Intellectual Property Law Commons^™

Intellectual Property Protection In Philippine Agriculture: A Developmental Perspective, Salvador B. Belaro Jr.

Cornell Law School J.D. Student Research Papers

This paper is premised on the debate on whether intellectual property protection furthers economic development in developing countries. One view is that more is better, arguing that intellectual property rights trigger research and technological advancement. The other view is that more means not better, but worse. Advocates of this view claim that developing countries, being "second comers" in a world where developed countries got a head start in development are confronted with rules imposed by the "first comers", intellectual property rules included, which are of course, designed by the latter to serve their interests

This note suggests two general approaches …

Online Music Joint Ventures: Taken For A Song, Harry First

ExpressO

In 2001 the five major record companies, controlling more than 80 percent of prerecorded music sales in the United States, announced the formation of two joint ventures to distribute music over the Internet. The Department of Justice opened an antitrust investigation into these ventures even before the ventures began their operations. Two and one-half years later the Department announced that it had closed the investigation because its "theoretical concerns ultimately were not supported by the evidence." The Department's investigation, however, focused on the ventures' licensing practices rather than on their formation.

This paper focuses on the formation of the online …

Fine Art Online: Digital Imagery And Current International Interpretations Of Ethical Considerations In Copyright Law, Molly A. Torsen

ExpressO

This writing explores the fast-changing intersection of law, technology and ethical considerations related to the visual arts. My paper explores differences in domestic intellectual property laws as well as regional considerations in moral rights law application.

Modern Bootlegging And The Prohibition On Fair Prices: Last Call For The Repeal Of Pharmaceutical Price Gouging, Luke W. Cleland

ExpressO

This article discusses the recent passage of the Medicare Prescription Drug, Modernization and Improvement Act of 2003, and the executive and judicial decisions affecting the ability of the general public to access foreign pharmaceutical markets. The article examines the recent actions taken by the U.S. government, explore various state movements within the United States aimed at reducing pharmaceutical drug prices, outline the process of pharmaceutical drug prices in foreign countries, and advocate for a workable integration of all available mechanisms to feasibly reduce prescription drug prices for the benefit of both U.S. consumers and U.S. drug companies. As avenues to …

Institutional Reckless Disregard For Truth In Public Defamation Actions Against The Press, Randall P. Bezanson

ExpressO

Since its beginning, the actual malice test first announced in 1964 in New York Times v. Sullivan, has suffered from problems that are increasingly traceable to the changing face of journalism. Its demand that the mind of the reporter be proved "with convincing clarity" has adverse consequences for plaintiffs and news organizations alike. End runs around the subjective state of mind inquiry by plaintiffs have become more common. And the actual malice test's predictability, its capacity as a standard of liability to yield consistent and coherent results across a body of cases, remains a hollow promise. As Robert Sack famously …

Not Enough? An Examination Of China’S Compliance With The Intentions Of The Trips Accord, Jonathan Mark W.W. Chu

ExpressO

As China is in its third year as a member of the World Trade organization, there is much anticipation as to whether its protection of intellectual property rights is up to international standards. Being one of the largest trading nations in the world, much attention has been given to China’s development since its accession to the WTO. The US Chamber of Commerce has recently made a visit to China in order to examine its progress on implementing WTO rules and the WTO’s Sixth Session of the Ministerial Conference will be hosted by Hong Kong, China. As an increasing amount of …

Trips' Rebound: How The Agreement On Trade-Related Aspects Of Intellectual Property Rights ("Trips") Can Ricochet Back Against The United States: An Historical Analysis, Donald Harris

ExpressO

No abstract provided.

Government Policy Towards Innovation In The United States, Canada, And The European Union As Manifested In Patent, Copyright And Competition Laws, Daniel J. Gifford

ExpressO

Abstract: This paper examines a number of government policies related to competition or intellectual property and affecting innovation for their welfare effects. Its premise is that the enhancement of social welfare is included among the purposes of competition and intellectual-property laws. It also assumes that innovation is a major contribution to long-run welfare. The paper then considers whether the policy initiatives under review furthered that purpose. First it considers U.S. and Canadian legislation designed to promote the entry of generic pharmaceutical products into the market and the response (or lack thereof) of both governments to the issue of regulatory delay …

Patent Wars In The Valley Of The Shadow Of Death: The Pharmaceutical Industry, Ethics And Global Trade, Uche Ewelukwa

ExpressO

No abstract provided.

Reform(Aliz)Ing Copyright, Chris Sprigman

ExpressO

Reform(aliz)ing Copyright looks at the effect of the removal from the U.S. copyright laws of copyright formalities like registration, notice, and renewal. Beginning in 1976, the U.S. moved from a “conditional” copyright system that premised the existence and continuation of copyright on compliance with formalities, to an “unconditional” system, where copyright arises automatically when a work is “fixed”. Richard Epstein has aptly characterized these changes as “copyright law . . . flipping over from a system that protected only rights that were claimed to one that vests all rights, whether claimed or not.” That is a fundamental shift in any …

Towards A New Core International Copyright Norm: The Reverse Three-Step Test, Daniel J. Gervais

ExpressO

This paper argues that international copyright treaties, such as the WTO TRIPS Agreement, should no longer be developed as sets of minimum standards with a standardized exception filter, namely the three-step test, but rather include a normative standard for the copyright rights themselves. In seeking harmony between rights and exceptions, and in light of copyright haphazard evolution (by simply adding new rights when a new way of using protected content was invented), a single new core norm is proposed: the reverse three-step test.

