Intellectual Property Law Commons^™

Right Of Repair In The Digital Economy, Jessica Silbey

Faculty Scholarship

We have long understood that people have a right to repair what they own, but this right to repair is under siege. A new article by Leah Chan Grinvald and Ofer Tur-Sinai explains how IP rules are inhibiting these repair rights and why laws protecting the right to repair are necessary and justifiable. As I explain below, authors Grinvald and Tur-Sinai describe the growing right to repair movement pushing for legislation to protect the right to repair and show how intellectual property laws should facilitate not interfere with consumers rights to repair what they own. The authors also propose a …

Data Scams, Roger Allan Ford

Law Faculty Scholarship

Targeting platforms like Google and Facebook are usually seen as presenting tradeoffs between utility and privacy. This Article identifies and describes a different, non-privacy cost of targeting platforms: they make it easier for malicious actors to scam others. They do this by making it easier for scammers to reach the most promising victims, hide from law-enforcement authorities and others, and develop better scams. Technology offers potential solutions, since the same data and targeting tools that enable scams could help detect and prevent them, though neither platforms nor law-enforcement officials have both the incentives and expertise needed to develop and deploy …

A Roadmap For Action: Academic Community Control Of Data Infrastructure, Sparc, Claudio Aspesi, Nicole Allen, Raym Crow, Shawn Daugherty, Heather Joseph, Joseph Mcarthur, Nick Shockey

Copyright, Fair Use, Scholarly Communication, etc.

The need for academic institutions to act to retain control of infrastructure, data and data analytics is here to stay. It is critical for academic leaders to acknowledge that data and its uses play a central role in the operations and the future of their institutions, and take control of how it is managed as a strategic asset.

The time to act is now. Many of the actions outlined in the Risk Mitigation section of this roadmap can be taken relatively quickly, and many institutions already have a head start on these processes in response to GDPR or other requirements. …

A Hidden Technological Assumption In Patent Law: The Case Of Gene Patents And The Disclosure Requirement, Or Cohen Sasson

Articles

The disclosure requirement in patent law is designed to reveal knowledge regarding a patented invention to allow proper understanding and utilization of that invention. The contention offered here is the presence of an inherent incompatibility between the disclosure requirement and genetic inventions. Genetic inventions are highly contingent on genetic statistical data (GSD), which is gathered during the commercial phase of a genetic invention. GSD are essential for various purposes, which at least some should be satisfied by the disclosure. However, since GSD can be gathered only at the postapplication period, GSD are not disclosed through the disclosure requirement. Therefore, there …

International Copyright In Historical Context: Who Are The Real Pirates?, Paul G. St-Pierre

Charleston Library Conference

Copyright is usually justified with arguments about defending the natural right of authors to control their creations, or claims that limited monopolies spur innovation for the greater good of society. I contrarily assert that the primary intent of copyright has generally been to protect powerful industries in advanced countries and ensure control over emerging markets that rely on the importation of intellectual property.

As global trade expanded in the 19th century, a patchwork quilt of domestic copyright laws and bilateral treaties failed to stem rampant infringement that hurt publishers’ export revenues. Re-printers and readers, however, benefited from lower prices. The …

Libraries, Authors, And Literary Estates: The Complex Case Of Rosenbach V. Sendak (2016), Patrick Roughen

Charleston Library Conference

This research examines a lawsuit filed by the Rosenbach Museum and Library of Philadelphia in 2016 against the Estate of Maurice Sendak (1928–2012) to determine the distribution of some of Sendak’s collection of rare books. In the lawsuit, the Rosenbach claimed the executors of the Sendak estate had withheld a portion of the rare books to which it was entitled under Sendak’s will. This paper suggests possible ways in which institutions such as libraries, archives, and museums might anticipate and address some of the ownership-related problems that arise during the acquisition and/or loss of collections of an artist or author …

Copyrighting Experiences: How Copyright Law Applies To Virtual Reality Programs, Alexis Dunne

