Intellectual Property Law Commons^™

2013 National Lawyers Convention: Intellectual Property: Intellectual Property, Free Markets, And Competition Policy, John F. Duffy, Richard A. Epstein, Joshua D. Sarnoff, Joshua D. Wright, Douglas Ginsburg

Hamline Law Review

abstract

Copyright's Mercantilist Turn, Glynn S. Lunney, Jr.

Florida State University Law Review

Over the last twenty years, arguments for broader copyright have taken an increasingly mercantilist turn. Unable to establish that broader copyright will lead to more or better original works, as the Constitution and the traditional economic framework require, proponents have begun arguing for broader copyright on the basis of revenue and jobs. Rampant unauthorized copying is theft or piracy, proponents insist, depriving copyright owners of revenue and destroying jobs. Whether or not it leads to more or better works, broader copyright will increase revenue to copyright owners and thus increase employment in the copyright industries. This increased employment, on its …

Work Made For Hire -- Analyzing The Multifactor Balancing Test, Ryan Vacca

Florida State University Law Review

Authorship of copyrighted works is oftentimes controlled by the 1976 Copyright Act’s work made for hire doctrine. This doctrine states that works created by employees within the scope of their employment result in the employer, not the employee, being the author and initial copyright owner. One key determination in this analysis is whether the hired party is an employee or independent contractor. In 1989, the U.S. Supreme Court, in CCNV v. Reid, set forth a list of factors to distinguish employees from independent contractors. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court did not give further guidance on how to balance these factors. …

Keep Your Friends Close: A Framework For Addressing Rights To Social Media Contacts, Courtney J. Mitchel

Vanderbilt Law Review

A group of entrepreneurial recent college graduates starts a tutoring and test prep company focused on helping promising high school students get an edge on their college applications. Since the cost of print advertising exceeds the group's budget, they each actively promote the business on their personal social media accounts, garnering their first clients. They also create company accounts on Facebook, Linkedln, and Twitter, which clients join for easy, direct communication and quick access to information. Though all the founders contribute occasional posts and encourage their personal social media contacts to join the company accounts, one eventually becomes, in practice …

Finding Meaning In The Death Of Virtual Identities, Jordan L. Walbesser

Buffalo Intellectual Property Law Journal

Historically speaking, legal fiction assumes that identity and the credentials proving identity are one and the same. It is an important fiction that allows us to access information associated with our identity and restrict others from doing the same. Crimes of identity theft are commonly manifested through the usurpation of one's credentials to falsely verify identity. Legal doctrine such as agency theory makes the assumption that identity and credentials are only transferrable together. Technology, especially the Internet, alters this fiction by allowing the creation of multiple credentials that enable access to multiple identities manifested throughout the world. The one-to-one relationship …

Traditional Cultural Expressions And The U.S. Constitution, Alexander Bussey

Buffalo Intellectual Property Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Property Attributes Of Copyright, Pascale Chapdelaine

Buffalo Intellectual Property Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Curing Cablevision: Prescribing A Functional Solution To A Technical Astigmatism, Adam Adler

Buffalo Intellectual Property Law Journal

In a string of recent copyright cases, judges have increasingly adopted a technical approach to copyright law. Rather than evaluating contested technologies based on how the technologies are used, courts have focused their analysis on technical details of implementation. As a consequence, courts have constructed rules that limit technologies not in what they do, but how they do it. In this Article, I argue that courts should evaluate technologies based on functional considerations. I argue that this functional approach is constitutionally, statutorily, and practically preferable to a technical approach. Finally, I show that a functional approach would lead to decisions …

Inequitable Conduct And Supplemental Examination: Promise, Procedure, And Particulars, Amanda K. Murphy, Jonathan R. K. Stroud

Buffalo Intellectual Property Law Journal

The America Invents Act, signed into law on September 16, 2011, ushered in an array of patent reforms. One overlooked procedure, Supplemental Examination, seeks to purge putative instances of inequitable conduct prior to litigation by allowing patent owners to submit prior art and short statements to the USPTO after patent issuance. Few parties have used it. We analyze the law of inequitable conduct, explain the Supplemental Examination procedure, and discuss potential reasons for its lack of popularity among patent owners.

The Language Of Mens Rea, Matthew R. Ginther, Francis X. Shen, Richard J. Bonnie, Morris B. Hoffman, Owen D. Jones, Rene Marois, Kenneth W. Simons

Vanderbilt Law Review

To be guilty of a crime, generally one must commit a bad act while in a culpable state of mind. But the language used to define, partition, and communicate the variety of culpable mental states (in Latin, mens rea) is crucially important. For depending on the mental state that juries attribute to him, a defendant can be convicted-for the very same act and the very same consequence-of different crimes, each with different sentences.

