Intellectual Property Law Commons^™

On Equipoise, Knowledge, And Speculation: A Unified Theory Of Pleading Under The Defend Trade Secrets Act -- Jurisdiction, Identification, Misappropriation, And Inevitable Disclosure, William Lynch Schaller

Georgia Journal of Law & Technology

No abstract provided.

Table Of Contents

Georgia Journal of Law & Technology

No abstract provided.

Hocus Pocus: The Magic Within Trade Secret Law, Marianna L. Markley

Georgia Journal of Law & Technology

This Note will discuss why trade secret law is the most appropriate form of IP protection for magicians seeking to protect their secrets. First it will discuss the background information on IP protections offered to magicians, specifically within copyright, patent, and trade secret law. After examining previous cases in which magicians have sought protection for their work using each of these different types of IP laws, it will then analyze why trade secret law is the best form of IP protection for magicians.

"Westerngeco" And The Patent Act: An Analysis Of The Patent Act And The Presumption Against Extraterritoriality, Samuel Tanner Lowe

Georgia Journal of Law & Technology

The goal of this Note will be to take up where the Court left off in WesternGeco LLC v. ION Geophysical Corp. and provide an adequate answer to the question of how the presumption against extraterritoriality affects patents. First, I will provide background on the history of patents, the presumption against extraterritoriality, and the WesternGeco LLC case. Next, I will contend that the Patent Act does not rebut the presumption against extraterritoriality. In light of this interpretation, I will argue that Congress should not rewrite the law so as to rebut the presumption because to do so would extend the …

It's Scandalous! -- Limiting Profane Trademark Registrations After "Tam" And "Brunetti", Gary Myers

Georgia Journal of Law & Technology

Over the course of the last two years, the Supreme Court has engaged in a long-overdue assessment of the constitutionality of federal trademark law prohibitions on the registration of offensive marks. In its unanimous 2017 decision in Matal v. Tam, the Court held that the disparagement clause is a content-based provision that violates the First Amendment. In 2019, the Court in Iancu v. Brunetti held that the refusal to register the mark “FUCT” on grounds that it was immoral or scandalous would also violate the First Amendment. These cases offered an opportunity for the Court to clarify the proper role …

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Georgia Journal of Law & Technology

No abstract provided.

Extraordinary Ideas Now Ordinary Income: Incentives Created By The Tax Cut And Jobs Act's New Treatment Of Self-Created Intellectual Property, Savannah Story

Georgia Journal of Law & Technology

No abstract provided.

Fighting The Faceless Foe Known As The Online Trademark Counterfeiter: Forum Shopping Tactics In The Digital Age, Chelsea R. Feagle

Georgia Journal of Law & Technology

This Note proceeds in two main parts. Part II provides a background for understanding trademark counterfeiting claims and remedies. It first examines the federal trademark protections alongside the state trademark protections and details the way in which they differ. Part II then breaks down the number of online trademark counterfeit cases filed in the United States and notes the percentage of those cases which are filed predominately in three federal district courts. Because it is difficult to comprehensively track this data, the principle import of the referenced statistical breakdown should be understood only as attempting to draw general conclusions from …

The Defend Trade Secrets Act And Foreign Theft: The Application Of The Act To Extraterritorial Misappropriation, John Dustin Hawkins

Georgia Journal of Law & Technology

This Note explores the evolution of federal trade secret law in the United States, particularly the enactment of the Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016. Part II discusses the legislative history of the Act, as well as key provisions and definitions of the Act, which are critical when considering the DTSA's extraterritorial application. Additionally, this Note considers the tests used by courts to determine extraterritorial application in other areas of U.S. law. Part III explains why a uniformly-applied balancing test would best serve the courts in determining the extraterritorial application of the DTSA to reach foreign conduct.

