Intellectual Property Law Commons^™

Some Speculation About Mirror Neurons And Copyright, Stephen M. Mcjohn

Suffolk University Law School Faculty Works

The internet, a world-wide copy machine, caused some rethinking of copyright law. Cognitive science increasingly suggests that humans are smaller scale, more adaptable, copy machines. Copyright law may again change. V.S. Ramachandran’s "The Tell-Tale Brain" discusses how mirror neurons may enable imitation, detection of others’ intention, and empathy. Ramachandran suggests that mirror neuron circuits could provide the neural substrate for cultural transmission, language, and even consciousness. This essay speculates on the implications for copyright law. It’s not news that people copy. But if cognition and culture depend on the bottom-up imitation by mirror neurons, perhaps some of the central tenets …

Foreword, Kathryn E. Wagner

Cybaris®

No abstract provided.

An Overview Of Legal Protection For Fictional Characters: Balancing Public And Private Interests, Amanda Schreyer

Cybaris®

No abstract provided.

The Emperor’S New Digital Clothes: The Illusion Of Copyright Rights In Social Media, Mihajlo Babovic

Cybaris®

No abstract provided.

The Effects Of Exposure On The Ecology Of The Magic Industry: Preserving Magic In The Absence Of Law, Jared R. Sherlock

Cybaris®

No abstract provided.

Fair Use And Appropriation Art, Niels Schaumann

Cybaris®

No abstract provided.

Resale Royalties For Visual Artists: Promoting Equity And Expression, Alma Robinson

Cybaris®

No abstract provided.

How Spotify Killed The Radio Star: An Analysis On How The Songwriter Equity Act Could Aid The Current Online Music Distribution Market In Failing Artists, Caitlin Kowalke

Cybaris®

No abstract provided.

Foreword, Daniel L. Bruzzone, Brad D. Pedersen

Cybaris®

No abstract provided.

Adapting Alice: How To Formulate A Repeatable Test Based On Alice V. Cls Bank, Kelly Fermoyle

Cybaris®

No abstract provided.

The Uspto Patent Pro Bono Program, Jennifer M. Mcdowell, Saurabh Vishnubhakat

Cybaris®

No abstract provided.

Copyright Trolling, An Empirical Study, Matthew Sag

Faculty Publications & Other Works

ABSTRACT: This detailed empirical and doctrinal study of copyright trolling presents new data showing the astonishing rate of growth of multi-defendant John Doe litigation in United States district courts over the past decade. It also presents new evidence of the association between this form of litigation and allegations of infringement concerning pornographic films. Multi-defendant

John Doe lawsuits have become the most common form of copyright litigation in several U.S. districts, and in districts such as the Northern District of Illinois, copyright litigation involving pornography accounts for more than half of new cases.

This Article highlights a fundamental oversight in the …

Sovereignty Under Siege: Corporate Challenges To Domestic Intellectual Property Decisions, Cynthia M. Ho

Faculty Publications & Other Works

Countries face a new threat that strikes at their ability to balance protection of intellectual property rights against other priorities, such as public health. They may have to pay substantial compensation to companies that dislike domestic intellectual property laws. This threat is much more significant than the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights ("TRIPS"), a landmark international agreement concluded twenty years ago, that for the first time required all countries to provide "minimum" levels of intellectual property rights; before that time, countries were not obligated to provide any such rights at all. Since the conclusion of TRIPS, policymakers …

Innovation Worth Sharing: Seeking Balance Between Innovation Policy And National Security, Alexandra H. Katich

Cardozo Journal of International and Comparative Law

The note examines the tension between promoting innovation and safeguarding national security, focusing on the Invention Secrecy Act of 1951. It argues that while the Act is designed to protect sensitive inventions, extending its secrecy powers to economically significant patents would be counterproductive, unconstitutional, and harmful to U.S. competitiveness. The analysis highlights the challenges of balancing economic security, intellectual property rights, and the constitutional mandate to promote scientific progress.

