Intellectual Property Law Commons^™

“I Agreed To What?”: A Call For Enforcement Of Clarity In The Presentation Of Privacy Policies, David Thompson

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

Though the federal government has enacted statutes regulating privacy policies in limited contexts, there is no generally applicable law governing the nature of privacy policies across all industries. In light of the ever-increasing prevalence of user data collection and the widespread failure of companies under the self-regulatory model to make their policies readable, of reasonable length, and placed in a noticeable location, I argue that such a regulation should be promulgated.

This note will address the difficulties of preserving one's privacy in the digital era, discuss common shortcomings of privacy policies, explore the negative consequences of these shortcomings, then analyze …

Dropped Calls: The Extent Of The Free Speech Guarantee To Wireless Communications Service, Candice Shin

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

From former President Hosni Mubarak's final days as ruler of Egypt to the Bay Area Rapid Transit's response to the protests on August 11, 2011, governmental entities have increasingly responded to civil unrest by restricting or shutting down wireless communication networks to thrwart further coordination among civilian agitators. Whether BART itself faces another occasion in which to consider disabling its wireless infrastructure, future protests and threats to public safety in the United States are inevitable. To that end, Congress has considered bills that would grant the President the ability to essentially shut down the Internet, including the Protecting Cyberspace as …

The Wrath Of The Blizz King: How The Ninth Circuit’S Decision In Mdy Industries, Inc. V. Blizzard Entertainment May Slay The Game Genie, Alessandra Garbagnati

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

Since its release in 2004, Blizzard Entertainment's ("Blizzard") World of Warcraft ("WoW") has become the world's most infamous and popular massively multiplayer online role playing game. The company's strong anticheating policy culminated in the Ninth Circuit's decision in MDY Industries v. Blizzard Entertainment, where the court held that the rights holders could use the Digital Millennium Copyright Act ("DMCA") to prevent circumvention even where there is no actual copyright infringement involved. Although cheaters are not a sympathetic group of people, the Ninth Circuit's decision strays from similar decisions by other circuit courts and potentially grants rights holders like Blizzard the …

How The Traditional Property Rights Model Informs The Television Broadcasting Spectrum Rationalization Challenge, J. Armand Musey

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

This paper examines the role zoning rights and eminent domain may play in the Federal Communication Commission's ("FCC") challenge of reallocating underutilized television broadcast spectrum for use in significantly higher value mobile broadband applications. The government must find a way to reallocate the spectrum in an economically and legally efficient manner, balancing the interests of the politically powerful broadcasters and those of society as a whole. From a strictly legal perspective, the broadcasters have a relatively weak claim to property rights. However, the government has indicated it seeks an incentivized voluntary return of spectrum by the broadcasters, suggesting the government …

The Transformative Tribute: How Mash-Up Music Constitutes Fair Use Of Copyrights, Vera Golosker

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

The music industry faces copyright protection issues in light of the transformative digital sampling trend, which has carved out a new genre: mash-up. Without obtaining licensing agreements, creators of mash-up music use parts of copyrighted songs as the ingredients for a fusion of sounds that arguably amounts to more creative value than the sum of its parts. In confronting the legality of mash-up music, courts and legislators must strike a balance between securing original artists' interest and promoting new frontiers of expression. This article presents a background of digital sampling, applies the fair use defense to mash-up music, and proposes …

Online Business Reviews And The Public Figure Doctrine: An Advertising-Based Standard, Jenna Morton

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

Online reviews exert a powerful influence of consumers, who rely on the reviews to choose restaurants, barbers, doctors, and many other businesses. Businesses also rely on the reviews as an important form of advertisement. False reviews thus harm both businesses and consumers. Businesses that are harmed by false online reviews can bring a defamation action against the reviewer. However, the current legal standard is unclear as applied to businesses, as it looks to whether an individual is a "public figure." This note weighs the costs and benefits of three possible legal standards for businesses bringing defamation actions: (1) a bright …

Of Guilds And Men: Copyright Workarounds In The Cinematographic Industry, Adriane Porcin

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

The motion picture industry utilizes a varied collection of more or less formal mechanisms for dealing with the collective nature of audiovisual works, ranging from collective bargaining to legal presumptions. What these instances of copyright workarounds have in common is that they are all about circumventing traditional notions of authorship (the right to be deemed the author of a work) and ownership (the right to exert control over a work). When considered from an international perspective, the cinematographic industry is fertile ground for an exploration of such mechanisms.

