Law Commons^™

Struggling With Sunshine: Analyzing The Impact Of Technology On Compliance With Open Government Laws Using Florida As A Case Study, Sandra F. Chance, Christine M. Locke

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Google-Nsa Alliance: Developing Cybersecurity Policy At Internet Speed, Stephanie A. Devos

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Nowhere To Run ... Nowhere To Hide: Trademark Holders Reign Supreme In Panavision Lnt'l, L.P. V. Toeppen., Scott D. Sanford

Golden Gate University Law Review

This note discusses the procedural history of Panavision. Part III surveys the evolving application of personal jurisdiction in the various courts as applied to the Internet through minimum contacts and the Calder "effects test." Part IV outlines the Ninth Circuit's analysis of personal jurisdiction in Panavision. Part V critiques the Ninth Circuit's analysis, focusing particularly on several flaws in the court's reasoning. Part VI summarizes the effect that the decision in Panavision will have on future suits involving the Internet.

Acta And The Specter Of Graduated Response, Annemarie Bridy

Joint PIJIP/TLS Research Paper Series

This short paper, prepared for a workshop on the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) and the Public Interest at American University’s Washington College of Law, considers the draft Internet provisions of ACTA in the context of concerns raised in the media that the treaty will require signatories to mandate graduated response regimes (à la France’s controversial HADOPI system) for online copyright enforcement. Although the Consolidated Text of ACTA, released in late April, confirms that mandatory graduated response is off the table for the treaty’s negotiators, the treaty in its current form both accommodates and promotes the adoption of graduated response. Moreover, …

Decentralizing Culture: The Effect Of Digital Networks On Copyright And Music Distribution, Benjamin Gibert

Benjamin Gibert

The advance of technology profoundly impacts how people interact with culture as the proliferation of digital networks transforms the effects of copyright in modern societies. This paper argues that the oligopolistic conditions of content markets and the legal discourse of intellectual property law have historically enabled copyright holders to promote a limited conception of art and obscure the complexities of copyright theory. While conceptual ambiguity is inevitable in the construction of aesthetic legal categories, current practices impose too many restrictions. The practical choices made concerning copyright in cyberspace will determine the evolution of culture in increasingly networked societies. The music …

Barricading The Digital Frontier: Copyright, Technology And The War On Music Piracy, Benjamin Gibert

Benjamin Gibert

The Internet is changing the way vast numbers of people experience culture today. Providing tools to interact with, manipulate and freely redistribute content, technology is dissolving conventional divisions between creators and consumers of cultural artefacts. As new technological and legislative mechanisms are deployed to stop digital piracy, there is a need to reflect on the meaning of copyright, piracy and culture in the context of digital technologies. This paper discusses the relationship between copyright and cultural participation. It refers to the music industry in order to depict the changing patterns of consumption behavior precipitated by the rise of digital networks …

Possessing Trademarks: Can Blackstone Or Locke Apply To Fast Food, Grocery Stores, And Virtual Sex Toys?, Jesse R. Dill

Marquette Intellectual Property Law Review

Trademark law has evolved extensively over time and is justified today for different reasons than when American law first recognized it. Scholars today question whether trademarks should now be accepted as a form of real property. Two examples of trademark problems in the global economy demonstrate that the time has come for marks to be recognized as property. Whether business entities are entering new territories or consumers are crossing borders to new jurisdictions with greater ease than ever before, trademark must adapt to the demands of modern commercial competitors. This Comment takes the position that these demands require treating trademarks …

Proving Fair Use: Burden Of Proof As Burden Of Speech, Ned Snow

Faculty Publications

Courts have created a burden of proof in copyright that chills protected speech. The doctrine of fair use purports to ensure that copyright law does not trample rights of speakers whose expression employs copyrighted material. Yet those speakers face a burden of proof that weighs heavily in the fair use analysis, where factual inquiries are often subjective and speculative. Failure to satisfy the burden means severe penalties, which prospect quickly chills the free exercise of speech that constitutes a fair use. The fair-use burden of proof is repugnant to the fair use purpose. Today, copyright holders are exploiting the burden …

Can Newspapers Be Saved? How Copyright Law Can Save Newspapers From The Challenges Of New Media, Keiyana Fordham

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Media-Rich Input Application Liability, David R. Krohn, Pekarek

Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review

Until recently, media-rich online interactions were mostly unidirectional: multimedia content was delivered by the service provider to the user. Input from the user came almost exclusively in the form of text. Even when searching the Internet for images or audio, a user typically entered text into a search engine. In addition, search engines indexed multimedia content by analyzing not the content itself but the text surrounding it. This is rapidly changing. With the rise of multimedia-capable smartphones and wireless broadband, applications that allow users to search using non-textual inputs are quickly becoming popular. These applications go much further than simply …

Online Auction House Liability For The Sale Of Trademark Infringing Products, Allison N. Ziegler

Marquette Intellectual Property Law Review

With the rise of the Internet, trademark owners have seen an increase in online trademark infringement. This Comment examines online auction house liability for the sale of trademark infringing products and the methodology used by courts in making this determination. The author outlines contributory trademark jurisprudence in the United States and France and the application of this jurisprudence in Tiffany v. EBay and LVMH v. EBay, respectively. The article then evaluates the implications of the two approaches to determine which approach is more practical and effective. The author concludes that online auction houses should not be liable for trademark infringement …

Introduction, Symposium, Internet Expression In The 21st Century: Where Technology & Law Collide, Tonya M. Evans, Michael R. Dimino, Nicole M. Santo

Tonya M. Evans

No abstract provided.

