Science and Technology Law Commons^™

Open Source Perfume, Amanda Levendowski

Cardozo Law Review

Perfume is a powerful art and technology, but its secrets are closely held by a privileged few by some counts, there are more astronauts than there are perfumers. As critics have noted increasingly since 2020, those select few perfumers often share similar backgrounds. The Western perfume industry prizes perfumers with elite pedigrees, which often precludes marginalized perfumers. It also perpetuates non-Western cultures, that push some marginalized perfumers into teaching themselves perfumery. But teaching oneself through recreating and remixing existing fragrances presents a different challenge. As interviews with American, British, and French perfumemakers reveal, intellectual property (IP) plays a complicated role …

Content Moderation On End-To-End Encrypted Systems: A Legal Analysis, Charles Duan, James Grimmelmann

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

Online messaging platforms like Signal and Google’s Messages increasingly use end-to-end encryption (E2EE), in which messages are encrypted on the sender’s device and decrypted on the recipient’s, so that no one else—not even the platform itself—can read them. Although E2EE protects privacy and advances human rights, the law enforcement community and others have criticized its growing use. In their view, E2EE prevents platforms and government authorities from responding to abuses and criminal activity, including child exploitation, malware, scams, and disinformation. At times, they have argued that E2EE is inherently incompatible with effective content moderation.

Computer science researchers have responded to …

Enhancing Efficiency And Accessibility For Federal Trademark Protection: Leveraging Blockchain Technology For Prosecution, Maintenance, And Enforcement Processes., Julia Ashley-Burd Mainini

Featured Student Work

This paper conducts an analysis of the intersection between Blockchain Technology and Intellectual Property Law, with a specific focus on Trademark Law in the United States. It explores the potential utilization of Blockchain Technology to enhance the efficiency and accessibility of prosecution, maintenance, and enforcement processes for attorneys, applicants, and registrants. Additionally, the paper examines areas within the Lanham Act that could benefit from updates to promote the adoption of Blockchain Technology in trademark-related procedures.

Wrong Search At The Wrong Time: Keyword Search Warrants And The Fourth Amendment, Nicole Chan

Cardozo Law Review

On August 5, 2020, five members of a family were killed when their house was set ablaze. Kevin Bui admitted to investigators that he and two other teens burned the house down after his iPhone had been stolen. He used the Find My application and located his phone at the Green Valley Ranch home. It was not until the next day while reading the news about the arson that he realized he had targeted the wrong residence.

The Art World Of Digital Assets: How Non-Fungible Tokens Create A Loophole In Anti-Money Laundering Regulations, Sofia Aizenman

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Trademarks In An Algorithmic World, Christine Farley

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

According to the sole normative foundation for trademark protection—“search costs” theory—trademarks transmit useful information to consumers, enabling an efficient marketplace. The marketplace, however, is in the midst of a fundamental change. Increasingly, retail is virtual, marketing is data-driven, and purchasing decisions are automated by AI. Predictive analytics are changing how consumers shop. Search costs theory no longer accurately describes the function of trademarks in this marketplace. Consumers now have numerous digital alternatives to trademarks that more efficiently provide them with increasingly accurate product information. Just as store shelves are disappearing from consumers’ retail experience, so are trademarks disappearing from their …

Digital Purgatory And The Rights Of The Dead: Protecting Against Digital Disinterment In The Age Of Artificial Intelligence, Greyson Cohen

Cardozo Law Review de•novo

This Note will attempt to show that the existing patchwork of rights of publicity statutes and case law are inadequate to protect citizens from online harms in the age of synthetic media. Particularly, this Note will focus on postmortem right of publicity interests and protections because a robust market for the likenesses of deceased personalities exists and will likely grow in the age of synthetic media.

