Intellectual Property Law Commons^™

De Minimis Copying: An Empirical Study, Jessica Silbey, Samantha Zyontz

Faculty Scholarship

In the internet age, the copyright de minimis defense has increased in relevance as copyright lawsuits (and IP generally) are more mainstream and infringement liability more widespread. This Article is the first empirical analysis of copyright de minimis defense cases, collecting and analyzing all such decisions since the mid-19th century. It traces the doctrine’s development over the past century and its evolution in the digital era, when copying has become even more ubiquitous but its triviality remains widely disputed. The Article’s aim is not only to map the de minimis defense to learn more about it doctrinally—asking when is copying …

Why It Is In The Ncaa’S Best Interests To Recognize College Athletes As Employees, Bradley Rosen

Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal (AELJ) Blog

The past decade has seen an onslaught of high-profile litigation against the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). The litigation has almost exclusively consisted of claims alleging that some of the NCAA’s policies constitute anticompetitive practices under U.S. antitrust laws. In National Collegiate Athletic Association v. Alston, the Supreme Court ruled that, by limiting the education-related benefits schools were allowed to offer student athletes, the NCAA violated the Sherman Antitrust Act. However, the main takeaway from Alston was the concurrence by Justice Kavanaugh, which emphasized that while “the Court does not address the legality of the NCAA’s remaining compensation rules …

Amicus Brief In Support Of Ross Intelligence In Ross Intelligence V. Thomson Reuters, Jess Miers, Bryan L. Frye, Mateusz Blaszczyk

Akron Law Faculty Publications

This amici curiae brief, filed in Thomson Reuters Enterprise Centre GmbH and West Publishing Corp. v. ROSS Intelligence Inc. before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, argues that Thomson Reuters failed to state a viable claim for copyright infringement against ROSS Intelligence. The amici—law professors specializing in copyright and technology—contend that Westlaw’s headnotes are uncopyrightable factual summaries of judicial opinions and that the West Key Number System has long been in the public domain. The brief distinguishes between AI “pretraining” and “fine-tuning,” emphasizing that ROSS’s fine-tuning process relied on expert-created materials rather than wholesale copying. It cautions …

You Are What You Eat: Using Trademark Law To Address Consumer Confusion In Food Labeling, Brooke Raniere

Georgia Journal of Law & Technology

America is experiencing a health crisis. Our grocery store promulgates illusions of endless food choices; however, this abundance is sustained by only a handful of dominating food conglomerates. With the increased centralization of power in the food supply system, foods have generally become ultra-processed and unhealthier. Companies often use strategic marketing through packaging design, labeling, and food names to capture additional consumers through health claims that often do not reflect these foods' contents. As American citizens' average health continues to decline, large food conglomerates have increasingly pushed the boundaries of what they can claim, creating vast confusion and mislabeling in …

The First Sale Doctrine For The Digital Age, Ethan Thomas

Georgia Journal of Law & Technology

For well over a century consumers have long enjoyed the ability to resell, gift, lend, or otherwise transfer their legally purchased copyrighted media. First established in common law and later codified into the Copyright Act of 1976 the first sale doctrine granted the right of transfer to consumers. In 2013, a district court held that the first sale doctrine does not let consumers transfer digital media through file sharing. Instead, a consumer must sell the object the media was downloaded onto. This decision effectively gutted the first sale doctrine’s application to digital media. Further reducing the reach of the first …

Rectifying The Disconnect Between The Policy Of The Doctrine Of Equivalents And Practice, Ian Moore

Georgia Journal of Law & Technology

The doctrine of equivalents began as a measure to protect inventors from unscrupulous copiers who would make substitutions to avoid liability under literal infringement claims. Prosecution history estoppel was established as a guardrail to the doctrine, as a method of bringing some certainty to the scope of patent claims. However, in the Supreme Court’s zeal to contain the doctrine, they over-curbed its efficacy.

