Intellectual Property Law Commons^™

Paws Off My Profile: Protecting The Persona In A Modern Digital Age, Samantha P. Mccaleb

Marquette Intellectual Property & Innovation Law Review

None.

Artificial Intelligence Owning Patents: A Worldwide Court Debate, Maria A. Penkwitz

Marquette Intellectual Property & Innovation Law Review

In the article "Artificial Intelligence Owning Patents: A Worldwide Court Debate," Maria A. Penkwitz explores the legal conflict over whether AI can be a patent inventor. The central case involved DABUS, an AI system that independently created new inventions. Penkwitz's research highlights a significant global divide in legal perspectives.

While courts in the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia have rejected patents for AI-generated inventions, citing existing laws that require a human inventor, other nations are more progressive. Germany, for example, permits a human to be credited alongside the AI, and South Africa made a landmark ruling by granting a …

Intellectual Property And Accessibility For Individuals With Disabilities, Eman A. Daas

Marquette Intellectual Property & Innovation Law Review

None.

Systematizing Scents: The Case For Chemically Standardized Nontraditional Scent Trademarks, Jared Novitzke

Marquette Intellectual Property & Innovation Law Review

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Amend The Lanham Act: Trademark Infringement Needs A Statute Of Limitations, Aaron E. Schindler

Marquette Intellectual Property & Innovation Law Review

None.

Inequitable By Design: The Patent Culture, Law, And Politics Behind Covid-19 Vaccine Global Access, Ximena Benavides

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

COVID-19 vaccine access has been highly inequitable worldwide, with coverage depending largely on a country’s wealth. By the end of 2021, 64.1% of people living in high-income countries had received at least one dose of the vaccine, compared to only 5.4% of those in low-income countries. Similarly, only high- and upper-middle-income countries had received the most effective vaccines.

The uneven distribution of these lifesaving vaccines is made complex due to the convergence of several factors, but it suggests that the extraordinary expanding and ossifying market and political power of a few vaccine manufacturers founded on intellectual property and complementary policies …

Of Lock-Breaking And Stock Taking: Ip, Climate Change And The Right To Repair In Canada, Graham Reynolds

All Faculty Publications

This paper argues that Canadian governments have both legal and moral obligations to act to combat climate change. In seeking to fulfill these obligations, Canadian governments should pay particular attention to Canada’s intellectual property (IP) regime. This paper argues that given the centrality of IP to Canada’s economy, a comprehensive review is required in order to determine whether and the extent to which elements of Canada’s IP regime contribute to climate change or impede climate action. To illustrate the need for such a review, this paper will highlight one example of how Canada’s IP regime, as currently structured, impedes the …

The Hidden Cost Of University Patents, Christopher J. Ryan Jr., W. Michael Schuster, Brian L. Frye

Articles by Maurer Faculty

Universities are encouraged to undertake research through grants from government agencies, foundations, and other organizations. The Bayh-Dole Act reinforces this incentive structure by allowing universities to take ownership of the resultant patents. The rights of ownership include the ability to generate income by licensing patents and bringing patent infringement lawsuits. Undoubtedly, exercising these rights to financially benefit the university is economically rational. But might such actions also impose a cost on the public despite the fact that these very patents arose from public research subsidies?

This study examines the relationship between a university’s research expenditures and its likelihood to litigate …

Design Patent Nonobviousness: The Road Ahead?, Mark D. Janis

Articles by Maurer Faculty

In this Essay, I comment on Mark Bartholomew’s Article Nonobvious Design and link it to an important contemporary debate over the nonobviousness test for design patents in the en banc rehearing in LKQ. I begin by challenging the assertion that nonobviousness doctrine is the most compelling vehicle for design patent policy reform, suggesting that Nonobvious Design may be borrowing this thinking from utility patent law, where nonobviousness plays a different role. I then turn to Nonobvious Design’s elaboration of the concept of the “aesthetic middle,” which provides the chief impetus for the suggested nonobviousness reforms. I question the normative implications …

The Sour Reality Of Copyright Infringement, Vanessa R. Carreno Alvarez

University of San Francisco Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Server Test Quandary And Embedding Permission Culture, Michael P. Goodyear

Oklahoma Law Review

No abstract provided.

