Intellectual Property Law Commons^™

From Pirates To Partners: Protecting Intellectual Property In China In The Twenty-First Century, Peter K. Yu

Faculty Scholarship

During the late 1980s and early 1990s, the United States repeatedly threatened China with a series of economic sanctions, trade wars, non-renewal of most-favored-nation status, and opposition to entry into the World Trade Organization. Such threats eventually led to compromises by the Chinese government and the signing of intellectual property agreements in 1992, 1995, and 1996. Despite these agreements, intellectual property piracy remains rampant in China.

Although China initially had serious concerns about the United States's threats of trade sanctions, the constant use of such threats by the U.S. government has led China to change its reaction and approach. By …

The Uniform Computer Information Transactions Act (Ucita): Still Not Ready For Prime Time, James S. Heller

Library Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Copyrights And Beyond In The Digital Age, Thomas G. Field Jr.

Law Faculty Scholarship

At one time, only works visible to the naked eye were copyrightable, but that has long since changed. Now, works capable of perception only by use of VCRs or computers, for example, enjoy the same protection as books, paintings and sculpture. In 1994, William S. Strong reported that he had "heard Chicken Littles say that the sky is falling in on copyright owners" in the digital age and predicted to the contrary. He was right; publishers' problems may have changed in degree but not in kind. For important, if not critical, internet needs to be met, providers must recoup costs.

The Battle Against Software Piracy: Software Copyright Protection In The Philippines, Grace P. Nerona

Washington International Law Journal

The Philippines enacted the Intellectual Property Code ("IPC") on June 6, 1997 to comply with its World Trade Organization ("WTO") treaty obligations and to respond to U.S. concerns regarding intellectual property protection in the Philippines. The IPC streamlines administrative procedures, increases criminal penalties for copyright infringement, and provides copyright protection for computer software. Despite the enactment of the IPC, the United States has kept the Philippines on its Special 301 "Watch List" of intellectual property rights violators. The United States maintains that the level of intellectual property protection in the Philippines is inadequate and ineffective, particularly in the areas of …

The Initial Interest Confusion Doctrine And Trademark Infringement On The Intemet, Byrce J. Maynard

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Are We Overprotecting Code? Thoughts On First-Generation Internet Law, Orin S. Kerr

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Review Of The 1999 Trademark Decisions Of The United States Court Of Appeals For The Federal Circuit , Stephen R. Baird

American University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Review Of The 1999 Patent Law Decisions Of The United States Court Of Appeals For The Federal Circuit , Phil N. Makrogiannis

American University Law Review

No abstract provided.

After Microsoft Wins, Robert H. Lande

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Intellectual Property, Michael W. Rafter

Mercer Law Review

Previous issues of the Eleventh Circuit Survey have not included articles addressing developments in the Eleventh Circuit's intellectual property jurisprudence. But as the Internet and other forms of media make an ever-increasing amount of information available to anyone anywhere, intellectual property rights are becoming increasingly significant and valuable. Therefore, no better time exists than now to add an intellectual property article to the Survey. Accordingly, this Article examines several noteworthy cases involving intellectual property rights decided by the Eleventh Circuit during 1999.

Actual Versus Legal Control: Reading Vicarious Liability For Copyright Infringement Into The Digital Millennium Copyright Act Of 1998, Charles S. Wright

Washington Law Review

Title 11 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 purports to limit the liability of Internet service providers that have been found vicariously liable for copyright infringement. However, by basing this limitation on the absence of the "benefit" and "control" elements of the common law test for vicarious liability, the plain language of Title II, codified at 17 U.S.C. § 512, appears to preclude statutory protection once a court has found a service provider vicariously liable. This Comment argues that courts must read a narrow definition of "actual" control into 17 U.S.C. § 512(c)(1)(B) in order to preserve the …

Offensive Protection: The Potential Application Of Intellectual Property Law To Scripted Sports Plays, Proloy K. Das

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Finding A Conflicts Issue In International Copyright Litigation: Did The Second Circuit Misinterpret The Berne Convention In Itar-Tass?, David E. Miller

Cardozo Journal of International and Comparative Law

The article critiques the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit's decision in Itar-Tass Russian News Agency v. Russian Kurier, Inc., arguing that the court misinterpreted the Berne Convention by creating a conflicts issue where none existed. The court's novel approach of applying Russian law to determine copyright ownership and U.S. law for infringement contradicts the principle of national treatment, which traditionally requires the law of the forum country to govern both issues. This decision, based on weak legal reasoning, ignored historical context, scholarly consensus, and relevant precedents, potentially leading to complications in international copyright litigation.

