Intellectual Property Law Commons^™

Journalistic Malpractice: Suing Jayson Blair And The New York Times For Fraud And Negligence, Clay Calvert, Robert D. Richards

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Patent Thickets: Strategic Patenting Of Complex Technologies, James Bessen

Faculty Scholarship

Patent race models assume that an innovator wins the only patent covering a product. But when technologies are complex, this property right is defective: ownership of a product's technology is shared, not exclusive. In that case I show that if patent standards are low, firms build "thickets" of patents, especially incumbent firms in mature industries. When they assert these patents, innovators are forced to share rents under cross-licenses, making R&D incentives sub-optimal. On the other hand, when lead time advantages are significant and patent standards are high, firms pursue strategies of "mutual non-aggression." Then R&D incentives are stronger, even optimal.

A Brief History Of Author-Publisher Relations And The Outlook For The 21st Century, Maureen A. O'Rourke

Faculty Scholarship

The Fiftieth Anniversary Edition of the Journal of the Copyright Society of the U.S.A. provides a particularly appropriate forum in which to discuss the current state of the copyright system. By some accounts, U.S. copyright law has been fabulously successful, encouraging the growth of industries whose copyrighted products both enrich American culture and contribute significant value to the economy.

Controlling Opportunistic And Anti-Competitive Intellectual Property Litigation, Michael J. Meurer

Faculty Scholarship

It is useful to think of intellectual property (IP) law both as a system of property rights that promotes the production of valuable information and as a system of government regulation that unintentionally promotes socially harmful rent-seeking. This Article analyzes methods of controlling rent-seeking costs associated with opportunistic and anti-competitive IP lawsuits. My thinking is guided to some extent by the analysis of procedural measures for controlling frivolous litigation, and analysis of antitrust reforms designed to control strategic abuse of antitrust law. These analogies lead me to focus on pre-trial and post-trial control measures that reduce the credibility of weak …

Vertical Restraints And Intellectual Property Law: Beyond Antitrust, Michael J. Meurer

Faculty Scholarship

This Article describes how intellectual property (IP) law regulates six types of vertical restraints: restrictions on the field or location of use; restrictions on sharing; control over the frequency of use; restrictions on repair and modification; packaging requirements; and impediments to a buyer's decision to exit its relationship with a seller. There are three reasons to focus on IP oversight of vertical restraints separately from antitrust oversight. First, IP law covers a broader range of vertical restraints. Second, economic analysis of the antitrust-IP conflict focuses mainly on the potential of vertical restraints to exclude downstream competitors. IP doctrines that regulate …

Excuse And Justification In The Law Of Fair Use: Transaction Costs Have Always Been Only Part Of The Story, Wendy J. Gordon

Faculty Scholarship

In American copyright law, the doctrine of "fair use" has long been problematic. Every plausible litmus test that might simplify the "fair use" inquiry has proven inadequate, and copyright commentators have long sought an algorithm or heuristic to lend predictability and conceptual coherence to the doctrine. Twenty years ago, I published in this Journal an article entitled Fair Use as Market Failure, which suggested that the key to understanding the protean terms of "fair use" could best be found in the notion of market failure. That 1982 article has been often misapplied, by both courts and commentators. I am …

Copyright As Tort Law's Mirror Image: "Harms", "Benefits", And The Uses And Limits Of Analogy, Wendy J. Gordon

Faculty Scholarship

This pair of papers involves a reprinting of "Of Harms and Benefits: Torts, Restitution, and Intellectual Property," 21 J. LEGAL STUDIES 449 (1992), along with an introduction to that article for students, entitled "Copyright as Tort's Mirror Image". Both involve comparisons between statutory intellectual property law and common law doctrines.

"Copyright as Tort's Mirror" uses personal injury law to introduce students to copyright, making a link between the doctrines through the notion of "externalities". Just as tort law discourages wastefully harmful behavior by making perpetrators bear some of the costs inflicted, copyright law encourages beneficial behavior by enabling authors to …

Pushing Drugs: Genomics And Genetics, The Pharmaceutical Industry, And The Law Of Negligence, Heidi Li Feldman

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

This article presents a piece of a larger, ongoing project on the phenomenon of market-driven manufacturing (MDM) and how tort law should address it. In contrast to the larger project, this article provides a relatively brief overview of the general phenomenon of MDM, but zeros in on how pharmaceutical manufacturers specifically practice MDM. MDM is a well-documented, much practiced activity, although American courts do not recognize MDM as a discrete category of conduct. The basic idea of MDM is that marketing considerations should continuously control every aspect and stage of a product's lifecycle. When a company engages in MDM, it …

