Intellectual Property Law Commons^™

Exploring The Interfaces Between Big Data And Intellectual Property Law, Daniel J. Gervais

Daniel J Gervais

This article reviews the application of several IP rights (copyright, patent, sui generis database right, data exclusivity and trade secret) to Big Data. Beyond the protection of software used to collect and process Big Data corpora, copyright’s traditional role is challenged by the relatively unstructured nature of the non-relational (noSQL) databases typical of Big Data corpora. This also impacts the application of the EU sui generis right in databases. Misappropriation (tort-based) or anti-parasitic behaviour protection might apply, where available, to data generated by AI systems that has high but short-lived value. Copyright in material contained in Big Data corpora must …

Trademark Issues Relating To Digitalized Flavor, John T. Cross

John Cross

Over the past three decades, most people have become accustomed to dealing with music, film, photography, and other expressive media stored in digital format. However, while great strides have been made in digitalizing what we see and hear, there has been far less progress in digitalizing the other senses. This lack of progress is especially evident for the chemical senses of smell and taste. However, all this may soon change. Recently, several groups of researchers have commenced various projects that could store odors and flavors in a digital format, and replicate them for humans.

Dead Ends And Dirty Secrets: Legal Treatment Of Negative Information, 25 J. Marshall J. Computer & Info. L. 619 (2008), John T. Cross

John Cross

This article discusses the process of innovation and releasing so-called negative information to help others in the process to innovate. The article focuses on patent law and asks the questions: Why do people innovate? Does the legal system really reflect how the process of innovation actually occurs?

Sharing Stupid $H*T With Friends And Followers: The First Amendment Rights Of College Athletes To Use Social Media, Mary Margaret Meg Penrose

Meg Penrose

No abstract provided.

By Reading This Title, You Have Agreed To Our Terms Of Service, Brian Larson

Brian Larson

Blockchain And Smart Contracts: The Missing Link In Copyright Licensing?, Balazs Bodo, Daniel Gervais, Joao Pedro Quintais

Daniel J Gervais

Privacy Vs. Piracy, Sonia K. Katyal

Sonia Katyal

A few years ago, it was fanciful to imagine a world where intellectual property owners - such as record companies, soft ware owners, and publishers - were capable of invading the most sacred areas of the home in order to track, deter, and control uses of their products. Yet, today, strategies of copyright enforcement have rapidly multiplied, each strategy more invasive than the last. This new surveillance exposes the paradoxical nature of the Internet: It offers both the consumer and creator a seemingly endless capacity for human expression - a virtual marketplace of ideas- alongside an insurmountable array of capacities …

Principles Of The Law Of Software Contracts: Some Highlights, Robert A. Hillman, Maureen O'Rourke

Robert Hillman

The final draft of the Principles of the Law of Software Contracts ("Principles") was unanimously approved by the American Law Institute membership in May of 2009. The goal of the project is to “clarify and unify the law of software transactions.” However, the Principles will not become law in any jurisdiction unless and until a court adopts them, so only time will tell whether the project will accomplish this goal. Nevertheless, one thing is certain. The current law of software transactions, a mish-mash of common law, Article 2 of the Uniform Commercial Code, and federal intellectual property law, among other …

Contract Law In Context: The Case Of Software Contracts, Robert A. Hillman

Robert Hillman

The membership of The American Law Institute unanimously approved the “Principles of the Law of Software Contracts” in May of 2009. In this essay for a symposium in the Wake Forest Law Review, I draw on my experience as Reporter on the ALI project to add my perspective on an interesting general question: Is specialization of contract law wise and, if so, in what contexts? I certainly cannot definitively answer the question of whether in the abstract society is better off with general or specialized law, but my experience in drafting the software rules, along with Associate Reporter, Maureen O'Rourke, …

Patent Injunctions And The Problem Of Uniformity Cost, Michael W. Carroll

Michael W. Carroll

In eBay v. MercExchange, the Supreme Court correctly rejected a one-size-fits-all approach to patent injunctions. However, the Court's opinion does not fully recognize that the problem of uniformity in patent law is more general and that this problem cannot be solved through case-by-case analysis. This Essay provides a field guide for implementing eBay using functional analysis and insights from a uniformity-cost framework developed more fully in prior work. While there can be no general rule governing equitable relief in patent cases, the traditional four factor analysis for injunctive relief should lead the cases to cluster around certain patterns that often …