Electronic Billboards Along The Information Superhighway: Liability Under The Lanham Act For Using Trademarks To Key Internet Banner Ads, Christine Galbraith Davik

Faculty Publications

With almost one billion web pages on the Internet today, a search engine is a necessity at times. But search engines are also for-profit ventures and the financial success of these sites hinges on advertising revenue. One of the ways in which these sites generate income is by selling “keywords” to advertisers. Although there has been only one judicial decision – Playboy Enterprises, Inc. v. Netscape Communications – involving banner ads keyed to trademarks, it will undoubtedly not be the last. This article argues that despite the invisible nature of this unauthorized trademark use, the common practice of keying a …

Copyright Corner: The Adoption Of Ucita In Maryland, Harvey K. Morrell

All Faculty Scholarship

In the December 1999 issue of AALL Spectrum, Charles Cronin provided a fine overview of the Uniform Computer Information Transactions Act (UCITA) and its potential impact on libraries. As he indicated, the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws (NCCUSL) offered UCITA to several state legislatures for consideration, with Maryland and Virginia vying to become the first state to enact it. Virginia, whose legislative session began a couple of months before Maryland’s and whose process did not allow much opposition, was first across the line. However, one amendment, included near the end of the process, delayed implementation of the …

Taking A Bite Out Of Circumvention: Analyzing 17 U.S.C. 1201 As A Criminal Law, Jason M. Schulz

Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review

...information content providers who depend heavily on copyright law are growing increasingly wary of advances in digital technology that allow manipulation of their content and potentially diminish the effectiveness of their copyright protection. Technology firms, on the other hand, are looking more and more at developing products which provide low-cost, high quality access to content without restriction. Thus, as technologists work feverishly to find new ways to free up information, content providers are fighting just as hard to constrain access in order to prevent market-killing duplication and distribution of their works. These two codependent yet clashing interest groups recently met …

"Available State Remedies" And The Fourteenth Amendment: Comments On Florida Prepaid V. College Savings Bank, Michael L. Wells

Scholarly Works

In Florida Prepaid Postsecondary Education Expense Board v. College Savings Bank, decided during the Supreme Court's October 1998 Term, the specific point at issue was the scope of Congress's authority under Section 5 of the Fourteenth Amendment to impose liability for damages on state governments. In the Patent Remedy Act, Congress had abrogated the states' sovereign immunity from claims of patent infringement. College Savings Bank argued for the validity of the statute on the grounds that patents are property; that patent infringements are deprivations of property; and that the statute simply and appropriately provides a remedy for deprivations of …

Collaborative Research: Conflicts On Authorship, Ownership, And Accountability, Rochelle C. Dreyfuss

Vanderbilt Law Review

In this Article, Professor Dreyfuss explores the field of collaborative research in the realm of intellectual property law. Traditionally, scientists, artists, and professors developed ideas alone, utilizing only their own knowledge and research to complete their works. Recently, however, due in part to an increasing need for specialization, the globalization of the marketplace, the rapid growth of the Internet, and an expansion in intellectual property law, collaborative production is replacing individual efforts.

Collaborative efforts have posed an array of new and challenging legal problems. Parties sometimes find themselves with- out a clear sense of who has rights to royalties, who …

The Bolar Amendment Abroad: Preserving The Integrity Of American Patents Overseas After The South African Medicines Act, Matthew Kramer

Penn State International Law Review (1982 - 2011)

No abstract provided.

