Intellectual Property Law Commons^™

The Myth And Reality Of Dilution, Sandra L. Rierson

Duke Law & Technology Review

Statutory dilution claims are traditionally justified on the theory that even non-confusing uses of a famous trademark (or similar mark) can nonetheless minutely dilute the source-identifying capacity of the targeted trademark. This Article challenges that theory. The evidence that this phenomenon occurs is weak and has been subject to substantial empirical challenge. The true foundation for dilution claims lies not in alleged economic harms, but rather the misplaced fiction of corporate personality. We do not require trademark holders to prove actual economic injury in the context of a dilution claim because, at least in the vast majority of cases, there …

Who Won In Sony’S Ps3 Jailbreak Battle?, Jess Robinson

Intellectual Property Brief

No abstract provided.

Ibm’S Watson Beats Humans On Jeopardy; Up Next: Searching The Prior Art?, Suba Ganesan

Intellectual Property Brief

No abstract provided.

Neil Gaiman Says Internet Piracy Is “People Lending Books”, Mark Tratos

Intellectual Property Brief

No abstract provided.

The America Invents Act Makes U.S. One Step Closer To First-To-File System, Aaron Gleaton

Intellectual Property Brief

No abstract provided.

Conflicts At The Intersection Of Acta & Human Rights: How The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement Violates The Right To Take Part In Cultural Life, Robert Ellis

Intellectual Property Brief

No abstract provided.

Towards A Doctrine Of Fair Use In Some Of Patent Law, Joshua I. Miller

Intellectual Property Brief

No abstract provided.

Balkanization Of The Local Patent Rules And A Proposal To Balance Uniformity And Local Experimentation, Grace Pak

Intellectual Property Brief

No abstract provided.

Reclaiming Our Technological Posterity At The Intersection Of Intellectual Property And Taxation: Uncovering How Patent Pools Are Key To Recovering The Benefits Of Charitable Ip Contributions, Kevin Christopher

Intellectual Property Brief

No abstract provided.

Stifling Scientific Progress: The District Court’S Decision In Myriad, Seth R. Ogden

Intellectual Property Brief

No abstract provided.

Copyright In The Classroom: Why Comprensive Copyright Education Is Necessary In United States K-12 Education Curriculum, Eric Perrott

Intellectual Property Brief

No abstract provided.

The Relational Contingency Of Rights, Alex Stein, Gideon Parchomovsky

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Value Divergence In Global Intellectual Property Law, J. Janewa Oseitutu

Indiana Law Journal

It is a challenge for the United States to adequately protect the interests of its intellectual property industries. It is particularly difficult to effectively achieve this objective when the interests of the United States are not in line with the social, cultural, and economic goals of other nations. Yet, as a major exporter of intellectual property protected goods, the United States has an interest in negotiating effective international intellectual property agreements that are perceived to be legitimate by the state signatories and their constituents. Focusing on value divergence, this Article contributes to the growing body of literature on developing a …

Value Divergence In Global Intellectual Property Law, J. Janewa Osei-Tutu

Articles

It is a challenge for the United States to adequately protect the interests of its intellectual property industries. It is particularly difficult to effectively achieve this objective when the interests of the United States are not in line with the social, cultural, and economic goals of other nations. Yet, as a major exporter of intellectual property protected goods, the United States has an interest in negotiating effective international intellectual property agreements that are perceived to be legitimate by the state signatories and their constituents. Focusing on value divergence, this Article contributes to the growing body of literature on developing a …

Why Copyright Falls Behind The Requirement For Protecting Graphic User Interfaces: Case Studies On Limitations Of Copyright Protection For Guis In China, Ling Jin, Yihong Ying

IP Theory

No abstract provided.

Ip Protection Of Fashion Design: To Be Or Not To Be, That Is The Question, Xinbo Li

IP Theory

No abstract provided.

Let's Talk About Text: Contracts, Claims, And Judicial Philosophy At The Federal Circuit, Andrew T. Langford

IP Theory

No abstract provided.

Newman, J., Dissenting: Another Vision Of The Federal Circuit, Blake R. Hartz

IP Theory

No abstract provided.

Confronting The Crisis In Scientific Publishing: Latency, Licensing And Access, Jorge L. Contreras

Joint PIJIP/TLS Research Paper Series

The serials crisis in scientific publishing can be traced to the long duration of copyright protection and the assignment of copyright by researchers to publishers. Over-protection of scientific literature has enabled commercial publishers to increase subscription rates to a point at which access to scientific information has been curtailed with negative social welfare consequences. The uniformity costs imposed by such over-protection can be addressed by tailoring intellectual property rights, either through legal change or private ordering.

Current open access channels of distribution offer alternative approaches to scientific publishing, but neither the Green OA self-archiving nor the Gold OA author-pays models …

Bio-Cultural Knowledge And The Challenges Of Intellectual Property Rights Regimes For African Development, Ikechi Mgbeoji

Dalhousie Law Journal

African states have, since the colonial encounter, been part of the international regimes on intellectual property rights. Formal accession to various treaties and conventions on intellectual property rights instruments should not be mistaken for actual internalization of the policies, structures and norms required for reaping the promised benefits of participation in such regimes. There is ample evidence showing that most African states do not have the requisite structures for fruitful engagement with international intellectual property rights regimes. Until this anomaly is rectified, African states' engagement with international intellectual property regimes will remain structurally flawed and inimical to the human development …

Haute Copyright: Tailoring Copyright Protection To High-Profile Fashion Designs, Alexandra Manfredi

Cardozo Journal of International and Comparative Law

The note argues that high-profile haute couture fashion designs, particularly those worn by celebrities at significant events, deserve copyright protection due to their artistic and economic value. It proposes modifying U.S. copyright law to protect these designs, balancing the need to safeguard designers' investments while avoiding stifling innovation or competition. The analysis suggests that such protection could be achieved through a narrowly tailored provision with specific requirements, such as mandatory registration and a short protection term, modeled after successful European frameworks.

