Intellectual Property Law Commons^™

Through The Looking Hole Of The Multi-Sensory Trademark Rainbow: Trademark Protection Of Color Per Se Across Jurisdictions: The United States, Spain, And The European Union, Glenda Labadie-Jackson

Richmond Journal of Global Law & Business

An oft-asserted prediction states that only trademarks that stimulate all five senses with the objective of attracting the consumer’s attention will acquire a firm and durable presence in today’s complex marketplaces. This, in turn, has provoked the broadening of the repertoire of signs and symbols potentially eligible to serve as trademarks for products or services. Vivid examples of these are the sounds, scents, flavors, colors and three-dimensional forms, which collectively, are grouped under the generic category of “non-traditional trademarks.

Authors And Readers: Conceptualizing Authorship In Copyright Law, Alina Ng

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

Copyright law recognizes authors as the first owners of copyright. However, there is paucity in literature in copyright analysis of the author and the rights which should be granted by virtue of the very act of creativity in the production of literary and artistic works. This indicates insufficient attention paid to a concept that is so central to a law that primarily aims to encourage authorship for society's benefit. The idea of the author and authorship as a creative process is central to copyright analysis. Deeper analysis of the author and creative authorship will provide insights into how the law …

Greenberg V. National Geographic Society: The Eleventh Circuit Clarifies The Privileged Revision Doctrine Of The Copyright Act, Joseph Siprut

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

This case comment discusses the landmark decision of the Eleventh Circuit, Greenberg v. National Geographic Society, in which the court clarified the privileged revision doctrine of the Copyright Act. This case comment specifically discusses the many implications resulting from this decision and navigates the reader through the current doctrinal landscape pertaining to privileged revisions of published works under Section 201(c) of the Copyright Act. Unlike existing commentary pieces announcing the result of this case, this piece examines the underlying legal doctrines and complicated procedural backstory to the case because of the extensive research gathered from copies of unpublished opinions and …

Keeping The Internet Neutral: Net Neutrality And Its Role In Protecting Political Expression On The Internet, Jennifer L. Newman

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

In Buckley v. Valeo, the Supreme Court found that discussion of public issues and debate on the qualifications of candidates is essential to the operation of the U.S. government. The Internet has become an important medium of political communication and this can arguably be attributed to its open nature and the large amount of control afforded to its users in selecting content. This note suggests that Congress must create proper regulations to ensure protection of political expression on the Internet. While discussing the two competing lobbying campaigns, net neutrality and net competition, this note ultimately promotes legislation currently pending in …

Social Networking And Sexual Predators: The Case For Self-Regulation, Sander J. C. Van Der Heide

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

The proliferation of social networking as a means of communicating and organizing online social relationships has created fora for sexual predation, cyberbullying, and harassment. Increasingly, minors are joining social networks, like MySpace and Facebook, which raise several legal and moral issues regarding the obligations and duties social networking sites have to their users. This note provides a history of social networking sites and the dangers associated with their use. After examining various common law and statutory attempts to regulate social networking sites, this note concludes that because of immunity under the Communications Decency Act and the impractibility of regulating the …

Filtering, Piracy Surveillance And Disobedience , Sonia K. Katyal

Faculty Scholarship

There has always been a cyclical relationship between the prevention of piracy and the protection of civil liberties. While civil liberties advocates previously warned about the aggressive nature of copyright protection initiatives, more recently, a number of major players in the music industry have eventually ceded to less direct forms of control over consumer behavior. As more aggressive forms of consumer control, like litigation, have receded, we have also seen a rise in more passive forms of consumer surveillance. Moreover, even as technology has developed more perfect means for filtering and surveillance over online piracy, a number of major players …

Vol. Vi, Tab 38 - Ex. 35 - Rosetta Stone Dtc (Direct To Consumer) Report 2008, Rosetta Stone

Rosetta Stone v. Google (Joint Appendix)

Exhibits from the un-sealed joint appendix for Rosetta Stone Ltd., v. Google Inc., No. 10-2007, on appeal to the 4th Circuit. Issue presented: Under the Lanham Act, does the use of trademarked terms in keyword advertising result in infringement when there is evidence of actual confusion?

Vol. Vi, Tab 38 - Ex. 34 - Rosetta Stone Competitive Analysis, Rosetta Stone

Rosetta Stone v. Google (Joint Appendix)

Exhibits from the un-sealed joint appendix for Rosetta Stone Ltd., v. Google Inc., No. 10-2007, on appeal to the 4th Circuit. Issue presented: Under the Lanham Act, does the use of trademarked terms in keyword advertising result in infringement when there is evidence of actual confusion?

