Intellectual Property Law Commons^™

Patenting Medical Procedures: A Search For A Compromise Between Ethics And Economics, Beata Gocyk-Farber

Cardozo Law Review

When doctor Samuel Pallin, an Arizona ophthalmologist, brought an infringement suit for his patent covering the "stitchless" incision in cataract surgery, he probably did not expect that he would provoke one of the most emotional patent debates in history. Physicians across the country expressed condemnation of medical process patents, calling such patents "horrendous" and warning that Dr. Pallin's victory may have "profoundly devastating and mind-boggling consequences" for medical science. The resonance in the medical community was so strong that the American Medical Association House of Delegates passed a resolution "vigorously" condemning the patenting of medical and surgical procedures and promising …

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.

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 …

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

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

The Internet And Its Legal Ramifications In Taiwan, George C.C. Chen

Seattle University Law Review

Part I of this Article briefly introduces the five main legal issues related to Internet use in Taiwan. Part II discusses network-related copyright issues, including the doctrine of fair use, personal and corporate use of the Internet, and one of the first court cases in Taiwan on this issue. Part III discusses issues arising from commercial activity on the Internet, including the validity of on-line contracts, the use of digital signatures for authentication, and the applicability of Taiwan's Broadcasting and Television Law, Cable Television Law, and Fair Trade Law to regulating commercial advertising on the Internet. Part IV discusses the …

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 …

Licensing Issues On The Internet, Steven Masur, Neil J. Friedman, Judith M. Saffer

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Internet: Is It Broadcasting?, Jonathan I. Ezor, Peter Brown, Peggy Miles

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Markman V. Westview Instruments, Inc.: Patent Construction Is Within The Exclusive Province Of The Court Under The Seventh Amendment, Sue Ann Mota

Richmond Journal of Law & Technology

In Suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise re-examined in any Court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.

Copyright On The Www: Linking And Liability, Edward A. Cavazos, Coe F. Miles

Richmond Journal of Law & Technology

The World Wide Web (WWW) is so often used as a way of interacting with the Internet that many people mistakenly confuse the two, referring to the Internet as the "Web" and vice versa. Of course, the Internet and its native applications predate the development of the WWW protocols by decades. Still, given the overwhelming amount of available Internet bandwidth now devoted to the transmission of web pages, there is no doubt that the WWW is the interface of choice for most users of the world's most pervasive computer network. The WWW is not the Internet, but there can be …

Copyright In Canada: The New Millennium, David Vaver

Articles & Book Chapters

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 …

Procd, Inc. V. Zeidenberg: Enforceability Of Shrinkwrap Licenses Under The Copyright Act, Jennifer L. Hawkins

Richmond Journal of Law & Technology

"I didn't read all of the shrink-wrap license agreement on my new software until after I opened it. Apparently I agreed to spend the rest of my life as a towel boy in Bill Gates' new mansion."

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.

An Analysis Of The Personal Use Principle Under Copyright Law, Hsin-Chih Cheng

LLM Theses and Essays

Personal use is when an individual uses a copyrighted work for private purposes, such as learning or entertainment. Personal use is a right given in the Copyright Clause of the U.S. Constitution, however, an issue arises when the individual wants to make a copy of the copyrighted work. New technologies like photocopying and videotaping make this issue more prominent today. Some copyright owners think that the individual’s copying for private use is harmful to their potential market and they argue for compensation. Does the individual have the right under the personal use principle to reproduce the copyrighted work for private …

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

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Patent Law: Warner-Jenkinson Co. V. Hilton Davis Chemical Co.: How Can The Federal Circuit Control The Doctrine Of Equivalents Following The Supreme Court's Refusal To Set The Standard?, Richard L. Wynne Jr.

Oklahoma Law Review

No abstract provided.

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.

Obtaining And Enforcing Trade Dress For Computer Graphical User Interfaces - A Practitioner's Guide, John P. Musone

Richmond Journal of Law & Technology

A computer program that successfully incorporates an intuitive graphical user interface possesses a tremendous competitive advantage over its competitors. Interface development accordingly has become a critical aspect of software development. Without legal protection, however, this advantage is illusory as competitors are otherwise free to copy unprotected interface features. Interface creators have predominately used copyright law to protect the overall "look and feel" of their interfaces. However, copyright protection for interfaces increasingly appears to be the exception rather than the rule.

Legal Fictions: Copyright, Fan Fiction, And A New Common Law, Rebecca Tushnet

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

A girl owns a number of Barbie dolls. She makes outfits for them and constructs elaborate scenarios in which they play starring roles. She enacts her dramas in her front yard, where passers-by can easily see. Does she violate the law? What if the girl writes down her stories starring Barbie? What happens when she lets her friends read them? What if she e-mails those stories to a Barbie mailing list? What if she posts those stories and a picture of Barbie in her new outfit on her Web page?

Copyright law has long been a concern more for corporations …

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.

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

Faculty Articles and Papers

No abstract provided.

Deregulatory Takings, Breach Of The Regulatory Contract, And The Telecommunications Act Of 1996, William J. Baumol, Thomas W. Merrill

Faculty Scholarship

Professors Baumol and Merrill reply to Deregulatory Takings and Breach of the Regulatory Contract, published last year in this Review, which argued that the price incumbents may charge potential competitors for bottleneck facilities under the Telecommunications Act of 1996 should be based not on forward-looking costs but on historical costs. Professors Baumol and Merrill contend that pricing with reference to historical costs would depart from the principles called for by economic analysis for efficient pricing and they further argue that neither the Takings Clause nor the regulatory contract precludes the use of forward-looking costs in setting prices. If a taking …

Extraterritoriality And Multiterritorality In Copyright Infringement, Jane C. Ginsburg

Faculty Scholarship

Extraterritorial application of U.S. law, as Professor Curtis Bradley demonstrates, is highly suspect, if not illegitimate, unless clearly authorized by Congress. The apparently “extraterritorial” character of much recent copyright litigation has led some U.S. courts to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction or on grounds of forum non conveniens when the cases present offshore points of attachment. As copyright commerce becomes increasingly international, some of these dismissals may be unwarranted. They also may be incorrect in their refusal to apply U.S. law or retain U.S. jurisdiction over the parties: the decisions may be too quick to perceive "extra"-territoriality in …

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.