Intellectual Property Law Commons^™

Registration And Federalization: 75 Years Of The Lanham Act, Mark P. Mckenna, Brittany Von Rueden

Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal

The Lanham Act, enacted 75 years ago, aimed to enhance notice and uniformity in trademark law, primarily through improved registration processes. However, its goals were only partially met. While it successfully federalized trademark law, it fell short in emphasizing registration due to court interpretations that allowed enforcement of unregistered marks, leading to a more complex and expanded scope of trademark protection.

Mark Talk, Alexandra J. Roberts

Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal

The article argues that trademark law should evolve to incorporate "mark talk"—consumer discussions and usage of trademarks on social media and online platforms—as a key factor in determining secondary meaning. Traditional methods, such as advertising expenditures and sales data, are critiqued for their limitations in the digital age. The author advocates for updating legal frameworks to reflect contemporary consumer interactions, emphasizing that mark talk provides direct evidence of consumer perception and a mark's distinctiveness. However, courts and the USPTO have been slow to adopt these modern approaches, highlighting a disconnect between legal practices and the realities of digital communication.

An Estate Plan For Kanye West, Thomas E. Simmons

Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal

One inventory item in megastar Kanye West's vast portfolio of assets merits a unique sort of care and safeguarding his right ofpublicity. The right ofpublicity is a property interest which represents the commercial value of a celebrity's name, image, and likeness. In some states, including California, the right survives the celebrity's death and is freely alienable and devisable. A protective arrangement, such as a trust, is often pursued to impose postmortem use and transferability restrictions on property that has particular importance to the testator. This Article proposes a noncharitable purpose trust as a means by which Kanye West's right of …

Fashion, Models, And Intellectual Property, Andres Sawicki

Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal

In this Article, I revisit the impact of Professor Kal Raustiala and Professor Christopher Sprigman 's landmark article, The Piracy Paradox. Their work identified an empirical anomaly that was difficult to explain in light of the standard justification for intellectual property rights: although IP law does not grant meaningful exclusivity in novel fashion designs, the fashion industry invests significant resources developing those novel designs. To account for this anomaly, The Piracy Paradox shifted the focus from the supply side of innovation to the demand side. The standard justification emphasized that innovators face threats of copying that they cannot easily mitigate; …

Fashion Forward: Fashion Innovation In The Era Of Disruption, Francesca M. Witzburg

Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal

The fashion industry, a significant global economic and cultural force, faces disruption from fast fashion and digital acceleration, challenging traditional legal protections. While the U.S. offers limited intellectual property (IP) safeguards for fashion designs compared to the European Union, the industry's rapid evolution suggests that innovation through new business models, rather than stricter IP laws, may be the key to future success.

"Gigi, Over Here!": Celebrity Use Of Copyrighted Paparazzi Photographs, Dylan B. Reich

Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal

The note argues that celebrities should have limited rights to use paparazzi-taken photos of themselves, balancing their rights with those of photographers. It proposes that non-commercial use by celebrities could be permissible under certain legal doctrines.

From A Circuit Split To A District Split: Amending Copyright Lawsuits After Fourth Estate Public Benefit Corporation V. Wall-Street.Com, Llc, Habeeb Sheikh

Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal

The note examines the legal implications of the Supreme Court's decision in Fourth Estate Public Benefit Corporation v. Wall-Street.com, LLC, which resolved a circuit split by adopting the "registration approach" for copyright lawsuits. This approach requires a copyright registration to be granted by the Copyright Office before a lawsuit can be filed. The article argues that lower courts are now divided on whether plaintiffs can amend their complaints to include newly registered copyrights after the initial filing, and it advocates for allowing such amendments to ensure fairness and efficiency in the judicial process.

Who Killed The Radio Star? How Music Blanket Licensing Distorts The Production Of Creative Content In Radio, Ariel Katz, Eden Sarid

American University Law Review

According to popular and scholarly belief, video killed the radio star. The golden age of radio, culminating in the 1930s and 1940s, was gone with the rise of television in the 1950s and 1960s. In this Article, we advance the claim that television’s role in the “death” of the radio star has been more limited than commonly believed. A major culprit, we argue, is the common licensing practice of musical content for broadcasting, or more precisely, the blanket license issued by copyright collective management organizations (CMOs). By setting a zero marginal price for broadcasting additional songs from the CMO’s repertoire, …

Protecting Culturally Identifiable Fashion: What Role For Gis?, J. Janewa Osei-Tutu

FIU Law Review

No abstract provided.

