Intellectual Property Law Commons^™

Book Publishing In The Age Of The E-Book, Nancy B. Vermylen

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

Whatever role e-publishing is ultimately to assume in the publishing world, its emergence calls for the (re)evaluation of significant legal issues affecting the contractual relationship of authors and publishers. This Note identifies some of those issues, and where appropriate, suggests some tentative solutions. Part II of this Note sets e-publishing and the concerns it raises in context by providing a brief discussion of the traditional book publishing industry and the roles that publishing contracts and personal relationships play in that industry. Part III provides an introduction to the emerging world of e-publishing and e-books. Part IV discusses the legal issues …

Digital Copyright And The "Progress Of Science, Jessica D. Litman

Articles

Let me start with a truism: Networked digital technology has transformed information and the way we interact with it. Digital information is dynamic rather than fixed. What we think of as “documents” can change constantly. That’s challenged our notions of what it means to archive material.

The Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy: A Practical Guide, Bradley J. Freedman, Robert J.C. Deane

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

Disputes involving alleged bad faith registration and use of certain Internet domain names may be arbitrated pursuant to the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (the Policy) mandated by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers ("ICANN").

The Policy is the first attempt to establish a global set of substantive rules regarding certain kinds of Internet-related trademark disputes, and a single, international system for the arbitration of those disputes. In many respects, the Policy has fulfilled its objective of providing an efficient and cost effective means of resolving certain domain name disputes. In other respects, however, the experience with …

Who Was That Masked Man? Online Defamation, Freedom Of Expression, And The Right To Speak Anonymously, Jonathon T. Feasby

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

As the internet continues to reach into the lives of people around the world, it facilitates interaction and the exchange of ideas between far-flung individuals and groups to an extent unprecedented in communications history. However, with this positive effect, the potential of the internet as a forum for defamation and other malfeasance has increased as well. Words online can be heard or read in places conventional forms of speech might never reach. As the United States Supreme Court put it, with the aid of the internet ". . . any person with a phone line can become a town crier …

Is Internet Gaming Legal In Canada: A Look At Starnet, C. Ian Kyer, Danielle Hough

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

The development of the Internet has kindled many new business opportunities in the online environment. Despite the recent slump in online business growth and popularity, one line of online business is generating profit and growing at a rapid rate: the business of online gaming.

The legality of such businesses is questionable in Canada and there are few gaming cases to assist Canadian lawyers. The following analysis must be considered in light of the dearth of jurisprudence in this area and should not be considered legal advice. This area of the law is in flux and developments may be unpredictable.

When …

Book Review: A Guide To Electronic Legal Research By A. Zivanovic (Markham Ont.: Butterworths Canada, 2001), David H. Michels

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

No abstract provided.

Book Review: The Personal Information Protection And Electronic Documents Act: An Annotated Guide By Stephanie Perrin, Heather H. Black, David H. Flaherty And T. Murray Rankin, Q.C. (Concord, Ont.: Irwin Law, 2001), Teresa Scassa

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

In April 2000, the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act was passed by the House of Commons. The legislation dealt with both personal information privacy and the use and validity of electronic documents in areas governed by federal law. On January 1, 2001, the portion of the Act dealing with electronic documents took effect, as did the privacy provisions, to the extent that they related to the collection use or disclosure of personal information inter-provincially, or in connection with a federal work, undertaking or business. The Act applied to personal health information as of January 1, 2002, and will …

In Search Of A Balance Between Police Power And Privacy In The Cybercrime Treaty, D.C. Kennedy

Richmond Journal of Law & Technology

Imagine that you wake up one morning, turn on your computer, and open an e-mail message with a catchy phrase in the subject line. Immediately after opening the e-mail’s attachment, your personal computer is severely damaged. Obviously having a bad day, you head to your job as an attorney for a multinational corporation. By the time you arrive at work, there has been damage to company computers across the globe. The monetary costs of the damage, coupled with the downtime, are astronomical. The CEO of your company is furious. You hope to diffuse the situation by informing your boss that …

Symposium Introduction: Napster: Innocent Innovation Or Egregious Infringement, Gregory P. Magarian

Scholarship@WashULaw

Napster is gone for now, but the fissures it opened in our understanding of intellectual property will challenge lawyers for a long time. The basic idea behind Napster was a simple outgrowth of the Internet's premise of linking computers to facilitate the wide-spread exchange of information. The Napster Web site, with its peer-to-peer file sharing technology, created a sort of "clearing house" for information, specifically the sound files known as MP3s. Thousands upon thousands of users could sign on to the Napster site at any given time, offer MP3 files for downloading, and in turn download any files that any …

