Intellectual Property Law Commons^™

Hatch-Waxman’S Safe-Harbor Provision For Pharmaceutical Development: A Free Ride For Patent Infringers?, 13 J. Marshall Rev. Intell. Prop. L. 445 (2014), Kate Y. Jung

UIC Review of Intellectual Property Law

The Safe-Harbor provision of the Hatch-Waxman Act allows generic drug manufacturers to use a patented invention during pre-market testing of generic drugs. However, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit’s recent interpretation of the Safe-Harbor provision in Momenta Pharmaceuticals, Inc. v. Amphastar Pharmaceuticals, Inc. created controversy when it extended the Safe-Harbor exemption to post-FDA approval. This extension was done in an unprecedented manner and would “allow almost all activity by pharmaceutical companies to constitute ‘submission’ and therefore justify a free license to trespass.” The U.S. Supreme Court has yet to settle this matter, and courts are now faced …

Review And Reflection: Copyright Hearings And Related Discourse In The Nation’S Capital, 13 J. Marshall Rev. Intell. Prop. L. 487 (2014), Maria A. Pallante

UIC Review of Intellectual Property Law

On February 28, 2014, the Register of Copyrights of the United States and Director of the U.S. Copyright Office Maria A. Pallante delivered a keynote speech on the copyright hearings and related discourse in the nation’s capital. The speech was given at The John Marshall Law School’s 58th Annual Intellectual Property Conference. This article is based on her speech at the Conference.

What Reversals And Close Cases Reveal About Claim Construction: The Sequel, 13 J. Marshall Rev. Intell. Prop. L. 525 (2014), Thomas Krause, Heather Auyang

UIC Review of Intellectual Property Law

This article updates and elaborates on last year’s What Close Cases and Reversals Reveal About Claim Construction at the Federal Circuit. Like the previous article, this article provides empirical insight into claim construction at the Federal Circuit, by approaching the question with two unique and distinct subsets of data: (1) “reversals” of all district court claim construction decisions since Phillips v. AWH, and (2) “close cases,” or post-Markman claim construction cases that had dissents in which a currently-active judge participated. The past year’s reversals data once again confirms that district courts persistently favor narrow claim interpretations in cases in which …

They’Re Playing Our Song! The Promise And The Perils Of Music Copyright Litigation, 13 J. Marshall Rev. Intell. Prop. L. 555 (2014), William R. Coulson

UIC Review of Intellectual Property Law

Music copyright cases are unique, costly, difficult, and complex. It was no different in the case where Ray Repp, a music composer for a Catholic publishing house, filed suit against Andrew Lloyd Webber, the famed British composer most famous for such Broadway hits as Cats and Phantom of the Opera. Repp alleged that Webber’s “Phantom Song,” the theme music for the Phantom of the Opera musical, infringed Repp’s song “Till You,” which he wrote and copyrighted almost a decade earlier. Webber in turn claimed that Repp’s “Till You” was in fact a copy of an even earlier Webber song, “Close …

Aerevolution: Why We Should, Briefly, Embrace Unlicensed Online Streaming Of Retransmitted Broadcast Television Content, 13 J. Marshall Rev. Intell. Prop. L. 577 (2014), Bradley Ryba

UIC Review of Intellectual Property Law

The United States has long recognized broadcast television programming’s importance to the public’s information and entertainment needs. Accordingly, Congress has historically offered strong copyright protections for broadcast television networks. Those strong protections allowed broadcast networks to withstand business threats from innovations like cable television and VCRs. However, Congress’ recent silence on DVRs and cloud computing technology has allowed an entrepreneur to create the networks’ next biggest threat, Aereo. The creators of Aereo and similar businesses designed their services specifically around ambiguities within copyright law that could allow them to transmit networks’ content without paying the otherwise necessary consent fees. These …

Streaming Into The Future: Why Legislation And Technology Have Opened Pandora’S Box For The Recording Industry And The Webcasting Services, 13 J. Marshall Rev. Intell. Prop. L. 649 (2014), Rachael Stack

UIC Review of Intellectual Property Law

Today, music is everywhere, but this was not always the case. Listeners are surrounded by endless access to libraries and playlists from the advancement in technology. With the rapid technological advancements, Copyright law has been left behind at a stand still. Since the enactment of the Copyright Act, sound recordings have received less favorable treatment compared to their music counterpart. Sound recording copyrights are afforded digital performance royalties when broadcasted on popular Internet streaming services, like Pandora. In the last few years, music streaming has become more popular among listeners and thus, more sound recording royalties have been distributed; but, …

Adopting Pharmacogenomics And Parenting Repurposed Molecules Under The Orphan Drug Act: A Cost Dilemma?, 13 J. Marshall Rev. Intell. Prop. L. 667 (2014), David C. Babaian

