Intellectual Property Law Commons^™

The Graduated Response, Peter K. Yu

Faculty Scholarship

In the past few years, the entertainment industry has deployed aggressive tactics toward individual end-users, online service providers, and other third parties. One of the latest proposals that the industry has been exploring is the so-called “graduated response” or “three strikes” system, which threatens to suspend the service of internet users after they have received two warnings from their ISPs about potentially illegal online file-sharing activities.

In December 2008, the RIAA made a formal public announcement of its change of focus toward greater cooperation with ISPs. This new collaborative effort seeks to replace the highly unpopular lawsuits the industry has …

Enforcement, Economics And Estimates, Peter K. Yu

Faculty Scholarship

This article focuses on intellectual property enforcement, a topic that is of great importance to both developed and less developed countries. It begins by refuting the simple, and often politically motivated, claim that many countries fail to provide effective intellectual property enforcement by virtue of their lack of political will. Drawing on the latest economic literature, this article shows that high enforcement standards come with a hefty price tag and difficult trade-offs.

The article then outlines the challenges in measuring the cross-border economic impact of piracy and counterfeiting. As an illustration, the article discusses the ongoing effort by the US …

The Grammar Of Trademarks, Laura A. Heymann

Faculty Publications

How do people talk when they talk about trademarks? If trademarks have
become, as linguist Geoffrey Nunberg suggests, our “new global tongue,”
perhaps we should pay greater attention to the grammar we use when we
talk about them. We use “Coke” to refer to the Coca-Cola beverage in the
North, and “coke” to refer to any kind of soda in the South, yet we still
manage to get the drinks we desire. We use trademarks as verbs—we
“xerox” a document or “tivo” a television program—without losing sight
of the fact that “Xerox” and “TiVo” are brands of particular products.
We …

Protection For Works Of Foreign Origin Under The 1909 Copyright Act, Tyler T. Ochoa

Faculty Publications

One of the principal goals of the 1909 Copyright Act was to simplify and streamline the formalities required to obtain copyright protection. Before the 1909 Copyright Act, authors had to register their works before publication in order to be eligible for copyright protection; and notice of the registration had to be included on all copies published in the United States. If a work was published anywhere in the world before registration, or if the notice was omitted when the work was published domestically, the work went into the public domain. Under the 1909 Act, however, authors only had to publish …

The Role Of The Subconscious In Intellectual Property Law, Robin Feldman

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The State Of Internet Radio In 2010, Adam Deutsch

Student Works

No abstract provided.

Recognizing Virtual Property Rights, It's About Time, John S. Chao

Student Works

No abstract provided.

An Exploratory Investigation Of The Practice Of Planned Unit Development And Its Theoretical Implementation In The “Second Life” Virtual Community, Ryan M. Jennings

Student Works

No abstract provided.

The Microsoft Chronicles, Rudolph J.R. Peritz

Articles & Chapters

No abstract provided.

The 1909 Copyright Act In International Context, Daniel J. Gervais

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

The passage of the 1909 U.S. Copyright Act was embedded in a significant period of evolution for international copyright law. Just a year before, the Berne Convention had been revised for the second time. This Berlin (1908) Act of the Convention in remembered in particular for the introduction of a broad prohibition against formalities concerning the "exercise and enjoyment" of copyright. 1909 was also just one year before a new copyright bill was brought before the Brit-ish Parliament. This Copyright Act, finally adopted in December 1911 and which entered into force in July 1, 1912, greatly influenced laws in many …

The Puzzle Of Brandeis, Privacy, And Speech, Neil M. Richards

Scholarship@WashULaw

Most courts and scholarship assume that privacy and free speech are always in conflict, even though each of these traditions can be traced back to writings by Louis D. Brandeis – his 1890 Harvard Law Review article “The Right to Privacy” and his 1927 concurrence in Whitney v. California. How can modern notions of privacy and speech be so fundamentally opposed if Brandeis played a major role in crafting both? And how, if at all, did Brandeis recognize or address these tensions? These questions have been neglected by scholars of First Amendment law, privacy, and Brandeis. In this paper, I …

Copyright Provisions In Law Journal Publication Agreements, Benjamin J. Keele

Library Staff Publications

Mr. Keele examines copyright provisions of law journal publication agreements and finds that a minority of journals ask authors to transfer copyright. Most journals also permit authors to self-archive articles. He recommends journals make their agreements publicly available and use licenses instead of copyright transfers.

