Intellectual Property Law Commons^™

The Copy Process, Joseph P. Fishman

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

There’s more than one way to copy. The process of copying can be laborious or easy, expensive or cheap, educative or unenriching. But the two intellectual property regimes that make copying an element of liability, copyright and trade secrecy, approach these distinctions differently. Copyright conflates them. Infringement doctrine considers all copying processes equally suspect, asking only whether the resulting product is substantially similar to the protected work. By contrast, trade secrecy asks not only whether but also how the defendant copied. It limits liability to those who appropriate information through means that the law deems improper.

This Article argues that …

Speaking From The Grave. Should Copyright Listen?, Jessica Silbey

Faculty Scholarship

Should authors be able to control the use of their work after they die? It’s a question that touches deep personal and public concerns. It resonates with longstanding debates in literary studies over the “death of the author” and “authorial intent,” and is an issue that Professor Eva Subotnik tackles in her latest article, Artistic Control After Death (forthcoming in the Washington Law Review).

Currently, U.S. copyright expires 70 years after the author’s death so that control of an author’s copyrights extends far into the future. Long after an author creates a work, often decades after publication and the work’s …

Can China Protect The Olympics, Or Should The Olympics Be Protected From China?, Jennifer L. Donatuti

Journal of Intellectual Property Law

No abstract provided.

Marketa Trimble Becomes The Inaugural Samuel S. Lionel Professor Of Intellectual Property Law, Marketa Trimble

Nevada Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Trending @ Rwu Law: Linn F. Freedman's Post: The Goal Of Gender Equality In Cybersecurity 08/23/2016, Linn F. Freedman

Law School Blogs

No abstract provided.

A La Recherche Du “Sens” Perdu: Copyrightable Creativity Deconstructed, Thomas M. Byron

Pace Law Review

The primary goal of this article is to show how the concept of “creativity” as defined and applied by courts in copyright cases fails to map any reasonable concept of creativity in certain critical respects. Accordingly, the first charge undertaken here is a deconstructive one—to show the lack of meaningful overlap between the legal definition of creativity and the “actual” meanings of that same term. To undertake this comparison, Part II of this Article focuses on perhaps the more easily determined of these two definitions of the term—“creativity” as defined by courts. Rather than giving an unduly broad berth …

"Transplanting" Organ Donors With Printers: The Legal And Ethical Implications Of Manufacturing Organs, Katherine A. Smith

Akron Law Review

Three-dimensional (3D) printing is no longer restricted to simple inanimate objects; that conjecture is a thing of the past. With advancements in many areas of science, living tissues and organs can now be printed through a technique called 3D bioprinting. This technology could potentially save the lives of the 120,000 Americans in need of an organ transplant. However, whether or not a 3D bioprinted organ qualifies as a “human organ” under the National Organ Transplant Act (NOTA) and whether 3D bioprinted organs require federal approval could either delay or completely bar this technology’s promise. The Ninth Circuit’s Flynn v. Holder …

Curated Innovation, Lital Helman

Akron Law Review

The regulation of innovation-intensive industries is a critical issue for both innovation policy and regulation. In this Article, I propose a new framework to the way innovation-intensive industries are regulated.

My proposal is a four-pronged model, which I term “Curated Innovation.” In the first stage, policymakers would set a standard that would represent the outcome the regulation seeks to achieve. Second, policymakers would launch a competition, where innovative technologies or methods would race to meet the standard that was defined. Third, policymakers would select the methods or technologies that come closest to meeting the standard and create an incentive in …

Are Universities Special?, Shubha Ghosh

Akron Law Review

Universities offer a space for development of ideas, exploration of basic research, and productive outlets for creation and invention. As such, they are key to the innovation environment within which intellectual property laws operate. Although scholarship has focused on universities as institutions counter to other institutions like markets and government, less attention has been paid to universities as organizations, a site for governance through detailed rules and commonly understood norms. When understood as an organization, universities display three overlapping, but distinct models: one of pure research, one of pure commercialization, and one of public purpose. These three models together define …

Intellectual Property Revenue Sharing As A Problem For University Technology Transfer, Jennifer Carter-Johnson

Akron Law Review

The Bayh-Dole Act, often credited with the explosion of university technology transfer, requires universities to incentivize invention disclosure by sharing the royalties generated by patent licensing with inventors. Many scholars have debated the effectiveness of university implementation of this requirement, and, indeed, the low rate of invention disclosure by academic researchers to the university is often a bottleneck in the technology-transfer process.

Unfortunately, most discussions focusing on inventor compliance with Bayh-Dole Act requirements have explored faculty-inventor motivations. However, in most cases, university inventions are joint products of a group of university members including not only faculty but also post-doctoral researchers …

Jay-Z Has 99 Problems But A Sample Ain’T One, Rebecca Knight

The University of Cincinnati Intellectual Property and Computer Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Luxembourg Effect: Patent Boxes And The Limits Of International Cooperation, Lilian V. Faulhaber

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

This article uses patent boxes, which reduce taxes on income from patents and other IP assets, to illustrate the fact that the jurisprudence of the European Court of Justice has a longer reach than has previously been recognized. This article argues that, along with having effects within the European Union, the ECJ’s decisions can also have effects on countries outside of the EU. In the direct tax context, the ECJ’s jurisprudence has hampered the ability of both EU and non-EU countries to police international tax avoidance.

