Intellectual Property Law Commons^™

In The Name Of Patent Stewardship: The Federal Circuit’S Overreach In Commercial Law, Xuan-Thao Nguyen

Articles

While the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has admirably commandeered its stewardship of patent law-Congress bestowed the Federal Circuit with exclusive jurisdiction over patent appeals since 1982-the court has unabashedly extended its reach, unwelcomed, into commercial law. Camouflaged in the name of patent stewardship, the Federal Circuit's foray into commercial law has yielded unexpected and unjustifiable results. This Article argues that, paradoxically, to maintain its stewardship of patent law, the Federal Circuit should not invoke patent law to rationalize its decisions concerning commercial law, which have dramatically altered established commercial law. This encroachment into commercial law, which …

Registering Offense: The Prohibition Of Slurs As Trademarks, Christine Farley

Contributions to Books

Since 1967, Pro-Football has registered six marks that include the term “redskins,” a derogatory racial epithet that refers to Native Americans. The use of disparaging marks dates back to the 19th century when brands commercialized racial stereotypes, such as Aunt Jemima. Today, offensive marks, including those that ridicule race, ethnicity, gender and religion are proliferating prompting the question of what role trademark law plays in protecting the interests of diverse communities. Section 2(a) of the Lanham Act prohibits the registration of marks that consist of matter that may disparage or bring into contempt or disrepute any person, institution, or belief. …

The Bomb Keeps The Lights On: The Use Of Final-Offer Arbitration In Failed Retransmission Consent Negotiations, Daniel J. Weiss

Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution

This Note will consider the imposition of binding arbitration in instances of failed retransmission consent negotiations between broadcasters and cable companies. It will first consider the FCC's authority to do so under the Communication Act of 1934 and the ADRA. Central to this discussion will be the debate and legislative history surrounding the 1992 Act and the way that mandatory binding arbitration has been used other contexts by the Commission. Further, this Note will explore the specific type of arbitration to be employed by the FCC in event the Commission finds they have the authority to mandate such a procedure. …

Copyright Alert System: Six-Strikes And Forced Arbitration Might Not Be The Answer, Brett Schiff

Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution

Ongoing technological advancements are imminent and new forms of media will increasingly be created further broadening one's ability to share both his or her own intellectual property and the intellectual property of others almost instantaneously. Rising piracy and the growing use of peer-to-peer ("P2P") file-sharing resulted in representatives from the Motion Picture Association of America ("MPAA"), the Recording Industry Association of America ("RIAA"), and the nation's five largest Internet Service Providers ("ISPs")-AT&T, Cablevision, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and Verizon-joining forces. The Copyright Alert System ("CAS"), similar to foreign copyright enforcement graduated response systems, is the privatized, contractual United States graduated …

"Pay-For-Delay" Settlements Post-Actavis: Why Mediation Can Tackle The "Unreasonable" Antitrust Settlements, Sheena Ching

Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution

This Note discusses the benefits that mediation can have on the reverse payment settlement and antitrust debate, and how it can satisfy the "rule of reason" requirement post-Actavis. Accordingly, Section II discusses the legislative history and policy of the Hatch-Waxman Act. It elaborates on the pioneer drug development process and how the combination of legislation and the inherent nature of drug development resulted in "pay-for-delay" settlements. Section III discusses majority and dissenting opinions in the landmark Supreme Court case FTC v. Actavis as well as the circuit split decisions that led up to the Court's ultimate ruling and …

Work Made For Hire – Analyzing The Multifactor Balancing Test, Ryan G. Vacca

Akron Law Faculty Publications

Authorship, and hence, initial ownership of copyrighted works is oftentimes controlled by the 1976 Copyright Act’s work made for hire doctrine. This doctrine states that works created by employees within the scope of their employment result in the employer owning the copyright. One key determination in this analysis is whether the hired party is an employee or independent contractor. In 1989, the U.S. Supreme Court, in CCNV v. Reid, answered the question of how employees are distinguished from independent contractors by setting forth a list of factors courts should consider. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court did not give further guidance on …

Masthead, Volume 6 Issue 1

Journal of Law, Technology, & the Internet

No abstract provided.

Volume 6 Issue 1 (2015-2016), Case Western Reserve Journal Of Law, Technology & The Internet

Journal of Law, Technology, & the Internet

No abstract provided.

Justifying India's Patent Position To The United States International Trade Commission And Office Of The United States Trade Representative, Srividhya Ragavan, Sean Flynn, Brook Baker

Faculty Scholarship

The paper below largely is an extract of the testimonial filed by the authors to the Secretary of the ITC in response to the Notice on the Federal Register dated August 29, 2013 titled Trade, Investment, and Industrial Policies in India: Effects on the U.S. Economy. Where required, the paper also draws from the written submissions that the authors made to the United States Trade Representative’s (hereinafter, USTR) office on the related question of whether India deny adequate and effective protection of intellectual property rights or deny fair and equitable market access to U.S. persons who rely on intellectual property …

Nsfw: An Empirical Study Of Scandalous Trademarks, Megan M. Carpenter, Mary Garner

Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal

This project is an empirical analysis of trademarks that have received rejections based on their "scandalous " nature. It is the first of its kind.