The Journal of Business, Entrepreneurship & the Law

This note will attempt to shed light on the question of what kind of protection copyright law affords VR experiences. Part II discusses the nature of VR experiences and their implementation through specifically tailored VR technology. Part III provides an overview of copyright protection, its limitations, and specifically the history of the copyrightability of computer programs. Parts IV and V outline case law relevant to the discussion of the copyrightability of different types of VR experiences and how that case law similarly or dissimilarly apply to the protection of VR experiences. Part IV focuses on protecting VR experiences as a …

Government-Sponsored Patent Monetizing Entities, Garry A. Gabison

The Journal of Business, Entrepreneurship & the Law

Government-sponsored patent assertion entities have materialized all over the world. This article looks at the market failure associated with the patent system. These entities have an opportunity to address these market inefficiencies. But, these entities can damage the innovation more by decreasing competition and increasing protectionism. This article looks at three such entities and argues that the US could use such an entity.

Making Room For Big Data: Web Scraping And An Affirmative Right To Access Publicly Available Information Online, Amber Zamora

The Journal of Business, Entrepreneurship & the Law

This paper will explore the legality of web scraping through the lens of recent litigation between web scraper hiQ Labs and the online professional networking platform, LinkedIn. First, the paper will study the background of web scraping litigation, some challenges courts face in issuing consistent verdicts, and the most common claims companies make against web scrapers. Then the paper will address three of the most common claims and identify court motivations and limitations within the doctrines. The first claims are those arising from the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA). Next, the paper will investigate copyright claims and defenses …

Brief Of Amici Curiae 116 Law Librarians And 5 Law Library Organizations In Support Of Respondent, Georgia V. Public.Resource.Org, Inc., No. 18-1150 (U.S. Oct. 16, 2019), Michelle M. Wu

U.S. Supreme Court Briefs

Due process and the rule of law require that the public has meaningful access to “the law.” Every major modern society since the Greeks has recognized the importance of this principle. Roscoe Pound, Theories of the Law, 22 Yale L.J. 114, 117 (1912).

In the United States, “the law” largely comes from appellate courts, legislatures, and administrative agencies who have been granted rule-making authority. As every first year law student learns, those law-making bodies have developed highly specific methods for communicating their pronouncements of law through official publications, such as the Official Code of Georgia Annotated (“OCGA”).

Those specific methods …

Georgia V. Public.Resource.Org, Inc.: Brief Of Amici Curiae Law Professors Nina Mendelson, Alan Morrison, Anne Joseph O'Connell, And Peter Strauss In Support Of Respondent, Nina A. Mendelson

Appellate Briefs

Amici are professors of administrative law with particular expertise in government transparency, including issues such as the incorporation by reference of private standards into over 9,000 federal regulations. Amici have a strong interest in the development of administrative and copyright law in a manner that enables simple and universal access without charge to regulatory law. As scholars of federal incorporation by reference of private standards, amici write separately to urge the Court to reaffirm the application of the government edicts doctrine to all text that a government has adopted as the law. In particular, the government edicts doctrine applies to …

Brief Of Amici Curiae 116 Law Librarians And 5 Law Library Organizations In Support Of Respondent, Leslie A. Street, David R. Hansen, Kyle K. Courtney

Briefs

No abstract provided.

Teva And The Process Of Claim Construction, Lee Petherbridge, R. Polk Wagner

Florida Law Review

In Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc. v. Sandoz, Inc., the Supreme Court addressed an oft-discussed jurisprudential disconnect between itself and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit: whether patent claim construction was “legal” or “factual” in nature, and how much deference is due to district court decision-making in this area. This Article closely examines the Teva opinion and situates it within modern claim construction jurisprudence. The thesis is that the Teva holding is likely to have only very modest effects on the incidence of deference to district court claim construction, but that for unexpected reasons the case is …

Patently Inconsistent: State And Tribal Sovereign Immunity In Inter Partes Review, John Mixon

St. John's Law Review

(Excerpt)

This Note is composed of four parts. Part I reviews the origins, development, and purpose of both tribal and state sovereign immunity, compares the two doctrines, and concludes that the two are functionally the same despite deriving from different historical roots. Part II provides an overview of the history and purpose behind the patent system, the America Invents Act, and IPRs. Part II also analyzes the constitutionality of IPRs, as decided by the Supreme Court in Oil States Energy Services, LLC v. Greene’s Energy Group, LLC. Part III introduces and addresses the five IPR decisions on state sovereign …

Deep Fakes: Preserving Truth & Human Rights In An Era Of Truth Decay, Virginia Kozemczak

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

Lawmakers, technology companies, and the general public are increasingly concerned about the prevalence of “deep fake” videos. Often shared on social media platforms, these digitally altered videos are made possible with recent advances in machine learning and artificial intelligence.