After a recitation of the Berne Convention, this paper will proceed to …

Crowdsourcing A Trademark: What The Public Giveth, The Courts May Taketh Away, Llewellyn Joseph Gibbons

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

There is a long tradition of trademark holders relying on the public to create designations that they then adopt as a trademark. Historically, this has been a long and slow process. Acquiring secondary meaning from the individual's first use of the designation could take years. Web 2.0 and other forms of social media have the potential to speed up this process through the use of User Generated Content ("UGC"). Frequently, coined designations are nicknames for well-known brands, so they are potentially quite valuable. Trademark law is ambiguous regarding who owns a designation created by the public, if the individual claiming …

Competitive Entertainment: Implications Of The Nfl Lockout Litigation For Sports, Theatre, Music, And Video Entertainment, Henry H. Perritt Jr.

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

The 2011 dispute between the National Football League ("NFL" or "League"), representing the football teams, and NFL Players' Association ("NFLPA," or "Players," or "Players Association"), the union representing its football players, oscillated among the collective bargaining table, the National Labor Relations Board ("NLRB"), and the courts. The League preferred labor law as the matrix of the controversy. The Players preferred antitrust law. Ultimately, the union's most powerful weapon was not to withhold player services in a strike, but to challenge various anticompetitive arrangements wanted by the teams under the antitrust laws.

This article begins with a brief review of the …

Games Are Not Coffee Mugs: Games And The Right Of Publicity, 29 Santa Clara Computer & High Tech. L.J. 1 (2012), William K. Ford, Raizel Liebler

UIC Law Open Access Faculty Scholarship

Are games more like coffee mugs, posters, and T-shirts, or are they more like books, magazines, and films? For purposes of the right of publicity, the answer matters. The critical question is whether games should be treated as merchandise or as expression. Three classic judicial decisions, decided in 1967, 1970, and 1973, held that the defendants needed permission to use the plaintiffs' names in their board games. These decisions judicially confirmed that games are merchandise, not something equivalent to more traditional media of expression. As merchandise, games are not like books; instead, they are akin to celebrity-embossed coffee mugs. To …

The End Of Forgetting And "Administrative Rights" To Our Online Personas, Jamie R. Lund

IP Theory

No abstract provided.

Possible Solutions To The Guitar Tablature Problem: Why An International Approach May Be Best For All, Lauren Myers

Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

"A Simple, Human Measure Of Privacy": Public Disclosure Of Private Facts In The World Of Tiger Woods, Patricia S. Abril

Articles

No abstract provided.

Access To Network Services And Protection Of Constitutional Rights: Recognizing The Essential Role Of Internet Access For The Freedom Of Expression, Nicola Lucchi

Cardozo Journal of International and Comparative Law

In January 2010, after a troubled process, the French law for "creation and Internet," commonly known as "HADOPI 2," was finally adopted in an amended form. The enacted text was the result of corrective action undertaken by the Conseil constitutionnel [Constitutional Council] (France's highest constitutional authority), through Decision No. 2009580DC of the 10th of June 2009. In coming to its conclusion the Conseil constitutionnel examined the mechanism of sanctions introduced by the regulatory measure, assessing compliance with such fundamental rights and freedoms as the presumption of innocence, the separation of powers, the right of defense, the right to fair trial, …

Attention All Internet Users: How Proposed Amendments To The Communications Decency Act Could Save Your Reputation, Niki Blumentritt

Legislation and Policy Brief

Imagine a beautiful fall day on a Southern college campus. The leaves are changing, and the sound of the band practicing for this weekend’s big game echoes throughout campus.  Jane, a college freshman, is walking through campus on the way back to her dorm from her Biology 101 class.  Usually, Jane’s walk is uneventful, aside from the occasional run-in with a friend or sorority sister; however, today is much different.  Jane notices that many people are staring, pointing, and snickering at her.  Is there something on her face?  She quickly pulls out her compact and realizes that all makeup is …

More Speech: Preempting Privacy Tourism, Stephen Bates

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

Many commentators have decried the phenomenon of "libel tourism," where a plaintiff brings a libel suit in a country that affords minimal protection to free expression, even though the defendant and the publication at issue have little connection to the country. In particular, London has often been called the libel capital of the worldfirst, because British libel law strongly favors plaintiffs; and second, because a British court will accept jurisdiction over a libel suit if only a few copies of the publication have circulated there. In 2010, the United States responded to the threat of libel tourism by enacting the …

The Better Angels Of Our Fanfiction: The Need For True And Logical Precedent, Stacey M. Lantagne

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

Music sampling has become a well-respected form of art. So why isn't the same true of fanfiction, which follows similar parameters? Without the benefit of a true and well-reasoned legal precedent, fanfiction has existed in a gray area dominated by highly emotional arrguments. However, most of the emotional arguments offered against fanfiction actually support a finding that fanfiction is fair use. Authors would be better served by stripping the emotion from the discussion.

