Intellectual Property Law Commons^™

Password Theft: Rethinking An Old Crime In A New Era, Daniel S. Shamah

ExpressO

This is a discussion of the legal and economic ramifications of password theft.

A New Weapon Against Piracy: Patent Protection As An Alternative Strategy For Enforcement Of Digital Rights, Dennis S. Fernandez, Matthew Chivvis, Mengfei Huang

ExpressO

This article illustrates how patents and copyrights complement each other to provide a better defense for creative works. Copyrights protect expression, and patents protect underlying functions. Currently, the one-time strengths of copyrights are being eroded as courts allow new technologies to flourish which enable digital reproduction and piracy. This has encouraged companies and industries to move increasingly to patent protection and any company that fails to pursue this trend may be left behind. In sum, patents are a worthwhile strategy because they assist copyright owners in controlling the technology that enables infringement while copyrights alone would leave a company vulnerable …

Digital Wars -- Legal Battles And Economic Bottlenecks In The Digital Information Industries, Curt A. Hessler

ExpressO

The Digital Age has spawned major legal battles over the fundamental principles of intellectual property law and antitrust law. These diverse struggles can best be analyzed using the basic norm of "value added" from neo-classical normative economics. This analysis suggests that current intellectual property doctirnes provide excessive protection and current antitrust doctrines remain awkward in dealing with the cross-market leveraging of monopoly power in the presence of "natural monopolies" created by network effects.

Who Owns The Cow When We Give Away The Milk For Free? Fair Use And The Protection Of Web-Posted Materials, Annie R. Lin

Buffalo Intellectual Property Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Harry Potter And The Three-Second Crime: Are We Vanishing The De Minimis Defense From Copyright Law?, Julie Cromer

ExpressO

No abstract provided.

A Powers-Based Approach To Idea-Submission Law, Larissa Katz

ExpressO

This paper provides a unified account of idea-submission law in terms of legal powers. It argues that the duty upon a recipient of a novel and original idea results from the exercise of a legal power that the law confers on originators in order to enable them to share their ideas selectively. This paper contributes to our understanding of idea-submission law and to private law theory more generally in a number of ways that have not been addressed in the literature. First, it systematically reveals the lack of fit between the case law and conventional legal theories for the protection …

The Pull Of Patents, Brett M. Frischmann

ExpressO

The conventional view of the role of patents in the university research context (and more generally) is that patent-enabled exclusivity improves the supply-side functioning of markets for university research results (and inventions more generally) as well as those markets further downstream for derivative commercial end-products. The reward, prospect, and commercialization theories of patent law take patent-enabled exclusivity as the relevant means for fixing a supply-side problem—the undersupply of private investment in the production of patentable subject matter or in the development and commercialization of patentable subject matter that would occur in the absence of patent-enabled exclusivity. Put another way, patents …

Digital Wars -- Legal Battles And Economic Bottlenecks In The Digital Information Industries, Curt A. Hessler

ExpressO

The Digital Revolution has created the apparent anomaly that information, though very cheap to create and near costless to share, is managed by industries that are increasingly concentrated and roiled by endless legal warfare. This paper surveys the major legal battles by subjecting all of them to the familiar norm of "maximizing economic value added", as defined by neo-classical "welfare economics". The various legal wars are traced to defects and confusions in current legal approaches to intellectual property (the "property wars") and to antitrust doctrines (the "monopoly wars").

Breaking The Bank: Revisiting Central Bank Of Denver After Enron And Sarbanes-Oxley, Celia Taylor

ExpressO

No abstract provided.

Building Universal Digital Libraries: An Agenda For Copyright Reform , Hannibal B. Travis

ExpressO

This article proposes a series of copyright reforms to pave the way for digital library projects like Project Gutenberg, the Internet Archive, and Google Print, which promise to make much of the world’s knowledge easily searchable and accessible from anywhere. Existing law frustrates digital library growth and development by granting overlapping, overbroad, and near-perpetual copyrights in books, art, audiovisual works, and digital content. Digital libraries would benefit from an expanded public domain, revitalized fair use doctrine and originality requirement, rationalized systems for copyright registration and transfer, and a new framework for compensating copyright owners for online infringement without imposing derivative …

Proceed With Precaution: The Statutory, Legal, And Consumer Influence On Genetically Modified Foods In Canada, Alexander Singh

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

Despite the majority of consumers’ health and environmental concerns, genetically modified organisms (GMOs) now form a regular part of Canadian society. Our system of regulatory approval introduces GMOs into agriculture, while our legal regimes deal with rights and responsibilities with respect to GMO, all while grocers and consumers sell, buy and eat genetically modified foods (GMFs) as part of their daily diet. With the increasing prominence of GMOs in our society, and the consistent debate over their safety, there is a need to inject precaution into the principles behind how these foods and crops enter, remain and spread in the …

Cryptography Export Controls - Canada's Dichotomous Cryptography Policy, Paul Bates

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

The effort to erect strong legal barriers to trans-national distribution of cryptography has significant gaps because strong cryptography can be obtained and used within Canada without legal restrictions. This paper advocates that Canada should exercise its discretion under the WA to diminish, not fortify, the restrictions of the export control regime.

