientific information …

Towards A Distinctive Trademark Law For The 21st Century, David Vaver

Articles & Book Chapters

Canada's Trade Marks Act, when passed in 1953, was probably the best then around, but 65 years later it is ready to be pensioned off. The Act's deficiencies have become more evident as new markets and interests have gained prominence. A broadly-based Committee to reconsider the reform ofall intellectual property laws, with trademark law as one component, should be struck to produce a user-friendly code fit for 21st century commerce.

Ip Neutrality And Benefit Sharing For Seasonal Flu: An Argument In Favor Of Who Pip Framework Expansion, Arielle Sloan

Chicago-Kent Journal of Intellectual Property

Currently, countries that share samples of influenza viruses with a global WHO network called GISRS can participate in IP and benefitsharing agreements over their samples only if those samples are considered potential pandemic triggers. Some key players in public health want to change that by extending those protections to seasonal flu viruses. Others argue that doing so will be problematic, by, for example, creating too much red tape for vaccine research and development or by destroying the progress that has already been made in creating GISRS. In this battle between WHO stakeholders, expanding the scope of IP and benefits agreements …

Patent Clutter, Janet Freilich

Faculty Scholarship

Patent claims are supposed to clearly and succinctly describe the patented invention, and only the patented invention. This Article hypothesizes that a substantial amount of language in patent claims is in fact not about the core invention, which may contribute to well-documented problems with patent claims. I analyze the claims of 40,000 patents and applications, and document the proliferation of "clutter"-language in patent claims that is not about the invention. Although claims are supposed to be exclusively about the invention, clutter appears across industries and makes up approximately 25 % of claim language. Patent clutter may contribute several major problems …

“Either Secrecy, Or Legal Monopoly”: Why We Should Choose Fracking Patents, Sarah Spencer

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

No abstract provided.

Valuation Of Intellectual Property: Placing A Dollar Value On Technology (Or, Are Real-Options Real?), Gordon V. Smith

Maine Law Review

Valuation professionals have for a long time been appraising business enterprises and their underlying assets. The “dot-com” New Economy has dramatically changed how businesses can do business and has introduced us to some new forms of intellectual property rights. Have these changes altered our valuation methodologies? Prior to the 1960s, when valuation professionals were faced with a situation in which the value of a business enterprise appeared to exceed the value of its underlying assets, the difference was ascribed to “goodwill” or “blue sky.” No real effort was made to identify the constituents of this catch-all category, it was simply …

When The Chinese Intellectual Property System Hits 35, Peter K. Yu

Faculty Scholarship

This article explores what it means for the Chinese intellectual property system to hit 35. It begins by briefly recapturing the system’s three phases of development. It discusses the system’s evolution from its birth all the way to the present. The article then explores three different meanings of a middle-aged Chinese intellectual property system – one for intellectual property reform, one for China, and one for the TRIPS Agreement and the global intellectual property community.

Intellectual Property Policies For Solar Engineering, Jesse L. Reynolds, Jorge L. Contreras, Joshua D. Sarnoff

Utah Law Faculty Scholarship

Governance of solar geoengineering is important and challenging, with particular concern arising from commercial actors’ involvement. Policies relating to intellectual property, including patents and trade secrets, and to data access will shape private actors’ behavior and regulate access to data and technologies. There has been little careful consideration of the possible roles of and interrelationships among commercial actors, intellectual property, and intellectual property policy. Despite the current low level of commercial activity and intellectual property rights in this domain, we expect both to grow as research and development continue. Given the public good nature of solar geoengineering, the relationship between …

Patent Exhaustion Connects Common Law To Equity: Impression Products, Inc. V. Lexmark International, Inc., Kumiko Kitaoka

Chicago-Kent Journal of Intellectual Property

No abstract provided.

May You Live In Interesting Times: Patent Law In The Supreme Court, Seth P. Waxman

Chicago-Kent Journal of Intellectual Property

No abstract provided.

Discouraging Frivolous Copyright Infringement Claims: Fee Shifting Under Rule 11 Or 28 U.S.C. § 1927 As An Alternative To Awarding Attorney’S Fees Under Section 505 Of The Copyright Act, David E. Shipley

Journal of Intellectual Property Law

The United States Supreme Court’s 2016 decision in Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons resolved a disagreement over when it is appropriate to award attorney’s fees to a prevailing defendant under section 505 of the Copyright Act, and ended a perceived venue advantage for losing plaintiffs in some jurisdictions. The Court ruled unanimously that courts are correct to give substantial weight to the question of whether the losing side had a reasonable case to fight, but that the objective reasonableness of that side’s position does not give rise to a presumption against fee shifting. It made clear that other factors …

"Business Models Of The Digital Economy" From The Entrepreneur’S Intellectual Property & Business Handbook, Jon Garon

Faculty Scholarship

This article is part of a series of book excerpts from The Entrepreneur’s Intellectual Property & Business Handbook, which provides the business, strategy, and legal reference guide for start-ups and small businesses.