The Eu Copyright Directive: "Fit For The Digital Age" Or Finishing It?, Andrew Tyner

Georgia Journal of Law & Technology

Since its proposal in 2016, the Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on Copyright in the Digital Single Market ("the Directive" or "the Copyright Directive") has been controversial. While the Directive was rooted in good intentions, intended to "improv[e] the bargaining position ... and the control rightsholders have on the use of their copyright-protected content" in the digital space,' critics loudly proclaimed it as the death of the internet as we know it. Notable architects and pioneers of the Internet, including Tim Berners- Lee (inventor of the World Wide Web) and Jimmy Wales (founder of Wikipedia), penned …

The Ip Of Ipas: A Look Into Trademark Infringement In The Craft Beer Industry, Shivani Patel

Georgia Journal of Law & Technology

Alcohol isn't just a mind-altering drink: It has been a prime mover of human culture from the beginning, fueling the development of arts, language, and religion."' Alcohol production and consumption can be traced to civilizations dating back thousands of years all around the world, and it has become so essential to our society that experts have gone on to joke that humans should be called "Homo imbibens." Within the current alcohol industry, two essential qualities that are becoming more common are creativity and variety.

Alcohol has become a defining aspect of human culture and our sense of society. It has …

Who Owns The Law? Why We Must Restore Public Ownership Of Legal Publishing, Leslie A. Street, David R. Hansen

Georgia Journal of Law & Technology

Each state has its own method for officially publishing the law. This article looks at the history of legal publishing for the fifty states before looking at how legal publishing even in moving to electronic publishing may not ensure public access to the law. The article addresses barriers to free access to the law in electronic publishing including copyright, contract law, and potentially, the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. The article concludes with prescriptions for how different actors, including state governments, publishers, libraries, and others can ensure robust public access to the law moving forward.

Table Of Contents

Georgia Journal of Law & Technology

No abstract provided.

Diminishing Uncertainty In Software Patents: After The Supreme Court Denied Certiorari For Synopsys Inc. V. Mentor Graphics Corp., Kayla Hope Barnes

Georgia Journal of Law & Technology

There is currently a gap in United States' patent law that is threatening American innovation. The lack of predictability of the patent eligibility of new computer software has left many to wonder what the future holds for the industry. This idea is illustrated by the Global Intellectual Property Center's most recent patent protection rankings where, for the first time, the Global Intellectual Property Center ranked the United States tenth in patent protection tied with Hungary. To put this in perspective, the Center ranked the United States as the best country for patents in 2016. The 2017 report cites "uncertainty" in …

Protecting Blockchain Investments In A Patent Troll World, Kelli Spearman

Georgia Journal of Law & Technology

When blockchain technology was first introduced via the now-infamous Bitcoin in 2008, it was almost immediately recognized by the tech industry as being even more valuable (and certainly less volatile) than the cryptocurrency it embodied. The publicly distributed ledger known as the blockchain has created a frenzy that is continuing to grow as industries explore future adaptations of the technology. Following this explosion of cross-industry innovation, intellectual property issues naturally follow as early adaptors seek to capture the value of pioneering new blockchain technology. The rising popularity of the blockchain has created an intellectual property gold-rush as firms hoping to …

The Shifting Landscape Of Medicine: Patents Of Personalized Biologic Treatments And Their Potential Conflicts With Right-To-Try Laws, Johnson T. Laney

Georgia Journal of Law & Technology

The United States has gone back and forth over whether its citizens have a moral right to access potentially life sustaining or lifesaving treatment when they are terminally ill. Currently, forty-one states and the US Senate have passed "right to try" laws that permit terminally ill patients to have access to experimental treatments that have not yet received FDA approval. The United States has had a difficult time determining whether a patient has the right to refuse life-sustaining or lifesaving treatment because of fear that the patient is suicidal. The Supreme Court has addressed this problem and determined that the …

Hold Up: Digital Sampling, Copyright, Infringement, And Artist Credit Through The Lens Of Beyonce's "Lemonade", Spenser Clark

Georgia Journal of Law & Technology

No abstract provided.

Will You Have To Pay For The O.C.G.A.?: Copyrighting The Official Code Of Georgia Annotated, Elizabeth Holland

Georgia Journal of Law & Technology

In the 1970s, the Georgia General Assembly set out to perfect the organization of the laws of the state. The State worked with a publishing company to not only codify the statutory portions but also create additional annotations to explain the application of the law in practice. When enacting the code, the State merged the statutory portion with the annotations to create the Official Code of Georgia Annotated (O.C.G.A.). Georgia sought to retain the copyright in the O.C.G.A.