The Role Of Levies In Canada's Digital Music Marketplace, Jeremy F. Debeer

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

This paper considers whether such initiatives are a desirable alternative to the current system of exclusive proprietary copyrights. My goal is not to evaluate the nuances of any particular levy scheme or proposal, but to consider the implications of the concept from a specifically Canadian perspective. Despite the generality of the analysis, many of the observations and conclusions about the viability of levy schemes relate to Canada’s actual experiences with its existing private copying levy.

The paper concludes that tariffs or levies on the products and services of third parties are not the best method to support the Canadian music …

Unmasking The John Does Of Cyberspace: Surveillance By Private Copyright Owners, Amy Min-Chee Fong

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

The goals of this paper are to: (1) explore the expectations of cyberspace privacy in a peer-to-peer context; (2) examine the consequences to Internet users arising from the surveillance tactics of private copyright owners; and (3) discuss possible ways in which a balance can be achieved between privacy and intellectual property rights. Part II of this paper sets out the meaning of information privacy, discusses the widespread use of peer-to-peer networks for trading copyrighted content, and examines the expectations of privacy in peer-to-peer networks. Part III discusses the surveillance tactics of private copyright owners, and explains how the surveillance of …

Is A Domain Name Property?, Sheldon Burshtein

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

Domain names have become increasingly valuable assets; in some respects, more valuable than trademarks. A domain name may identify not only the source of the goods, services, business, or information, but also the virtual location of the source, much as an address or telephone number does. However, there is still a significant unresolved issue as to whether a domain name is a form of intangible property or merely a contractual right. Resolution of this issue is important for commercial transactions affecting domain names and for legal proceedings and remedies relating to them. Although there is United States appellate authority to …

What The Dormouse Said: How The Sixties Counterculture Shaped The Personal Computer By John Markoff (New York: Penguin, 2005), Vaughan Black

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

What the Dormouse Said is the revisionary back- story of Silicon Valley; in particular, the roots of the current model of human interface with personal com- puters (video screen, keyboard, mouse) and the early stabs at creating the Internet. Markoff is a long-standing hi-tech reporter for the New York Times who, over the past 20 years, has co-written three computer-related books. In Dormouse, his fourth book (but first solo effort), he takes us back to the pre-ironic age — ‘‘the Flintstones era of computers’’ — when batch processing and beatniks still roamed the earth. His claim is that the various …

Thieves In Cyberspace: Examining Music Piracy And Copyright Law Deficiencies In Russia As It Enters The Digital Age, Michael F. Mertens

ExpressO

The article discusses broadly the music piracy problem in Russia, the current state of Russia’s copyright laws, and how its laws and problems compare to the U.S. and the rest of the world. In particular, the article focuses on music piracy through the Internet and how it has exploded in Russia. One of the websites I target is the infamous Allofmp3.com, which has attracted a large amount of U.S. attention in recent times by consumers as well as lawmakers. The article analyzes the legislative and enforcement deficiencies in Russia that led to the enormous problem with traditional music piracy and …

The Purpose Of Copyright Law In Canada, Daniel J. Gervais

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

IN THREE RECENT CASES, the Supreme Court of Canada provided several pieces of the Canadian copyright policy puzzle. We now know that the economic purpose of copyright law is instrumentalist in nature, namely, to ensure the orderly production and distribution of, and access to, works of art and intellect. The Court added that copyright can not enter carelessly into the private sphere of individual users. By targeting end-users in recent lawsuits, copyright holders have also found out that it is difficult to enforce a right that has not been properly internalized. After reviewing the Supreme Court trilogy of cases, the …

Search Engines And Internet Advertisers: Just One Click Away From Trademark Infringement?, Lauren Troxclair

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Sharing Potential And The Potential For Sharing: Open Source Licensing As A Legal And Economic Modality For The Dissemination Of Renewable Energy Technology, Jason Wiener

ExpressO

No abstract provided.

Vol. Ix, Tab 41 - Ex. 24 - Fax From Allstate Insurance Company, Allstate Insurance Company

Rosetta Stone v. Google (Joint Appendix)

Exhibits from the un-sealed joint appendix for Rosetta Stone Ltd., v. Google Inc., No. 10-2007, on appeal to the 4th Circuit. Issue presented: Under the Lanham Act, does the use of trademarked terms in keyword advertising result in infringement when there is evidence of actual confusion?