An Interpretive Framework For Narrower Immunity Under Section 230 Of The Communications Decency Act, Gregory M. Dickinson

Gregory M Dickinson

Almost all courts to interpret Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act have construed its ambiguously worded immunity provision broadly, shielding Internet intermediaries from tort liability so long as they are not the literal authors of offensive content. Although this broad interpretation effects the basic goals of the statute, it ignores several serious textual difficulties and mistakenly extends protection too far by immunizing even direct participants in tortious conduct.

This analysis, which examines the text and history of Section 230 in light of two strains of pre-Internet vicarious liability defamation doctrine, concludes that the immunity provision of Section 230, though …

Settling For Less? An Analysis Of The Possibility Of Positive Legal Precedent On The Internet If The Google Book Search Litigation Had Not Reached A Settlement, Brooke Ericson

Intellectual Property Brief

No abstract provided.

Policing The Information Super Highway: Custom's Role In Digital Piracy, Andrew Haberman

Intellectual Property Brief

No abstract provided.

Online Auction Sites And Inconsistencies: A Case Study Of France, China, And The United States, Won Hee Elaine Lee

Intellectual Property Brief

No abstract provided.

Settling For Less? An Analysis Of The Possibility Of Positive Legal Precedent On The Internet If The Google Book Search Litigation Had Not Reached A Settlement, Brooke Ericson

Intellectual Property Brief

No abstract provided.

Online Auction Sites And Inconsistencies: A Case Study Of France, China, And The United States, Won Hee Elaine Lee

Intellectual Property Brief

No abstract provided.

What Blogging Might Teach About Cybernorms, Jacqueline D. Lipton

Articles

Since the dawn of the information age, scholars have debated the viability of regulating cyberspace. Early on, Professor Lawrence Lessig suggested that “code is law” online. Lessig and others also examined the respective regulatory functions of laws, code, market forces, and social norms. In recent years, with the rise of Web 2.0 interactive technologies, norms have taken center-stage as a regulatory modality online. The advantages of norms are that they can develop quickly by the communities that seek to enforce them, and they are not bound by geography. However, to date there has been scant literature dealing in any detail …

Whose Burden Is It Anyway? Addressing The Needs Of Content Owners In Dmca Safe Harbors, Greg Janson

Federal Communications Law Journal

Much of today's network neutrality debate addresses concerns that cable providers will limit access to competing Web-based services delivering multimedia content. While proposals to mandate nondiscrimination for all Internet traffic surely will help create a competitive environment where online entertainment providers can prosper, ISP interference is not the only threat. Online entertainment sites that relay user-generated content are threatened by crippling litigation brought by copyright holders for actions taken by third parties using their services. Reliance on the safe harbors provided in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act has, in most cases, proved unsuccessful. This Note addresses the concerns of both …

Ramifications Of Joint Infringement Theory On Emerging Technology Patents, W. Keith Robinson

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

Two cases decided by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit articulate the standards for joint infringement. In BMC Resources, Inc. v. Paymentech, L.P., the court ruled that to find liability in situations where steps of a method claim are performed by multiple parties, the entire method must be performed at the control or direction of the alleged direct infringer — the mastermind. Approximately one year later, in Muniauction, Inc. v. Thomson Corp., the Federal Circuit clarified that “the control or direction standard is satisfied in situations where the law would traditionally hold the accused direct infringer vicariously …

Bad Faith In Cyberspace: Grounding Domain Name Theory In Trademark, Property And Restitution, Jacqueline D. Lipton

Articles

The year 2009 marks the tenth anniversary of domain name regulation under the Anti-Cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (ACPA) and the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP). Adopted to combat cybersquatting, these rules left a confused picture of domain name theory in their wake. Early cybersquatters registered Internet domain names corresponding with others’ trademarks to sell them for a profit. However, this practice was quickly and easily contained. New practices arose in domain name markets, not initially contemplated by the drafters of the ACPA and the UDRP. One example is clickfarming – using domain names to generate revenues from click-on …

Symposium, Internet Expression In The 21st Century: Where Technology & Law Collide: Introduction, Michael R. Dimino, Tonya M. Evans-Walls, Nicole M. Santo

Michael R Dimino

Chapter 7 - Restricting Fair Use To Save The News, Ryan T. Holte

Prof. Ryan T. Holte

Ryan T. Holte in “Restricting Fair Use to Save the News: A Proposed Change in Copyright Law to Bring More Profit to News Reporting” examines the present condition of the media and the economic and public policies behind protecting news. He further discusses current means of protecting information through copyright and misappropriation law, before proposing a change in the Copyright Act to better allow the news industry to reap profits from news reporting.