The influential Model Penal Code ("MPC") of 1962 divided culpable mental states into four now-familiar kinds: purposeful, knowing, reckless, and negligent.' Both before the MPC and since, …

Getting Beyond Abstract Confusion: How The United Kingdom's Jurisprudence Can Aid In Developing An Analytic Framework For Patent-Eligibility In Light Of Alice V. Cls Bank, Brendon Beheshti

Washington Journal of Law, Technology & Arts

This Article advocates consideration of the United Kingdom’s jurisprudence as persuasive authority for implementation of a new framework for analysis of subject matter eligibility of computer-implemented inventions in light of the United States Supreme Court’s ruling in Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank International. The U.K.’s patent jurisprudence provides a more developed and clear analytic framework that conforms to the policy objectives of Alice, while also avoiding the conceptual problem of determining what is “abstract.” The result is a more useful and concrete analytic framework that also reduces conflicts of laws, and thus can help spur innovation across the …

Hologram Images And The Entertainment Industry: New Legal Territory?, Stephen Anson

Washington Journal of Law, Technology & Arts

Modern technology allows for the holographic reproduction of a dead artist’s likeness, with the ability to perform past classic works or new original artistic works. The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival performance by the “holographic” Tupac Shakur in April 2012 dazzled an excited crowd and made the idea of bringing back deceased musical celebrities or other public personalities a reality. The use of such holographic performances is in its infancy, but the potential for possible intellectual property infringement is real and concerns the areas of copyright, trademark, and–most importantly–the right of publicity, which protects a celebrity’s name, likeness, voice …

Work Made For Hire - Analyzing The Multifactor Balancing Test, Ryan Vacca

Faculty Publications

Authorship of copyrighted works is oftentimes controlled by the 1976 Copyright Act's work made for hire doctrine. This doctrine states that works created by employees within the scope of their employment result in the employer, not the employee, being the author and initial copyright owner. One key determination in this analysis is whether the hired party is an employee or independent contractor. In 1989, the U.S. Supreme Court, in CCNV v. Reid, set forth a list of factors to distinguish employees from independent contractors. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court did not give further guidance on how to balance these factors. Three …

Framing The Issue: Avoiding A Substantial Similarity Finding In Reproduced Visual Art, Rachael Wallace

Washington Journal of Law, Technology & Arts

Copyright issues are litigated in the United States every day. Yet attorneys representing visual artists settle suits more often when those suits involve the potential of a copyright infringement, partly because of the relatively few decisions on the matter. In Harney v. Sony Pictures, Inc., the First Circuit found that a copyrighted photograph could be copied to look nearly the same as the original because the copied elements were each unprotectable under the copyright. The copyright protected only those elements of the photo that were the result of the photographer’s choices in depicting the subject. The court held that …

On Patenting Human Organisms Or How The Abortion Wars Feed Into The Ownership Fallacy, Yaniv Heled

Cardozo Law Review

The idea of ominous technologies that put human individuals or parts of their bodies under someone else's control has been stirring emotions and terrifying people for centuries. It was a recent offshoot of this idea - the notion of "patenting humans" - that mobilized certain members of Congress to pass legislation prohibiting the issuance of patent claims "directed to or encompassing a human organism." The values underlying this legislation may well have been agreeable, even admirable. Yet, the actual motivation for it was misguided; its execution, deeply flawed; its potential outcomes, hazardous.

This Article reviews the history and background of …

Copyright, Fair Use, And Author Rights, Sue Ann Gardner

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries: Presentations

From the promotional flyer for this talk:

Copyright is a battlefield, and an author's control over his/her own work can easily become collateral damage or go missing in action. Many publishers believe they have an inherent right to own the intellectual property arising from your grant-funded research and to live off the earnings of written works that you had little choice but to give them for free or pay them to publish.

In this session, you will learn more about U.S. Copyright Law, authors' rights, fair use, and protecting your intellectual property. You will learn how to make copyright law …

Gene Patents In The Wake Of Association For Molecular Pathology V. Myriad Genetics, Inc.: An International Perspective On Pharmacogenomics, Stephanie S. Lim

Cardozo Journal of International and Comparative Law

Now that the Supreme Court of the United States has held that isolated DNA fragments are not patentable subject matter under 35 U.S.C. §101 in Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics, Inc., thousands of existing isolated gene patents can be invalidated. In the European Union, by contrast, patent protection for human genetic sequences has always been strong and the BRCA gene patents at issue in Myriad are still valid in the European Union. It remains to be seen how the differential gene patent protection regimes in these developed nations will affect the biotechnology industry.

This Note poses that question …

The Art Market Down Under: A Case Study Of Australian Aboriginal Art Market Regulation And U.S. Art Market Implications, Daniel Day

Cardozo Journal of International and Comparative Law

The note examines the contrasting regulatory landscapes of the U.S. and Australian art markets, highlighting how excessive regulation can inadvertently harm market value and artist livelihoods. It argues that while the U.S. art market operates with minimal federal oversight, Australia’s heavily regulated indigenous art market has suffered unintended consequences, such as weakened sales and increased market supply. The analysis serves as a cautionary tale for the U.S. as it considers stronger regulation of its own art market.