Although altered and faked media content is not necessarily a new issue, images and videos can now be altered quickly, cheaply, and more convincingly than ever before. An underlying concern is that platforms will be overwhelmed with believable deep fakes, leaving Internet users struggling to discern fact from fiction. Yet a future in which no one call tell what is real …

Berkheimer V. Hp Inc., 881 F.3d 1360 (Fed. Cir. 2018), Chelsea Murray

DePaul Journal of Art, Technology & Intellectual Property Law

No abstract provided.

Dazed And Confused: Copyright Limitation, Elizabeth Sawyer

DePaul Journal of Art, Technology & Intellectual Property Law

No abstract provided.

Net Neutrality: What To Expect From California's Net Neutrality Bill, Jesse King

DePaul Journal of Art, Technology & Intellectual Property Law

No abstract provided.

Who Cares About The Modern Creator?, Jacqueline Malzone

DePaul Journal of Art, Technology & Intellectual Property Law

No abstract provided.

No Forum To Rule Them All: Comity And Conflict In Transnational Frand Disputes, Eli Greenbaum

Washington Law Review

Recent years have seen an explosion in FRAND litigation, in which parties commit to license intellectual property under “fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory” (FRAND) terms, but they cannot agree on the meaning of that commitment. Much of this litigation is multinational and involves coordinating patent, antitrust, and contract claims across several jurisdictions. A number of courts and commentators have aimed to centralize and thereby streamline these disputes, whether by consolidating all litigation in one judicial forum or through the creation of a comprehensive arbitral process. This Article argues that such efforts are misguided—FRAND disputes are particularly unamenable to centralization, and the …

Copyright's Market Gibberish, Andrew Gilden

Washington Law Review

There is a growing contradiction at the core of copyright law. Although courts and scholars frequently assert that copyright is only about authors’ economic interests, copyright law routinely protects interests such as privacy, sexual autonomy, reputation, and psychological well-being. It just uses the language of money and markets to do so. This Article shows that copyright law routinely uses economic rhetoric to protect a broad range of noneconomic interests—a practice this Article names “market gibberish.” Market gibberish muddies copyright jurisprudence and has sweeping practical, conceptual, and distributive impacts. In a wide range of copyright cases, plaintiffs use economic and market-based …

Internet (Re)Search By Judges, Jurors, And Lawyers, H. Albert Liou, Jasper L. Tran

IP Theory

How can Internet research be used properly and reliably in law? This paper analyzes several key and very different issues affecting judges, jurors, and lawyers. With respect to judges, this paper discusses the rules of judicial conduct and how they guide the appropriate use of the Internet for research; the standards for judicial notice; and whether judges can consider a third category of non-adversarially presented, non-judicially noticed factual evidence. With respect to jurors, this paper discusses causes of and deterrents to jurors conducting Internet research during trials; and the recourse available to parties who are adversely impacted by such behavior. …

Truth, Lies, And Copyright, Cathay Y. N. Smith

Faculty Law Review Articles

Fake news may be trending right now, but fake news is not the only source of fake facts that we consume. We encounter fake facts every day in the historical or biographical books we read, the movies we watch, the maps we study, the tele-phone directories and dictionaries we reference, and the religious or spiritual guides we consult. While it is well-established that copyright does not protect facts because facts are discovered rather than created, fake facts are created and can often be as original and creative as fiction.