The Sense And Nonsense Of Web Site Terms Of Use Agreements, Sharon Sandeen

Faculty Scholarship

This article examines the purpose, use and enforceability of TOUs. In so doing it looks beyond the common question of whether TOUs are enforceable to ask whether and under what circumstances TOUs are necessary. This article explores whether the nature of the Internet is so different from the brick-and-mortar world that TOUs are needed for web sites but not for retail stores. A review of many of the existing TOUs reveals that major differences exist in the number and nature of their provisions. On one extreme are the TOUs of companies like Disney, Barnes and Noble and Amazon that apparently …

Assessing Clashes And Interplays Of Regines From A Distributive Perspective: Ip Rights Under The Strengthened Embargo Against Cuba And The Agreement On Trips, Robert Dufresne

Michigan Journal of International Law

This Article examines the clash of the two regulatory frameworks from the angle of distributive justice. By doing so, I suggest that in addition to the important issues of legitimacy, substantive norms, and hierarchy of legal orders, clashes between potential regulatory frameworks should also be conceptualized in the way in which they allocate goods (here the rights associated with IP) or recognize claims to or interests in such goods. The reasons for being concerned with distributive justice are threefold.

Stake Your (Linking) Claim: Assessing The Impact Of In Re Doyle On Patent Reissue, 2 J. Marshall Rev. Intell. Prop. L. 360 (2003), Grace C.Y. Leung

UIC Review of Intellectual Property Law

A common problem encountered during patent prosecution is a restriction requirement. According to In re Doyle, the failure to assert linking claims that readon non-elected claims is an error correctable by reissue. This paper argues that the Doyle court was correct in holding that Doyle was distinguishable from In re Orita. Allowance of genus claims that link previously non-elected claims comports with the patent statute. As the public is on notice that patent claims may be broadenedwithin two years, the Doyle holding ensures that the patentee is given the fullbreadth of protection necessary to “promote the Progress of Science and …

Using Declaratory Judgments Offensively In Patent Cases - Dj Jive, 3 J. Marshall Rev. Intell. Prop. L. 1 (2003), Peter J. Shurn Iii

UIC Review of Intellectual Property Law

The Declaratory Judgment Act permits a federal district court to grant relief where an actual controversy exists. Whether an actual controversy exists for declaratory judgments of patent non-infringement is governed by the Federal Circuit's test of the "totality of the circumstances." The declaratory judgment plaintiff has the burden of proving an actual controversy exists. However, the declaratory judgment defendant has the burden of proving patent infringement exists. Reasonable apprehension for a suit may be found to exist although the patentee made no patent-based threat. A company fearing business disruption from patent litigation can thus use declaratory judgment actions offensively. Declaratory …

Creative Claim Drafting: Claim Drafting Strategies, Specification Preparation, And Prosecution Tactics, 3 J. Marshall Rev. Intell. Prop. L. 34 (2003), George F. Wheeler

UIC Review of Intellectual Property Law

Patent prosecution is becoming more complex with every new rule, statute, and court decision. Rather than approaching the changes with a glass-is-half-empty view, the author explains why this development is a boon to the importance of skilled patent prosecutors. The author reviews the latest developments that have given added scrutiny to the patent drafting process and provides nine tips to assist patent prosecution in the current environment.

Protecting The Rights Of Indigenous Cultures Under The Current Intellectual Property System: Is It A Good Idea?, 3 J. Marshall Rev. Intell. Prop. L. 88 (2003), Juan Andrés Fuentes

UIC Review of Intellectual Property Law

Globalization and digital communication trends have provided new avenues and incentives for the commercial use of the folkloric artwork of indigenous peoples. Such commercial uses, however, have occurred largely without any creative control or financial benefit inuring to the original creators, people, or tribe of whom the artistic works form an integral part of their culture. Since much of the works are owned by a community as a whole, as opposed to being owned by individuals, it is difficult to fit such works into an intellectual property regime that is based on laws formed around Western notions of art and …

Making A Pitch For Extending A Judge's Power To Determine Obviousness: How The Mcginley Court Struck Out, 3 J. Marshall Rev. Intell. Prop. L. 156 (2003), John Petravich

UIC Review of Intellectual Property Law

Obviousness is one of the most litigated elements of patent of validity, due primarily to the enormous gray area between the roles of judge and jury. While obviousness is ultimately a legal question, the courts make an effort to leave the underlying factual determinations to the jury, with mixed results. McGinley v. Franklin Sports, Inc. illustrates the problems with the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit’s current approach as to what role juries and district court judges should play in determining obviousness of a patent. Instead of the McGinley approach of maintaining a significant role for juries in resolving …