Vol. Ix, Tab 41 - Ex. 4 - Google Ad Partners All-Hands Q1 2008, Google

Rosetta Stone v. Google (Joint Appendix)

Exhibits from the un-sealed joint appendix for Rosetta Stone Ltd., v. Google Inc., No. 10-2007, on appeal to the 4th Circuit. Issue presented: Under the Lanham Act, does the use of trademarked terms in keyword advertising result in infringement when there is evidence of actual confusion?

Darden V. Peters: Giving Deference Where Deference May Not Be Due, Raisa L. Michalek

Maryland Law Review

No abstract provided.

Synopsis Of The Extraterritorial Protection Afforded By Section 337 As Compared To The Patent Act , Neil F. Duchez

Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review

Unlike Section 271 of the Patent Act of 1952, "[s]ection 337 is a trade law which is not necessarily limited by the principles of domestic patent law." When examined more closely, Section 337 of the U.S. Tariff Act of 1930 in effect provides a patentee more protection from infringing foreign activity than Section 271. Accordingly, in many situations involving foreign acts, it may be more advantageous to enforce a U.S. patent at the International Trade Commission ("Commission") as opposed to a federal district court. The analysis discussed infra more closely examines those situations and provides the history behind the intended …

Research Tool Patents After Integra V. Merck - Have They Reached A Safe Harbor, Wolrad Prinz

Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review

The saga surrounding the Integra v. Merck cases has rekindled a heated debate about the proper scope of both common law exemption and the safe harbor provision, causing significant concern for owners of research tool patents. This Article will argue that the next judicial decision addressing the question of research tool patents should clarify that they are in a safe harbor because none of the two exemptions from infringement referenced above extends to the use of research tools in experiments in order to preserve the necessary incentives for their creation in the first place. Allowing access to research tools under …

Hiding Behind Nationality: The Temporary Presence Exception And Patent Infringement Avoidance, J. Jonas Anderson

Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review

This Article argues that the temporary presence exception was not designed to allow conveyance owners the ability to select the most optimal patent system under which to be subject. It also examines the ramifications of the temporary presence exception on international commerce and concludes that increased use of the exception may result in reduced values for patents relating to international conveyances, reduced incentives to invest in and develop technologies in international conveyances, and a decrease in the quality of various domestic patent systems worldwide. Finally, this Article proposes a solution to these problems. The temporary presence exception has received some …

Making Much Ado About Theory: The Chinese Trademark Law, Leah Chan Grinvald

Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review

Although the United States has had an active hand in the implementation of trademark law in China over the past century, the same frustrations that marked the turn of the twentieth century are reflected in the twenty-first century. This Article posits that one of the reasons that the United States has not seen the desired level of progress in China's protection of trademarks lies in the imposition of an American theory of trademarks, which has inhibited U.S. reform efforts in China to date. This imposition is understandable, as little thought has been given to the Chinese theoretical justification for their …

The Claim Construction Effect, Lee Petherbridge

Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review

Claim construction refers to the task of construing, or interpreting, the words of patents' claims to establish the metes and bounds of a patent. Theoretically, the task of claim construction serves to operationalize the concept of "invention," which lies at the heart of the U.S. patent system.[...] Rather than focusing on the set of cases in which the Federal Circuit addresses claim construction, this study focuses on a set of cases defined by a different patent doctrine. The basic idea is to explore the impact of claim construction on other areas of patent law.[...] The hypothesis of the claim construction …

Royalty Rate-Setting For Webcasters: A Royal(Ty) Mess, Amy Duvall

Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review

The Internet is a haven for free expression. Not only are content-based restrictions disfavored, but "[the internet] provides relatively unlimited, low-cost capacity for communication of all kinds." Almost half of all Americans have listened to music online, whether rebroadcasts of terrestrial radio or to find niche music that terrestrial radio simply does not play, and 13 percent tune in regularly. Webcasters provide a unique outlet for new artists; however, if royalty rates are set too high for all but the largest webcasters to stay in business, the variety of music available will be severely restricted. Musical diversity stimulates the generation …

All's Fair In Love And... Standard-Setting - The Third Circuit Says No To Deception And Yes To Antitrust Actions In Broadcom Corp. V. Qualcomm, Inc., Victoria Poulton

Villanova Law Review (1956 - )

No abstract provided.

Copyright Preemption Of Contracts, Christina Bohannan

Maryland Law Review

No abstract provided.

