Intellectual Property Law Commons^™

Vangrack's Explanations: Treating The Truth As A Mere Matter Of "Form", Jeffery Fagan, James S. Liebman, Valerie West

Faculty Scholarship

We welcome criticism by responsible scholars and readers, and the chance to address it in journals that enforce appropriate standards of accuracy and integrity. We have done just that in exchanges in Judicature and the Indiana Law Journal.

But the inaccuracies in Adam VanGrack's Note, and new problems with his present explanation, lead us to conclude that it is not useful to exchange views with him in the Washington University Law Quarterly. Beyond all is Mr. VanGrack's dismissal of matters serious enough to trigger an extraordinary instruction to explain himself in print, and to prompt him to rescind …

From Having Copies To Experiencing Works: The Development Of An Access Right In U.S. Copyright Law, Jane C. Ginsburg

Faculty Scholarship

This essay addresses how current U.S. copyright law responds to new forms of distribution of copyrighted works, through the emerging right to control digital access to copyrighted works, as set out in § 1201 of the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act. When the exploitation of works shifts from having copies to directly experiencing the content of the work, the author's ability to control access becomes crucial. Indeed, in the digital environment, without an access right, it is difficult to see how authors can maintain the exclusive Right to their Writings that the Constitution authorizes Congress to secure. Even if Congress …

Overcoming Property: Does Copyright Trump Privacy?, Julie E. Cohen

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

This essay does not attempt to specify the privacy rights that users might assert against the purveyors of DRM systems. Instead, it undertakes a very preliminary, incomplete exploration of several questions on the "property" side of this debate. What is the relationship between rights in copyrighted works and rights in things or collections of bits embodying works? In particular, as the (popular and legal) understanding of copies of works as residing in "things" becomes largely metaphorical, how should the law construct and enforce boundedness with respect to those copies? Does the calculus of property and contract allow for consideration of …

Congress's Power To Promote The Progress Of Science: Eldred V. Ashcroft, Lawrence B. Solum

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

This essay investigates the issues raised by Eldred v. Ashcroft, in which the Supreme Court may decide whether the Copyright Term Extension Act (CTEA) exceeds Congress's authority under that clause. The essay frames the issues in Eldred v. Ashcroft by discussing the history of copyright legislation in general and the CTEA in particular and then summarizing the procedural history of Eldred v. Ashcroft. The essay then undertakes a detailed investigation of the text of the Intellectual Property Clause, with a special emphasis on the interpretation of the clause by the first Congress and early judicial decisions. Three elements …

Trade-Related Aspects Of Intellectual Property Rights And Biotechnology: European Aspects, John Linarelli

Scholarly Works

There does not seem to be a widely held view among WTO members of the proper role and scope of TRIPS. One of the main reasons why TRIPS is controversial is because it allocates rights in innovation, some would say beyond the bounds of what a trade agreement should seek to do. The lines of the debate are often conceptualized in terms of 'developing' versus 'developed' country differences. One of the major areas of disagreement is how TRIPS deals with rights in biotechnology. Some developing countries are relatively rich in biodiversity and traditional knowledge but poor in capital and scientific …

Balancing Copyright Protections And Freedom Of Speech: Why The Copyright Extension Act Is Unconstitutional, Erwin Chemerinsky

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Fencing Off Ideas: Enclosure & The Disappearance Of The Public Domain, James Boyle

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Database Protection In A Global Economy, Jerome H. Reichman

Faculty Scholarship

In 1996, a database treaty that the European Commission had put forward, in connection with the WIPO negotiations on transmissions in cyberspace, ultimately failed to win the support of other regional groups. Since then, the inability of the United States Congress to enact any form of database legislation has stymied further multilateral undertakings on this topic. This impasse may soon be broken, however, owing to the change of Administrations and to the appointment of new committee chairmen in the United States House of Representatives.