When Channel Surfers Flip To The Web: Copyright Liability For Internet Broadcasting, Baoding Hsieh Fan

Federal Communications Law Journal

Digital streaming capabilities have enabled real-time Internet transmission of video signals. The advent of "Webcasting" will potentially change the way in which programming reaches audiences-increasing diversity in content as well as customer choice. Currently, cable and satellite systems secure retransmission rights to broadcast programming through statutory copyrights, and debate has ensued over whether online retransmitters should benefit from the same. This Article describes the evolution of streaming video over the Internet and examines the economic exploitation of such technology. After offering an overview of the compulsory copyright system, the Article analyzes the applicability of statutory licenses to Internet retransmissions of …

Interpreting The Copyright Act’S Section 201(C) Revision Privilege With Respect To Electronic Media, Robert Meitus

Federal Communications Law Journal

New electronic media-including CD-ROMs and online services such as LEXIS/NEXIS-offer new outlets to which traditional publishers can disseminate the content of their publications. Recently, in Tasini v. New York Times, freelance authors claimed that the publishing industry allegedly infringed their copyrights in the underlying works of authorship. In absence of express agreements to the contrary, the authors maintained that section 201(c) of the Copyright Act gives the publishers only the limited privilege of publishing an article as part of a "particular collective work, any revision of that collective work, and any later collective work in the same series" and that …

The Availability Of The Fair Use Defense In Music Piracy And Internet Technology, Sonia Das

Federal Communications Law Journal

This Note examines the development of the fair-use defense to other new technologies, such as the VCR and photocopier, and concludes that courts generally make the fair-use defense available in cases involving copying using new technology. Such uses of the technology have contributed, rather than deterred, to both the bettering of the technology itself and increasing the use of a copyright work. Ultimately, the increased uses reward the copyright holder. Next, this Note applies fair-use cases to new technology in the music industry, namely the increase availability of music on the Internet and a device known as the Rio, which …

The U.S. Push For Worldwide Patent Protection For Drugs Meets The Aids Crisis In Thailand: A Devastating Collision, Rosemary Sweeney

Washington International Law Journal

In response to pressure from the United States, Thailand amended its Patent Act in 1992 and 1999 to provide patent protection for drugs and to limit its control on the pricing, importation, and compulsory licensing of patented drugs. These amendments and, perhaps even more importantly, the threat of U.S. trade sanctions, will probably ensure continued high prices and thus restricted access to new, patented Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome ("AIDS") drugs in Thailand. These drugs have dramatically changed the length and quality of life of patients infected with Human Immunodeficieny Virus ("HIV") in developed countries. About one million Thais are infected …

Thirty-Day Restrictions On Attorney Direct-Mail Solicitation: The United States Supreme Court Went For It, Steven M. Field

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Determining Ownership Of Foreign Copyright: A Three-Tier Proposal, Binyomin Kaplan

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

How Federal Circuit Judges Vote In Patent Validity Cases, John R. Allison, Mark A. Lemley

Florida State University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Copyright Statutes That Regulate Technology: A Comparative Analysis Of The Audio Home Recording Act And The Digital Millennium Copyright Act, Benton J. Gaffney

Washington Law Review

Over the past two decades, as the presence of digital technology has become more and more ubiquitous, its tremendous capabilities of reproduction and distribution have created difficult issues for copyright law. Recently, Congress has addressed some of these issues by taking the nontraditional approach of directly regulating the manufacture, development, and distribution of technology. In 1992, Congress enacted the Audio Home Recording Act, requiring that all digital audio recording devices possess a serial copy management system to limit the copying of digital music recordings. Six years later, Congress passed the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, making it a crime to manufacture …

Statutory Interpretation, Property Rights, And Boundaries: The Nature And Limits Of Protection In Trademark Dilution, Trade Dress, And Product Configuration Cases, Gary Myers

Faculty Publications

This article, however, takes the view that the basic landscape in trademark law is unlikely to change in the near future. Congress has only recently enacted the Trademark Dilution Act, and there seems to be little movement to amend it dramatically, let alone repeal it. There have been several recently enacted amendments to the Lanham Act addressing functionality that make great sense and are consistent with the principles suggested here, as will be discussed below. Moreover, the Supreme Court in Two Pesos, Qualitex, Park ‘n’ Fly, and Samara has recently set forth rules that will allow trade dress claims to …

Who Owns Course Materials Prepared By A Teacher Or Professor? The Application Of Copyright Law To Teaching Materials In The Internet Age, Georgia Holmes, Daniel A. Levin

Brigham Young University Education and Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Patent & Trademark Depository Library Association Newsletter

Journal of the Patent and Trademark Resource Center Association

No abstract provided.