The Rambus Shell Game: A Lack Of Integrity In The Standards Setting Process, 3 J. Marshall Rev. Intell. Prop. L. 138 (2003), David Adam Dorth

UIC Review of Intellectual Property Law

Standards setting organizations are formed to promulgate industry standards and in turn manage the course of technology that falls within their particular niche. Industry standards are the cornerstone of the technological compatibility that we enjoy as an advanced society. As we delve into the 21st century and beyond, the role of integrity in the standards setting process as a whole must be recognized by standards groups, end-users and importantly by the courts. This comment seeks to draw these entities into focusing on integrity and understand its importance in standards setting. Finally, this article strives to present a good starting point …

“You Said What?”: A Look At The Influence Of Foreign Patent Prosecution On Domestic Infringement Litigation, 3 J. Marshall Rev. Intell. Prop. L. 119 (2003), Brian R. Cheslek

UIC Review of Intellectual Property Law

The current patent statutes are structured to grant unambiguous patents that give patent holders a right to exclude and provide the public with ample notice of the patented subject matter. Therefore, courts should interpret the scope of a claim using only the specification and the file history, the very tools used by the patent holder and public to define the bounds of the patent. Unfortunately, limiting statements made abroad can be allowed into evidence, creating a way or accused infringers to evade liability. By permitting judges to admit extrinsic evidence for the purpose of providing clarity to a supposedly already …

Flawed Or Flawless: Twenty Years Of The Federal Circuit Court Of Appeals, 2 J. Marshall Rev. Intell. Prop. L. 178 (2003), Charles Shifley

UIC Review of Intellectual Property Law

A common complaint among patent practitioners is that the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit does not provide the predictability needed in patent law. The author suggests that a better question is whether the Federal Circuit provides more predictability than the alternative, the regional circuits. The choice is clear, the Federal Circuit provides greatly enhanced predictability compared to the regional circuits and patent practitioners should be thankful for what they have, and do not have.

The Next Wave: Federal Regulatory, Intellectual Property, And Tort Liability Considerations For Medical Device Software, 2 J. Marshall Rev. Intell. Prop. L. 259 (2003), Paul A. Mathew

UIC Review of Intellectual Property Law

Counsel for the medical software technologist faces an unusually complex, ongoing, high-stakes challenge. Counsel operates in a special field of commercial, legal and regulatory forces: (1) intellectual property laws which govern the expression and protection of commercial rights derived from advances in medical science and technology; (2) existing and proposed contracts/warranty laws that govern technological commercial relationships; (3) negligence, professional liability, and product liability laws that govern the marketing of medical technologies; and, (4) a new body of regulation derived from the power of the federal government to indirectly provide for the safety, effectiveness, privacy, and security of medical technologies …

Mary Mary Quite Contrary How Does Your Biodiverse Garden Grow? An Overview Of Intellectual Property Protections For Plants In The United States, Europe, And Japan, 2 J. Marshall Rev. Intell. Prop. L. 307 (2003), Jacqueline M. Cohen

UIC Review of Intellectual Property Law

As we enter further into the boom of the biotechnology era, the role that plants play in our everyday lives continues to grow increasingly more important. This article seeks to provide a general outline of the protections available on a national, as well as, international level for new plant varieties produced through both genetic engineering processes utilized by the biotechnology field, as well as, the "older" methods, such as cross germination, splicing, etc. that are still successfully being utilized by the general scientific community. In the broadest sense this article is designed to help those who are unfamiliar with the …

No-Copy Technology And The Copyright Act: Has The Music Industry Been Allowed To Go Too Far In Diminishing The Consumers’ Personal Use Rights In The Digital World?, 2 J. Marshall Rev. Intell. Prop. L. 337 (2003), Kevin C. Earle

UIC Review of Intellectual Property Law

Record companies have in recent years begun production of compact discs containing “no-copy” technology. These CDs appear to be classic CDs but are alleged to have poorer sound quality and often will not play in computers. The recording industryhas used this and other methods to stem the increasing popularity of CD copying and unauthorized music file distribution online. While the right of copyright owners to protect their intellectual property is well established, it is arguable that the methoddescribed herein interferes with a consumer’s right to make personal use of legally purchased content. Such right is alleged to stem from the …

The Inevitable Disclosure Doctrine In Illinois: Is It An Inevitable Mistake?, 2 J. Marshall Rev. Intell. Prop. L. 379 (2003), Juliet Ruth Otten