This Article is the first to offer a comprehensive analysis of …

Intellectual Property Law And The Right To Repair, Leah Chan Grinvald, Ofer Tur-Sinai

Fordham Law Review

This Article posits that intellectual property law should accommodate consumers’ right to repair their products. In recent years, there has been a growing push towards state legislation that would provide consumers with a “right to repair” their products. Currently, twenty states have pending legislation that would require product manufacturers to make available replacement parts and repair manuals. Unfortunately, though, this legislation has stalled in many of the states. Manufacturers have been lobbying the legislatures to stop the enactment of these repair laws based on different concerns, including how these laws may impinge on their intellectual property rights. Indeed, a right …

Potential Liability For Physicians Using Artificial Intelligence, W. Nicholson Price Ii, Sara Gerke, I Glenn Cohen

Articles

Artificial intelligence (AI) is quickly making inroads into medical practice, especially in forms that rely on machine learning, with a mix of hope and hype. Multiple AI-based products have now been approved or cleared by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and health systems and hospitals are increasingly deploying AI-based systems. For example, medical AI can support clinical decisions, such as recommending drugs or dosages or interpreting radiological images.2 One key difference from most traditional clinical decision support software is that some medical AI may communicate results or recommendations to the care team without being able to communicate the …

Taiwan Ip Court Decisions Tend To Treat Likelihood Of Confusion And Likelihood Of Dilution As Mutually Interchangeable, Kung-Chung Liu, Fa-Chang Cheng

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The Taiwan Intellectual Property Court (IP Court) ruled in its capacity as the first instance court that the well-known trademark and the alleged infringing trademark at dispute were not the same or similar, and therefore neither likelihood of confusion nor dilution of the plaintiff’s well-known trademark occurred. The IP Court further found that the defendant has not been “knowingly using words contained in another person’s well-known registered trademark as the name of a company”, because the allegedly infringing corporate name was not exactly the same Chinese characters as the well-known trademark. The plaintiff appealed the case to the appellate instance …

Google’S Keyword Advertisement In Taiwan: No Use Of Trademark, But Obviously Unfair, Kung-Chung Liu

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Taiwan IP Court in its capacity as the first instance court with a single-judge panel has in a 2012 Min-Shan-Su-Zi 22 decision (decided on 24 January 2013) for the first time dealt with the legal liability of a search engine, namely Google, in its keyword advertisement practice concerning one famous trademark in Taiwan.

Principles For Applicable Law For Trademark Infringement In Taiwan Applicable To Cases Involving Hong Kong Companies, Kung-Chung Liu

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The present trademark infringement case involved a defendant which is a Hong Kong company and has a business address in Taiwan. The present first-instance decision rendered by a single judge recognises that Taiwanese courts have jurisdiction and Taiwanese Trademark Act is the applicable law,1 which is in line with the decisions of Taiwan’s IP Court in its capacity as the second instance court. However, it resorted only to Article 25 of the Act Governing the Choice of Law in Civil Matters Involving Foreign Elements (“Act”), which is different from the decisions rendered by Chambers 1 and 2 of the Taiwan …

Nerf This: Copyright Highly Creative Video Game Streams As Sports Broadcasts, Madeleine A. Ball

William & Mary Law Review

Since the 1980s, video games have grown exponentially as an entertainment medium. Once relegated to the niche subcultures of nerds, video games are now decidedly mainstream, drawing over 200 million American consumers yearly. As a result, the industry has stepped up its game. No longer simply a diversion to be enjoyed individually, Americans are increasingly watching others play video games like they might watch television. This practice, where enthusiastic gamers broadcast their video game session online to crowds of viewers, is called “live streaming.”

While streaming has become lucrative and popular, American copyright law currently nerfs this nascent industry. Streams …

The Internet Of Bodies, Andrea M. Matwyshyn

William & Mary Law Review

This Article introduces the ongoing progression of the Internet of Things (IoT) into the Internet of Bodies (IoB)—a network of human bodies whose integrity and functionality rely at least in part on the Internet and related technologies, such as artificial intelligence. IoB devices will evidence the same categories of legacy security flaws that have plagued IoT devices. However, unlike most IoT, IoB technologies will directly, physically harm human bodies—a set of harms courts, legislators, and regulators will deem worthy of legal redress. As such, IoB will herald the arrival of (some forms of) corporate software liability and a new legal …