Creative Commons And The New Intermediaries, Michael W. Carroll

Michael W. Carroll

This symposium contribution examines the disintermediating and reintermediating roles played by Creative Commons licenses on the Internet. Creative Commons licenses act as a disintermediating force because they enable end-to-end transactions in copyrighted works. The licenses have reintermediating force by enabling new services and new online communities to form around content licensed under a Creative Commons license. Intermediaries focused on the copyright dimension have begun to appear online as search engines, archives, libraries, publishers, community organizers, and educators. Moreover, the growth of machine-readable copyright licenses and the new intermediaries that they enable is part of a larger movement toward a Semantic …

Chapter Three: Intellectual Property, Tracy Mitrano

Tracy Mitrano

No abstract provided.

Rats, Traps, And Trade Secrets, Elizabeth A. Rowe

Elizabeth A Rowe

Technology has facilitated both the amount of trade secrets that are now stored electronically, and the rise of cyber intrusions. Together, this has created a storm perfectly ripe for economic espionage. Cases involving unknown or anonymous offenders who may not be in the United States and who steal trade secrets using remote access tools (“RATs”) are especially problematic. This Article is the first to address and place trade secret misappropriation within the larger backdrop of cybersecurity. First, it argues that systemic issues related to technology will continue to make legislative and judicial solutions suboptimal for cyber misappropriation. Second, it explores …

Copyright Law: Essential Cases And Materials, Alfred Yen, Joseph Liu

Joseph P. Liu

Private Technology (Foreword), Daniel Harris Brean

Daniel Harris Brean

"Globalization And Legal Culture. The Influence Of Law & Economics’ Blogs In Developing Countries,", Críspulo Marmolejo

Críspulo Marmolejo

This paper considers the relationship between blogs and Law and Economics from two perspectives: some aspects of the law and economics approach to blogging, and the influence of blogs in the diffusion of Law and Economics. The article explores how blogs are a modern way of low cost domestic journalism, in a context in which the increasingsize of the blogosphere is a current challenge in terms of free speech and quality of the information. At the same time, blogs such as “The Volokh Conspiracy” are playing an interesting role in the American legal academia as areal instrument to analyze the …

On Climate Change And Cyber Attacks: Leveraging Polycentric Governance To Mitigate Global Collective Action Problems, Scott J. Shackelford

Scott Shackelford

Although the atmosphere and cyberspace are distinct arenas, they share similar problems of overuse, difficulties of enforcement, and the associated challenges of collective inaction and free riders. Moreover, “[m]illions of actors affect the global atmosphere[,]” just as they do the Internet. With weather patterns changing, global sea levels rising, and temperatures set to exceed 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2100, climate change is a problem affecting the entire world, but one in which the benefits are dispersed and the harms are often concentrated. Similarly, much of the cost of cyber attacks is focused in a relatively small number of nations even …

Session Iv: Technology And The Future Of Privacy, 29 J. Marshall J. Computer & Info. L. 379 (2012), David E. Sorkin, Ann Bartow, Robert S. Gurwin, Doris E. Long

David E. Sorkin

No abstract provided.

Judicial Review Of Icann Domain Name Dispute Decisions, 18 Santa Clara Computer & High Tech. L.J. 35 (2001), David E. Sorkin

David E. Sorkin

No abstract provided.

Copy Game For High Score: The First Video Game Lawsuit, 20 J. Intell. Prop. L. 1 (2012), William K. Ford

William K. Ford

Commentators and industry historians generally agree that the multi-billion dollar video game industry began forty years ago in November 1972 with Atari's release of Pong. Pong is among the simplest of video games: a version of ping pong or tennis requiring little more to play than a ball, two paddles, a scoring indicator, and a couple of memorable sounds. While it was not the first video game, Pong was the first video game hit. With unauthorized copying of a successful product occurring, it is not surprising that a lawsuit resulted in the fall of 1973, one that predates the more …

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

William K. Ford

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 Evolution Of Internet Service Providers From Partners To Adversaries: Tracking Shifts In Interconnection Goals And Strategies In The Internet’S Fifth Generation, Rob Frieden