Frank Miller’S Sin City College Football: A Game To Die For And Other Lessons About The Right Of Publicity And Video Games, Jordan M. Blanke

Washington and Lee Law Review

The challenge of finding a workable solution for applying the right of publicity is a formidable one because it implicates not only a delicate balance between First Amendment rights and the rights of publicity, but also the complications of varying state laws. The best of the tests developed by the courts so far—the transformative use test—was borrowed from copyright law and itself reflects a careful balance between First Amendment and copyright interests. Additionally, because of dramatic progress in technology, it is likely that in the near future this balancing will often involve not only the rights of publicity and the …

“Groove Is In The Hart”: A Workable Solution For Applying The Right Of Publicity To Video Games, R. Garrett Rice

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Identity Property: Protecting The New Ip In A Race-Relevant World, Philip Lee

Journal Articles

This Article explores the relatively new idea in American legal thought that people of color are human beings whose dignity and selfhood are worthy of legal protection. While the value and protection of whiteness throughout American legal history is undeniable, non-whiteness' has had a more turbulent history. For most of American history, the concept of non-whiteness was constructed by white society and reinforced by law-i.e., through a process of socio-legal construction-in a way that excluded its possessor from the fruits of citizenship. However, people of color have resisted this negative construction of selfhood. This resistance led to the development of …

A Market Reliance Theory For Frand Commitments And Other Patent Pledges, Jorge L. Contreras

Utah Law Review

Patent holders are, with increasing frequency, making public promises to refrain from asserting patents under certain conditions, or to license patents on terms that are “fair, reasonable and nondiscriminatory” (FRAND). These promises or “patent pledges” generally precede formal license agreements and other contracts, but are nevertheless intended to induce the market to make expenditures and adopt common technology platforms without the fear of patent infringement. But despite their increasing prevalence, current contract, property, and antitrust law theories used to explain and enforce patent pledges have fallen short. Thus, a new theory is needed to secure the market-wide benefits that patent …

Impact Of Intellectual Property Promotion For Small And Medium Sized Enterprises (Smes) In South Korea: An Examination Of Ip Star Program Impact, Jongseok Yoon

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

The creation of new processes and technology - in a word, innovation - is a powerful factor that determine s the progress of economies. The creation of new processes and technology can be accelerated by Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs).

However, many Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) do not get the most out of their use of the intellectual property, even though they represent over 90 percent of enterprise s in South Korea. As a result, the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) has initiated support services for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises.

This study 's main focus is to examine the impact …

Copyrights And Creativity: The Affects Of Copyrights On Fairy Tales, Dina Arouri

Honors Program Theses

This work attempts to argue for a correlative relationship between copyright law and the evolution of literary works. It uses the laws and common practices of intellectual property to achieve this hypothesis.

Agricultural Biotechnology: Drawing On International Law To Promote Progress, J. Janewa Osei-Tutu

Articles

In Bowman v. Monsanto, the Supreme Court declined to apply the principle of exhaustion to limit the patentee's ability to control the reproduction of self-replicating inventions. This decision was justified from a patent law perspective on the basis that a patent holder has a right to prevent others from making the invention. But what happens when we take other perspectives into account? For instance, a farmer might have human rights or other rights that may need to be balanced against the patentee's right. Since globalized intellectual property standards were established through international agreements and much of the resistance to …

Standing Room Only: Madstad Engineering And The Potential To Challenge The Constitutionality Of The America Invents Act's "First-Inventor-To-File" Patenting System, Christopher J. Ferrell

Washington Journal of Law, Technology & Arts

In 2011, the Leahy–Smith America Invents Act (AIA) was signed into law, bringing significant changes to the Patent Act of 1952. Arguably, the most substantial change was the demise of the “American approach” to patent law: the “first-to-invent” patent filing system. Congress, by enacting the AIA, changed America's patent system from “first-to-invent” to “first-inventor-to-file,” sparking controversy among patent scholars and practitioners, with some individuals arguing that this change was unconstitutional. Recently, the Federal Circuit faced an issue of first impression when an inventor challenged the constitutionality of the first-inventor-to-file provisions of the AIA, and by extension the AIA as a …

Comment On “Groove Is In The Hart”: A Workable Solution For Applying The Right Of Publicity To Video Games, Christopher B. Seaman

