Intellectual Property Law Commons^™

Phoenix Rising? On The Fall And Potential New Rise Of State Trademark Rights, Charles Mcmanis, Henry Biggs

Chicago-Kent Journal of Intellectual Property

This article addresses the historical interplay of federal, state and common law trademark rights as they relate to the scope of geographic protection. The article looks closely at the narrow context where federal trademark law may arguably provide for state trademark law to prevail. The article notes, however, that the specific state trademark language necessary for that state trademark right to prevail has slowly vanished from most state trademark statutes. Yet while the door has seemed to be closing in this area, a relatively recent case, National Ass'n for Healthcare Communications, Inc. v. Central Arkansas Area Agency on Aging, Inc, …

Patent Litigation Attorneys' Fees: Shifting From Status To Conduct, Daniel Roth

Chicago-Kent Journal of Intellectual Property

Abusive patent assertion results in deadweight losses to society. Faced with the high cost of patent litigation, companies often settle for an amount equal to a fraction of the cost of defending a patent infringement suit. This allows the patent owner to extract settlements from many individuals without the risk of invalidation before a federal court. Shifting attorneys' fees to the prevailing party is a remedy courts award in exceptional cases to deter patent owners from bringing unreasonable claims of infringement and to return defendants to the position they were in prior to litigation. Current fee-shifting proposals target patent assertion …

Hero With A Thousand Copyright Violations: Modern Myth And An Argument For Universally Transformative Fan Fiction, Natalie H. Montano

Northwestern Journal of Technology and Intellectual Property

Copyright law is designed to protect the ownership and financial rights of the original author of a literary work. However, the internet has created new opportunities for amateur writers to create their own fan fiction based on such literary works. Borrowing from the ideas and characters of a work, fan fiction authors build upon and re-imagine these stories. Such fan works should be protected under the Fair Use Defense, but the power imbalance between amateur fan fiction authors and successful published authors often leads to the eradication of fan stories from the public domain.

This Comment argues that fan fiction …

Addressing The Impediments Copyright Imposes On The Use Of Patent Specifications And Prior Art Documents To Improve Patent Quality, Ben Mceniery

Northwestern Journal of Technology and Intellectual Property

This article considers from an Australian perspective the impediments that copyright law places in the path of those who seek to use patent specifications and non-patent prior art documents in ways that are necessary to the proper functioning of the patent system. Until recently, copyright law in Australia had limited the uses to which members of the public could put patent specifications in that country. Those impediments have been removed as a result of an important legislative change to the way in which copyright in patent specifications can be enforced. The change gives the public a greater freedom to make …

Quality In European Trade Mark Law, Andrew Griffiths

Northwestern Journal of Technology and Intellectual Property

This article addresses the capacity of trade marks to provide assurance concerning product quality and the importance of this capacity in promoting competition and various forms of innovation. It considers the meaning of “quality” in this context and shows how this can include the aesthetic and intangible characteristics of products as well as their functional and material characteristics. And it is suggested that quality assurance should cover the whole range of variable product characteristics to which at least some consumers attach value. This is because the key economic problem that underlies the need for this assurance is the difficulty that …

Keynote Address: Is It Time To Abolish The Federal Circuit's Exclusive Jurisdiction In Patent Cases?, Diane P. Wood

Chicago-Kent Journal of Intellectual Property

No abstract provided.

Canada's Inadequate Legal Protection Against Industrial Espionage, Emir Crowne, Tasha De Freitas

Chicago-Kent Journal of Intellectual Property

Canadian law provides little protection for individuals and corporations against industrial espionage. Akin to the United States' Economic Espionage Act of 1996-with its broad definition of "trade secret" and accompanying protections and remedies-we propose that Canada enact legislation at the federal level to remedy many of the deficiencies that arise in bringing a claim under the usual breach of confidence action.

Limiting Innovation Through Willful Blindness, Timothy Wiseman

Nevada Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Right Not To Use In Property And Patent Law, Oskar Liivak, Eduardo M. Peñalver

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

In Continental Paper Bag Co. v. Eastern Paper Bag Co., the Supreme Court held (1) that patent owners have an absolute right not to practice their patent and (2) that even these nonpracticing patent owners are entitled to the liberal use of injunctive relief against infringers. Both of these holdings have been very important to the viability of patent assertion entities, the so-called patent trolls. In eBay Inc. v. MercExchange, L.L.C., the Supreme Court softened the injunction rule. In this Article, we argue that Congress or the Court should reconsider Continental Paper Bag’s embrace of an absolute right …

Copyright Small Claims, U.S. Copyright Office

Copyright, Fair Use, Scholarly Communication, etc.

