Intellectual Property Law Commons^™

Establishing The Legal Framework To Regulate Quantum Computing Technology, Kaya Derose

Catholic University Journal of Law and Technology

No abstract provided.

Table Of Contents, Lead Article Editor

Catholic University Journal of Law and Technology

No abstract provided.

Rule 4(K)(2) And The Online Marketplace: An Efficient And Constitutional Route To Personal Jurisdiction Over Foreign Merchants Of Counterfeits, Taylor J. Pollier

Duquesne Law Review

The online marketplace has exploded as an efficient way for U.S. consumers to get the goods they need and want delivered directly to their doors. At the same time, the prevalence of counterfeit goods offered for sale on those marketplaces has grown. Companies in the United States that own the intellectual property rights to products being counterfeited online often use various methods to stop the infringement before court intervention is necessary. Ultimately, however, those companies may need to sue the infringing party to enforce their rights. Without the 1993 addition of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 4(k)(2), that would not …

Blank Space: The Legal Gray Area Created By Police Abuse Of Copyright Law, Connor Druhan

Loyola University Chicago Law Journal

Music, a universal language sung and heard around the world, is a powerful force for bringing people together. It is also afforded a great deal of protection under United States copyright law. As the way we listen to music has evolved throughout history, so too have the ways that laws protect the rights of musicians and entertainers. However, due to the changing technological landscape and our methods for protecting music, law enforcement officials have found a loophole at the intersection of copyright law, free speech, and the tools we use to enforce the rights of copyright holders. The Digital Millennium …

Welcome To Web 3.0: A Reevaluation Of Music Licensing And Consumption To Level The Payment Imbalance For Songwriters, Chelsea Cohen

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

For decades, songwriters have been short changed in their music royalties and copyright splits. This Note explores the historical inequity between songwriters and their counterparts—labels and recording artists—in royalty receipts, and potential methods by which this wrong may be righted in the next iteration of the internet, Web 3.0. Battles of the past can serve as a frame of reference in evaluating how songwriters will be compensated in Web 3.0. Tech companies cannot have a free pass to disregard licensing laws in the name of fast profits. This Note analyzes how music will be consumed and profited off of in …

Formula Unjust: What Formula One Can Learn From The American Justice System To Improve Stewarding, Apratim Vidyarthi

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

Formula One (F1), the highest form of motorsport, is one of the fastest-growing sports in the United States, attracting millions of viewers and billions of dollars in investment and prize money. But recent events in F1 have raised questions about the fairness of the sport. This Article contends that the current system of officiating creates unfair outcomes, because officials have overwhelming discretion to make pivotal decisions that significantly impact the outcome of races, and because penalties are applied inconsistently and cannot be appealed. Given the increased professionalization of F1 and the high financial stakes involved, these problems need to be …

Generative And Ai Authored Artworks And Copyright Law, Michael D. Murray

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

No abstract provided.

The Free Exercise Of Copyright Behind Bars, Viva R. Moffat

Sturm College of Law: Faculty Scholarship

Incarcerated people produce vast amounts of creative and expressive work – from paintings and sculptures to essays, novels, music, and NFTs – but they are rarely described as artists and their work is often not described as 'art'. Incarcerated people also do not regularly take advantage of copyright law, the primary form of protection for creative works, but they should. Copyright provides a strong set of rights that combines strains of free expression values with property rights elements. Copyright confers dignitary and expressive benefits, and for some creators, financial rewards. As such, copyright can be a tool to help incarcerated …

Are You Ready To Rum-Ble? A Proposal On Fighting Trademark Infringement For Small Businesses, Paris O. Booker

UIC Review of Intellectual Property Law

No abstract provided.

Women In Shareholder Activism, Sarah C. Haan

Seattle University Law Review

Even a cursory review of the history of American environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) shareholder activism reveals the presence of women leaders. This Article sketches some of this history and interrogates the role of women in the shareholder activism movement. That movement typically has involved claims by minority shareholders to corporate power; activists are nearly always on the margins of power, though minority shareholders may, collectively, represent a majority interest. This Article ascribes women’s leadership in shareholder activism to their longstanding position as outsiders to corporate organization. Women’s participation in shaping corporate policy—even from the margins—has provided women with …

Decentralized Collaboration Through Private Ordering, Edward Lee

American University Law Review

This Article sets forth the theory of decentralized collaboration to explain how NFT projects coordinate business and creative collaborations in a decentralized manner through NFTs. Conducting an empirical study of the Top 25 NFT projects, this Article shows that a majority of the Top 25 NFT projects have employed a new, more innovative approach to creative production. Decentralized collaboration refers to the creative activities among unrelated actors who are involved in creating a shared content production project through a decentralized, asynchronous process open to the public. Utilizing a combination of smart contracts that create non-fungible tokens (NFTs) recorded on blockchain …

Ftas' Contribution Towards A More Flexible Copyright Space: Possibilities And Limits, Maria Vasquez Callo-Muller