Book Review Of Universities And Copyright Collecting Societies, Benjamin J. Keele

Library Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

A Common Lawyer's Perspective On Contrefaçon, Jane C. Ginsburg

Faculty Scholarship

Contrefaçon in French copyright law examines the scope of French copyright through the lens of remedies. Contrefaçon is the act to which certain civil and criminal sanctions attach. Viewed from this angle, the history of French copyright law tells a tale of the slow emergence of a unified concept of the wrongful act, covering not only the manufacturing of copies but also public performances, live and through transmissions. The emphasis on contrefaçon reveals the continuity of the revolutionary authors' right of 1793 with the ancient régime of printing regulation, with unauthorized production of physical copies of books remaining the essence …

Panel I: The Patent Landscape With Bilski On The Map, Jeanne C. Fromer, James W. Dabney, Clarisa Long, Brian P. Murphy

Faculty Scholarship

Welcome to the 2009 Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal’s Symposium titled, “Functionality: At the Crossroads of IP.” My name is Regina Schaffer-Goldman, and I am the Editor-in- Chief of the 20th Volume of the Journal, which is more affectionately known as the IPLJ.

We are so pleased to see the culmination of many months of preparation today. It is the IPLJ’s 20th Anniversary Edition, and we wanted to commemorate this occasion with a fantastic Symposium. As you will see, we have assembled a truly all-star group of legal scholars and practitioners today.

The U.S. Experience With Mandatory Copyright Formalities: A Love/Hate Relationship, Jane C. Ginsburg

Faculty Scholarship

Copyright formalities – conditions precedent to the existence or enforcement of copyright, such as provision of information about works of authorship that will put the public on notice as to a work’s protected status and its copyright ownership, or deposit of copies of the work for the national library or other central authority, or local manufacture of copies of works of foreign origin – have performed a variety of functions in US copyright history. Perhaps of most practical importance today, formalities predicate to the existence or enforcement of copyright can serve to shield large copyright owners who routinely comply with …

No Confusion Here: Proposing A New Paradigm For The Litigation Of Keyword Advertising Trademark Infringement Cases, Rachel R. Friedman

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

Internet search engines such as Google and Yahoo! earn a majority of their profit from selling advertisements to appear next to search results. Google's coveted advertising space, however, causes nightmares for trademark holders when their trademarks are auctioned by Google to competitors as keywords to trigger the competitors' advertisements when the trademark is used as a search term. Advertisers strategically bid on trademarks of competitors to ensure that their ads appear whenever the trademark is used as a search term, instead of the advertisements of the trademark holder. For example, Nike could bid on the trademark for "Adidas," with the …

Guerrilla Radio: Has The Time Come For A Full Performance Right In Sound Recordings?, Lauren E. Kilgore

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

Musicians and songwriters occupy a unique place in society as purveyors of composition and expression that impart an intangible benefit to society. Understanding the value of "Science and useful Arts," the Founders provided Constitutional protection for individuals spending time, money, and energy pursuing creative endeavors. Music defines generations and pivotal moments in history, and has rightfully taken its place at the forefront of human expression. When music began reaching the masses in the early twentieth century, both record labels and radio, even in its infancy, helped propel artists to the national spotlight. Johnny Cash, Ray Charles, and Pearl Jam all …

An "Absence Of Meaningful Appellate Review": Juries And Patent Obviousness, Theresa Weisenberger

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

The rise in the number of patent infringement trials heard by juries has brought criticisms of the jury's expansive role to the forefront of patent law commentary. Under current Federal Circuit practice, the jury is permitted to deliver a verdict on patent obviousness. Especially in light of the 2007 Supreme Court decision KSR International Co. v. Teleflex, Inc., the role of the jury in obviousness determinations has come under particular scrutiny. This Note examines the effect of the jury's expansive role in obviousness determinations on appellate review of these verdicts. It begins by examining the two conflicting views of the …

Transformative Use And Cognizable Harm, Thomas F. Cotter

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

In recent years, the question of whether the unauthorized use of a copyrighted work is "transformative" has become a dominant consideration in determining whether the use is fair or unfair. As critics have pointed out, however, this emphasis on transformative use is both underinclusive and indeterminate of the range of uses that fall within the scope of the fair use privilege. Worse yet, efforts to define or apply the concept of transformative use, or to distinguish fair transformative uses from transformative uses that infringe the copyright owner's exclusive right to prepare derivative works, often serve only to illuminate the concept's …