Intellectual Property Law Commons^™

Digital Originality, Edward Lee

All Faculty Scholarship

This Article examines the doctrine of originality in U.S. copyright law and proposes a reconfigured, three-part test that can better analyze issues of first impression involving works created with new digital technologies. The proposed test, encapsulated by the concept of digital originality, provides much needed guidance to courts to address the increasing complexities of digital creations in the twenty-first century.

The Story Of A Character: Establishing The Limits Of Independent Copyright Protection For Literary Characters, Samuel J. Coe

Chicago-Kent Law Review

Copyright law provides writers with a way to protect their original works of authorship, but courts often disagree over the scope of this protection and how far it can be extended for the fictional characters appearing within literary works. Characters like Holden Caulfield and James Bond have become extremely valuable forms of intellectual property, but even for such iconic figures it can be difficult to separate the character from the story to determine where one work ends and the other begins. To address this issue, the Second Circuit follows the "distinctly delineated" test, which asks whether a character has been …

Markedly Low: An Argument To Raise The Burden Of Proof For Patent False Marking, Caroline Ayres Teichner

Chicago-Kent Law Review

The Federal Circuit's liberal treatment of the patent false-marking statute, 35 U.S.C. § 292, has created a climate in which opportunistic qui tam plaintiffs facing a low burden of proof can recover potentially enormous sums of money under the statute with no showing of competitive injury. This note argues that the Federal Circuit erred by ruling that plaintiffs must prove the key element of false-marking claims—namely, intent to deceive the public—by a mere preponderance of the evidence, and further contends that the court should have adopted the clear and convincing standard instead. Support for this elevated burden of proof can …

Heavy Metal Alloys: Unsigned Rock Bands And Joint Work, Michael S. Young

Chicago-Kent Law Review

This note uses humorous illustrations culled from the history of popular heavy metal music to facilitate examination of the effectiveness of joint authorship analysis by modern federal courts. The note carefully considers a variety of common contributions made by band members in the absence of any written or verbal agreement about authorship, and concludes (1) that a more equitable regime would do away with the requirement that a co-author make an "independently copyrightable" contribution, and (2) that courts must take greater care not to transform "will to control" into "intent to be a sole author."

League Parity: Bringing Back Unlicensed Competition In The Sports Fan Apparel Market, David Franklin

Chicago-Kent Law Review

Should professional sports teams and collegiate institutions have an exclusive right to merchandise their logos? Recent court decisions have effectively provided these organizations with a monopoly in the fan apparel marketplace, as retailers who are not "officially licensed" by the underlying team or university are likely to face trademark infringement liability. In some contexts, this extension of trademark law has prevented companies from selling merchandise that merely displays a team's color scheme. However, such a broad prohibition on the use of team logos is inconsistent with the goal of trademark law, which is intended to prohibit uses of a mark …

The Creativity Effect (With C. Sprigman), Christopher J. Buccafusco

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Copyright, Death, And Taxes, Edward Lee

All Faculty Scholarship

The Copyright Act of 1976 is due for a major revision in the 21st century, in order to keep pace with the advances in digital technologies. This Article offers a new alternative for copyright reform: tax law. Using the tax system as a way to modernize our copyright system offers several advantages. Most important, tax law can fix problems in our copyright system without violating the Berne Convention or TRIPS Agreement, and without requiring amendment to either treaty. Tax law can also be used to incentivize the copyright industries to adopt new, innovative approaches to copyright in ways that voluntary …

Measuring Trips Compliance And Defiance: The Wto Compliance Scorecard, Edward Lee

All Faculty Scholarship

This Article proposes the tabulation of a TRIPS Compliance Scorecard measuring a country’s attempt to correct any treaty violation that a WTO panel or the Appellate Body has found against the country. The scorecard can provide greater transparency and attention to member compliance with WTO treaty obligations, and it would enable greater cross-country comparisons. Part I surveys the number of IP disputes brought before the WTO since its inception (2005 to 2011), with particular focus on those disputes that culminated in a panel or Appellate Body decision. Part II proposes the WTO’s adoption of a TRIPS Compliance Scorecard that will …

Cut In Tiny Pieces: Ensuring That Fragmented Ownership Does Not Chill Creativity, Henry H. Perritt Jr.