Fair Use Of Copyrighted Works In The Digital Age, Robert Spoo

Articles, Chapters in Books and Other Contributions to Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

Choosing Metaphors, Jessica Litman

Book Chapters

The copyright law on the books is a large aggregation of specific statutory provisions; it goes on and on for pages and pages. When most people talk about copyright, though, they don't mean the long complicated statute codified in title I7 of the U.S. Code. Most people's idea of copyright law takes the form of a collection of principles and norms. They understand that those principles are expressed, if sometimes imperfectly, in the statutory language and the case law interpreting it, but they tend to believe that the underlying principles are what count. It is, thus, unsurprising that the rhetoric …

Open Source, Open Access, Open Transfer: Market Approaches To Research Bottlenecks, Robin Feldman

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Finding Trademark Use: The Historical Foundation For Limiting Infringement Liability To Uses "In The Manner Of A Mark", Margreth Barrett

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Reasonable Foreseeability In Information Security Law: A Forensic Analysis, Meiring De Villiers

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

Businesses, non-profit organizations and government agencies regularly compile and maintain electronic databases of information about individuals who interact with these institutions. This article presents an analysis of civil liability for failure to safeguard confidential information. It focuses on the situation where a database owner failed to patch a computer security vulnerability which facilitated compromise of sensitive information. In a civil action against a database owner, foreseeability of exploitation of the vulnerability at issue is a key element of the liability analysis. The article provides judicial decision makers with the theoretical basis and a practical methodology to make an informed and …

Spam Works: Evidence From Stock Touts And Corresponding Market Activity, Laura Frieder, Jonathan Zittrain

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

We assess the impact of spain that touts stocks upon the trading activity of those stocks and sketch how profitable such spamming might be for spammers and how harmful it is to those who heed advice in stock-touting e-mails. We find convincing evidence that stock prices are being manipulated through spam. We suggest that the effectiveness of spamrnmed stock touting calls into question prevailing models of securities regulation that rely principally on the proper labeling of information and disclosure of conflicts of interest as means of protecting consumers, and we propose several regulatory and industry interventions.

Based on a large …

The Federal Communications Commission And The Nsa Call Database: The Duty To Investigate, Alan J. Chang

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

In May of 2006, news broke out across the United States that the National Security Agency had compiled a call record database that consisted of numerous American consumers' private phone records. The NSA apparently obtained this data directly from four of the nation's largest phone providers at the time: AT&T, BellSouth, Verizon, and SBC. Although Congress called for an FCC investigation as to whether or not these phone companies broke the law, the Commission ultimately refused to involve itself in the matter despite the potentially immense breach of consumer privacy involved. Based on the minimal precedent to have covered this …

The Taming Of The Internet: A New Approach Third-Party Internet Defamation, Amanda Groover Hyland

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

This article examines the liability of interactive Internet forum operators for defamatory statements written by third parties. It discusses Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act and how the courts have applied it to third-party Internet defamation. The article concludes that the courts' various approaches fail to adequately protect the various interests involved, as immunizing distributors fails to adequately protect defamation victims, and notice-based liability fails to adequately protect free expression on the web. Policy challenges and the constitutional foundations of libel law should be jointly considered to create a new test to evaluate liability for third-party libel on the …

Get Ready Cause Here They Come: A Look At Problems On The Horizon For Authorship And Termination Rights In Sound Recordings, Abbott Marie Jones

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

Record companies have long included language in standard recording contracts declaring all sound recordings made by the artist works made for hire. Contractual provisions alone, however, will not be enough to confer work-for-hire status on sound recordings. Thus, record companies also require that artists assign some or all of their copyrights in the recordings to the record company. Beginning in 2013, authors of sound recordings will have the opportunity to exercise their right to terminate and renegotiate those assignments, their bargaining power increased by years of success in the music industry. Whether sound recordings will in fact be considered works …

Beyond Microsoft: Intellectual Property, Peer Production And The Law's Concern With Market Dominance, 18 Fordham Intell. Prop. Media & Ent. L.J. 291 (2008), Daryl Lim

UIC Law Open Access Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Like A Candle In The Wind: Shaw Family Archives, Ltd. V. Cmg Worldwide, Inc. And The Flickering Recognition Of Marilyn Monroe's Right Of Publicity In New York, John C. Fuller

Jeffrey S. Moorad Sports Law Journal (1994 - )

No abstract provided.

Celebritysquatting: The Ubiquity Of Celebrity Culture And The Unique Problem It Presents For Domain Name Ownership, Sarah Noel Sheffield

Jeffrey S. Moorad Sports Law Journal (1994 - )

No abstract provided.