Intellectual Property Rights In Digital Media: A Comparative Analysis Of Legal Protection, Technological Measures And New Business Models Under E.U. And U.S. Law, Nicola Lucchi

ExpressO

The production of digital content is a phenomenon which has completely changed the conditions of access to knowledge. Within this framework it becomes even more important to find and to formulate a new settlement for intellectual property rights balancing contrasted rights. Owners of the old technology and policy makers have found two different solutions and remedies for intellectual property rights: legal and technological. When both remedies work together any rights that a consumer may have under copyright law could be replaced by a unilaterally defined contractual term and condition. To balance this inequity this article analyses different solutions under U.S. …

The Drm Dilemma: Re-Aligning Rights Under The Digital Millennium Copyright Act, Jacqueline D. Lipton

ExpressO

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (‘DMCA’) prevents unauthorized copying and distribution of digital copyright works by regulating devices that can be used to circumvent Digital Rights Management (‘DRM’) measures that are used to restrict access to those works. A significant problem is that those devices, like many new technologies, have the potential to be used for both socially harmful and socially beneficial purposes. There is no obvious way for Congress to regulate circumvention devices to prevent the social harms, while at the same time facilitating the social benefits they might provide. Recent judicial interpretations of the DMCA have unsurprisingly erred …

An Economic Theory Of Infrastructure And Commons Management, Brett M. Frischmann

ExpressO

In this article, Professor Frischmann combines a number of current debates across many disciplinary lines, all of which examine from different perspectives whether certain resources should be managed through a regime of private property or through a regime of open access. Frischmann develops and applies a theory that demonstrates there are strong economic arguments for managing and sustaining openly accessible infrastructure. The approach he takes differs from conventional analyses in that he focuses extensively on demand-side considerations and fully explores how infrastructure resources generate value for consumers and society. As a result, the theory brings into focus the social value …

Copyright Law, The Production Of Creative Works And Cultural Growth In Cyberspace , Alina Ng

ExpressO

The Internet has affected information flow in copyrighted content in a profound manner. Authors and artists are enabled through the Internet to assert greater control over the flow of information in their works as these new technologies offer new and different distribution channels for content. These new technologies also allow consumers to use content in ways, which had not been anticipated by the copyright industries. This paper presents that copyright law was developed for a specific purpose, which was to encourage learning and growth. As new technologies emerge and as content industries experience changes in information flow in copyrighted works, …

Copyright Law, The Production Of Creative Works And Cultural Growth In Cyberspace , Alina Ng

ExpressO

The Internet has affected information flow in copyrighted content in a profound manner. Authors and artists are enabled through the Internet to assert greater control over the flow of information in their works as these new technologies offer new and different distribution channels for content. These new technologies also allow consumers to use content in ways, which had not been anticipated by the copyright industries. This paper presents that copyright law was developed for a specific purpose, which was to encourage learning and growth. As new technologies emerge and as content industries experience changes in information flow in copyrighted works, …

Block Me Not: Are Patented Genes 'Essential Facilities'?, Shamnad Basheer

ExpressO

The biopharmaceutical industry is characterized by the ‘cumulative innovation’ paradigm, wherein the discovery of a gene sequence is only the first step. In order to convert such sequence information into viable products, tests and cures for genetic conditions and diseases, vast amounts of additional time, effort and money have to be spent. It is feared that patents over upstream gene sequences may ‘block’ further downstream research and consequently adversely impact drug discovery, as many diseases today are known to have genetic origins.

This ‘blocking’ or ‘restricted access’ issue has been the subject of several important papers and a wide array …

L'Affaire Huntsman C. Soderbergh Ou Le Droit D'Expurger Les Films, René Pépin

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

Deux éléments nous motivent. D’abord, comme on le devine, la technologie évolue à un rythme rapide en ce domaine. On n’en est plus au temps où les films étaient produits unique- ment sur une véritable pellicule de plastique qu’un censeur pouvait insérer dans une machine qui lui permettait littéralement de couper des parties indésirables et de recoller les embouts. L’informatique a envahi ce domaine. Il y a maintenant des logiciels sophistiqués qui agissent comme interface entre un disque DVD et l’écran, permettant au consommateur de choisir lui-même les séquences qui seront enlevées dans un film. On comprend que ceci pose …

Rising Governmental Use Of Biometric Technology: An Analysis Of The United States Visitor And Immigrant Status Indicator Technology Program, Lisa Madelon Campbell

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

This article explores increased governmental interest in the use of biometric measurements as a means of identifying individuals and tracing their movements. Private industries, of course, are equally interested in biometrics, and often similarly capable of collecting and storing biometric information. For example, merchants in the United Kingdom require customers who pay by cheque to provide a thumbprint as an additional security measure against potential fraud. The issues raised by the use of biometrics in the private sector are somewhat different than those that arise in the public context. This article explores the increased reli- ance upon individual biometric measurements …

Review Of Eloïse Gratton's Internet And Wireless Privacy: A Legal Guide To Global Business Practices (Toronto: Cch Canadian Limited, 2003), David T.S. Fraser

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

No abstract provided.