“Bello E Ben Fatto”—The Protection Of Fashion “Made In Italy”, Barbara Pozzo

FIU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Take The Airwaves And Run: How A Loophole In The Copyright Laws Is Helping Competitors Gain An Advantage In The Name Of Public Interest, Mario Romero

FIU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Copyright And Disability, Blake E. Reid

Publications

A vast array of copyrighted works—books, video programming, software, podcasts, video games, and more—remain inaccessible to people with disabilities. International efforts to adopt limitations and exceptions to copyright law that permit third parties to create and distribute accessible versions of books for people with print disabilities have drawn some attention to the role that copyright law plays in inhibiting the accessibility of copyrighted works. However, copyright scholars have not meaningfully engaged with the role that copyright law plays in the broader tangle of disability rights.

Charging Bull, Fearless Girl, Composition, And Copyright, Richard H. Chused

Articles & Chapters

No abstract provided.

News Reporting On Trump's Covid-19 Treatments: Should Broadcasters Have To Disclose Their Being Potentially Dangerous?, Dr. Joel Timmer

Washington Journal of Law, Technology & Arts

During the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, President Trump touted a number of treatments that many medical professionals considered dangerous. These treatments include hydroxychloroquine and disinfectants, which if misused could cause a patient’s death. This prompted Free Press to file an emergency petition with the FCC, arguing that broadcasters who report on Trump’s claims about these treatments without highlighting their dangers could be in violation of the Commission’s broadcast hoax rule. Free Press also requested the FCC require that broadcasters include disclaimers when reporting on such claims. This article examines whether the broadcast hoax rule has been …

Table Of Contents

Washington Journal of Law, Technology & Arts

No abstract provided.

Preserving Fabled Amateurism: The Benefits Of The Ncaa’S Adoption Of The Olympic Amateurism Model, John Kealey

Journal of Law and Policy

After a century of denying student-athletes from receiving compensation outside the cost of attendance for their athletic contributions to their respective universities, the NCAA finally announced it would change its amateurism rule. The change came in response to multiple class action lawsuits and, more recently, legislation from many states, namely California and New York, which would have mandated that universities do not interfere with student-athletes desire to commercially exploit their own names, image, and likenesses. However, these statutes are potentially flawed in that each could exacerbate or perpetuate the anti-trust and first amendment issues inherent to the current amateurism rule. …

Enough Is As Good As A Feast, Noah C. Chauvin

Seattle University Law Review

Ipse Dixit, the podcast on legal scholarship, provides a valuable service to the legal community and particularly to the legal academy. The podcast’s hosts skillfully interview guests about their legal and law-related scholarship, helping those guests communicate their ideas clearly and concisely. In this review essay, I argue that Ipse Dixit has made a major contribution to legal scholarship by demonstrating in its interview episodes that law review articles are neither the only nor the best way of communicating scholarly ideas. This contribution should be considered “scholarship,” because one of the primary goals of scholarship is to communicate new ideas.

Preservation Requests And The Fourth Amendment, Armin Tadayon

Seattle University Law Review

Every day, Facebook, Twitter, Google, Amazon, ridesharing companies, and numerous other service providers copy users’ account information upon receiving a preservation request from the government. These requests are authorized under a relatively obscure subsection of the Stored Communications Act (SCA). The SCA is the federal statute that governs the disclosure of communications stored by third party service providers. Section 2703(f) of this statute authorizes the use of “f” or “preservation” letters, which enable the government to request that a service provider “take all necessary steps to preserve records and other evidence in its possession” while investigators seek valid legal process. …

Tiktok And The Music Business, Cardozo Fame Center, Cardozo Entertainment Law Society

2020 Event Invitations

Cardozo School of Law's Entertainment Law Society and FAME Center welcomes music industry lawyers on both the artist and label sides and copyright and privacy law professors to discuss the impacts of the popularization of TikTok on artist development, music licensing, and copyright law.