The Lanham Act bars registration for trademarks that are "scandalous" and "immoral." While much has been written on the morality provisions in the Lanham Act, this piece is the first scholarly project that engages an empirical analysis of the Section 2(a) rejections based on scandalousness; it contains a look behind the scenes at how the morality provisions are applied throughout the trademark registration process. This study analyzes which marks are being rejected, what evidence is …

An Uneasy Balance: Personal Information And Crowdfunding Under The Jobs Act, Brice Kindred

Richmond Journal of Law & Technology

“Crowdfunding” is the raising of small amounts of money from many different sources for a particular purpose. Today, this usually takes place online.2 Crowdfunding has become a popular means of raising funds for a wide variety of projects, causes, and business ventures. Websites like Kickstarter, Indiegogo, and Crowdfunder allow people to create a profile for their project and solicit contributions from the general public in support.

Beyond Technophobia: Lawyers’ Ethical And Legal Obligations To Monitor Evolving Technology And Security Risks, Timothy J. Toohey

Richmond Journal of Law & Technology

Lawyers and technology have an uneasy relationship. Although some lawyers are early adapters, others take pride in ignoring technology because they believe it is alien to the practice of law. As Jody R. Westby observed, lawyers confronted with technology and security issues tend to have their “eyes glaze over” and “want to call in their ‘IT guy’ and go back to work.” But this technophobic attitude may no longer just be harmless conservatism. In the world of growing security risks, ignorance of technology may lead to violations of lawyers’ fundamental ethical duties of competence and confidentiality.

Cover Letter, Laura M. Bedson

Richmond Journal of Law & Technology

The Richmond Journal of Law and Technology is proud to present its fourth and final issue of the Twenty-First Volume. At its inception in 1995 JOLT became the first law review to be published exclusively online. From this moment on, the Journal has continued to set trends in the legal scholarship world. As one of the leading publications in the legal technology field, JOLT has the privilege of publishing articles that address topics at the forefront of the law. The articles in this fourth issue are no exception. Each of the following articles present exciting discussions on cutting-edge areas of …

The Internet Of Things And Wearable Technology: Addressing Privacy And Security Concerns Without Derailing Innovation, Adam D. Thierer

Richmond Journal of Law & Technology

The next great wave of Internet-enabled innovation has arrived, and it is poised to revolutionize the way humans interact with the world around them. This paper highlights some of the opportunities presented by the rise of the so-called Internet of Things (IoT) in general and wearable technology in particular and encourages policymakers to allow these technologies to develop in a relatively unabated fashion.

Identity Property: Protecting The New Ip In A Race-Relevant World, Philip Lee

Faculty Publications

(Excerpt)

This Article explores the relatively new idea in American legal thought that people of color are human beings whose dignity and selfhood are worthy of legal protection. While the value and protection of whiteness throughout American legal history is undeniable, non-whiteness has had a more turbulent history. For most of American history, the concept of non-whiteness was constructed by white society and reinforced by law—i.e., through a process of socio-legal construction—in a way that excluded its possessor from the fruits of citizenship. However, people of color have resisted this negative construction of selfhood. This resistance led to the development …

Copyright And The Living Dead?: Succession Law And The Postmortem Term, Eva E. Subotnik

Faculty Publications

(Excerpt)

Intellectual property (“IP”) policy in the United States is primarily aimed at stimulating the creative, inventive, and socially enriching behavior of the living. Yet one key aspect of our incentive-based regime is intimately linked to the death of the creative contributor. Specifically, the term of copyright generally lasts for seventy years following the death of the author. Such a feature is not the product of policy choices in place from time immemorial but rather reflects a contemporary decision to link the duration of exclusive rights to some fixed point in time beyond the author’s death. In particular, until the …

Copyright Or Trade Dress? Toward Ip Protection Of Multisensory Effect Designs For Immersive Virtual Environments, Elii Cho

Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Google As Copyright Iconoclast, James Gibson

Law Faculty Publications

Google’s role as a copyright defendant has provided fodder for many an essay in this series, particularly with regard to the Google Books litigation. (Incidentally, that litigation celebrates its tenth anniversary next month – and it’s still going strong.) A more recent Google case, however, is probably just as important, and it provides another interesting lesson in the Internet behemoth’s copyright litigation strategy.

The case is Oracle v. Google. In early 2010, Oracle acquired Sun Microsystems, the developer of Java, the popular cross-platform programming language. Soon thereafter, Oracle sued Google for copyright infringement, alleging that Google’s Android operating system copied …

Taking Users' Rights To The Next Level: A Pragmatist Approach To Fair Use, Niva Elkin-Koren, Orit Fischman-Afori

Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal

Exceptions and limitations to the rights of copyright owners aim to promote copyright goals in a rapidly changing world. Policymakers are often faced with the choice of either adopting an open-norm, such as fair use, to facilitate flexibility and adaptability, or opt for a strictly defined list of exceptions and limitations to facilitate more certainty and predictability. So far, this binary choice between bright-line rules and vague standards has created a deadlock.

This paper argues that in order to promote a reasoned implementation of fair use and serve both the purpose of copyright law and the rule of law, courts …

Joinder And Early Discovery In Bittorrent Copyright Infringement Lawsuits, Stefan Mentzer, Michael La Marca

Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.