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Defining Domain: Higher Education's Battles For Cyberspace, Jacob H. Rooksby

Law Faculty Publications

Juliet famously mused, “What’s in a name? that which we call a rose / By any other word would smell as sweet.” The same cannot be said for Internet domain names. One’s inability to own a specific domain name has delayed product launches, caused companies to change names, and led to disputes with alleged cybersquatters. The utility of domain names has led to a robust secondary market of buyers and sellers, where domain names that encompass generic words, or are comprised of very few letters or numbers, often change hands for hundreds of thousands of dollars, or more. In short, …

Richard Prince, Author Of The Catcher In The Rye: Transforming Fair Use Analysis, Brockenbrough A. Lamb

Law Student Publications

This comment argues that fair use analysis should be reorganized from a disjointed four-factor morass into a straightforward two-part analysis that incorporates and clarifies the purpose of each of the four factors. Such a structure recognizes the role transformative use plays within the fair use doctrine as a whole. The comment then applies this process to a potential fair use defense for Richard Prince's The Catcher in the Rye.

Danger In The Dmca Safe Harbors: The Need To Narrow What Constitutes Red Flag Knowledge, Hank Fisher

Law Student Publications

This comment considers recent cases interpreting the Digital Millennium Copyright Act ("DMCA") and urges Congress to expand the protection of service providers through the DMCA safe harbors. The comment proceeds in six parts. Part I explains contributory and vicarious liability, the applicable sections of the DMCA to this comment, and the fair use doctrine. Part II provides a brief overview of video-sharing websites. It further observes the impact that video-sharing websites have had on digital media, focusing on the impact on the music industry. Part III looks at the recent cases interpreting the DMCA's red flag exception to safe harbor …

Richard Prince, Author Of The Catcher In The Rye: Transforming Fair Use Analysis, Brockenbrough A. Lamb

Law Student Publications

This comment argues that fair use analysis should be reorganized from a disjointed four-factor morass into a straightforward two-part analysis that incorporates and clarifies the purpose of each of the four factors. Such a structure recognizes the role transformative use plays within the fair use doctrine as a whole. This comment then applies this process to a potential fair use defense for Richard Prince's The Catcher in the Rye. Part I provides background information on the relationship between the author, reader, and text as outlined by Roland Barthes, general copyright law, Richard Prince, and the fabulist Jorge Luis Borges. Part …

Free To Be You And Me? Copyright And Constraint, Rebecca Tushnet

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Joseph P. Fishman’s Creating Around Copyright advances a provocative thesis: some restrictions on creativity can spur the development of additional creative solutions, and (some level of) copyright might be one of those restrictions. If Picasso was right that “forcing yourself to use restricted means is the sort of restraint that liberates invention,” then being forced by law to use restricted means might do the same thing, ultimately leading to more varied and thus more valuable works.

At the outset, it’s important to know the baseline against which we ought to evaluate Fishman’s claims. Most copyright restrictionists, of whom I count …

Content, Purpose, Or Both?, Rebecca Tushnet

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Most debates about the proper meaning of “transformativeness” in fair use are really about a larger shift towards more robust fair use. Part I of this short Article explores the copyright-restrictionist turn towards defending fair use, whereas in the past critics of copyright’s broad scope were more likely to argue that fair use was too fragile to protect free speech and creativity in the digital age. Part II looks at some of the major cases supporting that rhetorical and political shift. Although it hasn’t broken decisively with the past, current case law makes more salient the freedoms many types of …

Steps Towards An Alignment Of Intellectual Property In South-South Exchanges: A Return To Trips, Ana Santos Rutschman

All Faculty Scholarship

Some of the most instrumental players in shaping the course of intellectual property policies in the South are the so-called BRIC countries. The acronym BRIC originally encompassed Brazil, Russia, India and China. In 2011, South Africa formally joined the BRIC countries, which are now referred to either by the original acronym or by BRICS. While categorizations like BRICS attract a fair amount of criticism, with questions surrounding the criteria used to aggregate disparate economies, the concept of emerging economies in the South seeking to advance similar development agendas has become accepted currency in multiple fields, from institutional cooperation to financial …