UIC Review of Intellectual Property Law

The business model under which the pharmaceutical industry has operated in the recent past has become untenable. The era that has seen a consistent pipeline of blockbuster medicines for common chronic diseases is waning. New paradigms for more efficient and more economical drug development are being sought and implemented. Recent growth both in the repurposing of existing drugs and in the orphan product market has signaled the new hope for success and profit. New technology and the promise of personalized medicine augment the sense of optimism in this time of complementary transition in the wider healthcare industry. Yet, are the …

Pinwheel Of Fortune, 13 J. Marshall Rev. Intell. Prop. L. 761 (2014), James Ming Chen

UIC Review of Intellectual Property Law

This paper examines public health law in the context of prospect theory, the leading behavioral account of risk aversion and risk-seeking. The paper first demonstrates how international environmental law can be mapped along prospect theory’s risk-seeking axis. It then completes this picture of prospect theory by examining National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius, which upheld the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“PPACA”). Although Sebelius upheld the PPACA as an exercise of the federal government’s taxing authority, it reasoned that a directive aimed at uninsured individuals to buy health insurance lay beyond the power of Congress …

A Scientific Approach To Intellectual Property And Health: Innovation, Access, And A Forgotten Corner Of The Universal Declaration Of Human Rights, 13 J. Marshall Rev. Intell. Prop. L. 794 (2014), Adam Houston

UIC Review of Intellectual Property Law

For years, there has been vigorous debate over the relationship between intellectual property and health, especially in the context of pharmaceutical patents. Despite numerous attempts to strike a balance between innovation and access, however, few have looked to Article 27 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights for guidance. Article 27, and its further elaboration and codification under Article 15 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, explicitly address this balance by pairing the right of everyone “to share in scientific advancement and its benefits” with a similarly universal right of authors to “material interests resulting” from …

Protecting Traditional Knowledge In International Intellectual Property Law: Imperatives For Protection And Choice Of Modalities, 14 J. Marshall Rev. Intell. Prop. L. 25 (2014), Tesh Dagne

UIC Review of Intellectual Property Law

The need for protecting traditional knowledge (TK) has been acknowledged in discussion and negotiations under the umbrella of a number of inter-governmental organizations that deal with biodiversity, the environment, indigenous peoples’ rights, human rights, food and agriculture, among others. It has, however, proved difficult to arrive at a consensus on the proper modality that can serve the needs and desires of Indigenous and Local Communities (ILCs) in their economic and cultural participation. The article examines the imperatives for the protection of TK and explores the modalities of TK protection at the international level for regulating the control of, access to …

Does Reckless Indifference Suffice For A Cancellation Proceeding Predicated On Fraud?, 14 J. Marshall Rev. Intell. Prop. L. 50 (2014), Tal Benschar, Milton Springut

UIC Review of Intellectual Property Law

The Lanham Act provides for cancellation of a trademark “registration [that] was obtained fraudulently.” 15 U.S.C. § 1064(3) (2012). The Federal Circuit has held that such requires a showing of a subjective intent to deceive the Trademark Office. In re Bose Corp., 580 F.3d 1240, 1243, 91 U.S.P.Q.2d (BNA) 1938 (Fed. Cir. 2009). However, the Bose court left open whether reckless disregard for the truth suffices to make out a case of fraud. This article answers that question in the affirmative. We show that at common law, reckless disregard for the truth has long been recognized as sufficient to make …

Gender Diversity In The Patent Bar, 14 J. Marshall Rev. Intell. Prop. L. 67 (2014), Saurabh Vishnubhakat

UIC Review of Intellectual Property Law

This article describes the state of gender diversity across technology and geography within the U.S. patent bar. The findings rely on a new gender-matched dataset, the first public dataset of its kind, not only of all attorneys and agents registered to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office, but also of attorneys and agents on patents granted by the USPTO. To enable follow-on research, the article describes all data and methodology and offers suggestions for refinement. This study is timely in view of renewed interest about the participation of women in the U.S. innovation ecosystem, notably the provision …

Collateral Damage: Protecting Cultural Heritage In Crimea And Eastern Ukraine, Zoe Niesel

Faculty Articles

Since the early spring of 2014, the world has watched Russia utilize military forces to invade and annex territory belonging to Ukraine. These actions are, unsurprisingly, raising concerns in Eastern Europe over the prospect of armed conflict in the region, the political consequences of Russian annexation of Ukrainian territory, and the effect of this conflict on ordinary civilians. But there is another potential cost associated with Russia's actions that should not be overlooked - the loss of Ukrainian cultural heritage. History is replete with examples of the destruction of cultural heritage during periods of instability, from Napoleon's systematic looting of …