Toward A "New Deal" For Copyright In The Information Age, Pamela Samuelson

Michigan Law Review

Jessica Litman believes the public needs a very good copyright lawyer, and if I have not mistaken her intentions, she is volunteering for the job (pp. 70-73). A century of Congressional deference to industry-negotiated compromises has produced, she argues, a copyright law that is both incomprehensible and unfair. This incomprehensibility might be tolerable if copyright law governed only commercial relations among industry participants, all of whom have copyright counsel. To the extent that copyright law applies to the conduct of ordinary persons, its incomprehensibility presents serious difficulties. Moreover, to the extent that copyright law makes illegal many ordinary activities of …

Transmissions Of Music On The Internet: An Analysis Of The Copyright Laws Of Canada, France, Germany, Japan, The United Kingdom, And The United States, Daniel J. Gervais

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

This Article examines the status of copyright laws in several countries as they pertain to transmissions of music on the Internet. Because the exact legal ramifications of music transmissions over the Internet are currently unclear, the Author compares copyright laws of six major markets and examines the potential application of the copyright laws and other rights that may apply. The Article also discusses rules concerning which transborder transmissions are likely to be covered by a country's national laws, as well as specific rules applying to the liability of intermediaries. Next, the Article summarizes the comparative findings and discusses the relevant …

Digital Music Distribution Via The Internet: Is It A Plantinum Idea Or A One Hit Wonder, L. Kevin Levine

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Internet Business Model Patents: Obvious By Analogy, Margo A. Bagley

Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review

This Article contends that part of the problem of Internet business model patents is the narrow view of analogous art employed by judges and USPTO examiners which largely excludes relevant "real-world" prior art in the determination of non-obviousness under § 103 of the Patent Act. Consequently, part of the solution lies in helping courts and the USPTO properly to define analogous art for a particular invention. To do so, judges and examiners must recognize the interchangeability of computer programming (i.e. "e-world" activities) to perform a function, with human or mechanical performance of the same function (i.e. "real world" activities). Such …

Defining The Proper Scope Of Internet Patents: If We Don't Know Where We Want To Go, We're Unlikely To Get There, Vincent Chiappetta

Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review

Part I of this Article addresses the appropriateness of protecting Internet innovations under the current patent regime. It concludes that the doctrinal, historical and policy arguments require different outcomes regarding computing (patentable subject matter) and competitive arts (at best a difficult fit) innovation. Part II argues that the new electronic economy has given rise to a particular kind of competitive arts "market failure" (interference with first-to-move lead-time incentives) which must be addressed. It concludes, however, that tinkering with the existing patent or copyright regimes is not only complex, but poses significant risks, and should be avoided. Part III sketches the …

International And Comparative Law Perspectives On Internet Patents, Toshiko Takenaka

Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review

The Internet and e-commerce have created a borderless market. Goods and services sold on the Internet are subject to the patent statutes and regulations of all countries in which customers have access. Because the presence or absence of patent protection--or variations in that protection--hinders the movement of goods and services throughout the Internet, it is necessary to harmonize the protection afforded by Internet patents in their early stages of development. Among the three papers, however, only Professor Chiappetta touched upon the problem of compliance with the provisions in TRIPS. None of the papers paid attention to the feasibility of harmonizing …

The Copyrightability Of New Works Of Authorship: 'Xml Schemas' As An Example, I. Trotter Hardy

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Current Developments In Cyberspace, Eric Easton

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Digital Music: Educational Issues, John Faust

Brigham Young University Education and Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Piracy, Prejudice, And Perspectives: An Attempt To Use Shakespeare To Reconfigure The U.S.-China Intellectual Property Debate, Peter K. Yu

Faculty Scholarship

Since the mid-1980s, the U.S.-China intellectual property conflict has entered into the public debate. It was frequently debated in Congress and was widely covered by the mass media. Despite the importance of this issue, the debate thus far has been one-sided, focusing primarily on the unfair competition aspect. While there are undeniably some greedy Chinese who are eager to free ride on the creative efforts of Western authors and inventors, greed alone cannot explain the century-old U.S.-China intellectual property conflict. To understand the roots of this conflict, one must focus on the significant political, social, economic and cultural differences between …

The Regulation Of New Media Broadcasting In Canada Post-Icravetv.Com, 19 J. Marshall J. Computer & Info. L. 331 (2001), Danistan Saverimuthu