All Faculty Scholarship

The market for video entertainment is growing and becoming more diverse as technology reduces barriers to entry for small, independent moviemakers and distributors and increases consumers’ ability to access the media of their choice. The growing complexity of the market, however, increases transaction costs for new entrants who must obtain licenses to copyrighted music, characters, storylines, or scenes that they incorporate into their movies. The entertainment bonanza offered by new technologies may not be realized in practice because of market failure. The purposes of the Copyright and Patents Clause are frustrated because creators of new works wishing to use new …

New Business Models For Music, Henry H. Perritt Jr.

All Faculty Scholarship

The popular music industry is in the middle of a technology-driven revolution. It is clear that the old order has been swept away, but it is not yet clear what form the “new order” will take. The major labels are on life support and will not survive in anything like their previous form. Compact Discs are dead as a distribution medium. Copyright is unenforceable and hence essentially irrelevant except at the margins of the “new order.” Barriers to entry have been reduced dramatically as the costs of producing top-quality recordings have declined by a couple of orders of magnitude. Portable …

Twittering Away The Right Of Publicity: Personality Rights And Celebrity Impersonation On Social Networking Websites, Andrew M. Jung

Chicago-Kent Law Review

Within the past couple of years, social networking websites have become an immensely popular destination for people from all walks of life. Websites like Facebook and Twitter now count tens of millions of worldwide users, including world leaders and a number of celebrities. Eventually, users realized that social networking websites lent themselves to the quick and easy impersonation of celebrities through the creation of fake social networking accounts, often as a form of parody. One subject of such impersonation was professional baseball manager Tony La Russa, who took the then-unprecedented step of suing his impersonators and Twitter over the incident. …

Dependent On The Jury: Anticipation And Obviousness Of Dependent Patent Claims And Irreconcilable Jury Verdicts, Patrick Bickley

Chicago-Kent Law Review

A jury verdict finding an independent claim valid but a related dependent claim either anticipated or obvious is irreconcilable. However, the Federal Circuit has used the inconsistencies between regional circuits on the issue of jury verdicts to reach different outcomes in similar cases based solely on the region in which the patent case originated. This note advocates a modification to the Federal Circuit's rule of deference to consider irreconcilable verdicts of independent and dependent claims under its own independent analysis. A consistent approach allowing for appellate review regardless of post-verdict motions is advocated, although a more modest position of requiring …

Explaining The Demise Of The Doctrine Of Equivalents, David L. Schwartz

All Faculty Scholarship

This article provides a novel theoretical model and extensive empirical evidence to explain the decline of a historically important patent law doctrine known as the “doctrine of equivalents.” In recent years, distinguished academics have studied the doctrine of equivalents. While these scholars noted that the doctrine of equivalents had decreased in its successful use and provided some grounds for the decline, none clearly explained why. As such, the cause and precise mechanism behind the so-called “demise” of the doctrine of equivalents have largely remained a mystery.

This article explains that the demise occurred because of two complementary forces discussed for …

A Definite Claim On Claim Indefiniteness: An Empirical Study Of Definiteness Cases Of The Past Decade With A Focus On The Federal Circuit And The Insolubly Ambiguous Standard, Christa J. Laser

Chicago-Kent Journal of Intellectual Property

No abstract provided.

Physicality And The Information Age: A Normative Perspective On The Patent Eligibility Of Non-Physical Methods, Ben Mceniery

Chicago-Kent Journal of Intellectual Property

No abstract provided.

Extending Tort Liability To Creators Of Fake Profiles On Social Networking Websites, Bradley Kay

Chicago-Kent Journal of Intellectual Property

No abstract provided.

Asian Initiatives On Bayh-Dole, With Special Reference To India: How Do We Make It More "Asian?", Tina K. Stephen

Chicago-Kent Journal of Intellectual Property

No abstract provided.

Hope Or Nope --Is "Obama Hope" Protected By Idea/Expression Dichotomy, Fair Use Doctrine, & First Amendment?, Hiro Senda

Chicago-Kent Journal of Intellectual Property

No abstract provided.

Securing Global Trademark Exceptions: Why The United States Should Negotiate Mandatory Exceptions Into Future International Bilateral Agreements, Brian S. Kaunelis

Chicago-Kent Law Review

In December 2007, the European Union and the CARIFORUM States concluded a bilateral economic partnership agreement that included a mandatory fair use exception to trademark owners' rights. The EC-CARIFORUM Agreement is the first agreement that mandates the inclusion of Article 17 of the World Trade Organization's Agreement on Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights and requires an exception to trademark rights. The push to balance international trademark owners' rights has begun, and this Note will detail why the United States should follow the European Union's lead and negotiate mandatory trademark exceptions into future bilateral agreements.