American University International Law Review

Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) have often been considered instruments for heightened intellectual property rights protection, thereby in detriment of a more flexible copyright space. However, since the adoption of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, some FTAs have been incorporating a clause on the “Balance in Copyright and Related Rights Systems.” Among these, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement and, more recently, the 2021 Australia-U.K. FTA contain such a clause. In addition, more discrete FTAs, such as the AustraliaPeru FTA, also incorporate similar provisions. This article considers what incorporating such clauses in FTAs means for the interpretation of …

Patent-Infringement Suits And The Right To A Jury Trial, H. Tomas Gomez-Arostegui, Sean Bottomley

American University Law Review

This Article analyzes whether the Seventh Amendment affords a right to a jury trial in suits in which the owner of a patent seeks only equitable relief against an accused infringer. The existence of jury rights carries important consequences for litigants. Like many issues involving application of the Constitution, the availability and scope of the right to a jury depends on eighteenth-century English legal history. Current doctrine holds that litigants in equity had no right to a jury in patent cases in England c.1791 and therefore that litigants today who seek only injunctive relief possess no such right either. But …

How To Get Away With Discrimination: The Use Of Algorithms To Discriminate In The Internet Entertainment Industry, Sumra Wahid

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

In July 2021, Ziggi Tyler posted a video on TikTok, a popular video sharing platform, where he expressed his frustration with being a Black content creator on TikTok. The video showed Ziggi typing phrases such as “Black Lives Matter” or “Black success” into his Marketplace creator bio, which the app would immediately flag as inappropriate content. However, when Ziggi replaced those words with “white supremacy” or “white success,” no inappropriateness warning appeared. Although a TikTok spokesperson responded to the video clarifying that the app had mistakenly flagged phrases without considering word order, Ziggi refused to let an algorithm absolve TikTok …

Woke Capital Revisited, Jennifer S. Fan

Seattle University Law Review

Inclusive corporate leadership is now at the forefront of discussions related to corporate governance. Two corporate theories help to explain the rise in prominence of diversity, equity, and inclusion (“DEI”) efforts in corporate leadership. First, an expanded definition of corporate purpose which elevated the idea of the importance of stakeholders, contributed to the momentum from business and legal quarters for broader corporate inclusion. Second, the increasing publicness of corporations—the social expectation of how large, typically public corporations should act given their position of power—also led to corporations becoming more active in the DEI space. It is against this backdrop that …

Gender And The Constitutional Theory Of The Firm, Jamee K. Moudud

Seattle University Law Review

This Article adds to the literature that has linked feminist economics to foreign trade and development. It argues that two key factors need to be in place jointly if efforts to promote gender equity are to succeed. On the one hand it argues that foreign debt is an important constraint to domestic progressive social policies of all kinds as it increases the power of international creditors who generally tend to support austerity policies. On the other hand, while alleviating the burden of foreign debt via exportpromotion policies is necessary, it is by no means a sufficient condition to promote domestic …

Court’S Choice Of Law Ruling Undermines Washington Community Property Law: A Critique Of Shanghai Commercial Bank V. Chang, Brian D. Hulse

Seattle University Law Review

This Article deals with the issues that arise when Washington courts face the following scenario. One spouse enters into a contract without the joinder (and perhaps without the knowledge) of the other spouse. Both spouses are domiciled in Washington. The contract has contacts with one or more jurisdictions other than Washington and is generally governed as to validity and interpretation by the law of another jurisdiction. The contracting spouse defaults and the other party to the contract obtains a judgment on the contract. The court confronts a question about the property to which the plaintiff will have recourse to collect …

When Congress Passes The Buck: How Russia’S Invasion Of Ukraine Exposed Flaws In Granting The President Sanctioning Powers, Artem M. Joukov, Samantha M. Caspar

Seattle University Law Review

The United States (U.S.) Constitution provides few limitations on endowing the Executive Branch with powers to govern foreign trade, which was initially granted to the Legislature. In a world where global trade dominates, the power over foreign trade can be more important than the power over domestic matters. Leaving unrestrained trade authority to the Executive Branch may cause hazards for Americans and foreigners alike. Russia’s war in Ukraine demonstrates the flaws in permitting the Executive Branch to unilaterally sanction foreign states. This Article demonstrates how reactive Executive Branch policies infringed on the welfare and safety of American citizens and foreigners …

Pedaling Backwards: Examining The King County Board Of Health’S Choice To Repeal Its Bicycle Helmet Law, Schuyler M. Peters

Seattle University Law Review

In Part I, this Comment will explain the Helmet Law itself and the timeline that ultimately led to its repeal. Part II will focus on the positive impact of the Helmet Law, the dangers associated with the repeal, why the repeal should not have occurred in the manner it did, and what societal costs stem from the BOH’s decision. Part III will address the actions that must be taken to revoke this repeal and the reasons behind these alternative pathways, including an Equity Impact Review study specifically on the consequences of repeal, a collaborative outreach program to bring helmets to …