How Do The Social Benefits And Costs Of The Patent System Stack Up In Pharmaceuticals?, Daniel J. Gifford

ExpressO

This paper explores the workings of the patent system in the context of the generation of new pharmaceutical products. First it identifies the relevant characteristics of the patent system and its relation to the market. The paper concedes that, in general, the patent system is probably the best way of generating new technology, in substantial part because that system uses the market to provide both incentives and rewards. The paper also identifies downsides of this patent/market system: deadweight loss and the unresponsiveness of that patent/market system to the needs of the poor. The paper then explores the social costs and …

Are You Experienced?: Examining The Need For Specialized Ethics Rules In Patent Litigation, Benjamin J. Sodey

ExpressO

Any attorney licensed to practice before a federal district court, regardless or his or her area of specialization, may file a patent infringement suit on behalf of a client in that court. The possibility exists, therefore, for an attorney having little or no intellectual property experience to represent clients in complex patent litigation matters. Due to this, infringement defendants and their counsel may find themselves on the receiving end of a dubious patent claim brought by attorneys lacking patent law experience. This article discusses whether the existing rules governing attorney conduct, such as professional responsibility, procedural, or statutory rules, are …

The Democratic Public Domain: Reconnecting The Modern First Amendment And The Original Progress Clause (A.K.A. Copyright And Patent Clause), Malla Pollack

ExpressO

If the Progress Clause, a.k.a. the Patent and Copyright Clause, of the U.S. Constitution had been construed when its original meaning was still obvious, United States law would be far different. In this area at least, the Drafters’ Constitution was much less aristocratic than the modern (mis)reading. The original meaning of the Progress Clause, furthermore, should have stimulated a more communitarian First Amendment, the type of First Amendment currently being suggested by leading First Amendment scholars such as Jack Balkin.

Who Owns The 'First Rough Draft Of History'? Reconsidering Copyright In News, Eric B. Easton

ExpressO

Who Owns the ‘First Rough Draft of History’? suggests the withdrawal of copyright protection from hard-news journalism as a mechanism for “rescuing” the news from the inexorable downward spiral in quality and diversity caused by excessive media concentration. Although copyright represents just one of the factors contributing to the “commodification” of news today, it is a significant factor, and one with a long, unsavory relationship with censorship and monopoly.

The article asserts that newspapers’ quest for copyright protection was an early step onto a slippery slope toward a property-based, rather than service-based ethos, and that removing protection may mark a …

Invasion Of The Clones: Animal Cloning And The Potential Implications On The Future Of Human Cloning And Cloning Legislation In The United States, The United Kingdom, And Internationally, Adrienne N. Calhoun

ExpressO

Cloning is an area of science that changes daily; with advances being made constantly. This technology has caused great controversy in the United States and across the world. The issue has raised religious, ethical, technical and legal concerns. This paper is broken into four parts in order to best address the complex area of cloning technology. Part one will be a review of the history of the science of cloning and the history of animal cloning. Part two will be a discussion of the risks and benefits of cloning. Part three will address ethical and religious concerns surrounding human cloning. …

Whose Music Is It Anyway? How We Came To View Musical Expression As A Form Of Property, Michael W. Carroll

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

Many participants in the music industry consider unauthorized transmissions of music files over the Internet to be theft of their property. Many Internet users who exchange music files reject this characterization. Prompted by the dispute over unauthorized music distribution, this Article explores how those who create and distribute music first came to look upon music as their property and when in Western history the law first supported this view. By analyzing the economic and legal structures governing music making in Western Europe from the classical period in Greece through the Renaissance, the Article shows that the law first granted some …

Arthritic Flexibilities: Analysis Of Wto Action Regarding Paragraph 6 Of The Doha Declaration On The Trips Agreement And Public Health, Brook K. Baker

ExpressO

This paper explores the tortured history of developing countries’ pursuit of access to affordable generic medicines that they are unable to produce efficiently on their own. Having lost rights to treat medicines as essential commodities and as generalized exceptions to patent protections in the WTO TRIPS Agreement, developing countries and public health activists temporarily reasserted the primacy of health over profits in the Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health in November of 2001. However, since most developing countries lack meaningful pharmaceutical capacity to manufacture medicines efficiently on their own, they needed flexibility to import medicines from countries …

The Balancing Act Of Copyright: The Copyright Laws Of Australia And The United States In The Digital Era, Dilan J. Thampapillai

Cornell Law School J.D. Student Research Papers

The digital era has posed a unique challenge to copyright law. The emergence of the information technology revolution and the internet has increased the ability and the willingness of copyright users to copy and distribute protected material. In response to this phenomenon copyright owners have pushed for stronger laws to protect their content from infringement. Their success has prompted a strong counter reaction from copyright users and consumer groups.