Rob Frieden

At the Internet’s inception, carriers providing the bit switching and transmission function largely embraced expanding connections and users as a primary service goal. These ventures refrained from metering traffic and charging for carriage based on the assumption that traffic volumes roughly matched, or that traffic measurement was not worth the bother in light of external funding from government grants. Most Internet Service Providers (“ISPs”) bartered network access through a process known as peering in lieu of metering traffic and billing for network use. As governments removed subsidies and commercial carriers invested substantial funds to build larger and faster networks, identifying …

Déjà Vu All Over Again: Questions And A Few Suggestions On How The Fcc Can Lawfully Regulate Internet Access, Rob Frieden

Rob Frieden

This paper will examine the FCC’s March, 2015 Open Internet Order with an eye to assessing whether and how the Commission can successfully defend its decision in an appellate court. On two prior occasions, the FCC failed to convince a reviewing court that proposed regulatory safeguards do not unlawfully impose common carrier duties on private carriers. The Commission now has opted to reclassify broadband Internet access as common carriage, a decision sure to trigger a third court appeal. The FCC Open Internet Order offers several, possibly contradictory, justifications for its decision to apply Title II of the Communications Act, subject …

The Political Economy Of Data Protection, Peter K. Yu

Peter K. Yu

Information is the lifeblood of a knowledge-based economy. The control of data and the ability to translate them into meaningful information is indispensable to businesspeople, policymakers, scientists, engineers, researchers, students, and consumers. Having useful, and at times exclusive, information improves productivity, advances education and training, and helps create a more informed citizenry. In the past two decades, those who collected or obtained access to a large amount of data began to explore ways to use the collected data as an income stream. Because the then-existing laws did not offer adequate protection for that particular purpose, they actively lobbied for stronger …

Regulating Access To Databases Through Antitrust Law, 2006 Stan. Tech. L. Rev. 7 (2006), Daryl Lim

Daryl Lim

It is largely uncontroversial that the “creative” effort in a database will be protected by copyright. However, any effort to extend protection to purely factual databases creates difficulties in determining the proper method and scope of protection. This Paper argues that antitrust law can be used to supplement intellectual property law in maintaining the “access-incentive” balance with respect to databases. It starts from the premise that a trend toward “TRIPs-plus” rights in databases, whatever its form, is inevitable. The reason is a simple, but compelling one: business needs shape the law. Various means of database access regulation are explored and …

Network Neutrality And Consumer Demand For “Better Than Best Efforts” Traffic Management, Rob Frieden

Rob Frieden

This paper assesses whether and how ISPs can offer quality of service enhancements, at premium prices for full motion video, while still complying with the new rules and regulations established by the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) in March, 2015. The paper explains that having made the controversial decision to reclassify all forms of Internet access as a telecommunications service, the FCC increases regulatory uncertainty. In particular, the FCC has failed to identify instances where “retail ISPs,” serving residential broadband subscribers, can offer quality of service enhancements that serve real consumer wants without harming competition and the ability of most content …

The World’S Laboratory: China’S Patent Boom, It Standards And The Implications For The Global Knowledge, Christopher Mcelwain, Dennis Fernandez

Christopher McElwain

Just as China’s factories disrupted the economics of IT hardware, its research labs have the potential to disrupt the economics of the technology itself. In 2014, China’s patent office received nearly 2.4 million patent applications, 93% from domestic applicants. China has also climbed to third place in terms of international applications, with over 21,000 WIPO PCT applications. Meanwhile, China has taken an assertive role in setting technology standards, both at the national and international levels. In the past, this has included developing and promoting alternatives to important IT standards as a means of challenging perceived monopolies by certain (foreign-dominated) technologies. …

Ninth Circuit Nine-Plus -- Settling The Law In Internet Keyword Advertising And Trademark Use, Andrew Leahey

Andrew Leahey

No abstract provided.

Information Technology And The Law - Copyright In Cyberspace, Ulf Maunsbach

Ulf Maunsbach

No abstract provided.

Invisible Labor, Invisible Play: Online Gold Farming And The Boundary Between Jobs And Games, Julian Dibbell

Julian Dibbell

When does work become play, and play work? Courts have considered the question in a variety of economic contexts, from student athletes seeking recognition as employees to professional blackjack players seeking to be treated by casinos just like casual players. Here I apply the question to a relatively novel context: that of online gold farming, a gray-market industry in which wage-earning workers, largely based in China, are paid to play online fantasy games (MMOs) that reward them with virtual items their employers sell for profit to the same games’ casual players. Gold farming is clearly a job (and under the …