Intellectual Property Law Commons^™

From Blurred Lines To Blurred Law: An Assessment Of The Possible Implications Of "Williams V. Gaye" In Copyright Law, Hannah Patton

Journal of Intellectual Property Law

In December 2018, panic spread throughout the music industry in light of headlines reporting that the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the lower court’s verdict that the 2013 hit song “Blurred Lines” by Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams infringed Marvin Gaye’s “Got to Give it Up,” released in 1977. In addition to the tremendous $5.3 million award ordered for the Gaye estate, the Blurred Lines Case resulted in fear that the holding could create precedent for allowing the “style” or “groove” of a song to be considered subject to copyright. Since then, industry insiders, lawyers, and commentators have feared …

Repeal The Defend Trade Secret Act: Why Congress Can't Rely On Trade Secret Law To Protect America's Trade Secrets, Steven Miller

Journal of Intellectual Property Law

Trade secret theft from foreign and domestic competitors continue to siphon technological advances from United States businesses. This siphoning erodes America's competitive advantage in the global marketplace; however, this note argues that recent Congressional legislation that attempts to strengthen trade secret protection actually harms America's competitive advantage. This note argues for Congress to repeal its trade secret protection, because trade secret law,a s currently applied, fails to deter trade secret theft and fails to protect American business interests domestically or abroad, and yet actually harms domestic innovation.

Statutory And Constitutional Problems With Judicially-Imposed Patent-Claim Limitations, Sloane Kyrazis

Journal of Intellectual Property Law

The safety valve standard articulated in In re Katz Interactive Call Processing Litigation is at odds with the provisions of the U.S. Patent Act and violates constitutional due process. Without requisite constitutional protections and those protections guaranteed by the U.S. Patent Act, patentees in complex modern patent litigation are at risk of having their patent rights deprived from contrary to the congressional intent articulated in the statute and without requisite process. The courts must balance their need for efficient administration of the law in patent cases by implementing equitable measures to ensure that patentees’ rights are not trampled on. Additionally, …

John Hemings' Monticello And Poplar Forest, J. Wesley Giglio

Journal of Intellectual Property Law

A discussion of John Hemings' creative architectural contributions to Monticello and Poplar Forest, Thomas Jefferson's Virginia Estates. Author argues that Hemings, an enslaved person and a master carpenter, made vital and creative contributions to the building of the two estates which merit legal recognition. Author discusses how legal ideas about moral rights and statutory protections in the Architectural Works Copyright Protection Act could be adapted to cure a historica and representative injustice.

The Best Laid Plans: How Dmca Sec. 1201 Went Awry, Smothering Competition And Creating Giants,And Where We Go Now, Tyler Fabbri

Journal of Intellectual Property Law

In 1998, Congress passed the Digital Millennium Copyright Act with the express intention of protecting the intellectual property of copyright holders from the growing threats of digital piracy and information sharing brought about by an increasingly digital society.

Among the law’s many provisions is §1201, which works to prohibit circumnavigation of digital protections copyright holders may put on protected works—in essence, innovators or competitors would be unable to develop technology or programs to bypass security measures put into place by primary creators. While this provision seems facially reasonable, it has effectively served as a means to quash adversarial interoperability.

Adversarial …

Secrets, Sovereigns, And States: Analyzing State Government's Liability For Trade Secret Misappropriation, Grant Cole

Journal of Intellectual Property Law

Trade secrets are many business's most valuable assets. From Google’s algorithm to Coca-Cola’s secret recipe, trade secrets are becoming increasingly important to businesses and our economy. What if state governments could simply misappropriate these trade secrets without liability? Sadly, this situation is not uncommon. Many state governments have misappropriated trade secrets with virtual impunity. This is because the doctrine of sovereign immunity protects state governments from liability. This leaves businesses that deal with the government without a way to recover for the misappropriation of their trade secrets. This result is especially damaging because once a trade secret is no longer …

Cross-Jurisdictional Analysis Of Damage Awards In Copyright Infringement Cases, Ioana Vasiu, Lucian Vasiu

Journal of Intellectual Property Law

Copyright infringement is a widespread phenomenon that produces massive financial losses to stakeholders. Based on an extensive examination of damage awards in copyright infringement cases from the United States, Canada, Singapore, and Italy, this article proposes a comprehensive cross-jurisdictional analysis. The analysis regards types, factors, methodologies, and arguments. This article's findings can be used to adjust the provisions regarding damage awards, to improve the litigation of such cases, to elaborate educational materials, for professional programs or law school clinics, and to develop better prevention policies. The proposed improvements could lead to a more unified approach to damage awards, increase the …

The Impact Of Implementing A 25-Year Reversion/Termination Right In Canada, Paul J. Heald

Journal of Intellectual Property Law

No abstract provided.

Evidence-Based Patent Damages, Taorui Guan

Journal of Intellectual Property Law

No abstract provided.

Improving Opportunities For New Value Of Open Data: Assessing And Certifying Research Data Repositories, Robert R. Downs

Copyright, Fair Use, Scholarly Communication, etc.

Investments in research that produce scientific and scholarly data can be leveraged by enabling the resulting research data products and services to be used by broader communities and for new purposes, extending reuse beyond the initial users and purposes for which the data were originally collected. Submitting research data to a data repository offers opportunities for the data to be used in the future, providing ways for new benefits to be realized from data reuse. Improvements to data repositories that facilitate new uses of data increase the potential for data reuse and for gains in the value of open data …

Pgs, I Love You: Rebuilding Copyright For Architecturally-Situated Pictorial, Graphic, And Sculptural Works, Llewellyn Kittredge Shamamian

Washington and Lee Law Review Online

Over twenty years ago, in Leicester v. Warner Bros., the Ninth Circuit limited copyright protection for a certain sculptural complex located within a downtown Los Angeles high‑rise. The court determined that the sculpture, otherwise protected from pictorial reproduction, could be visually replicated without infringing on the artist’s copyright because it was part of its architectural context.