A Restatement Of Copyright Law As More Independent And Stable Treatise, Ann Bartow

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Copyright scholar Ann Bartow proposes a Restatement of her field of expertise, an area dominated by one federal statute, the Copyright Act. One might have thought that the traditional Restatement attention to state rather than federal law and common law rather than statutes would disqualify copyright from restateability. But as other contributions to this Symposium observe, federal statutory law has long lain in the sights of restaters, and as Bartow shows, copyright is plenty “complicated,” disputed, and refashioned in the courts. Moreover, as Bartow argues, the place that Restatement of Copyright could occupy is now held by a for-profit treatise …

Frand's Forever: Standards, Patent Transfers, And Licensing Commitments, Jay P. Kesan, Carol M. Hayes

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Keeping Trolls Out Of Courts And Out Of Pocket: Expanding The Inequitable Conduct Doctrine, Giordana Mahn

Loyola University Chicago Law Journal

Patent Asserting Entities (“PAEs”), often compared with the mythological troll who lurks under a bridge it did not build, demanding payment from anybody who wants to pass, are criticized for their business model as a type of “holdup” on innovation. They wait until a practicing entity infringes, then demand payment for technology that they did not create. Their critics charge PAEs with stifling innovation, crippling research and development, and chilling healthy competition. And although the courts, Congress, and government agencies identified PAEs as an issue since their recent emergence, current patent laws are ill-suited to limit PAE litigation and combat …

Trademark Hybridity And Brand Protection, Timothy Greene

Loyola University Chicago Law Journal

What’s in a word? As it turns out, quite a lot. The vast majority of words in our language, including trademarked terms, signify a variety of conceptual meanings and senses. This idea of splintered definition— described in the psycholinguistics literature as “semantic ambiguity” and offered in two flavors: “homonymy” (divergent and unrelated meanings) and “polysemy” (divergent yet related senses)—is underrepresented in trademark law. As a result, there has been a proliferation of legal doctrines that fail to accurately describe our linguistic lives, most notably including dilution and genericness. This Article draws on psycholinguistics literature on semantic ambiguity resolution to highlight …

Excluding Patentability Of Therapeutic Methods, Including Methods Using Pharmaceuticals, For The Treatment Of Humans Under Trade Related Aspects Of Intellectual Property Rights Article 27(3)(A), Michael Henry Davis

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

The Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights ("TRIPS"), the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade ("GATT"), and the World Trade Organization ("WTO") debacle has radically altered the traditional ability of nations to adopt whatever patent regime seems appropriate to them. Instead, TRIPS requires all member nations, even those which never thought it appropriate to grant such state monopolies, to afford patent protection to areas which had never been granted before-most dramatically in the area of health related innovations and, most expensively, pharmaceuticals. Until TRIPS, most -- or at least a number approaching half -- countries simply did …

Trade Secrets, Trade, And Extraterritoriality, Elizabeth A. Rowe, Daniel M. Mahfood

UF Law Faculty Publications

When a foreign individual or company misappropriates the trade secrets of an American company, and the acts of misappropriation occur entirely outside of the United States, the trade secret law of the United States generally will not apply. This represents the principle of extraterritoriality, and identifies a major vulnerability for companies that choose to conduct operations or engage in other business abroad. In such situations, the substantive and procedural laws of another country are likely to define whether the allegedly misappropriated information is protected and has been misappropriated.

Providing a domestic forum to prosecute extraterritorial infringement would substantially benefit domestic …

Twilight: The Unveiling Of Victims, Stalking, And Domestic Violence, Susan L. Brody

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

The article critically examines the Twilight saga, arguing that it romanticizes stalking, domestic violence, and controlling relationships by framing them as acts of love. Bella, the protagonist, is portrayed as a victim who idealizes these harmful behaviors, making her a problematic role model for young women. The series, while a fantasy, perpetuates dangerous stereotypes and normalizes violence in relationships, influencing works like Fifty Shades of Grey and impacting young audiences' perceptions of love and control.

Of Phds, Pirates And The Public: Three-Dimensional Printing Technology And The Arts, Lucas S. Osborn

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

Patent Examiners And Litigation Outcomes, Shine Tu

Law Faculty Scholarship

Conventional wisdom argues that unnecessary litigation of low quality patents hinders innovation, and that the PTO could play a role with its high grant rates. Accordingly, it is important to answer these questions: (1) which patent examiners are issuing litigated patents, (2) are examiners who are "rubber stamping" patents issuing litigated patents at a disproportionately higher rate, and (3) are examiners with less experience issuing more litigated patents? In sum, do patent examiners who issue litigated patents have common characteristics? Intuition would argue that those examiners who issue the most patents (approximately one patent every three business days) would exhibit …

Joint Works Under United States Copyright Law: Judicial Legislation Through Statutory Misinterpretation, Michael B. Landau

Faculty Publications By Year

No abstract provided.