UIC Review of Intellectual Property Law

In several recent decisions, Illinois courts have established that an ex-employee may be restrained from using information from their former employer, that will be "inevitably disclosed", even when no non-competition agreement existed between the employee and the employer. The use of this"inevitable disclosure" doctrine allows Illinois courts to create quasi non-competition agreements even where there has been no actual or threatened misappropriation of an employer's information. This comment proposes that Illinois courts should apply the inevitable disclosure doctrine only when several limiting factors are met and, instead, should encourage employers to use reasonable confidentiality agreements so that neither the employer's …

Can This Brokered Marriage Be Saved? The Changing Relationship Between The Supreme Court And Federal Circuit In Patent Law Jurisprudence, 2 J. Marshall Rev. Intell. Prop. L. 201 (2003), Debra D. Peterson

UIC Review of Intellectual Property Law

Congress created the Federal Circuit, in part, to provide uniformity in patent decisions throughout the United States and stability in patent law. During the first decade of the Federal Circuit’s existence, the Supreme Court largely deferred to the Federal Circuit in patent law decisions. However, the Supreme Court’s initial deference to the Federal Circuit has since been replaced by critical view of the Federal Circuit’s decisions and its decision-making processes. This article proposes that the Supreme Court has correctly abandoned its deferential mindset toward the Federal Circuit since the Federal Circuit was never intended to be the de facto Supreme …

Protecting Minor Improvements On Core Patents: Complementing Traditional Patent Protection With Strategic Disclosure, 2 J. Marshall Rev. Intell. Prop. L. 398 (2003), Todd E. Rinner

UIC Review of Intellectual Property Law

Managing intellectual property in a manner that achieves its full value is a priority for companies of all types and sizes. Rather than viewing defensive publications as strictly an alternative to patenting, it should be seen as an efficient complement to be utilized in combination with patenting. The development of minor improvements on major inventions presents an attractive situation for combining strategic disclosure with traditional patent protection. Publishing information about a minor improvement will create prior art and prevent competitors from obtaining a patent.By publishing incremental innovations to core patents, a firm can achieve the initialpatent protection necessary to create …

A Hollow Victory For The Common Law? Trips And The Moral Rights Exclusion, 2 J. Marshall Rev. Intell. Prop. L. 321 (2003), Monica Kilian

UIC Review of Intellectual Property Law

With the adoption of moral rights legislation in the United Kingdom and the United States, it appeared that moral rights were on the way to becoming acceptable in Anglo-American jurisdictions. However, the adoption of the TRIPs Agreement expressly excluded the moral rights provision of the Berne Convention. TRIPs signals that all is not well with the integration of moral rights into common law societies. This Article discusses the issues that hamper the acceptance of moral rights. This Article concludes that by bringing economic and moral rights into the same arena and softening the dichotomy of economic versus personal rights, the …

Some Realism About Indigenism, Michael Henry Davis

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

The debate about creating so-called intellectual property (“IP”)--legal monopolies--over indigenous information (a product mostly of Third World countries) is habitually (almost stereotypically) characterized by qualifications that such monopolies really don't fit, and further qualifications that although they don't fit they are the best alternative. But underlying both sets of qualifications is often a confusion about what the real problem is. Because of a frequent failure to analyze closely the problem (and sometimes because of misinformation mixed with an unhealthy dose of romanticism), critics far too often jump to the legal monopoly solution to problems that ironically may be in large …

Neighborhood Watch: The Negation Of Rights Caused By The Notice Requirement In Copyright Enforcement Under The Digital Millennium Copyright Act, Colin Folawn

Seattle University Law Review

Part II of this Comment explains why the DMCA was created, beginning with a brief discussion of modern copyright justifications. Part III lays out the mechanics of the notice requirement and the safe harbor protection for ISPs. Part IV focuses on inconsistencies among the courts and the enforcement dilemma posed by the DMCA. Part V proposes a different standard for the initial notice, encouraging ISPs to work cooperatively with independent copyright holders. This part includes a preview of services and software that exist and that are being developed to ease the burden of finding and managing digital content. Finally, Part …

Owning Enlightenment: Proprietary Spirituality In The New Age Marketplace, Walter Effross

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

No abstract provided.

Privacy Property, Information Costs, And The Anticommons, Edward J. Janger

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

File-Sharing Tools And Copyright Law: A Study Of In Re Aimster Copyright Litigation And Mgm Studios, Inc. V. Grokster, Ltd., Robyn Axberg

Loyola University Chicago Law Journal

No abstract provided.