It appears beyond dispute that under the current federal system small copyright claimants face formidable challenges in seeking to enforce the exclusive rights to which they are entitled. The Copyright Office therefore recommends that Congress consider the creation of an alternative forum that will enable copyright owners to pursue small infringement matters and related claims arising under the Copyright Act. In light of the state court tradition of referring to claims of modest economic value as “small claims,” many have adopted that term to reference the nature of the claims that are the focus of this Report, as does the …

The Use Of Experts In Legal Proceedings In Singapore Involving Intellectual Property Rights, David Llewelyn

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

In intellectual property (IP) cases decided in recent years in Singapore, the use of expert evidence is commonplace. Weaknesses in that expert evidence are commonplace too; sometimes the weaknesses are such that the evidence should be excluded, on other occasions they render the evidence of little value. However, in all cases the reliance on expert evidence will have increased the cost of the litigation for both sides (and rarely does the costs award make that increase good for the successful party). Aside from the more general policy concerns regarding expert evidence, this is an important reason why the courts must …

The Weak Aspects Of The Industrial Design Protection System In Indonesia, Cita Citrawinda Noerhadi

Indonesia Law Review

Industrial property is is being used by an increasing number of developing countries as an important tool of technological and economic development. Developing countries have also been made aware that it is in their best interest to establish national industrial property systems. Indonesia as a signatory member of the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) of the World Trade Organization (WTO), Indonesia has enacted Law No. 31 of 2000 concerning Industrial Design on 20 December 2000. Since the enactment of Law No. 31 of 2000 several cases have occurred and been brought before the Commercial Court …

Lexmark Int'l, Inc. V. Static Control Components, Inc.: Brief Of Law Professors As Amici Curiae In Support Of Neither Side, Jessica Litman

Appellate Briefs

Amici are scholars at U.S. law schools whose research and teaching focus is trademark and advertising law. Amici seek consistent, manageable standards that effectuate Congress's intent to provide a remedy in Section 43(a)(1XB) of the Lanham Act for businesses against false and misleading statements in commercial advertising or promotion.

Advancing Ip Policy Through Conflict Of Laws Rules, Marketa Trimble

Boyd Briefs / Road Scholars

Prof. Marketa Trimble gave her presentation Advancing IP Policy through Conflict of Laws Rules at the IP Scholar Conference held August 8-9, 2013 at Cardozo School of Law.

Heavyweight Bots In The Clouds: The Wrong Incentives And Poorly Crafted Balances That Lead To The Blocking Of Information Online, Anjanette H. Raymond

Northwestern Journal of Technology and Intellectual Property

The United States and the European Union have long recognized the need to protect ISPs from potential liability from customers using their services to infringe intellectual property rights. These protections arise from a long-standing belief that intellectual property right holders should bear the burden of protecting their property, even in the quick moving Internet environment. However, a recent series of cases has called into question the ISPs’ liability protections as their technology is often the only real means to prevent wide scale infringing activity. This series has caused courts to revisit ISPs’ liability and to impose a ‘cooperative burden’ requiring …

Patent Claims Revisited, Dargaye Churnet

Northwestern Journal of Technology and Intellectual Property

This paper proposes that the most beneficial patent reform begins with claim drafting regulations. Part I serves as an introduction. Part II highlights the problems with the nation’s current patent system. This section discusses how each of these problems is caused in part by the current claim drafting regulations. Part III reviews the changes made by the America Invents Act. Part IV proposes new regulations for claim drafting that will offer more significant benefits than those provided by the America Invents Act. Specifically, this paper argues that by requiring applicants to include a claim chart defining each claim limitation, examiners …

See No Evil: How The Supreme Court’S Decision In Global-Tech Appliances, Inc. V. Seb S.A. Further Muddles The Intent Element Of Induced Infringement, Jeremy Adler

Northwestern Journal of Technology and Intellectual Property

The Supreme Court in Global-Tech Appliances, Inc. v. SEB S.A. clarified the requisite intent for induced patent infringement when it applied the concept of willful blindness. This Article argues that the Court’s decision was misguided and complicates an already confused doctrine. The Article first explores inducement jurisprudence up to and including the Global-Tech decision, and then reviews the doctrine of willful blindness and its application in the criminal context. The Author then argues that using willful blindness in the patent context creates practical and theoretical difficulties that only deepen uncertainty for innovators who seek to avoid infringement liability.

The Orphan Drug Act: How The Fda Unlawfully Usurped Market Exclusivity, Sumin Kim

Northwestern Journal of Technology and Intellectual Property

The Board of KV Pharmaceutical bet the company on the success of Makena®, a pre-term birth drug. However, in the midst of a public outcry over the excessive pricing of Makena®, the FDA declared that it would not honor the market exclusivity that KV Pharmaceutical had obtained for Makena® under the Orphan Drug Act. As a result, KV Pharmaceutical filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. This Note analyzes the situation under the lens of the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment. Specifically, I argue that market exclusivity for Makena® was private property and thus, the FDA unlawfully usurped KV Pharmaceutical’s private …

How To Obtain Permission, United States Copyright Office

Copyright, Fair Use, Scholarly Communication, etc.

How to obtain permission to use or adapt a copyrighted work in the United States. One way to make sure your intended use of a copyrighted work is lawful is to obtain permission or a license from the copyright owner.

First step: Research copyright status

Next step: Contact copyright owner

Explaining The “Unpredictable”: An Empirical Analysis Of U.S. Patent Infringement Awards, Michael J. Mazzeo, Jonathan Hillel, Samantha Zyontz

Faculty Scholarship

Patent infringement awards are commonly thought to be unpredictable, which raises concerns that patents can lead to unjust enrichment and impede the progress of innovation. We investigate the unpredictability of patent damages by conducting a large-scale econometric analysis of award values. We begin by analyzing the outcomes of 340 cases decided in US federal courts between 1995 and 2008 in which infringement was found and damages were awarded. Our data include the amount awarded, along with information about the litigants, case specifics and economic value of the patents-at-issue. Using these data, we construct an econometric model that explains over 75% …