Retroactivity At The Federal Circuit, David L. Schwartz

Indiana Law Journal

A substantial subset of patent opinions from the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals functions in a wholly different manner from ordinary judicial opinions: they have strong retroactive effects with weak prospective effects. All Federal Circuit opinions have strong retroactive effects because issued patents and pending applications rarely can be modified. The Federal Circuit decisions apply in full to these patents and applications, even though they were prepared without the benefit of the rulings. In contrast, many of these opinions have almost no prospective effects. Patent law provides tremendous linguistic flexibility to patent drafters, which can be used to avoid the …

Climate Change, Technology Transfer And Intellectual Property: Options For Action At The Unfccc, Dalindyebo Shabalala

School of Law Faculty Publications

In his dissertation, the author examines the issue of whether intellectual property poses a barrier to technology transfer to address climate change and if so, what policymakers should do at the multilateral level. The book refocuses the question away from empirical approaches toward the key question of the legal capacity of developing countries to prospectively restructure their economies to access technologies and move up the technology value chain. It concludes with a set of recommendations for action at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

The author defended his dissertation Oct. 15, 2014, at Maastricht University in the Netherlands. …

Improving Patent Quality With Applicant Incentives, Stephen Yelderman

Journal Articles

This Article offers an alternative approach to the widely recognized problem of low-quality patents being granted by the patent office. Traditional reforms have focused almost exclusively on making the patent office more effective at examination. This Article instead looks at patent quality from an applicant’s perspective, and evaluates how certain patent rules might be encouraging inventors to file higher or lower quality claims. It proposes a variety of reforms to take advantage of applicants’ existing interests in obtaining patents that are both broad enough to create infringing activity and narrow enough to be valid. The result is a distinctive set …

Copyright’S Mercantilist Turn, Glynn S. Lunney Jr

Faculty Scholarship

Over the last twenty years, arguments for broader copyright have taken an increasingly mercantilist turn. Unable to establish that broader copyright will lead to more or better original works, as the Constitution and the traditional economic framework require, proponents have begun arguing for broader copyright on the basis of revenue and jobs. Rampant unauthorized copying is theft or piracy, proponents insist, depriving copyright owners of revenue and destroying jobs. Whether or not it leads to more or better works, broader copyright will increase revenue to copyright owners and thus increase employment in the copyright industries. This increased employment, on its …

Gender Diversity In The Patent Bar, Saurabh Vishnubhakat

Faculty Scholarship

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 …

Non-Price Competition In “Substitute" Drugs: The Ftc's Blind Spot, Gregory Dolin

All Faculty Scholarship

As the recent case of United States v. Lundbeck illustrates, the Federal Trade Commission’s lack of knowledge in medical and pharmacological sciences affects its evaluation of transactions between medical and pharmaceutical companies that involve transfers of rights to manufacture or sell drugs, causing the agency to object to such transactions without solid basis for doing so. This article argues that in order to properly define a pharmaceutical market, one must not just consider the condition that competing drugs are meant to treat, but also take into account whether there are “off-label” drugs that are used to treat a relevant condition, …

Don't Tread On Me: The Need For An Alternate Dispute Resolution Process For The Creators And Uploaders Of User-Generated Content, Scott A. Tarbell

Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal

This article analyzes the current position that UGC site users find themselves in relation to their ability to dispute copyright infringement claims. Part II discusses the introduction and purpose of the DMCA along with the statutory provisions and case law relevant to the subject. Part III covers the underlying issues encumbering the current appeals process for the OSPs as dictated under the DMCA, and why changes are required. Part IV advocates for a new dispute process, one in favor of online alternative dispute resolution (OADR), and explains how this new paradigm would produce more equitable results for UGC site users. …

"Whose" Game Is It? Sports-Wagering And Intellectual Property, Ryan M. Rodenberg, Anastasios Kaburakis, John T. Holden

Villanova Law Review (1956 - )

No abstract provided.

Taming The Counterfeit Dragon: The Wto, Trips And Chinese Amendments To Intellectual Property Laws, Andrew Evans

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Exhaustion Of Trademark Rights Beyond The European Union In Light Of Silhouette International Schmied V. Hartlauer Handelsgesellschaft: Toward Stronger Protection Of Trademark Rights And Eliminating The Gray Market, Lisa Harlander

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Inventing Around Copyright, Dan L. Burk

NULR Online

No abstract provided.

Digital Music Sampling And Copyright Policy - A Bittersweet Symphony? Assessing The Continued Legality Of Music Sampling In The United Kingdom, The Netherlands, And The United States, Melissa Hahn

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.