In cases that hinged on the doctrine of equivalents, patentees were only successful 21% of the time in district court, and 22% of the time in the federal circuit. A much lower success rate compared to the …

You Can’T Handle The Obvious: Lkq And Testing For Nonobviousness In Design Patents, Frank Easterlin

Georgia Journal of Law & Technology

This Note traces the change from the rigid Rosen-Durling test for obviousness in design patents, to the Graham analysis in light of KSR v. Teleflex. The history of obviousness inquiries supported a more flexible approach and thus made Rosen-Durling unsupportable as anomalous. However, in abandoning a functional, if stiff, test for obviousness, the Federal Circuit both clarifies and clutters the law around obviousness. This Note follows that change, makes sense of what it can, and humorously criticizes the ambiguities and circularity of the court’s opinion. Ultimately, the new test opens up design patents to a wider array of attacks. This …

Paws Off My Image: Why Rights Of Publicity Should Be Expanded, Lauren Didelot

Georgia Journal of Law & Technology

In our increasingly digital world, exposure to fame and fortune has become more accessible than ever, and many pet owners have taken advantage of this. The rise of “petfluencers” has called into question the extent of available rights of these celebrity animals’ owners to protect and maintain their pet’s commercial value, thus preventing instances of unfair enrichment from other’s exploitation of their beloved animals. This Note argues for the acceptance of an animal’s right of publicity. We begin with an exploration of the right of publicity itself and its current applications. Next, we will discuss the intellectual property rights currently …

You Wanted The Best? You Got The Best! If You Can Pay For It... Antitrust Considerations And Artist-Based Solutions For Lower Concert Ticket Prices, Jake Farbman

Georgia Journal of Law & Technology

The live music industry has become increasingly inaccessible to fans as ticket prices continue to rise under the dominance of Live Nation Entertainment and Ticketmaster. Since their controversial 2010 merger, the two companies have consolidated control over both the primary and secondary ticketing markets, fostering anticompetitive practices that allegedly include exclusive venue agreements, coercive bundling of promotion and ticketing services, and dynamic pricing schemes. These practices have drawn widespread scrutiny from lawmakers, regulators, artists, and consumers alike, culminating in the Department of Justice’s 2024 antitrust lawsuit seeking to break up the conglomerate.

This Article traces the historical development of the …

The Resurgence Of The Rap Act: Why Industry Professionals Enthusiastically Support This Bill, Ansley Henderson

Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal (AELJ) Blog

Artists release music and write songs to create art, not to offer any sort of criminal confession. Yet, dating back to a 1996 criminal trial involving Snoop Dogg, artists’ lyrics have been admissible as evidence in criminal and civil trials. Most recently, rapper Young Thug, was accused of being the head of a violent gang based solely on lyrics from his songs as evidence. His case sparked nationwide controversy regarding the constitutionality of his lyrics being admitted as key evidence at trial. The rapper’s popular music collective known as “Young Stoner Life,” was posited by prosecutors to actually be a …

Intro To Ip Law, Cardozo Fame Center, Intellectual Property Law Society

2025–2026 Flyers

Join us for an engaging session on the fundamentals of intellectual property law !

Copyright Law Year In Review 2024-2025 With Ip Litigation Statistics, Marketa Trimble

Media & Informal Publications

Professor Trimble delivered a presentation on U.S. copyright law developments and IP litigation statistics at the annual conference for the Intellectual Property Law Section of the State Bar of Nevada. The event took place on September 12, 2025 at the William S. Boyd School of Law.

Soundexchange V. Sirius Xm: A Battle On Two Fronts, Catherine Stagliano

Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal (AELJ) Blog

In the United States, when an artist’s sound recording or track is played by a servicer like Pandora or satellite radio, a digital public performance royalty for the sound recording is collected by the organization, SoundExchange, or it may be negotiated between the parties via direct licenses. These non-terrestrial broadcast platforms perform in a non-interactive manner (i.e. the platform picks the tracks for the consumer to listen to) as opposed to in an interactive manner (i.e. listener picks the track) by a platform such as Spotify or Apple Music.

Brief Of Amici Curiae Intellectual Property Scholars In Support Of Petitioners, Laura A. Heymann, Alfred C. Yen

Briefs

No abstract provided.