More Than An Academic Question: Defining Student Ownership Of Intellectual Property Rights, Kurt M. Saunders, Michael A. Lozano

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

Intellectual property is increasingly important due to technology’s rapid development. The importance of intellectual property is also reflected within universities as traditional centers of research and expression, where students and faculty are encouraged to develop inventions and creative works throughout the educational experience. The commercialization potential of the intellectual property that emerges from these efforts has led many universities to adopt policies to determine ownership of intellectual property rights. Many of these policies take different approaches to ownership, and most students are unaware of their rights and are unlikely to consider whether the university has a claim to ownership. The …

The Times They Are A-Changin': Innovation In The Modern Music Festival, Molly R. Madonia

Marquette Intellectual Property Law Review

Musical festivals are, and have always been, a way for friends and families to gather together to celebrate the latest and greatest in music, food, and entertainment. From large festivals in major metropolitan cities to small, intimate shows, music festivals have long been a source of enjoyment to music fans and a source of inspiration to up-and-coming musicians. This Article will explore innovation within the modern music festival, including legal, political, and operational changes that affect festivals across the country. So, as Emerson, Lake, and Palmer so eloquently expressed, “Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends, we’re …

Celebrating Wisconsin Entrepreneurs: Lessons Learned From Wisconsin Entrepreneurs And Businesses, And Future Prospects For A Healthcare Sector That Is Healthcare Reform, Daniel S. Sem, Si Gou, Taleb Aljabban

Marquette Intellectual Property Law Review

Wisconsin has a rich history of entrepreneurial activity, which is often not appreciated beyond its well-recognized strength in the beer and cheese industries. However, Wisconsin’s entrepreneurial nature has been called into question. Recently, Wisconsin was ranked fiftieth in the United States for startup activity by the Kauffman Foundation. In contrast, Wisconsin ranks at the top of the country for startups that are local and established business with more longevity. The first half of this article will review some of the challenges and opportunities that have faced Wisconsin entrepreneurs, and will provide an overview of over 150 Wisconsin companies (Table 1), …

The Right To Creative Illegitimacy: Art And The Fallacy Of Proprietary Legitimation, John Baldacchino

Marquette Intellectual Property Law Review

When we speak of the arts, and more so when one engages with the arts as a practitioner in their various contexts, the questions of legitimacy and legitimation take a very different turn. This spans across a wide horizon, whether it is that of art-making in the studio; of showing in the gallery; of performing in the hall; or of teaching, learning and unlearning in schools, colleges or universities.

To start with, one needs to understand and find a way of differentiating between legitimacy and legitimation. Legitimacy implies a degree of conformity, whether it is with the law, agreed rules, …

The Mystery Of Section 253(B), Matthew Gagnier

Marquette Intellectual Property Law Review

In 2014, Elon Musk, the renowned and socially-minded CEO of Tesla Motors, Inc., posted a blog on Tesla’s website that stated the company would be freeing up many of its patents involved in the creation of the company’s electric cars to any interested party. Yet again, Musk astounded the public by choosing the betterment of society over corporate profits—stirring up a more positive image than any other corporate personality. But there are numerous questions that Musk’s positive PR have drowned out: Where can you access the patents?; How did freeing up the patents get past the other executive officers and …

Congress Does Not Hide Elephants In Mouse-Holes: How Vimeo Paid No Heed To That Caution, Mitch Bailey

Marquette Intellectual Property Law Review

With the passage of the 1976 Copyright Act, sound recordings fixed prior to February 15, 1972 remained under the protection of the state copyright laws where the works were registered. Some incredible culturally significant songs were fixed before February 15, 1972, including songs from “The Beatles, The Supremes, Elvis Presley, Aretha Franklin, Barbara Streisand, and Marvin Gaye.” To date, state law protects the owner’s rights without interference from federal law, including the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”).

Given its location, the Second Circuit significantly influenced the development of intellectual property law in the United States, especially copyright law. Many businesses …

"Paying For Exclusivity: Financing And Business Structuring" From The Entrepreneur’S Intellectual Property & Business Handbook, Jon Garon

Faculty Scholarship

This article is part of a series of book excerpts from The Entrepreneur’s Intellectual Property & Business Handbook, which provides the business, strategy, and legal reference guide for start-ups and small businesses.