Trademark's Unfair Nominative Fair Use Defense: Protecting E-Commentary From Censorship By Corporate Monoliths, Tom Abeles

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

This article is concerned with the problem when an in-house attorney with vast resources and experience sends a cease and desist letter to a smaller review site, who may not have the resources to hire an attorney. A modest website may surrender to the request of a powerful corporation, especially if the cease and desist letter was overly intimidating. Website owners who are unfamiliar with trademark law present an attractive target in this situation and may not see a nominative fair use defense, which is not strong enough to protect these types of users. Review sites providing useful commentary or …

A Modern Library Class Action: The Google Book Settlement And The Future Of Digital Books, Courtney Nguyen

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

In this modern age, electronic readers, devices used to read digital copies of books, are fast saturating the market. The Google Books Library Project ("Project") is but one source of digital books, albeit a hotly contested one. Since inception the Project has encountered sundry problems, ranging from copyright disputes to accusations of monopoly and unfair competition. Though Google has settled with several author's groups, the legality of the Project and the resulting Settlement Agreement is still challenged.

This note posits that in light of the ongoing legal problems and other troubles the Project faces, a private settlement agreement is not …

Leaks, Leakers, And Journalists: Adding Historical Context To The Age Of Wikileaks, Sandra Davidson

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

The United States government has charged Pfc. Bradley Manning with leaking to Julian Assange and WikiLeaks unprecedented amounts of classified information. Prior to publishing the Afghan War Logs, WikiLeaks provided the documents to The New York Times and other newspapers around the world. This article begins by reviewing how Manning reportedly leaked the documents about the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as diplomatic cables. It then traces decades of legal precedents surrounding leaks, leakers, and journalists in the United States, suggesting similarities and differences between the past and present. This article thus provides a historical context for the …

The Ncaa And The Right Of Publicity: How The O'Bannon/Keller Case May Finally Level The Playing Field, Julia Brighton

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

This note explores the potential impact of litigation pending against the National Collegiate Athletic Association ("NCAA"), the national governing body that.oversees college sports. The NCAA and its licensing partners make enormous profits from the sale of collegiate-branded merchandise. College athletes, on the other hand, are prevented from making money from commercial use of their names and likenesses by the NCAA's strict rules regarding amateurism. Former collegiate stars Ed O'Bannon and Sam Keller have accused the NCAA of profiting beyond the bounds of fairness by securing for itself and its member universities the exclusive right to all of the proceeds from …

I Can Has Lawyer? The Conflict Between The Participatory Culture Of The Internet And The Legal Profession, Lucille A. Jewel

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

The Internet allows citizens to comment on public affairs with an amplified and unfiltered voice, creating an open, community-based "participatory culture" where robust debate flourishes. However, many of the ideals and practices of participatory culture clash with the traditional legal culture as it exists in the United States. This cultural conflict can be seen in emerging narratives, in the form of web blogs and lawyer emails that go "viral," in which lawyers comment on the lack of humanism within big law firm hiring and firing practices; expose the alienating work environments experienced by low-level contract attorneys; or criticize judges who …

Cultural Losses And Cultural Gains: Ethical Dilemmas In Wwii-Looted Art Repatriation Claims Against Public Institutions, Erin L. Thompson

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

Alongside their campaign of physically exterminating the Jewish population of Europe, the Nazis carried out a highly organized plan of cultural genocide which involved the confiscation or forced sale of hundreds of thousands of pieces of art. Although a sizable number of these works were returned to their owners or their heirs by the Allied forces after the war, many disappeared into the hands of private possessors. Many remain hidden in private collections, but a number of these artworks were given to or purchased by museums or other public institutions. In recent decades, the heirs of Holocaust victims have been …

Is Your Furniture Spying On You?: Covert Use Of Gps In Advertising, Brandy Worden

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

Advancements in technology have been paired with advertising. The result is personalized, but at times intrusive, advertising tactics. The Note uses an advertising campaign titled "The Real Good Experiment" ("the Experiment") as a case study to examine how advertising invades our personal spheres, and also how the legal framework should be fortified to protect consumer privacy.