This article will discuss the prospects for an international regulatory framework for non copyrightable databases in …

Antitrust And The Costs Of Standard-Setting: A Commentary On Teece & (And) Sherry Symposium: The Interface Between Intellectual Property Law And Antitrust Law: Commentary, Mark R. Patterson

Faculty Scholarship

The creation of an industry standard is a process that has much in common with the creation of a patented invention. Indeed, if standards are not patentable, it is only because of certain doctrinal peculiarities of patent law. It is therefore important to preserve the incentives for organizations to incur the costs of standard-setting activity, so that society may gain the benefits of the resulting standards. The law can preserve those incentives by treating the contributions of industry standards as distinct from those of inventions that are incorporated in them. More specifically, antitrust law should ensure that the patentees of …

The Doctrine Of Equivalents And Prosecution History Estoppel: The Supreme Court Supports Flexibility Over Certainty In Patent Cases In Festo V. Smc, Sue Ann Mota

Richmond Journal of Law & Technology

The Congress shall have the power to promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive rights to their respective writings and discoveries.

In Search Of A Balance Between Police Power And Privacy In The Cybercrime Treaty, D.C. Kennedy

Richmond Journal of Law & Technology

Imagine that you wake up one morning, turn on your computer, and open an e-mail message with a catchy phrase in the subject line. Immediately after opening the e-mail’s attachment, your personal computer is severely damaged. Obviously having a bad day, you head to your job as an attorney for a multinational corporation. By the time you arrive at work, there has been damage to company computers across the globe. The monetary costs of the damage, coupled with the downtime, are astronomical. The CEO of your company is furious. You hope to diffuse the situation by informing your boss that …

End Game: Ex Parte Seizure Process And The Battle Against Bootleggers, Lucas G. Paglia, Mark A. Rush

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

This Article presents a broad overview of the exparte seizure process, what it is and how it can be deployed by trademark owners to shut down counterfeiters. It first discusses the general structure and mechanics of the TCA. It then proceeds to discuss some important areas of practical concern with respect to proceedings under the Act. The Article concludes by providing a hypothetical case study of the ex parte seizure process in action.

The Peer-To-Peer Revolution: A Post-Napster Analysis Of The Rapidly Developing File Sharing Technology, Joseph A. Sifferd

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

This Note will focus on A&M Records, Inc. v. Napster, Inc. and will include an analysis of copyright law applicable to the legality of the incipient peer-to-peer file-sharing technology. The first section provide a brief factual history and introduction to the Napster legal discussion. The second Section of this Note will include a survey of relevant copyright doctrines, followed by a discussion of the Ninth Circuit's analysis of these doctrines as applied to the facts presented in "Napster." Finally, I will address the future of the peer-to-peer phenomenon, including a review and analysis of different types of peer-to-peer networks that …

Book Publishing In The Age Of The E-Book, Nancy B. Vermylen

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

Whatever role e-publishing is ultimately to assume in the publishing world, its emergence calls for the (re)evaluation of significant legal issues affecting the contractual relationship of authors and publishers. This Note identifies some of those issues, and where appropriate, suggests some tentative solutions. Part II of this Note sets e-publishing and the concerns it raises in context by providing a brief discussion of the traditional book publishing industry and the roles that publishing contracts and personal relationships play in that industry. Part III provides an introduction to the emerging world of e-publishing and e-books. Part IV discusses the legal issues …

The Second Coming Of Intellectual Property Rights In China, Peter K. Yu

Faculty Scholarship

This Article traces the development of intellectual property rights in China since the country’s reopening in the late 1970s. Part I provides a brief history of the Chinese intellectual property system and examines the various intellectual property disputes between China and the United States in the late 1980s and the early 1990s. This Part argues that the contemporary Chinese intellectual property system was not developed until intellectual property rights reemerged in China in the late 1970s. Part II discusses the causes of the piracy and counterfeiting problem in China. By focusing on the significant political, social, economic, cultural, and ideological …

Employee Patents On Computer-Implemented Inventions: The Conundrum Of Separate Ownership Of Patent And Copyright, David Loretto

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.