Intellectual Property Law Commons^™

Amber Tears And Copyright Fears: The Inadequate Protection Of Cultural Heritage In The United States, 15 J. Marshall Rev. Intell. Prop. L. 543 (2016), Ingrida Latoza

UIC Review of Intellectual Property Law

The United States is comprised of many different cultural communities, each rich with expressions of language and custom. Cultural diversity promotes respect among individuals and harmonizes differences between communities—nationally and globally. Through the preservation of cultural heritage, diversity is maintained. Since World War II, with the exile of many from Lithuania, members of the Lithuanian-American community have strived to maintain the cultural heritage of their beloved homeland. After several decades, a Lithuanian-American cultural identity has developed, creating unique and individual traditions, adding to the cultural heritage of the United States as a whole. Most of the international community has adopted …

Let It Go? A Comparative Analysis Of Copyright Law And Enforcement In The United States Of America And China, 15 J. Marshall Rev. Intell. Prop. L. 584 (2016), Kevin Fleming

UIC Review of Intellectual Property Law

Cheap, knockoff designer items have flooded the streets of China for years. These products infringe on the copyrights of the manufacturers but are rarely enforced. China has attempted to revise their copyright laws to offer more protection to copyright owners, but this has not yet occurred. This comment examines two recent occurrences of copyrighted works in the United States of America being infringed upon in China. This comment examines the how a court or tribunal would rule applying American copyright law and Chinese Copyright law, while also examining the possible remedies that could result. This comment also proposes possible solutions …

The Art Of Food Placement: Will The U.S. Follow Germany's Lead In Copyrighting Artistic Food Placement?, 15 J. Marshall Rev. Intell. Prop. L. 565 (2016), Julianna Walo

UIC Review of Intellectual Property Law

Recently, German courts created groundbreaking precedent allowing copyright protection for the artistic placement of food on a plate. The rulings allow chefs to prohibit people from taking pictures of the copyrighted food placement. While Germany’s moral-based legal system allows for such copyright protections, this comment compares the U.S. legal system to that of Germany and examines if and how such copyright protection could extend to food placement in the U.S.

Open Source Paradigm: Beyond The Solution To The Software Patentability Debate, 15 J. Marshall Rev. Intell. Prop. L. 647 (2016), Giovanna Massarotto

UIC Review of Intellectual Property Law

Around 300 BCE, a Greek mathematician, Euclid discovered a theorem on which modern geometry and a fundamental algorithm is based. Euclid’s theorem represents a method for calculating the greatest common divisors between two integers. Since 300 BCE, both Euclid’s Theorem and algorithm have been applied in many fields, including algebra and geometry. But what would have happened if Euclid’s Theorem had been patented? The issue is not whether we can continue to use Euclid’s Theorem without paying royalties, but if software and algorithms underlying the software are patentable. Although software is based on algorithms similar to the algorithm discovered by …

That Old Familiar Sting: Tattoos, Publicity, And Copyright, 15 J. Marshall Rev. Intell. Prop. L. 762 (2016), Matthew Parker

UIC Review of Intellectual Property Law

Tattoos have experienced a significant rise in popularity over the last several decades, and in particular an explosion in popularity in the 2000s and 2010s. Despite this rising popularity and acceptance, the actual mechanics of tattoo ownership and copyright remain very much an issue of first impression before the courts. A series of high-priced lawsuits involving famous athletes and celebrities have come close to the Supreme Court at times, but were ultimately settled before any precedent could be set. This article describes a history of tattoos and how they might be seen to fit in to existing copyright law, and …

Two Comparative Perspectives On Copyright’S Past And Future In The Digital Age, 15 J. Marshall Rev. Intell. Prop. L. 698 (2016), Timothy Armstrong

UIC Review of Intellectual Property Law

This book review compares two recent titles on copyright law: THE COPYRIGHT WARS: THREE CENTURIES OF TRANS-ATLANTIC BATTLE by Peter Baldwin, and COPYFIGHT: THE GLOBAL POLITICS OF DIGITAL COPYRIGHT REFORM by Blayne Haggart. Both books are meticulously researched and carefully written, and each makes an excellent addition to the literature on copyright. Contrasting both titles in this joint review, however, helps to reveal a few respects in which each work is incomplete; indeed, each book occasionally reads as a critique of the other. Baldwin’s book places contemporary debates in a much deeper historical context, but in so doing overlooks some …

A Methodical Look At Divided Infringement, 15 J. Marshall Rev. Intell. Prop. L. 780 (2016), Katie Silikowski