Full Issue

Indian Journal of Law and Technology

No abstract provided.

Editorial Board

Indian Journal of Law and Technology

No abstract provided.

Who Owns Your Adventure? A Need For Legislative Clarity For Streamed Performances Of Video Games, Harrison Busalacchi

Brooklyn Journal of Corporate, Financial & Commercial Law

Video games contain copyrighted material that could easily be infringed upon by people streaming a performance of them playing the game. However, the streamers can protect themselves from infringement liability by transforming the content in some form or fashion such that their performance constitutes “fair use” of the copyrighted material. This is often accomplished by the streamer providing commentary while playing the game or adding a small video of themselves in the corner of the stream so that the viewers can see the streamers’ reactions to the content. With artificial intelligence seeing exponential growth in the past couple of years …

Are You The Sum Of Your Data? Appropriation Of Digital Persona As Appropriation Of Likeness, Lyrissa Barnett Lidsky

UF Law Faculty Publications

A review of Zahra Takhshid's article, Data as Likeness, 112 Geo. L. J. 1161 (2024).

Futurescape Libraries Ai Toolkit, Keith Webster

Copyright, Fair Use, Scholarly Communication, etc.

A toolkit developed to explore scenario-specific strategies and activities that research libraries can undertake to prepare for various possible AI-influenced futures. The toolkit integrates the ARL/CNI AI Scenarios published in spring 2024 along with priorities trialed and refined by strategic thinkers working directly in, or adjacent to, the research library field during a Strategic Implications forum held December 7–8, 2024, in Washington, DC.

Inside Ai, Charles Duan

Contributions to Books

It is beautiful, the Mandelbrot set. In full, it resembles a horseshoe crab or a sideways Rorschach test, flecked with patterns of spikes and lobes. Zooming in at any point near its edge reveals infinite depths of swirls, reminiscent of Van Gogh’s Starry Night or an intricate paisley textile. The shape could easily hang on a wall, an example of fine abstract art. Yet the entirety of that shape can be computed by repeated application of a simple mathematical function:2 f(x) = x2 + c. Is all the beauty and complexity of the Mandelbrot set “inside” the symbols …

Uncovering The Ai-Copyright Trap, Carys Craig

Conference Papers

As AI tools proliferate, law and policy makers are being called upon to protect creators and the cultural industries from the extractive, exploitative, and even existential threats posed by generative AI. Professor Carys Craig warns that, in our haste to act, we risk running headlong into a copyright trap. In this presentation, Craig will explain what she means by the “AI copyright trap”, the routes by which it draws people in, and why it threatens to obstruct the path towards responsible and ethical AI. (Note: Presentation delivered online on August 26, 2025, as part of the AI Literacy Center's programming).

Music Executives From Universal Music Group Speak To Cardozo’S Entertainment Law Society, Ansley Henderson

Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal (AELJ) Blog

On Thursday, August 21, 2025, Cardozo’s Entertainment Law Society hosted a panel discussion with Jermaine “Maine” Maxwell (A&R at Def Jam, Universal Music Group), Shaniqua “Haarlem” Branch (VP of A&R at Republic Records, Universal Music Group), Trevor Casson (Senior Director Business & Legal Affairs at Universal Music Group for the East Coast labels), and Rachel Landy (Cardozo Professor with over a decade of experience in the music industry). The panel was moderated by Brennan Gerspach (Entertainment Law Society Music Co-Chair, Class of 2027). The event was promoted to students as, “From Studio to Statute: Navigating Creativity, Innovation, and Law …

"The Cake Is A Lie:" Locating Loot Boxes In Indian Gaming Framework, Aman Gupta, Samriddh Sharma

Indian Journal of Law and Technology

Lootboxes have become endemic in modern video games. These microtransactions allow users to purchase virtual containers without knowing their content, which is determined by chance. There have been increasing concerns about the negative impact of loot-box purchases on mental health and whether these amount to gambling under various laws. In response, several countries have started applying existing gambling laws or legislating new measures to regulate lootboxes. This raises questions about the present state of regulations in the Indian context and whether they are adequate in meeting the risks posed by lootboxes. In the present article, the authors explain the concept …