Years later, Carl Malamud and Public.Resource.Org, Inc. (Public Resource) challenged this construction. He alleged merging the statutory code with the annotated version …

Trademarks & The First Amendment After Matal V. Tam, Gary Myers

Georgia Journal of Law & Technology

The United States Supreme Court's unanimous ruling in Matal v. Tam is a landmark decision regarding the intersection between free speech and trademark law. Addressing whether trademarks can legitimately be barred from federal trademark protection under the Lanham Act based solely on their possible disparaging content, the litigation involving an Asian-American band that sought to register the name, "The Slants," brought this important interplay into stark relief. Writing in bold strokes, Justice Alito's opinion holds that the Lanham Act's prohibition on disparaging marks, 15 U.S.C. 51052(a), violates the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment. "It offends a bedrock First …

Monetizing Tribal And State Sovereign Immunity In Patent Law: An Attempt To Neutralize The Patent Death Squad, Sean P. Belding

Georgia Journal of Law & Technology

On September 8, 2017, Allergan announced the assignment of six of its patents to the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe. These six patents protected Allergan 's exclusivity over the blockbuster drug RESTASIS and were at risk of invalidity due to an inter partes review proceeding. In return for substantial monetary consideration, the Mohawk Tribe granted Allergan an exclusive license back and agreed to invoke its tribal sovereign immunity in an attempt to obtain a dismissal of the inter partes review proceedings against the RESTASIS patents. Allergan's strategy is an attempt to monetize sovereign immunity that raises significant concerns in patent law …

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Georgia Journal of Law & Technology

No abstract provided.

Wearables And Where They Stick: Finding A Place For Tech Tattoos In The Ip Framework, Emily A. Mccutcheon

Georgia Journal of Law & Technology

No abstract provided.

Freebooting On Facebook -- Should The Social Media Giant Face Liability?, Nicholas J. Tait

Georgia Journal of Law & Technology

No abstract provided.

Watch What You *Bleeping* Want: Interpretation Of Statutes Dealing With Advancing Technology In Light Of The Ninth Circuit Case Of "Disney Enterprises, Inc. V. Vidangel, Inc.", Thomas B. Norton

Georgia Journal of Law & Technology

No abstract provided.

Tightening The Gilstrap: How "Tc Heartland" Limited The Pharmaceutical Industry When It Reined In The Federal Circuit, Amanda Walton Newton

Georgia Journal of Law & Technology

No abstract provided.

The Curious Case Of Cady Noland And The Disappearing Cabin, Amanda Hoefer

Georgia Journal of Law & Technology

No abstract provided.

Balancing The Competing Functions Of Patent Post-Grant Proceedings, Michael Xun Liu

Georgia Journal of Law & Technology

Since the 1980s, the United States Patent and Trademark Office has amended or revoked patents through post-grant proceedings. These are quasi-judicial proceedings that are often used to resolve patent disputes. But aside from adjudicating private disputes, post-grant proceedings also aim to protect the public against invalid patents, create more certainty in patent rights, and bolster confidence in the patent system. These functions are often described as “examinational” because they rely on the PTO’s ability to reexamine the validity of issued patents.

This Article explores the extent to which post-grant proceedings under the America Invents Act (AIA) perform examinational functions. Although …

Historical Perspectives & Reflections On "Matal V. Tam" And The Future Of Offensive Trademarks, Russ Versteeg

Georgia Journal of Law & Technology

No abstract provided.

From Ip Goals To 3d Holes: Does Intellectual Property Law Provide A Map Or Gap In The Era Of 3d Printing?, Autumn Smith

Georgia Journal of Law & Technology

No abstract provided.

Use It Or Lose It: The Sixth Circuit's New Approach To Evaluating Likelihood To Cause Consumer Confusion In Trademark Disputes, Stuart F. Sumner

Georgia Journal of Law & Technology

No abstract provided.