UIC Review of Intellectual Property Law

In Akamai Technologies v. Limelight, The Federal Circuit created a new type of multiple actor infringement called divided infringement. The divided infringement standard created by Akamai clashes with The Patent Act. It allows courts to increase the scope of method patents after an infringing act occurs, and it renders the concept of inducement of infringement unnecessary. This comment examines the evolution of the divided infringement standard up to Akamai and Eli Lilly Company v. Teva Parental Medicines, Inc, a case that applies the Akamai standard to a therapeutic method patent. It ultimately concludes that the solution to multiple actor infringement …

Damages Control: Returning Royalties To Their Reasonable Roots, 15 J. Marshall Rev. Intell. Prop. L. 827 (2016), Adam Friedman

UIC Review of Intellectual Property Law

Calculating patent damages can be a costly and difficult process for litigants. Because of the requirement that damages not fall below a reasonable royalty, there has been substantial focus on how to determine what a reasonable royalty is. This article examines the history of the doctrine and the policies underlying its existence. Due to conflicting strains of the doctrine which serve distinct but separate policy goals, the article proposes that federal judges separate the two strains into distinct and independent bases for recovery. By doing this the courts will be able to expand and refine the two fundamentally different theories …

The New Ponzi Scheme: Bittorrent & Hardcore Pornography, 15 J. Marshall Rev. Intell. Prop. L. 799 (2016), Tiffany Alberty

UIC Review of Intellectual Property Law

The purpose of this article is to shed light on the recent issues facing the ongoing BitTorrent copyright infringement litigation, by reflecting on district court decisions over the past ten years and analyzing two recent circuit court decisions. More specifically, this article focuses on how pornography trolls abuse the principles of copyright infringement by forcing John Doe litigants in BitTorrent to settle without fully exercising their right by trial. By using sociological tactics and pseudo-moral standards, these trolls coerce John Does to pay over thousands of dollars in settlement out of embarrassment and fear for watching the pornography that these …

The Patenting Of Gene Based Diagnostic Assays In A Post Mayo And Myriad World, 16 J. Marshall Rev. Intell. Prop. L. 1 (2016), Michael Sanzo

UIC Review of Intellectual Property Law

Recent advances in biotechnology have given researchers the ability to comprehensively examine the genetic basis of disease in unprecedented ways and will undoubtedly result in many new and valuable gene based diagnostic assays in the near future. These advances came during a period of roughly thirty years during which the patent eligibility of such assays was essentially unquestioned. Then, beginning in 2010, the Supreme Court embarked on a series of decisions that will, in almost all cases, preclude the patenting of diagnostic assays that rely on genetic mutations or gene expression patterns. This article suggests that reason that the issue …

Automatic Discovery Of Prior Art: Big Data To The Rescue Of The Patent System, 16 J. Marshall Rev. Intell. Prop. L. 44 (2016), Amir Khoury, Ron Bekkerman

UIC Review of Intellectual Property Law

In this research, we offer a fresh approach as to determining prior art. We do this by using Big Data methods. More specifically, we apply a model which constructs the semantic space of patents, in which all published patents and patent applications are arranged according to semantic similarities between each other. Our model provides a clear indication of how closely patents stand in relation to existing technologies, which we refer to as Near Inventions (“NI”). Our model exposes a certain level of deficiency when it comes to the disclosure, by patent applicants, of NIs. One conclusion which we draw from …

Nfc Technology Llc V. Htc America, Inc.: Judge Bryson's Sitting-By-Designation Guide To Securing Stays In Light Of Inter Partes Reviews, Jonathan Stroud

American University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Exhausting Patents, Wentong Zheng

UF Law Faculty Publications

A bedrock principle of patent law — patent exhaustion — proclaims that an authorized sale of a patented article exhausts the patentee’s rights with respect to the article sold. Over one hundred and fifty years of case law, however, has produced two conflicting notions of patent exhaustion, one considering exhaustion to be mandatory regardless of whether the patentee subjects the sale to express patent restrictions, and another treating exhaustion as a default rule that applies only in unconditional sales. The uncertainty surrounding the patent exhaustion doctrine casts a significant legal cloud over patent licensing practices in the modern economy and …

A Threat To Or Protection Of Agency Relationships? The Impact Of The Computer Fraud And Abuse Act On Businesses, Jessica Milanowski

American University Business Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Innovator's Dilemma, Max S. Oppenheimer

American University Business Law Review

No abstract provided.

A Novel, Nonobvious Approach To Curb Abusive Patent Litigants, Zachary H. Valentine

Roger Williams University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Doctrinal Quandaries With 3d Printing And Intellectual Property, Lucas S. Osborn

Other Publications

No abstract provided.