Part I will explain how synthetic media may contribute to an increase in the harms associated with rights of publicity violations, particularly after death. Part II will begin by outlining the legal landscape of …

Automating Discrimination: Ai Hiring Practices And Gender Inequality, Lori Andrews, Hannah Bucher

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Something For Nothing: Untangling A Knot Of Section 230 Solutions, Nicholas Bradley

Cardozo Law Review de•novo

Social media platforms have become the dominant public forum of the modern age but there is a big problem: they are privately owned and can moderate content however they like. This right is protected both by the First Amendment and Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, the latter of which creates immunity from suit for platforms that exercise their right to moderate content by removing—or not removing—objectionable content. Politicians on both sides of the aisle have complained that platforms are abusing this immunity and, while they have put forward a wide variety of legislative solutions, none of them have …

Zoning And The Cost Of Housing: Evidence From Silicon Valley, Greater New Haven, And Greater Austin, Robert C. Ellickson

Cardozo Law Review

Municipal zoning, shockingly, may be the most consequential regulatory program in the United States. This Article develops metrics for measuring the extent to which a locality’s zoning practices are exclusionary, that is, limit construction of least-cost housing. It applies the metrics to actual zoning ordinances and zoning maps, materials that legal scholars have seldom closely appraised. The municipalities chosen for study lie in three metropolitan areas, the ones listed in the Article’s title. Of the three, zoning in Greater Austin, one of the fastest growing metropolitan areas in the United States, is—to no one’s surprise—the most conducive to housing development. …

Deeply Fake, Deeply Disturbing, Deeply Constitutional: Why The First Amendment Likely Protects The Creation Of Pornographic Deepfakes, Bradley Waldstreicher

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

A Tale Of Two Interoperabilities; Or, How Google V. Oracle Could Become Social Media Legislation, Charles Duan

Cardozo Law Review de•novo

The Supreme Court's recent decision in Google v. Oracle shares a perhaps unexpected connection with recent legislative proposals to enhance social media competition. At first glance they are seemingly unrelated: the former deals with copyright protection in certain portions of software code, while the latter relates to interconnection between dominant online platforms and their competitors. Yet they are closely intertwined, such that a competitive platform environment cannot be fully achieved without addressing lingering questions in Google. As a result, lawmakers ought to be motivated to address software copyrights and related matters as part of their efforts to improve competition among …

The International Intellectual Property Commercialization Council’S 3rd Annual U.S. Conference: The State Of Innovation In The Union, Neel U. Sukhatme, Paul R. Zielinski, G. Nagesh Rao, Pj Bellomo, Matthew Byers, Meghan Gaffney Buck, Everardo Ruiz

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

The International Intellectual Property Commercialization Council (“IIPCC”) presented its third annual policy conference at the United States Capitol on May 6, 2019. The conference’s theme explored the question of “what is the state of innovation in the United States?” Panelists included The Honorable Andrei Iancu – Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office; Dr. Carl J. Schramm – University Professor, Syracuse University and Former President of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation; Mr. Patrick Kilbride – Senior Vice President of the Global Innovation Policy Center (“GIPC”) at the U.S. Chamber of …

Nonexcludable Surgical Method Patents, Jonas Anderson

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

A patent consists of only one right: the right to exclude others from practicing the patented invention. However, one class of patents statutorily lacks the right to exclude direct infringers: surgical method patents are not enforceable against medical practitioners or health care facilities, which are the only realistic potential direct infringers of such patents. Despite this, inventors regularly file for (and receive) surgical method patents. Why would anyone incur the expense (more than $20,000 on average) of acquiring a patent on a surgical method if that patent cannot be used to keep people from using the patent?

The traditional answer …

Preserving Film Preservation From The Right Of Publicity, Christopher Buccafusco, Jared Vasconcellos Grubow, Ian J. Postman

Cardozo Law Review de•novo

In this comment, we argue that whatever courts and legislatures decide to do about the other issues raised by digital animation, they should preserve the ability to use digital technology to restore and remaster existing works. In this case, at least, the benefits of digital reanimation thoroughly swamp any possible costs (and frankly, we have a hard time finding any meaningful costs). Courts and legislators should ensure that publicity rights are never allowed to trump society’s interest in having access to already created works of culture.