This paper seeks to examine how changes to Australian and US copyright law have resulted in an imbalance between owners and users and whether the traditional safeguards of fair dealing and …

Booze, Drugs, And Rock & Roll: Crime During The College Years, Paul S. Gutman

ExpressO

In this Article, the author examines the predilection of college and university students towards certain types of illegal behaviors. Specifically, the Article considers the widespread instances of drug use, under-age alcohol use, and "file-sharing" using Napster and its progeny. The Article's main focus is on why such illegal behaviors are rampant among college students who might otherwise be

I Am Glad I Got To Know Him, David Shipley

Scholarly Works

This article is part of a number of articles in tribute to L. Ray Patterson, which appear in 11 J. Intel Prop i (2003).

Whose Music Is It Anyway?: How We Came To View Musical Expression As A Form Of Property -- Part I, Michael W. Carroll

Working Paper Series

Many participants in the music industry consider unauthorized downloading of music files over the Internet to be “theft” of their “property.” Many Internet users who exchange music files reject that characterization. Prompted by this dispute, this Article explores how those who create and distribute music first came to look upon music as their property and when in Western history the law first supported this view. By analyzing the economic and legal structures governing musicmaking in Western Europe from the classical period in Greece through the Renaissance, the Article shows that the law first granted some exclusive rights in the Middle …

Beyond Dilution: Toward A Coherent Theory Of The Anti Free Rider Impulse In American Trademark Law, David J. Franklyn

ExpressO

This article argues for a fundamental shift in the way famous trademarks are protected under American trademark law. Currently, famous marks are protected by dilution law, which purports to prevent a particular kind of harm (i.e., the gradual whittling away of the commercial magnetism of a famous mark). The article argues that this is the wrong focus of famous mark protection, because dilution is an illusory concept; it either does not exist, or it is so difficult to prove, that it is an ineffective and misleading doctrinal tool. The article contends that American trademark law should move from the harm-based …

Old Lyrics, Knock-Off Videos, And Copycat Comic Books: The Fourth Fair Use Factor In U.S. Copyright Law, Gregory M. Duhl

ExpressO

No abstract provided.

The Several Lives Of Mickey Mouse: The Expanding Boundaries Of Intellectual Property Law, Ben Depoorter

ExpressO

No abstract provided.

Technological Protection Measures In The United States, The European Union And Germany - How Much Fair Use Do We Need In The "Digital World"?, Wencke Baesler

ExpressO

This article analyzes the different approaches of the United States and the European Union in the EU Copyright Directive towards the protection of technological protection measures against circumvention. The European and German laws have a radically different approach to fair use that heretofore has not been satisfactorily examined. It is a basic principle of copyright law in the European countries not to provide for a broad fair use exception, but to enumerate specific uses that are excluded from the copyright owner’s right to intervene. However, mostly payment of a reasonable compensation is required. This system is preserved in the recently …

Monopoly Power In The Electronic Information Industry: Why, And So What?, Curt A. Hessler

ExpressO

This "law and economics" article diagnoses why monopoly power infects so many markets in the electronic media, communications, and information technology industries (collectively the "Industry"),and recommends changes to prevailing intellectual property and antitrust doctrines to remedy this problem.

The analysis focuses on a single "norm" -- the maximization of economic value, as defined by standard welfare economic theory. Identifying three distinct functions that operate throughout this otherwise diverse Industry -- authoring, publishing, and distribution -- the article notes that two economic peculiarities characterize most Industry markets: the technical feasibility of "non-rivalrous use" of digitized information products, and the frequent "creative …

Owning Enlightenment: Proprietary Spirituality In The New Age Marketplace, Walter Effross

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

No abstract provided.

A Primer On U.S. Intellectual Property Rights Applicable To Music Information Retrieval Systems, Michael W. Carroll

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

Digital technology has had a significant impact on the ways in which music information can be stored, transmitted, and used. Within the information sciences, music information retrieval has become an increasingly important and complex field. This brief article is addressed primarily to those involved in the design and implementation of systems for storing and retrieving digital files containing musical notation, recorded music, and relevant metadata – hereinafter referred to as a Music Information Retrieval System (“MIRS”). In particular, this group includes information specialists, software engineers, and the attorneys who advise them. Although peer-to-peer computer applications, such as Napster’s MusicShare or …

Toward A Nonzero-Sum Approach To Resolving Global Intellectual Property Disputes: What Can We Learn From Mediators, Business Strategists, And International Relations Theorists, Peter K. Yu

Articles

All societies, communities, organizations, and interpersonal relationships experience conflict at one time or another in the process of dayto-day interaction. Conflict is not necessarily bad, abnormal, or dysfunctional; it is a fact of life. Conflict and disputes exist when people are engaged in competition to meet goals that are perceived to be, or actually are, incompatible. However, conflict may go beyond competitive behavior and acquire the additional purpose of inflicting physical or psychological damage on an opponent, even to the point of destruction. It is then that the negative and harmful dynamics of conflict exact their full costs.