Wiggle Room: Problems And Virtues Of The Inwood Standard, Rian C. Dawson

Indiana Law Journal

This Note investigates the origins of Inwood that led to the slim opinion with wide influence. It argues that the very vagueness for which scholars and practitioners have decried Inwood is the case's greatest virtue: Inwood provides a flexible standard that has allowed the common law to evolve and address new business models. Part I discusses the origins of contributory infringement in intellectual property. Part II investigates the Inwood case and the climate of trademark law at the time Inwood was litigated. It also dissects the majority opinion and Justice White's concurrance. Part III examines the Inwood standard's evolution at …

Human Development As A Core Objective Of Global Intellectual Property, J. Janewa Oseitutu

Faculty Publications

Global intellectual property obligations shape domestic laws and policies. More than twenty years since the first multilateral trade-based intellectual property agreement, critics contend that global intellectual property law prioritizes intellectual property rights over other interests, and profits over people. Faced with international intellectual-property obligations, nations have been forced to justify laws and policies designed to promote human development in areas such as health and education as exceptions to intellectual property protection. This is the result of legal interpretations that treat the objectives of intellectual property protection and human development as inconsistent with one another. Drawing on the objectives of trade …

How Malleability Matters, Jason Rantanen

IP Theory

In The Malleability of Patent Rights^₁, I developed the concept that patent rights are malleable rather than static and fixed, distinguishing malleability from the idea that patent rights are merely uncertain. Malleability refers to the idea that the strength and scope of patent rights can be altered by the actors who interact with a patent well after it has issued. Patent law is full of mechanisms that allow for these post-issuance changes, yet there seems to be no good theoretical argument that supports malleability. At best, I concluded, the costs of malleability must be weighed against the doctrinal …

Altmetrics Data Quality Code Of Conduct, National Information Standards Organization

Copyright, Fair Use, Scholarly Communication, etc.

Altmetrics are increasingly being used and discussed as an expansion of the tools available for measuring the scholarly impact of research in the knowledge environment. The NISO Alternative Assessment Metrics Project was begun in July 2013 with funding from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to address several areas of limitations and gaps that hinder the broader adoption of altmetrics. This document is one output from this project, intended to help organizations that wish to use altmetrics to ensure their consistent application across the community. “Working Group C” studied and discussed issues of data quality in the altmetrics realm, an essential …

La Publication En Libre Accès Au Cœur De La Demande Européenne. État Des Lieux Et Enjeux Juridiques En Matière De Diffusion De La Recherche, Lucie Guibault

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

Impulsées par le numérique, de nouvelles méthodes de travail scientifique se sont développées, favorisant la diffusion et le partage des résultats et des données de la recherche dans un objectif d’intérêt public. Dans ce nouveau contexte, les acteurs de la recherche s’appuient de plus en plus sur des programmes européens afin de financer leurs projets scientifiques. Or, les pays de l’Union européenne ne sont pas dotés d’une législation harmonisée en matière de droit d’auteur. Ces nouveaux modes de diffusion bouleversent les systèmes de pensée, les modèles économiques mais aussi les usages. Une journée d'étude permettra d'aborder ces questions.

Individual Licensing Models And Consumer Protection, Lucie Guibault

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

Copyright law is not primarily directed at consumers. Their interests are therefore only marginally accounted for, as the copyright rules exempt specific uses of works from the right holder’s control. This chapter examines the impact of digital technology on the position of consumers of licensed copyrighted content. While ownership of the physical embodiment of a work does not entail the ownership of the rights in the work, how does copyright law deal with ‘disembodied’ works? Whereas digital content is now commonly distributed on the basis of individual licensing schemes, what does it mean for consumers? Do they have a claim …

Intellectual Property In News? Why Not?, Sam Ricketson, Jane C. Ginsburg

Faculty Scholarship

This Chapter addresses arguments for and against property rights in news, from the outset of national law efforts to safeguard the efforts of newsgathers, through the various unsuccessful attempts during the early part of the last century to fashion some form of international protection within the Berne Convention on literary and artistic works and the Paris Convention on industrial property. The Chapter next turns to contemporary endeavors to protect newsgatherers against “news aggregation” by online platforms. It considers the extent to which the aggregated content might be copyrightable, and whether, even if the content is protected, various exceptions set out …

The Moral Psychology Of Copyright Infringement, Christopher Buccafusco, David Fagundes