Calculating Artists’ Royalty: An Analysis Of The Courts’ Dualistic Interpretations Of Recording Contracts Negotiated In A Pre-Digital Age, Nina Aragon

Cardozo Law Review de•novo

This Note examines the disparity in the courts’ rulings in the Malmsteen and F.B.T. cases, specifically the different ways in which each court interpreted the contractual language of the parties’ preInternet recording agreements, and their application of royalty rates. Part I of this Note provides an overview of the royalty structure used to compute royalty rates for compact discs (CDs). Part I discusses on the economic effects of switching to a digital distribution system, the sales versus license distinction, and the principles relied on by the courts to interpret pre-Internet contracts. Part II of this Note examines the courts’ rulings …

Seeing Color: Implications Of The European Union's New Common Practice For Transatlantic Trademark Registration By United States Trademark Holders, Christine Park

Seattle University Law Review

This Note explores two issues related to the EU’s new common practice: (1) whether the new common practice will deter ongoing efforts to integrate trademark registration and protection at the international level; and (2) whether U.S. trademark holders, when expanding business into the EU, should register through the Madrid Protocol and obtain Community Trade Mark or register through a country’s trademark office. This Note argues that the new trademark practice hinders international efforts for standardizing trademark registration and that U.S. trademark holders should claim color when registering their marks with the EU.

Using Valuation-Based Decision Making To Increase The Efficiency Of China’S Patent Subsidy Strategies, William J. Murphy, John L. Orcutt

Cardozo Law Review de•novo

This Article explains how a disciplined and transparent valuation-based decision-making process can help the Chinese government design patent fee subsidy programs that allocate funds more consistently to deserving patents. In addition, this Article offers the outline of a practical valuation model the Chinese government could use to filter patent fee subsidy requests.

Rethinking Consideration In The Electronic Age, Robert A. Hillman, Maureen O'Rourke

Cornell Law Faculty Working Papers

Our fast-paced age of electronic agreements that ostensibly govern transactions as diverse as downloading software, ordering goods, and engaging in collaborative development projects raises questions regarding the suitability of contract law as the appropriate legal framework. While this question arises in many settings, we focus here on the free and open source software (FOSS) movement because of the maturity and success of its model and the ubiquity of its software. We explore in particular whether open source licenses are supported by consideration, and argue that they are, and that open source licenses are contracts. We further argue that a contractual …

Turned On Its Head?: Norms, Freedom, And Acceptable Terms In Internet Contracting, Richard Warner

All Faculty Scholarship

Is the Internet turning contract law on its head? Many commentators contend it is. Precisely this issue arises in current controversies over end user license agreements (EULAs) and Terms of Use agreements (TOUs, the agreements governing our use of web sites). Commentators complain that, in both cases, the formation process unduly restricts buyers’ freedom; and, that sellers and web site owners exploit the process to impose terms that deprive consumers of important intellectual property and privacy rights. The courts ignore the criticisms and routinely enforce EULAs and TOUs. There is truth on both sides of this court/commentator divide. EULAs and …

When Second Comes First: Correcting Patent’S Poor Secondary Incentives Through An Optional Patent Purchase System, Jordan Barry

ExpressO

As research has advanced, technologies have become more closely knit, and the relationships between them—both complementary and competitive—have become increasingly important. Unfortunately, the patent system’s use of monopoly power to reward innovators creates inefficient results by overly encouraging the development of substitute technologies and discouraging the development of complementary technologies. This paper explains how an optional patent purchase system could help ameliorate such problems and discusses the implications of such a system.

Internationalizing Copyright: How Claims Of International, Extraterritorial Copyright Infringement May Be Brought In U.S. Courts, Elliot Cook

ExpressO

This Comment assesses the use of the Alien Tort Statute (“ATS”) as a jurisdictional basis for claims of international copyright infringement occurring outside of the United States. Under the ATS, aliens may sue in United States district courts for torts that amount to violations of treaties or the law of nations.

Given that copyright infringement is a tort, an alien may only be able to establish ATS jurisdiction in a suit of extraterritorial infringement if the infringement violated a treaty or the law of nations. This comment argues that extraterritorial copyright infringement does indeed amount to a violation of the …

The Need For Software Innovation Policy, Christopher Riley

ExpressO

This paper examines the current legal treatment of software innovation. It argues that recent judicial standards for the regulation of software innovation do not adequately protect innovation. It presents an original standard for the regulation of software innovation, one intended to guide judicial decisions in contributory copyright liability, in interpretations of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, and in every courtroom where a developer is on trial for the mere creation and distribution of software. The standard presented in this paper separates the questions of liability and remedy in order to produce an optimal dynamic balance of interests.