Table Of Contents, Seattle University Law Review

Seattle University Law Review

Table of Contents

Owning Nothingness: Between The Legal And The Social Norms Of The Art World, Guy A. Rub

BYU Law Review

Almost $8 million—that is what the Crystal Bridges Museum paid for one work of contemporary art in November 2015. What did that museum get for that hefty sum? From a legal perspective, absolutely nothing. The work it purchased was just an idea, and ideas of this kind escape legal protection.

Despite this lack of legal protection, the social norms of the art world lead large, sophisticated, experienced, and legally represented institutes to pay millions of dollars for this type of work. This Article is one of the first in legal scholarship to examine at depth those norms in this multibilliondollar …

Testimony Of Joshua D. Sarnoff Senate Judiciary Committee, Ip Subcommittee June 4, 2019, Joshua D. Sarnoff

DePaul Journal of Art, Technology & Intellectual Property Law

No abstract provided.

Regents Of Univ. Of California V. Broad Inst., Inc., 903 F.3d 1286 (Fed. Cir. 2018), Ali Albazzaz

DePaul Journal of Art, Technology & Intellectual Property Law

No abstract provided.

A Note On Mayo Foundation For Medical Education And Research V. Iancu, Florence Montarmani

DePaul Journal of Art, Technology & Intellectual Property Law

No abstract provided.

What's Going On With Copyright Trolls?, Edward Grahovec

DePaul Journal of Art, Technology & Intellectual Property Law

No abstract provided.

The Constitutionality Of The Hear Act: Empowering American Courts To Return Holocaust-Era Artwork And Honor History, Jennifer A. Kreder, Virginia L. Schell

DePaul Journal of Art, Technology & Intellectual Property Law

No abstract provided.

Going “All In” After Murphy V. Ncaa: An Approach For California To Legalize Sports Gambling, Kailey J. Walsh

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

When people think of sports gambling, they think of Las Vegas. Until recently, Nevada was the only state where one could legally place bets on sporting events. However, since the recent Supreme Court decision, Murphy v. NCAA, states are now in control when it comes to deciding whether or not to legalize sports gambling. As a result of the Murphy v. NCAA decision, some states have started to pass legislation to allow its citizens to legally place bets on certain sporting events. The driving force to legalize sports gambling stems from states’ desires to increase revenue through the taxation of …

Leveraging The Ilo For Human Rights And Workers’ Rights In International Sporting Events, Dantam Le

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

Sports majorly impact the world, and millions of fans from all over the globe rally together with pride to watch their countries compete on the world’s stage in international sporting events such as the Olympic Games and the World Cup. Studies suggest that mega sporting events help host cities gain an influx of resources from the central government relative to non-host cities in the same country, and that this may be particularly important in periods of economic recession and resource scarcity. Sports play a central role in quality education for all, and sports have been found to advance public health, …

The Shield And The Sword: The Press Between The Public Interest And The Illegal Interception Of Private Communications, Andres Calderon

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

Journalism is not only under the attack of fake news and post-truth politics. Its main enemy comes from within. Malpractices of journalism such as the fabrication of sources and fake stories and illegal intrusion in people’s privacy are part of the equation that leads to people’s distrust in news organization.

This article addresses two very related topics that, nevertheless, have not been sufficiently studied as part of the same phenomenon: the reporter’s privilege to protect his sources’ identity and its connection with a journalist’s involvement in the illegal hacking or interception of private communications.

After reviewing most relevant case laws …

This Is No Laughing Matter: How Should Comedians Be Able To Protect Their Jokes?, Sarah Gamblin

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

This note will discuss the current state of protection for jokes and comedy. As it is now, the only protection comics have is self-help, meaning comedians take punishing thefts into their own hands. This note will dive into the reasons why the current legislature and courts refuse to recognize jokes as copyrightable. Specifically, why many believe that jokes to not meet the qualifications of being an expression, as well as the fear that protecting jokes will lead to chilled speech.

Additionally, this note shall discuss the ways jokes could be protected under the current legal scheme, including trademark and state …