In 2015, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) proposed restrictions on patent …

Sherlock Holmes & The Case Of The Contested Copyright, Jessica L. Malekos Smith

Chicago-Kent Journal of Intellectual Property

For generations, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s novels and short stories on the adventures of Sherlock Holmes have captivated the minds of readers and fueled a lucrative intellectual property market. The historical trajectory of international copyright protections to this literary canon, however, is an equally intriguing, if not mysterious, page-turner. This Note explores the procedural history of Klinger v. Conan Doyle Estate, Ltd., and examines how the literary characters of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John H. Watson can simultaneously exist in the public domain, while certain story elements still remain under copyright protection in the United States until 2022.

Manufacturers Association Of Israel V. Merck Sharp & Dohme, Neal Hendel, Yoram Danziger, Uri Shoham

Translated Opinions

[This abstract is not part of the Court's opinion and is provided for the reader's convenience. It has been translated from a Hebrew version prepared by Nevo Press Ltd. and is used with its kind permission.]

The rights in an Israeli patent, upon which the Ezetrol medical preparation is based, belong to the Respondents in LCA 8127/15, who are the Applicants in LCA 8263/15 (hereinafter: Merck). According to sec. 52 of the Patent Law (hereinafter: the Law), the period of the patent is 20 years from the date of the application, which was filed in 1994. In 1998, the Law …

Misreading A Canonical Work: An Analysis Of Mansfield's 1994 Study, Paul J. Heald

Journal of Intellectual Property Law

No abstract provided.

Copyright Protection For Attorney Work Product: Practical And Ethical Considerations, Stanley F. Birch Jr.

Journal of Intellectual Property Law

No abstract provided.

L. Ray Patterson: A Selected Bibliography, Journal Of Intellectual Property Law

Journal of Intellectual Property Law

No abstract provided.

The Insurability Of Claims For Restitution, Christopher French

Faculty Scholarship

Does and should a wrongdoer’s liability insurance cover an aggrieved party’s claim for restitution (e.g., a claim for the disgorgement of ill-gotten gains)? This article answers those questions. It does so by first answering the question of whether claims for restitution are covered under the terms of liability insurance policies. Then, after concluding that they are, it addresses the question of whether claims for restitution should be insurable as a matter of public policy and insurance law theory. There are long-standing legal and equitable principles that, on the one hand, dictate that a wrongdoer should not be allowed to benefit …

A Passion For Fashion: The International Trade Commission Should “Step Up” Its Role In The Enforcement Of Design Patents, Nikki Rigl

University of Miami International and Comparative Law Review

No abstract provided.

Copyright In A Nutshell For Found Footage Filmmakers, Brian L. Frye

Law Faculty Popular Media

Found footage is an existing motion picture that is used as an element of a new motion picture. Found footage filmmaking dates back to the origins of cinema. Filmmakers are practical and frugal, and happy to reuse materials when they can. But found footage filmmaking gradually developed into a rough genre of films that included documentaries, parodies, and collages. And found footage became a familiar element of many other genres, which used found footage to illustrate a historical point or evoke an aesthetic response.

It can be difficult to determine whether found footage is protected by copyright, who owns the …

Lost In Translation: How Practical Considerations In Kirtsaeng Demand International Exhaustion In Patent Law, Dustin M. Knight

Law Student Publications

This comment's purpose is to explore whether the principles announced in Kirtsaeng should apply to the patent exhaustion doctrine. Part I begins by examining the history of patent exhaustion jurisprudence. It also introduces the competing theories international exhaustion and territorial exhaustion. Part II analyzes the effect of the recent Supreme Court decision in Kirtsaeng on the exhaustion doctrine in copyright. Part III contends that exhaustion doctrine polices the same practical problems in copyright as it does in patent law. Finally, the conclusion argues for an extension of the Kirtsaeng holding to the patent exhaustion doctrine.

Patent Uncertainty: Toward A Framework With Applications, Keith N. Hylton

Faculty Scholarship

There are three essential sources of uncertainty in the patent system: perceived uncertainty due to selective sampling (“statistical artefact uncertainty”), inherent uncertainty, and strategic uncertainty. It is only the strategic uncertainty source that should be of concern to reformers. With respect to this source, uncertainty in the patent system is largely a function of two variables: the degree of inherent abstraction associated with the patent, and the degree to which the patent provides notice of its scope. The maximal degree of uncertainty is observed in the category of abstract patents with poor notice, a category dominated today by software patents. …

Trips Article 31(B) And The Hiv/Aids Epidemic, Johanna Kehl

Journal of Intellectual Property Law

No abstract provided.

An Experimental Approach To The Study Of Social Norms: The Allocation Of Intellectual Property Rights In The Workplace, Yuval Feldman

Journal of Intellectual Property Law

No abstract provided.

Exceptionally Vague: Attorney Fee Shifting Under The Lanham Act, Kelsie Willett

Journal of Intellectual Property Law

No abstract provided.

Patenting Marijuana Strains: Baking Up Patent Protection For Growers In The Legal Fog Of This Budding Industry, Joseph Dylan Summer

Journal of Intellectual Property Law

No abstract provided.

Clearing The Brush: The Best Solution For The Uspto’S Continued “Deadwood” Problem, Leonard Robert Seifter Iii

Journal of Intellectual Property Law

No abstract provided.

The Road To Hell Was Paved With A Good Faith Belief: Why The Supreme Court Correctly Rejected The Good Faith Belief In The Invalidity Of A Patent Defense For Dangerously Narrowing Induced Infringement Liability, Sidney C. Eberhart

Journal of Intellectual Property Law

No abstract provided.

A New Test To Reconcile The Right Of Publicity With Core First Amendment Values, Mark Joseph Stern, Nat Stern

Journal of Intellectual Property Law

No abstract provided.

Distinguishing Literary Ideas And Expressions With Elements Of Alternate Worlds, Joshua Jeng

Journal of Intellectual Property Law

No abstract provided.