Steering Indian Financial Services Towards Digital Operational Resilience: A Cross-Sectoral Approach, Vaibhav Vijay Nishad, Smruti Kulkarni

Indian Journal of Law and Technology

In India, among the three financial regulators, RBI’s recent focus on creating a robust ICT risk management framework has been at the forefront of the country’s digital operational resilience strategy. The continuous cyber threats and recent digital operational failures have highlighted the need for further enhancements to strategies that establish strong ICT risk management. Addressing these cybersecurity vulnerabilities requires more than prescriptive rules; it demands holistic, flexible, adaptive, and coordinated regulatory approaches to strengthen digital operational resilience. This paper analyses the key issues that need resolution to advance these efforts. We identify the misalignment of economic incentives for compliance as …

Centring Marginalisation In The Development Of Digital Courts: Reflections From Argentina, India, Kenya, And Malaysia, Siddharth Peter De Souza, Varsha Aithala, Francisco Mignaquy, Mercy Muendo, Anisha Nadkarni

Indian Journal of Law and Technology

This paper presents a multi-jurisdictional analysis of digitalisation of justice and the perceived role of courts as public institutions upholding the rule of law and ensuring access to justice to all. Using selected examples from Argentina, India, Kenya and Malaysia, it examines the impact of digitalisation efforts of these countries on their citizens, marginalised populations, the State and private sector. We propose to design an approach to digital justice that centres people on the margins of digital transformation of courts. This includes three elements – first, engagement with people centered perspectives; second, focus on disadvantage and addressing socio-technical factors; and …

From ‘Gig Work’ To Algorithmically Mediated Work: Shifting The Focus To Technological Control In Work Regulation, Jasoon Chelat

Indian Journal of Law and Technology

Platform-based work is finding a place in legislative instruments in India in recent years, under the Code on Social Security, 2020, as well as state-level legislations. In this paper, I argue that these efforts to extend protections to gig or platform work are limited in their understanding of the way work is shaped by digital technologies both within and outside of platforms. Platform-based work regulation seems to have skipped a step: the regulatory discourse has moved on to a welfare-focused model present in informal work, without examining existing jurisprudence on worker rights relevant to digitally mediated work. These legislative instruments …

In The Pursuance Of A Robust Legal Framework To Address Deepfake Harms: An Analysis Of The Indian Legal Discourse, Jyothsna Gurumurthy

Indian Journal of Law and Technology

A common issue we face in the field of law and technology is the constant game of catch-up that the law is required to play to keep up with advances in technology. Deepfake Technology (primarily based on generative adversarial networks, as explored in this article) exemplifies this game of catch-up and provides a fertile ground for academics and regulators/law makers to explore and understand what it means for a technology regulating law or rule to be robust and enforceable. By examining the judicial handling of deepfake claims within a publicity rights discourse in India, this article suggests the adoption of …

Creative Expression Over Rigid Protection: Why The Ninth Circuit Is Correct To Permit De Minimis Sampling, Mitchell Brost

Pepperdine Law Review

The legal world is at a crossroads following the Ninth Circuit’s decision to uphold de minimis sampling as a valid practice in VMG Salsoul, LLC v. Ciccone. On the one hand, the Ninth Circuit’s affirmation of de minimis sampling fosters creativity and gives aspiring artists greater access to resources they would not otherwise be able to afford. On the other hand, the Sixth Circuit’s earlier decision in Bridgeport Music, Inc. v. Dimension Films that held de minimis sampling to be categorically illegal bolsters copyright protection and facilitates more predictable outcomes in copyright lawsuits. This Note analyzes both cases and ultimately …

Introduction: Symposium ‒ Ai Disrupting Law, Edward Lee

Chicago-Kent Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Files Are In The Computer: On Copyright, Memorization, And Generative Ai, A. Feder Cooper [email protected], James Grimmelmann

Chicago-Kent Law Review

No abstract provided.