Faculty Articles

This Article presents a novel view of the complex moral psychology of infringement. It does so both to complement extant critiques of copyright’s incentivist story and to provide a realistic account of owners’ motivations for infringement on which a more effective copyright regime may be built. We elaborate these claims as follows. Part I highlights the contrast between the robust critiques of copyright’s theory of creation and the paucity of attention to its theory of litigation, and illustrates the social costs produced by increasingly common infringement suits animated by nonfinancial concerns. Part II develops a psychology of infringement, rooted in …

The Supreme Court's Quiet Revolution In Induced Patent Infringement, Timothy R. Holbrook

Faculty Articles

The Supreme Court over the last decade or so has reengaged with patent law. While much attention has been paid to the Court’s reworking of what constitutes patent-eligible subject matter and enhancing tools to combat “patent trolls,” what many have missed is the Court’s reworking of the contours of active inducement of patent infringement under 35 U.S.C. § 271(b). The Court has taken the same number of § 271(b) cases as subject matter eligibility cases—four. Yet this reworking has not garnered much attention in the literature. This Article offers the first comprehensive assessment of the Court’s efforts to define active …

Ip Litigation In U.S. District Courts: 1994-2014, Matthew Sag

Faculty Articles

This Article undertakes a broad-based empirical review of intellectual property ("IP") litigation in U.S. federal district courts from 1994 to 2014. Unlike the prior literature, this study analyzes federal copyright, patent, and trademark litigation trends as a unified whole. It undertakes a systematic analysis of the records of more than 190,000 cases filed in federal courts and examines the subject matter, geographical, and temporal variation within federal IP litigation over the last two decades.

This Article analyzes changes in the distribution of IP litigation over time and their regional distribution. The key findings of this Article stem from an attempt …

Innovation Heuristics: Experiments On Sequential Creativity In Intellectual Property, Stefan Bechtold, Christopher Buccafusco, Christopher Jon Sprigman

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Strategic Decision Making In Dual Ptab And District Court Proceedings, Saurabh Vishnubhakat, Arti K. Rai, Jay P. Kesan

Faculty Scholarship

The post-grant review proceedings set up at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s Patent and Trial Appeal Board by the America Invents Act of 2011 have transformed the relationship between Article III patent litigation and the administrative state. Not surprisingly, such dramatic change has itself yielded additional litigation possibilities: Cuozzo Speed Technologies v. Lee, a case addressing divergence between the manner in which the PTAB and Article III courts construe patent claims, will soon be argued at the U.S. Supreme Court.

Of the three major new PTAB proceedings, two have proven to be popular as well as controversial: inter partes …

Brief Of Amici Curiae 56 Professors Of Law And Economics In Support Of Petition Of Writ Of Certiorari, John R. Allison, Margo Bagley, James Bessen, Jeremy Bock, Daniel H. Brean, Michael A. Carrier, Michael W. Carroll, Bernard Chao, Tun-Jen Chiang, Colleen V. Chien, Andrew Chin, Robert Cook-Deegan, Md, Rochelle Dreyfuss, Dr. Dieter Ernst, Samuel F. Ernst, Robin C. Feldman, Lee Fleming, Brian Frye, William Gallagher, Shubha Ghosh, Eric Goldman, Bronwyn H. Hall, Yaniv Heled, Christian Helmers, Joachim Henkel, Susan Helper, Tim Holbrook, Herbert Hovenkamp, William Hubbard, Dr. Xavier Jaravel, Dennis S. Karjala, Peter Lee, Mark A. Lemley, David K. Levine, David S. Levine, Doug Lichtman, Yvette Joy Liebesman, Orly Lobel, Brian Love, Phil Malone, Michael J. Meurer, Dr. Shawn Miller, Matthew Mitchell, Susan Barbieri Montgomery, Sean Pager, Arti K. Rai, Jacob H. Rooksby, Jorge R. Roig, Matthew Sag, Pamela Samuelson, Ana Santos Rutschman, Lea Bishop Shaver, Toshiko Takenaka, John L. Turner, Jennifer Urban, Eric Von Hippel

Faculty Scholarship

28 U.S.C. § 1400(b) provides that a defendant in a patent case may be sued where the defendant is incorporated or has a regular and established place of business and has infringed the patent. This Court made clear in Fourco Glass Co. v. Transmirra Prods. Corp., 353 U.S. 222, 223 (1957), that those were the only permissible venues for a patent case. But the Federal Circuit has rejected Fourco and the plain meaning of § 1400(b), instead permitting a patent plaintiff to file suit against a defendant anywhere there is personal jurisdiction over that defendant. The result has been rampant …