Finding Common Ground In The World Of Electronic Contracts: The Consistency Of Legal Reasoning In Clickwrap Cases, Robert L. Dickens

ExpressO

Electronic contractual arrangements have raised complex legal issues unprecedented in the law. Technology s impact on traditional contract law doctrines is readily apparent in the dilemmas generated by recent developments in computer software, hardware, and Internet transactions. In such transactions, sellers have increasingly begun utilizing “clickwrap” agreements, whereby standard terms and conditions are displayed on the computer screen when the user attempts to access the seller’s services. Not surprisingly, the enforceability of clickwrap terms, which are often not known to the user until after payment, has become a subject of much debate in the courts. Because many of the clickwrap …

A Complete Property Right Amendment, John H. Ryskamp

ExpressO

The trend of the eminent domain reform and "Kelo plus" initiatives is toward a comprehensive Constitutional property right incorporating the elements of level of review, nature of government action, and extent of compensation. This article contains a draft amendment which reflects these concerns.

Is The Eli Lilly Written Description Requirement A Paper Tiger?: A Comprehensive Assessment Of The Impact Of Eli Lilly And Its Progeny In The Courts And Pto, Christopher M. Holman

ExpressO

In University of California v. Eli Lilly, decided by the Federal Circuit in 1997, the court established for the first time a new form of patent law’s written description requirement, apparently targeted specifically at biotechnology. To this day, the conventional wisdom is that the so-called Lilly written description requirement (“LWD”) exists as a biotechnology-specific “super-enablement” requirement, substantially more stringent than the enablement requirement (the conventional standard for patentability), and standing as an impediment to effective patent protection for biotechnology inventions. My objective in writing this article was to test this conventional wisdom, by conducting a comprehensive search for all LWD …

Scientific Expertise In Policymaking: The Case For Open Review And Patent Reform, Beth Simone Noveck

ExpressO

The Energy Research Advisory Board, the group of external scientific advisors that provided impartial expert advice to the Secretary of Energy since 1978, was disbanded this May. The Administration, like its predecessors, regularly replaces experts on agency advisory panels with ideologues and political allies. We are at the nadir of a historical progression since World War II away from trust in and use of scientific expertise in policymaking. This shift however, has not been countered with greater public participation. Instead, administrative law and theory have developed a model of the managerial administrative authority. The "expertocratic" agency relies on internal expertise …

Data Privacy, Data Piracy: Can India Provide Adequate Protection For Electronically Transferred Data?, Vinita Bali

ExpressO

As the wave of outsourcing to India swells, there is growing concern about the inadequacies of the India legal system in protecting data being transferred to it from other nations for the purpose of processing. India has a smattering of laws that scantily address the issue of data privacy. Under pressure from the business processing industry in India, as well as from the European Union and other nations, it is but a matter of time before India adopts a slate of laws that address the issue of data protection. Once these laws are enacted, the main issue that remains is …

Technoconsen(T)Sus, Andrea M. Matwyshyn

ExpressO

Law is contributing to an information security paradox. Consumers are regularly “consenting” to the installation of computer code that makes them more vulnerable to harms such as identity theft. In particular, digital rights management technology accompanying digital music has recently left a wake of compromised user machines. Using the case study of security-invasive digital rights management technology, this article argues that a fundamental tension exists among intellectual property law, computer intrusion law and contract law regarding meaningful consumer consent in digital contexts. This article proposes to ease the noise in consent doctrine through creating an objective “reasonable digital consumer” standard …

Defining Fair Use In The Digital Era, Joseph James Raffetto

ExpressO

The increasing prevalence of technology, and the ease with which the public and companies can reproduce, recombine, and reuse copyrighted works, has rendered the once-confusing fair use doctrine a virtual uncertainty. Given limited congressional guidance, courts have relied heavily on the secondary use’s potential effect on the market for the original work. While this reliance is based on the valid concern of maintaining adequate creative incentives, the enormous growth of licensing markets has resulted in an overemphasis on economic concerns. Recent court decisions indicate that fair use now turns not on the protection of creative incentives, but rather the preservation …