"Willful Patent Filing": A Criminal Procedure Protecting Traditional Knowledge, Vincent M. Smoczynski

Chicago-Kent Law Review

This article explores the interaction between current intellectual property regimes and traditional knowledge and concludes that national laws currently in place inadequately protect traditional knowledge holders. When property rights are granted on traditional knowledge, the effects can extend not only to the indigenous communities, but to the surrounding ecosystems and the global market. Commercialization and increased demand leads to shortages in natural resources and increased prices. Therefore, in order to ensure that patent applicants are deterred from acquiring property rights in traditional knowledge, as well that traditional knowledge holders receive proper benefits for their labor and knowledge, this article advocates …

Meanwhile On The Other Side Of The Pond: Why Biopharmaceutical Inventions That Were "Obvious To Try" Still Might Be Non-Obvious --Part 1, Timo Minssen

Chicago-Kent Journal of Intellectual Property

No abstract provided.

Protecting Famous Trademarks: Comparative Analysis Of Us And Eu Diverging Approaches --The Battle Between Legislatures And The Judiciary. Who Is The Ultimate Judge?, Stylianos Malliaris

Chicago-Kent Journal of Intellectual Property

No abstract provided.

Doctrine Of The Dead: How Capcom V. Mkr Exposes The Decreasing Fit Between Modern Copyright Infringement Analysis And Modern Video Games, Karlyn Ruth Meyer

Chicago-Kent Journal of Intellectual Property

No abstract provided.

What Is Neutral? Another Perspective To The Discussion Concerning Access Control, Agustin Waisman

Chicago-Kent Journal of Intellectual Property

No abstract provided.

Market Competition In Aid Of Humanitarian Concern: Reconsidering Pharmaceutical Drug Patents, Michael Ilg

Chicago-Kent Journal of Intellectual Property

No abstract provided.

A Patent Panacea? The Promise Of Corbinized Claim Construction, Jonathan L. Moore

Chicago-Kent Journal of Intellectual Property

No abstract provided.

Music Markets And Mythologies, Henry H. Perritt Jr.

All Faculty Scholarship

New technologies have started a revolution in the music marketplace. As new business models emerge, major firms in the popular music industry have mounted a campaign on the premise that the world of popular music faces a grave threat from illicit filing sharing. This article makes the case against that campaign. It discusses how new technologies are currently reshaping the marketplace to allow a wider range of new artists, as well as more direct access between musicians and their fans. It also predicts how future demand for popular music will increase due to portability, and ultimately recommends directions for marketplace …

Retribution And The Experience Of Punishment, Christopher J. Buccafusco, J. Bronsteen, J. Masur

All Faculty Scholarship

In a prior article, we argued that punishment theorists need to take into account the counterintuitive findings from hedonic psychology about how offenders typically experience punishment. Punishment generally involves the imposition of negative experience. The reason that greater fines and prison sentences constitute more severe punishments than lesser ones is, in large part, that they are assumed to impose greater negative experience. Hedonic adaptation reduces that difference in negative experience, thereby undermining efforts to achieve proportionality in punishment. Anyone who values punishing more serious crimes more severely than less serious crimes by an appropriate amount - as virtually everyone does …

Valuing Intellectual Property: An Experiment, Christopher J. Buccafusco, C. Sprigman

All Faculty Scholarship

In this article we report on the results of an experiment we performed to determine whether transactions in intellectual property (IP) are subject to the valuation anomalies commonly referred to as “endowment effects”. Traditional conceptions of the value of IP rely on assumptions about human rationality derived from classical economics. The law assumes that when people make decisions about buying, selling, and licensing IP they do so with fixed, context-independent preferences. Over the past several decades, this rational actor model of classical economics has come under attack by behavioral data showing that people do not always make strictly rational decisions. …

Welfare As Happiness (With J. Bronsteen & J. Masur), Christopher J. Buccafusco

All Faculty Scholarship

Perhaps the most important goal of law and policy is improving people’s lives. But what constitutes improvement? What is quality of life, and how can it be measured? In previous articles, we have used insights from the new field of hedonic psychology to analyze central questions in civil and criminal justice, and we now apply those insights to a broader inquiry: how can the law make life better? The leading accounts of human welfare in law, economics, and philosophy are preference-satisfaction - getting what one wants - and objective list approaches - possessing an enumerated set of capabilities. This Article …