Intellectual Property Law Commons^™

Inconsistency Should Not Be Materiality: The Flaws In 37 C.F.R. § 1.56(B)(2), 10 J. Marshall Rev. Intell. Prop. L. 491 (2011), Lawrence Pope

UIC Review of Intellectual Property Law

The doctrine of inequitable conduct is in need of clarification. The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has recently granted en banc review in Therasense, Inc. v. Becton, Dickinson, & Co. to determine the appropriate standards for each prong of inequitable conduct doctrine: materiality and intent. While the parties and the amici have almost unanimously proposed that the standard of materiality should be less inclusive than “what a reasonable examiner would want to know in deciding upon patentability,” there is much debate regarding how the standard for materiality should be articulated. One proposal is that the courts should look …

Tacit Knowledge Transfer With Patent Law: Exploring Clean Technology Transfers, Margaret Mcinerney

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Anything But Academic: How Copyright’S Work-For-Hire Doctrine Affects Professors, Graduate Students, And K-12 Teachers In The Information Age, Nathaniel S. Strauss

Richmond Journal of Law & Technology

In 1938, the original designers of the Superman comic book figure assigned their ownership rights to DC Comics for $130. On January 1, 2013, their heirs plan to reclaim those rights in court. The impending Superman litigation will herald a wave of a new type of action, known as copyright termination. The Copyright Act of 1976 (“Copyright Act”) granted the original authors of creative works the right to recover rights assigned to publishers, media companies, and other parties, after a period of thirty-five years. Since the Copyright Act became effective on January 1, 1978, the original authors may first assert …

Legal Ethics And Non-Practicing Entities: Being On The Receiving End Matters Too, David Hricik

Articles

The symposium invited me to speak on the legal ethical issues that face counsel who represent non-practicing entities ("NPEs") in patent litigation as plaintiff patentees. My first reaction was that, although obviously the same common law, statutes, ethical rules, and procedural rules apply to such counsel as any other, owing to the tremendous costs of patent litigation, that counsel who represented such a "troll" necessarily would have enhanced obligations to court and opposing counsel to ensure that the suit was not brought in bad faith, nor so conducted.

Upon analysis, however, I came to the somewhat counter­intuitive conclusion that, although …

Bugs For Sale: Legal And Ethical Proprieties Of The Market In Software Vulnerabilities, 28 J. Marshall J. Computer & Info. L. 451 (2011), Taiwo A. Oriola

UIC John Marshall Journal of Information Technology & Privacy Law

The pertinent questions therefore are: first, could software vulnerabilities be obviated simply by ameliorating factors responsible for market failure as canvassed by the literature on the economics of software security, drawing on the strength of the theory of information asymmetry, or are vulnerabilities inevitable irrespective of market dynamics and solutions? Second, to what extent is vulnerabilities research or the surreptitious exploitation of software vulnerabilities by hackers tantamount to trespass, and what are the legal implications, if any? Third, to what extent is the peddling of software vulnerabilities valid or enforceable in law? Fourth, what are the implications of software vulnerabilities …

The Amended Eu Law On Eprivacy And Electronic Communications After Its 2011 Implentation; New Rules On Data Protection, Spam, Data Breaches And Protection Of Intellectual Property Rights, 29 J. Marshall J. Computer & Info. L. 29 (2011), Vagelis Papakonstantinou, Paul De Hert

UIC John Marshall Journal of Information Technology & Privacy Law

No abstract provided.

Table Of Contents

Marquette Intellectual Property Law Review

None.

Medimmune V. Genentech: A Game-Theoretic Analysis Of The Supreme Court’S Continued Assault On The Patentee, Nicholas G. Smith

Marquette Intellectual Property Law Review

In 2007, the Supreme Court decided MedImmune v. Genentech. This decision changed the landscape of the patent licensing field by holding that a licensee in good standing may challenge the validity of a patent in a declaratory judgment action. By adding to the cost of entering a license agreement, MedImmune erodes one characteristic of a patent from which it derives its worth—the patent’s ability to be licensed. Unfortunately, this has decreased the incentive to innovate by decreasing the value of a patent. This Comment seeks to illustrate, using a game theoretic model, how MedImmune will increase litigation against patent …

I'M Still Your Baby: Canada's Continuing Support Of U.S. Linkage Regulations For Pharmaceuticals, Ron A. Bouchard

Marquette Intellectual Property Law Review

Canada's linkage regime for pharmaceuticals, modeled after the originating U.S. Hatch-Waxman regime, was brought in under intense political pressure to balance effective patent enforcement over new and innovative drugs with the timely market entry of lower-priced generic competitors. It has been almost two decades since the regulations were enacted, and to date, there has been little objective assessment as to whether the regulations have, in fact, stimulated innovation and timely generic entry. We recently completed three empirical studies on the linkage between drug approval and drug patenting under the Patented Medicines (Notice of Compliance) Regulations (NOC Regulations). Of particular interest …

Living With Patents: Insights From Patent Misuse, Vincent Chiapetta

Marquette Intellectual Property Law Review

The Author argues that the patent misuse doctrine should be eliminated. Created almost a century ago as a response to patent power, it has now not only outlived its purpose but causes affirmative harm. Other more nuanced approaches, including antitrust law, produce superior results. Although the Federal Circuit has contained the doctrine, it cannot overrule Supreme Court misuse precedent. Accordingly, the Court should abolish the doctrine at the earliest opportunity or, failing prompt action, Congress should add the matter to its ongoing patent reform agenda. The misuse experience also provides valuable insights regarding how we can appropriately live with our …