Arbitrating Social Media Content: A Framework For Banning High-Profile Users Through Third-Party Arbitration, Rachel Gershengoren

Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution

No abstract provided.

Improving New York City's Covid-19 Vaccine Mandate For Public Sector Workers: A Collaborative Framework For Labor-Management Relations In High Impact Circumstances, Chelsea Hill

Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution

No abstract provided.

Corporate Governance And Gender Equality: A Study Of Comply-Or-Explain Disclosure Regulation, Aaron A. Dhir, Sarah Kaplan, Maria Arabella Robles

Seattle University Law Review

In 2020, the Nasdaq Stock Market filed a proposal with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission seeking permission to adopt a board diversity-related disclosure requirement for its listed companies. In 2021, the SEC approved the proposal, thus entrenching Nasdaq’s position as the most significant stock exchange to date to mandate listing rules that reflect the intention of diversifying corporate boardrooms. Nasdaq’s movement into the diversity space is not the first attempt to address homogeneous boards in the U.S. In 2009, the SEC adopted a rule requiring publicly traded firms to report on whether they consider diversity in identifying director nominees. …

Judicial Ethics And The Eradication Of Racism, Dontay Proctor-Mills

Seattle University Law Review

In 2020, the Washington Supreme Court entrusted the legal community with working to eradicate racism from its legal system. Soon after, Washington’s Commission on Judicial Conduct (hereinafter the Commission) received a complaint about a bus ad for North Seattle College featuring King County Superior Court Judge David Keenan. Along with a photo of Judge Keenan’s face, the ad included the following language: “A Superior Court Judge, David Keenan got into law in part to advocate for marginalized communities. David’s changing the world. He started at North.” The Commission admonished Judge Keenan for violating the Code of Judicial Conduct, in part …

Table Of Contents, Seattle University Law Review

Seattle University Law Review

Table of Contents

Why Corporate Boards Should Include Lgbtq+ People, Jeremy Mcclane, Darren Rosenblum

Seattle University Law Review

Corporate boardrooms sit at the heart of most of society’s most consequential decisions but fall far short of the diversity of our society. The current movement toward board diversification aims to remedy the underrepresentation of marginalized groups on corporate boards. More recently, some efforts have included LGBTQ+ people, even though the basis for their inclusion on corporate boards remains largely unstated. This Article examines both the normative and instrumental bases for LGBTQ+ inclusion in board diversity initiatives, articulating unspoken assumptions and linking LGBTQ+ people to the broader inclusion effort. In so doing, it begins to surface the unique issues LGBTQ+ …

Trade Secret Case Management Judicial Guide, Peter S. Menell, Victoria A. Cundiff, James Pooley, Elizabeth Rowe, Peter J. Toren, Rebecca Wexler

Faculty Books

The Trade Secret Case Management Judicial Guide provides judges with a comprehensive resource for surveying trade secret law and managing trade secret litigation. Chapters are organized according to the stages of litigation and guided by an early case management checklist.

Beyond Trade Secrecy: Confidentiality Agreements That Act Like Noncompetes, Camilla Hrdy

Akron Law Faculty Publications

There is a substantial literature on noncompete agreements and their adverse impact on employee mobility and innovation. But a far more common restraint in employment contracts has been underexplored: confidentiality agreements, sometimes called nondisclosure agreements (NDAs). A confidentiality agreement is not a blanket prohibition on competition. Rather, it is simply a promise not to use or disclose specific information. Confidentiality agreements encompass trade secrets, as defined by state and federal laws, but confidentiality agreements almost always go beyond trade secrecy, encompassing any information the employer imparted to the employee in confidence. Despite widespread use, confidentiality agreements have received little attention. …

Rethinking Innovation At Fda, Rachel Sachs, W. Nicholson Price Ii, Patricia J. Zettler

Scholarship@WashULaw

In several controversial drug approval decisions in recent years, the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) has publicly justified its decision partly on the ground that approving the drugs in question would support innovation in those fields going forward. To some observers, these arguments were surprising, as the agency’s determination whether a drug is “safe” and “effective” does not seem to depend on whether its approval also supports innovation. But FDA’s use of these innovation arguments in drug approval decisions is just one example of the ways in which the agency has come to make many innovation-related judgments as part of …