The Exclusive Right To Customize?, Mark A. Lemley, Sari Mazzurco

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

Artists, political commentators, and even multinational corporations are increasingly taking existing branded products and modifying them – sometimes to comment on the underlying product, sometimes to make a political or artistic statement unrelated to that product, sometimes to make them look fancier than they are, and sometimes for their own advertising purposes. As ornamenting and customizing existing products has shifted from a personal hobby to a business model, trademark owners have begun to insist that they have the exclusive right to control the appearance of products associated with them or that prominently bear their logos. We call this assertion a …

The Federal Circuit And The Patent Trial And Appeal Board, David O. Taylor

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit holds a unique and powerful position in the patent system. It exercises exclusive jurisdiction over appeals in patent cases, which, short of Supreme Court intervention, empowers the court to set national patent law. But since passage of the America Invents Act, at least with respect to resolving often multimillion dollar disputes over patent validity, there is another, more powerful government institution: the Patent Trial and Appeal Board. Given its significant new power over disputes regarding patent validity, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board has been the subject of numerous disputes resolved …

Conceptualizing A "Right To Research" And Its Implications For Copyright Law: An International And European Perspective, Christophe Geiger, Bernd Justin Jutte

American University International Law Review

Copyright, at international, European, and national levels, does not provide a legal framework that prioritizes enabling and incentivizing research using protected works and information to the extent necessary and desirable in a digital, data-driven society in order to build a sustainable ecosystem for innovation and creativity. While small progress has been made, for example with the recent introduction of specific exceptions for research purposes and for text and data mining in certain national legislations as well as in the European Union law, a horizontal approach towards a more research-friendly copyright ecosystem has so far failed to evolve. By revisiting international …

Ea Sports: It’S In The Federal Legislation, Gia Silahian

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

No abstract provided.

Data Insecurity Law, Stein, David

Santa Clara High Technology Law Journal

By broad consensus, data security laws have failed to stem a rising tide of data breaches. Lawmakers and commentators blame these failures on some combination of underenforcement and the laws failure to recognize the full range of data breach harms. Proposed solutions would augment or expand existing data security laws.

These proposed solutions share a fatal flaw: they are rooted in traditional theories of deterrence by punishment. Data security laws come in three forms: duties to protect data, duties to notify consumers after a breach, and post-breach remedies. Almost every data security law is enforced through sanctions, most of which …

Legal Literacies For Text Data Mining – Cross-Border (“Lltdm-X”): White Paper, Rachael G. Samberg, Timothy Vollmer, Thomas Padilla

Joint PIJIP/TLS Research Paper Series

No abstract provided.

Legal Literacies For Text Data Mining – Cross-Border (“Lltdm-X”): Case Study, Rachael Samberg, Timothy Vollmer, Thomas Padilla

Joint PIJIP/TLS Research Paper Series

No abstract provided.

Mfns In Digital Distribution: Anticompetitive Effects Examined Through Modern Gaming Distribution, Ryan Wolff

Seattle Journal of Technology, Environmental, & Innovation Law

Most Favored Nation clauses and their place within digital distribution agreements is a problem that seems yet to be resolved. The argument that entities with large enough market share in their respective market can utilize these provisions to ensure that they remain on top is a contested topic that is actively being challenged in the courts. The lawsuit against Valve, the video game publisher and distributor, provides a lens through which the potential harms and advantages of these provisions can be examined. In analyzing the finer points of this situation potential solutions can be designed to, in a perfect world, …

The Knottiest Of Gordian Knots: Article 17 Of The Copyright Directive, Mark Hyland, Thomas Perry

Articles

This article analyses the much debated Article 17 of the EU Copyright Directive (Directive 2019/790) in the light of last year’s comprehensive European Commission guidance. The aim of the guidance is to support a correct and coherent transposition of Article 17 across the EU27. Following the recent landmark judgment in Case C-401/19, Poland v European Parliament and Council of the EU, some commentators have now suggested that it might be timely for the European Commission to issue further guidance on Article 17.

Lost In Transit: How Enforcement Of Foreign Copyright Judgements Undermines The Right To Research, Naama Daniel

American University International Law Review

The ease of travel in the globalized, modern world is a doubleedged sword for the right to research: while research opportunities are bolstered due to information and data traveling extremely easily in the digital world, the right to research may be undermined by the easy travel of foreign copyright judgments between countries. This article analyzes thoroughly, for the first time, the threats posed to the right to research by private international law instruments on recognition and enforcement of foreign copyright judgments. This article uses a theoretical and doctrinal perspective to analyze the matter, demonstrating that the right to research, aimed …

Who Owns Data? Understanding The Rights & Duties Of Platform Stakeholders, James Steiner

Michigan Business & Entrepreneurial Law Review

While mindlessly scrolling Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok, users often forget that a complicated web of personal data ownership lies under the screen. This Note analyzes the legal interactions of users, platforms, and third-parties regarding this personal data. Hohfeldian analysis of rights and reciprocal duties in the context of California’s various data privacy statutes and common law doctrines provides a powerful tool for understanding the rocky legal landscape data stakeholders navigate. Courts add further definition to this landscape when adjudicating conflicts between these stakeholders. Legal scholars have also proposed frameworks to simplify the rules of engagement for these stakeholders. Data privacy …