Intellectual Property Law Commons^™

Protection Of Famous Trademarks In Japan And The United States, Kenneth L. Port

Faculty Scholarship

The concepts of trademark jurisprudence in Japan and the United States differ drastically. This difference is apparent in many aspects of trademark protection in both countries and is most evident in the treatment of famous marks. Although Japan and the United States share elements of trademark law that cause some observers to claim that Japan is legally the fifty-first State, the conceptual differences at the foundation of trademark law in each country are so significant that such a claim seems inaccurate and misleading.

Keynote Colloquy: Finding Justice In The Internet Dimension, Hon. Alex Kozinski

Seattle University Law Review

The Internet community—just like all other speech communities—ought to be afforded First Amendment protections. I don't see any reason why Internet speech should be treated any less favorably than other kinds of speech. But the vastly overblown claim that the communications medium somehow deserves to be put outside normal legal constraints--because it's so global, or because it's so different—is self-defeating. It substitutes generalities and sentiments for real thinking. The kind of analysis we've seen at this conference—the kind of debate we've had here—is very useful, because we're talking about the specifics of what legal constraints should be allowed. Not whether …

Fame, Roberta Rosenthal Kwall

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Battling International Piracy Of The Copyright Industries Through Nafta, Donna L. Eng

UF Law Faculty Publications

The scope of this paper will cover the United States' attempts to protect its copyright industries of computer software, movie, and music under the auspices of NAFTA. Specifically, coverage will discuss the general scope of copyright protection given to the software, music, and movie industries under NAFTA, and then focus on United States relations with Canada and Mexico under NAFTA.

The Rights To Future Technologies: Should Bourne V. Disney Change The Rules?, Gayley Rosen

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This note analyzes the decision in Bourne v. Disney and proposes a method for courts to determine whether a licensing agreement includes the rights to future technologies. This Note concludes that courts should only interpret licenses to include the rights to future technology when the contract includes a broad grant of rights or a future-mediums clause. Even when the contract does not include a future-mediums clause, it should not be enforced when the form of technology is so disimilar from the technology contemplated as to be unfair.

Cyberspace Must Exceed Its Grasp, Or What's A Metaphor? Tropes, Trips And Stumbles On The Info Highway, Robert C. Cumbow

Seattle University Law Review

This Essay will focus on three metaphors, and show briefly how the arguments that copyright law is “unworkable” in the Internet context are based on a misreading of these metaphors. The first metaphor is the use of the term “cyberspace” to apply to the Internet; the second is the tendency to describe Internet communication as “going” somewhere. Both of these metaphors mistakenly suggest a space in which enforcement—and, indeed, violation—of any law is impossible. The third metaphor is the “wine and bottles” analogy, set forth by John Perry Barlow in his widely circulated article, “The Economy of Ideas," to show …

Forms Of Redress For Design Piracy: How Victims Can Use Existing Copyright Law, Peter K. Schalestock

Seattle University Law Review

Part I of this Comment explores the nature and scope of design piracy in the fashion industry. It also discusses the impact of modem technology on pirates and their victims. Part II reviews the existing intellectual property legal framework, emphasizing copyright law and its application to clothing design. Part III discusses the exclusion of clothing design from copyright protection and reviews cases that have addressed that issue. Finally, Part IV suggests ways that designers might obtain greater protection. The alternatives explored are (1) the proper application of existing law to find separable protectable design elements, and (2) congressional action to …

Copyright In Canada: The New Millennium, David Vaver

Articles & Book Chapters

No abstract provided.

Copyright, Common Law, And Sui Generis Protection Of Databases In The United States And Abroad, Jane C. Ginsburg

Faculty Scholarship

What protection remains for compilations of information, particularly digital databases, since the United States Supreme Court swept away "sweat copyright" in its 1991 Feist decision? "Thin" copyright protection is still available, but it covers only the original contributions (if any) that the compiler brings to the public domain information. Moreover, Feist makes clear that padding the compilation with original added value will not flesh out the skeletal figure beneath: the information, stripped of selection, arrangement, or other copyrightable frills, remains free for the taking.

If copyright is unavailing, contract is appearing more promising, as mass-market, "shrinkwrap" and "click-on" licenses gain …

Authors And Users In Copyright, Jane C. Ginsburg

Faculty Scholarship

It has become fashionable, among some thinkers and activists in copyright and related fields, to disparage or to deplore copyright protection. For one drawn to copyright both for its intellectual fascination and its inspiring goals of fostering creativity and protecting authorship, I am distressed to learn that I am among the defenders of a fallen faith, that authors' rights are misguided (if not pernicious) impediments to technological progress, and, worst of all, that copyright blocks freedom of thought and speech in cyberspace. Digital agendas notwithstanding, some of this derogatory discourse is not new; infringers have long found eloquent, if somewhat …

Ulysses And The Ten Years War: A Survey Of Missed Opportunities, Robert Spoo

Articles, Chapters in Books and Other Contributions to Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

Genomic Patents And Product Development Incentives, Rebecca S. Eisenberg

Book Chapters

Patents on human genetic information have been controversial among different groups for different reasons. The purpose of a patent system is to motivate the commercial development of new technologies; it is thus unsurprising that those who have fundamental misgivings about commercial biotechnology would oppose gene patents. More intriguing is the controversy over gene patenting among those who welcome the commercial development of biotechnology products by private firms. While many proponents of commercial biotechnology assert that gene patents are essential to motivate product development, some have expressed more nuanced views, endorsing patents under some circumstances and condemning them as unnecessary or …

Who's Afraid Of Functional Claims - Reforming The Patent Law's 112, 6 Jurisprudence, Mark Weston Janis

Faculty Articles and Papers

No abstract provided.