UIC John Marshall Journal of Information Technology & Privacy Law

Broadcasters in both the U.S. and Canada were perplexed when iCraveTV.com began intercepting American and Canadian television signals and began broadcasting them for free over the Internet. Broadcasters in Canada contend that these type of actions constitute a violation of section 3 of the Canadian Copyright Act. Provisions of section 31(2) of the Copyright Act appear to allow new media broadcasters to rebroadcast signals in return for paying a tariff, however, these criterion must be meet: the communication must be a retransmission of a local or distant signal, the transmission must be lawful under the Broadcasting Act, the signal must …

Internet Business Method Patents: The Federal Circuit Vacates The Preliminary Injunction In Amazon.Com V. Barnesandnoble.Com, 19 J. Marshall J. Computer & Info. L. 523 (2001), Sue Ann Mota

UIC John Marshall Journal of Information Technology & Privacy Law

This article is a casenote that examines the appellate decision in Amazon.com v. Barnesandnoble.com. The first section of the article reviews the history of business method patents and the precedent case of State St. Bank & Trust Co. v. Signature Fin. Group, Inc. The second section looks at the history of the Amazon.com case. The final section examines the major developments in business method patents since the Amazon.com case.

The Freedom To Link?: The Digital Millennium Copyright Act Implicates The First Amendment In Universal City Studios, Inc. V. Reimerdes, David A. Petteys

Seattle University Law Review

This Note focuses on the application of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) to prohibit the posting and linking of "circumvention technology" on the Internet, while also addressing the larger issue of the unintended consequences that regulating cyberspace can have on free expression. Because hypertext links play such a fundamental role in the utility of the Internet, this Note argues that the application of the DMCA's anti-trafficking provisions to enjoin linking places a significant and unwarranted burden on the Internet as a forum for free expression. Section II is intended to provide a brief background of the technological and legal …

Computer-Aided Drug Design Using Patented Compounds: Infringement In Cyberspace?, 34 J. Marshall L. Rev. 1001 (2001), Ted L. Field

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Icann't Use My Domain Name? The Real World Application Of Icann's Uniform Domain-Name Dispute Resolution Policy, 34 J. Marshall L. Rev. 1027 (2001), Karl Maersch

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

E-Obviousness, Glynn S. Lunney Jr.

Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review

As patents expand into e-commerce and methods of doing business more generally, both the uncertainty and the risk of unjustified market power that the present approach generates suggest a need to rethink our approach to nonobviousness. If courts fail to enforce the nonobviousness requirement and allow an individual to obtain a patent for simply implementing existing methods of doing business through a computer, even where only trivial technical difficulties are presented, entire e-markets might be handed over to patent holders with no concomitant public benefit. If courts attempt to enforce the nonobviousness requirement, but leave undefined the extent of the …

Cybercoverage For Cyber-Risks: An Overview Of Insurers' Responses To The Perils Of E-Commerce, Robert H. Jerry Ii, Michele L. Mekel

Faculty Publications

With nearly seven percent of the world's population currently online and e-commerce forecast to hit $6.8 trillion by 2004, one need not be Nostradamus to predict that the Internet means great change for all industries - including the insurance industry. Presently, however, the proverbial cart is leading the horse as the insurance industry struggles to develop strategies to quantify, cover, and contain "cyber-risks." Policyholders also face new challenges as they confront the possibility that their traditional insurance coverages are woefully inadequate either to secure their electronic and intellectual property assets or to guard against their potential e-commerce liabilities to third …

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

UIC Law Open Access Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

From Sheet Music To Mp3 Files--A Brief Perspective On Napster, Harold R. Weinberg

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Changing Horses In Mid-Stream: The Copyright Office's New Rule Makes Broadcasters Pay For "Streaming" Their Signals Over The Internet, Samuel Fifer, Gregory R. Naron

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

With traditional, over-the-air broadcasts, radio stations do not have to start paying license fees to rights holders if they get a bigger transmitter or technology allows their signal to reach more listeners. That much, not even the RIAA will dispute. So why should it matter if stations use the Internet to reach additional listeners? The law shouldn't be interpreted to discourage radio stations from using new Internet technology to do the same thing they're doing now--especially since Congress itself expressly said it did not want to "[hamper] ... new technologies" or "impose new and unreasonable burdens" on broadcasters. And make …

Letter From The Editor, Paul A. Fritzinger

Richmond Journal of Law & Technology

Over the last few years, the problems attendant to software licensing regulation have occupied an important position in the minds of legislators at the federal, state and local levels. In the early nineties, the National Conference of Commissioners for Uniform State Laws (NCCUSL) recognized the potential for licensing problems presented by the use of computer software in the national arena as well as on the Internet and saw a clear need for regulations that would transcend state boundaries. In 1999, as a result of years of planning and careful drafting, NCCUSL promulgated the Uniform Computer Information Transactions Act (UCITA) in …