Emerging Scholars Series: A Sui Generis Regime For Traditional Knowledge: The Cultural Divide In Intellectual Property Law, J. Janewa Oseitutu

Marquette Intellectual Property Law Review

Traditional knowledge can be protected, to some extent, under various intellectual property laws. However, for the most part, there is no effective international legal protection for this subject matter. This has led to proposals for a sui generis regime to protect traditional knowledge. The precise contours of the right are yet to be determined, but a sui generis right could include perpetual protection. It could also result in protection for historical communal works and for knowledge that may be useful but that is not inventive according to the standards of intellectual property law. Developing countries have been more supportive of …

Twitter Or Tweeter: Who Should Be Liable For A Right Of Publicity Violation Under The Cda?, Kristina M. Sesek

Marquette Intellectual Property Law Review

The Communications Decency Act (CDA), passed in 1996, immunized Internet service providers (ISPs) from being treated as the publisher or speaker of any information posted on their website by another person and from possible subsequent liability. The CDA also carved out an exemption for violations of intellectual property‹meaning an ISP could still be liable for information posted on their website by another person that violates an intellectual property right. However, the CDA did not spell out whether it intended to include only federal intellectual property rights or both federal and state intellectual property rights.

This Comment proposes two possible reasons …

The Performance Rights Act: A Lack Of Impact On A Transitioning Music Industry, Michael C. Yeh

Marquette Intellectual Property Law Review

The music industry is in a decline. Music sales are not creating the same profits as before, and rather than change or adapt, record labels are petitioning the legislature to create new modes of revenue. One way the music industry is petitioning the legislature to add a new source of revenue, without changing its archaic business model, is by pushing Congress to pass the Performance Rights Act. This Act proposes that analog radio stations pay musicians and artists royalties to play their songs on the air, just like on digital radio. While the Performance Rights Act looks great on the …

Can The Patent Office Be Fixed?, Mark A. Lemley

Marquette Intellectual Property Law Review

The Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) finds itself caught in a vise. On the one hand, it has been issuing a large number of dubious patents over the past twenty years, particularly in the software and electronic commerce space. It issues many more patents than its counterparts in Europe and Japan; roughly three-fourths of applicants ultimately get one or more patents, a higher percentage than in other countries. Complaints about those bad patents are legion, and indeed, when they make it to litigation, they are quite often held invalid. Even the ones that turn out to be valid are often …

Intellectual Property Colloquium Series: Canada And The Three-Step Test: A Step In Which Direction?, Ysolde Gendreau

Marquette Intellectual Property Law Review

In her lecture, Prof. Gendreau discusses the relationship between Canada and the United States when it comes to Copyright law. More specifically, Prof. Gendreau discusses the concept of fair dealing in education in Canada, and then discusses the Canadian provision in the context of international treaties, in particular the TRIPS Agreement and the Berne Convention.

Coercion Will Not Protect Trademark Owners In China, But An Understanding Of China's Culture Will: A Lesson The United States Has To Learn, Dalila Hoover

Marquette Intellectual Property Law Review

China remains the single largest producer of pirated and counterfeit goods in the world. The purpose of this article is to explore the different factors that have impeded effective trademark protection in China. In particular, this article analyzes the cultural barriers between the United States and China, and in doing so, helps one understand the climate of hostility between the two nations when it comes to trademark enforcement. This article further analyzes the constant pressure exercised by the United States against China, which has led to the adoption of trademark laws by the Chinese government at the national and international …

Acta Fool Or: How Rights Holders Learned To Stop Worrying And Love 512’S Subpoena Provisions, Colin E. Shanahan

Marquette Intellectual Property Law Review

This comment argues against the adoption of the proposed Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement. Specifically, that the ACTA provision establishing “[p]rocedures enabling right holders who have given effective notification of a claimed infringement to expeditiously obtain information identifying the alleged infringer” should not extend the current subpoena provisions of 17 USC § 512(h) to encompass p2p networks. The Comment discusses the current U.S. law and cases, why the rights holders want the ACTA Agreeement and argues why the ACTA agreement should not be adopted.

Table Of Contents

Marquette Intellectual Property Law Review

None.

A Sui Generis Regime For Traditional Knowledge: The Cultural Divide In Intellectual Property Law, J. Janewa Oseitutu

Faculty Publications

To some extent, traditional knowledge can be protected under various intellectual property laws, but there is no effective international legal protection for this subject matter. This has led to proposals for a sui generis regime to protect traditional knowledge. The precise contours of the right are yet to be determined but a sui generis right could include perpetual protection. It could also result in protection for historical communal works and for knowledge that may be useful but that is not inventive according to the standards of intellectual property law.

Developing countries have been more supportive of an international traditional knowledge …

Can Law Improve Prevention And Treatment Of Cancer?, Roger Magnusson, Lawrence O. Gostin, David Studdert

O'Neill Institute Papers

The December 2011 issue of Public Health (the Journal of the Royal Society for Public Health) contains a symposium entitled: Legislate, Regulate, Litigate? Legal approaches to the prevention and treatment of cancer. This symposium explores the possibilities for using law and regulation – both internationally and at the national level – as the policy instrument for preventing and improving the treatment of cancer and other leading non-communicable diseases (NCDs). In this editorial, we argue that there is an urgent need for more legal scholarship on cancer and other leading NCDs, as well as greater dialogue between lawyers, public health practitioners …