This Note explores two recent copyright cases where companies capitalized on painted street art, using the works as backdrops for social media advertising. The resulting litigation calls into question Leicester’s holding and the extent to which it may allow visual reproduction of …

Making Mistakes With Machines, Dhanoa. Harsimar

Santa Clara High Technology Law Journal

MAKING MISTAKES WITH MACHINES

Tobacco And The Small Screen: Why The Tvomb Should Restructure The Parental Guidelines, Courtney Leavitt

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

This article summarizes the creation and workings of the TV Parental Guidelines and the Oversight Monitoring Board, potential First Amendment issues of a required rating system, and possible solutions to the problems of the current rating system. The TV Parental Guidelines and the Oversight Monitoring Board were created to fulfill requirements of the Telecommunications Act of 1996. The TV Parental Guidelines are meant to empower parents to control the content viewed by their children with useful ratings. However, the accuracy of ratings and understanding of the system are limited. Further, the complaint process is complex, with little authority to enforce …

Is There A New Extraterritoriality In Intellectual Property?., Timothy R. Holbrook

Sturm College of Law: Faculty Scholarship

Intellectual property rights are territorially limited. In the main, these rights do not extend outside of the country who has afforded parties the intellectual property. Instead, they are limited to activities within the country. Or so the theory goes. In the global marketplace, such territorial rights do not map well onto the commercial realities of many companies. Given the global marketplace and the intangible-yet-territorial nature of intellectual property rights, IP has sat squarely in the middle of concerns about extraterritoriality.

The Supreme Court has long articulated the presumption against the extraterritorial application of U.S. law. This is not to say …

“Sacrifice And Recoupment” In The Antitrust Analysis Of Patent Settlements: Actavis Through The Lens Of Brooke Group, Aspen Skiing, And Trinko, Bryan Gant

American University Business Law Review

Patent settlements are typically procompetitive, benefiting not only the settling parties but also the courts and the general public. But in rare cases patent settlements might instead harm competition, and thus raise antitrust concerns. How are courts to determine when antitrust scrutiny should — and, more importantly, should not — be applied to patent settlements? The answer ostensibly came in the Supreme Court’s 2013 decision in FTC v. Actavis, Inc. Under Actavis, antitrust scrutiny of patent settlements may “sometimes” be appropriate where there is a “large,” “unexplained” “reverse payment” from the patentee to the patent challenger. Unless, that is, the …

Copyright Fair Use And The Digital Carnivalesque: Towards A New Lexicon Of Transformative Internet Memes, David Tan, Angus J. Wilson

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

The influence of social media in the 21st century has led to new social norms of behavior with individuals presenting themselves to others, whether physically or virtually, on various social media platforms. As a result, these new trends have led recent society to be characterized as a “presentational cultural regime” and a “specular economy.” In a Bakhtinian digital carnivalesque, internet memes present a feast of challenges to exceptions and limitations in copyright law. Memes encompass a wide range of expression about the human experience, while also existing as a playful mode of culturally permissible expression in online social communications rather …

Designing Dupes: A Legislative Proposal For Holding Online Marketplaces Contributorily Liable For Counterfeit Goods, Gina Boone

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

With a simple click on your favorite online marketplace, any consumer can unknowingly buy counterfeit goods. Counterfeits are no longer limited to fake luxury bags on the streets of Chinatown. These dupes can be roller skates, children’s toys, and even car tires. However, counterfeit products’ impact reaches far beyond just consumer health and safety. Counterfeiting negatively affects small businesses, imposes financial burdens, and causes reputational damage. Online marketplaces are aware of the increase of counterfeit products on their websites. Yet, they continue to facilitate its growth because it is unlikely the online platforms will be held liable for the sale …

Federal Circuit’S Unconventionality Approach To Patent-Ineligibility Challenges In A Motion To Dismiss, 20 Uic Rev. Intell. Prop. L. 331 (2021), Ping-Hsun Chen

UIC Review of Intellectual Property Law

No abstract provided.

Algorithmic Parenting, Eldar Haber, Tammy Harel Ben Shahar

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

Growing up in today’s world involves an increasing amount of interaction with technology. The rise in availability, accessibility, and use of the internet, along with social norms that encourage internet connection, make it nearly impossible for children to avoid online engagement. The internet undoubtedly benefits children socially and academically and mastering technological tools at a young age is indispensable for opening doors to valuable opportunities. However, the internet is risky for children in myriad ways. Parents and lawmakers are especially concerned with the tension between important advantages and risks technology bestows on children.

New technological developments in artificial intelligence are …

The Research Patent, Sean B. Seymore

Vanderbilt Law Review

The patent system gives courts the discretion to tailor patentability standards flexibly across technologies to provide optimal incentives for innovation. For chemical inventions, the courts deem them unpatentable if the chemical lacks a practical, non-research-based use at the time patent protection is sought. The fear is that an early-stage patent on a research input would confer too much control over yet-unknown uses for the chemical, thereby potentially hindering downstream innovation. Yet, denying patents on research inputs can frustrate patent law’s broad goal of protecting and promoting scientific and technological advances.

This Article addresses this problem by proposing a new form …