Brief Of Digital Humanities And Law Scholars As Amici Curiae In Support Of Defendant-Appellees And Affirmance, (The Authors Guild, Inc., Et Al., V. Google, Inc., Et Al.), Matthew L. Jockers, Matthew Sag, Jason Schultz

Copyright, Fair Use, Scholarly Communication, etc.

Amici are over 150 professors and scholars who teach, write, and research in computer science, the digital humanities, linguistics or law, and two associations that represent Digital Humanities scholars generally.2 Amici have an interest in this case because of its potential impact on their ability to discover and understand, through automated means, the data in and relationships among textual works. Legal Scholar Amici also have an interest in the sound development of intellectual property law. Resolution of the legal issue of copying for non-expressive uses has far-reaching implications for the scope of copyright protection, a subject germane to Amici’s professional …

United States Response To Questionnaire Concerning Moral Rights In The 21st Century, June M. Besek, Brad A. Greenberg

Kernochan Center for Law, Media, and the Arts

ALAI-USA is the U.S. branch of ALAI (Association Littèraire et Artistique Internationale). ALAI-USA was started in the 1980's by the late Professor Melville B. Nimmer, and was later expanded by Professor John M. Kernochan.

Fragmented Literal Similarity In The Ninth Circuit: Dealing With Fragmented Takings Of Jazz And Experimental Music, Michael Zaken

Kernochan Center for Law, Media, and the Arts

Newcomers to jazz often ask: Is it true that jazz is all improvised? Somehow the casual and romantic notion that jazz is generated in an entirely spontaneous manner has become deeply rooted in our society.

The notator of any jazz solo, or blues, has no chance of capturing what in effect are the most important elements of the music.... A printed musical example of an Armstrong solo, or of a Thelonious Monk solo, tells us almost nothing except the futility of formal musicology when dealing with jazz.

The difficulty of applying standard infringement measures to musical compositions in a way …

Taming The "Frankenstein Monster": Copyright Claim Compatibility With The Class Action Mechanism, Renee G. Stern

Kernochan Center for Law, Media, and the Arts

In a 2013 opinion denying class certification to a putative class of copyright holders in Football Association Premier League Ltd. v. YouTube, Inc., Judge Stanton of the Southern District of New York wrote:

Generally speaking, copyright claims are poor candidates for class-action treatment. They have superficial similarities .... Thus, accumulation of all the copyright claims, and claimants, into one action will not simplify or unify the process of their resolution, but multiply its difficulties over the normal one-by-one adjudications of copyright cases.

Judge Stanton went on to characterize the case as a “Frankenstein monster posing as a class action” …

The Demise Of The Copyright Act In The Digital Realm: Re-Engineering Digital Delivery Models To Circumvent Copyright Liability After Aereo, Megan Larkin

Kernochan Center for Law, Media, and the Arts

This Note argues that the Second Circuit’s interpretation of the Transmit Clause eviscerates the meaning of “public” within the digital realm and has created a blueprint for business models to completely circumvent copyright liability. Part I provides the background of the public performance right, focusing on the role that technology has played in the addition of the Transmit Clause and on relevant judicial interpretation. Part II argues that the Second Circuit’s interpretation of the Transmit Clause was improper; it tests the court’s blueprint by re-engineering past business models to show how they could have evaded liability. Part III proposes that, …

Faustian Perspective On Digitization: Making A Deal With The Devil, Lucie Guibault

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

Digitization of library material, archives and museum collections, arts organizations repositories is progressing rapidly, and opens up new possibilities of accessing, using and re-using the knowledge embodied in cultural heritage. By giving new purpose and function to works, it enhances the value of the public domain and enriches the public sphere. However, digitization also creates the conditions for the rise of new proprietary entitlements over cultural objects. Such ‘informational monopolies’ are often justified as necessary to recoup the high costs of digitization, or as the basis to provide additional sources of income for the cultural institutions. At the same time, …

Debugging Software's Schemas, Kristen Jakobsen Osenga

Law Faculty Publications

The analytical framework being used to assess the patent eligibility of software and computer-related inventions is fraught with errors, or bugs, in the system. A bug in a schema, or framework, in computer science may cause the system or software to produce unexpected results or shut down altogether. Similarly, errors in the patent eligibility framework are causing unexpected results, as well as calls to shut down patent eligibility for software and computer- related inventions. There are two general schemas that are shaping current discussions about software and computer-related invention patents-that software patents are generally bad (the bad patent schema) and …