The subjects of the Experiment brought furniture that had been seemingly abandoned into their homes only to later discover that the furniture had GPS devices hidden within them. The Note considers various categories of legal protection available when advertising invades consumer privacy. The Note …

Effective Reader Privacy For Electronic Books: A Proposal, Jennifer Elmore

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

Historically, reader privacy has been heavily protected in the United States. Numerous library laws, bookstore laws, and Supreme Court opinions have affirmed and upheld reader privacy for traditional paper books. However, electronic readers and electronic books are becoming increasingly popular. These new devices are undoubtedly beneficial; however, with this new technology comes increased privacy concerns. The electronic format allows the reading and purchasing habits of consumers to be tracked in a way that was formerly impossible with traditional books. Electronic readers often track which books are purchased, which pages are read, and more. Additionally, the laws that apply to traditional …

File Sharing Is Dead! Long Live File Sharing! Recent Developments In The Law Of Secondary Liability For Copyright Infringement, Christian E. Mammen

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

In the past several years, courts have issued a number of rulings on the issue of online service providers' secondary liability for copyright infringement in connection with online file sharing. Overall, it appears that the larger, more established providers who "play fair" with content owners tend to fare better than brasher, more rebellious providers. Is this correct because more rebellious providers are guiltier than the established ones? Or is there a double standard at play? Could the brash, rebellious "bad guys" ever win the protection of the safe harbor? It is difficult to make a direct apples-to-apples comparison, because each …

Facebook And Social Networks: The Government’S Newest Playground For Information And The Laws That Haven’T Quite Kept Pace, Danielle Levine

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

With the rise of social networking sites such as Facebook, individuals are sharing information about themselves at alarming rates. With such copious amounts of personal information on the Internet, it is unsurprising that the government is using social networking sites to gain access to data for use in criminal investigations and prosecutions. This paper examines the ways in which social networking sites and the government's search for information collide. Part I looks at Facebook and discusses the ways the government has used Facebook and similar social networking sites in its investigations. Part II outlines the statutory framework through which the …

Adding Injury To Insult: Injurious Speech On The Internet And Its Implications For The First Amendment, Shelly Rosenfeld

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

Cyberbullying became a major news story after a MySpace message took a deadly toll on a teenager. This paper examines how injurious speech case law in traditional print and broadcast media balances protecting victims who suffer emotional or physical harm while still preserving publisher's First Amendment rights. These cases provide a framework within which the injurious speech jurisprudence can be applied to emerging forms of communication, including the Internet.

By exploring the injurious speech cases from broadcast and print, this Note deals with the following issues: Can a public figure sue the press for intentionally inflicting emotional distress? What are …

Legislative And Regulatory Strategies For Providing Consumer Safeguards In A Convergent Information And Communications Marketplace, Rob Frieden

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

The Federal Communications Commission desires to apply a single regulatory category to services and service providers, a process the Commission can achieve when ventures concentrate on one function and offer one readily identifiable service, such as telephony. However, technological convergence, digitization and the ability of the Internet to handle many different service types within a single bitstream now make it possible for companies to offer "quadruple play" bundles of wireless and wireline telephony, video, and Internet access services. Following Comcast Corp. v. FCC, the FCC must rethink how to best serve the public interest and safeguard consumers. Absent a legislative …

The Parents Television Council Uncensored: An Inside Look At The Watchdog Of The Public Airwaves And The War On Indecency With Its President, Tim Winter, Clay Calvert, Robert D. Richards

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

This article addresses the Federal Communication Commission's ("FCC") controversial and contested regulation of indecency on the broadcast airwaves. It pivots on an exclusive in-person interview conducted by the authors in Los Angeles in June 2010 with Tim Winter, president of the Parents Television Council ("PTC"). The PTC is perhaps the most vociferous-and controversial-public watchdog on broadcast indecency, with its members filing thousands and thousands of indecency complaints with the FCC each year. The article is especially timely because, in July 2010, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in Fox Television Stations v. FCC declared the FCC's indecency …