The Controversy Over Miss Piggy's New Friend: Issues Of Infringement And Dilution In Hormel Foods Corp. V. Jim Henson Productions, Laura L. Gribbin

Jeffrey S. Moorad Sports Law Journal (1994 - )

No abstract provided.

The Legal Ramifications Of Saving Face: An Integrated Analysis Of Intellectual Property And Sport, Darryl C. Wilson

Jeffrey S. Moorad Sports Law Journal (1994 - )

No abstract provided.

Work Made For Higher Understanding Of The Copyright Act Of 1976: Hi-Tech Video Productions, Inc. V. Capital Cities/ Abc, Inc., Jonathan H. Spadt

Jeffrey S. Moorad Sports Law Journal (1994 - )

No abstract provided.

Expanding The Doctrines Of Vicarious And Contributory Copyright Infringement: Fonovisa, Inc. V. Cherry Auction, Inc. Targets The Primary Distribution Channels For Counterfeit Merchandise, Angela R. Dean

Jeffrey S. Moorad Sports Law Journal (1994 - )

No abstract provided.

Work Made For Hire Exception To The Visual Artists Rights Act Of 1990 (Vara): Carter V. Helmsley-Spear, Inc., James J. Mastroianni

Jeffrey S. Moorad Sports Law Journal (1994 - )

No abstract provided.

The Copyright Amendments Of 1997, David Vaver

Articles & Book Chapters

No abstract provided.

In Re Mahurkar: The Federal Circuit's Misapplied Focus On Commercialization In "On Sale" Bar Analysis, Hugh H. Matsubayashi

Washington Law Review

In In re Mahurkar Double Lumen Hemodialysis Catheter Patent Litigation, the Federal Circuit held that a "sham" sale of an invention did not implicate the statutory "on sale" bar, which makes unpatentable any invention placed on sale more than one year prior to the filing of a patent application. This Note analyzes the Mahurkar decision's focus on the lack of commercialization of the invention in finding that a valid U.C.C. sale of an invention already reduced to practice does not implicate the "on sale" bar. It argues that under traditional "on sale" bar standards, a commercialization analysis is only …

Copyright Without Borders? Choice Of Forum And Choice Of Law For Copyright Infringement In Cyberspace, Jane C. Ginsburg

Faculty Scholarship

The disjunction between territorial treatment of copyright claims and the ubiquity of cyberspace has led some commentators to urge abandonment of landlocked notions of judicial and legislative competence. Since digital communications resist grounding in particular fora, or governance by individual national laws, these writers contend it would be best to devise a cyberian legal system that would supply cyber-specific substantive copyright law, and/ or virtual dispute settlers whose competence – and whose determinations – would transcend national borders.

My analysis will be more earthbound. This is not to belittle the important ongoing efforts to achieve international harmony of substantive copyright …

Religious Technology Center V. Netcom On-Line Communications Services, Inc.: The Knowledge Standard For Contributory Copyright Infringement And The Fair Use Doctrine, Eugene A. Burcher, Anna M. Hughes

Richmond Journal of Law & Technology

With 30 million people connected worldwide and the ability to rapidly transfer large amounts of data, the Internet poses a great threat to owners of intellectual property. The Internet's rapid growth has led to substantial speculation about how courts will apply intellectual property law concepts to conduct in cyberspace. On November 21, 1995, U.S. District Judge Ronald Whyte ruled that an Internet Service Provider (ISP) could be liable for contributory copyright infringement when a subscribing member directly infringes a copyright.

Marketing Software In Brazil: Stragegic Planning In A Changing Economic And Legal Environment, Susan T. Craighead

LLM Theses and Essays

This thesis examines globalization and strategic planning in the context of the marketing and distribution of software in Brazil. It includes a discussion of strategic choices, along with relevant laws, available to a company planning to market software in Brazil.

Rethinking The Compatibility Of Moral Rights And Fair Use, Dane S. Ciolino

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Rethinking Reexamination: Toward A Viable Administrative Revocation System For U.S. Patent Law, Mark D. Janis

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Intellectual Property Rights In Data?, J. H. Reichman, Pamela Samuelson

Vanderbilt Law Review

The international intellectual property system founded on the Paris and Berne Conventions in the late nineteenth century has been dominated by the patent and copyright paradigms, which articulate the legal protection of technological inventions and of literary and artistic works, respectively. Although this patent-copyright dichotomy was never as strictly observed abroad as in the United States, it nonetheless charted a relatively clear theoretical line of demarcation between legal incentives to create and the public interest in free competition. Any publicly disclosed technologies or information products that failed to meet the eligibility requirements of the domestic patent and copyright laws became …

Copyright Without Borders? Choice Of Forum And Choice Of Law For Copyright Infringement In Cyberspace, Jane C. Ginsburg

Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

An Artist's Privilege, Niels B. Schaumann

Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Muddy Waters: Infringement Analysis After "Markman" And "Warner-Jenkinson", Clyde F. Willian, Joseph S. Miller

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

Reflecting The Best Of Our Aspirations: Protecting Modern And Post-Modern Architecture, Gregory A. Ashe

Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.