The Private Costs Of Patent Litigation, James Bessen, Michael J. Meurer

Faculty Scholarship

This paper estimates the total cost of patent litigation to alleged infringers. We use a large sample of stock market event studies around the date of lawsuit filings for US public firms from 1984-99. We find that the total costs of litigation are much greater than legal fees and costs are large even for lawsuits that settle. Lawsuits cost alleged infringers about $28.7 million ($92) in the mean and $2.9 million in the median. Moreover, infringement risk rose sharply during the late 1990s to over 14% of R&D spending. Small firms have lower risk relative to R&D.

Broadcast Rights, Unjust Enrichment, And The Student-Athlete, Richard T. Karcher

Cardozo Law Review

The NCAA, conferences and universities license to networks the right to broadcast their live games in exchange for billions of dollars in annual rights fees without anyone questioning either the origin of this right or who constitutes all of the holders of this right. Historically courts recognized a quasi-property right of professional teams to sell the right to broadcast their games; however, team owners put personal funds at risk and are entitled to full ownership of the copyright to the broadcast under the work made for hire doctrine as they pay the players a proportionate share of the rights fees. …

Citizen Petitions: An Empirical Study, Michael A. Carrier, Daryl Wander

Cardozo Law Review

In recent years, brand-name drug companies have engaged in an array of conduct that has delayed generic competition. While some of the activity - such as settlements between brand and generic firms and "product hopping" from one drug version to another - has received attention, another behavior has, until now, flown under the radar.

This Article examines the activity of "citizen petitions." A citizen petition is a request for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to take an action such as evaluating a drug's safety or effectiveness. When used appropriately, it could raise awareness of legitimate concerns with a …

Buying A Lie: The Harms And Deceptions Of Ghostwriting, T. J. Fosko

University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review

Ghostwriters are hired by politicians, celebrities, professionals and even established authors to do the work of writing for significant monetary compensation. Although ghostwriters receive no professional credit for their authorship, publishers who employ ghostwriters enjoy the financial windfall of marketing a book by a well-known person. While the economic harm of purchasing a relatively inexpensive book from what the consumer thought was a best-selling author is relatively slight, the serious harm of ghostwriting is the message received by the consumer who thinks that the ideas and message of the book come from the purported author.

Despite the inherently deceptive nature …

Uncle Sam, Can You Please Sing Us A "Choruss"?, Brody Ehrlich

Cardozo Public Law, Policy & Ethics Journal

The rise of peer-to-peer file-sharing platforms like Napster fundamentally disrupted the music industry, leading to a sharp decline in sales and prompting legal battles over copyright infringement. The note argues that traditional legal and market-based strategies to combat piracy have largely failed, necessitating a revised copyright system that balances industry interests with consumer behavior. It proposes a compulsory licensing model, inspired by the Choruss experiment, to legalize and monetize file sharing while ensuring fair compensation for rights holders.

An Information-Gathering Approach To Copyright Policy, Peter Dicola, Matthew Sag

Cardozo Law Review

For over a century and with increasing frequency, major controversies have erupted between large distributors of copyrighted works (song publishers, movie studios, record labels, book publishers, etc.) and makers of new technologies for experiencing those works (player piano manufacturers, VCR manufacturers, the creators of file sharing software, Google Books, etc.). Usually, the copyright owners and the technology firms reach a licensing deal - but not without some form of government intervention. Various institutions within the federal government have become involved in these disputes, using a variety of different mechanisms. This Article is a theoretical investigation of government intervention in these …

Intellectual Property Training And Education For Development, Peter K. Yu

Faculty Scholarship

Written for a symposium addressing the need to construct a positive policy and research agenda for international intellectual property law, this article explores ways to improve the design and delivery of intellectual property training and educational programs. The article draws on the author's experience as the rapporteur for the International Roundtable on WIPO Development Agenda for Academics.

The article begins by reflecting on WIPO’s changing orientation, outlining the principles and goals recognized in its Development Agenda. It emphasizes the need for an expansion of coverage in intellectual property training and educational programs. It also offers guidelines on ways to redesign …

Not So Obvious After All: Patent Law's Nonobviousness Requirement, Ksr, And The Fear Of Hindsight Bias, Glynn S. Lunney Jr, Christian T. Johnson

Faculty Scholarship

Before the creation of the Federal Circuit in 1982, nonobviousness served as the primary gatekeeper for patents. When patent holders sued for infringement and lost, more than sixty percent of the time, they lost on the grounds that their patent was obvious. With the advent of the Federal Circuit, nonobviousness became a much less difficult hurdle to surmount. From 1982 until 2005, when patent holders sued for infringement and lost, obviousness was the reason in less than fifteen percent of the cases. While obviousness remained formally a requirement of patent protection, there can be little doubt that the Federal Circuit …

The Scope Of Trademark Law In The Age Of The Brand Persona, Laura A. Heymann

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.