Intellectual Property Law Commons^™

Patent Office Power And Discretionary Denials

Connecticut Law Review

One of the most divisive and debated issues in patent law in recent years has been the Patent Office’s practice of denying petitions for inter partes review (IPR)—the Patent Office proceeding to review and cancel wrongfully issued patents—on discretionary procedural grounds, such as duplicative Patent Office proceedings or the existence of advanced parallel litigation. On the surface, the discretionary denial practice seems like an odd candidate to provoke such fierce opposition. Discretionary denials have affected a small percentage of IPR petitions without making any changes to the features that have made IPRs so effective at invalidating “bad” patents. As a …

Erasmian Perspectives On Copyright: Justifying A Right To Research, Tania Cheng-Davies

Joint PIJIP/TLS Research Paper Series

The right to research exists in many jurisdictions as an exception to copyright infringement but unharmonized and inconsistent in its application, with no universal understanding or acceptance of how such a right should be framed. Researchers face unknown and uncertain obstacles in accessing research and scholarly works, which in turn frustrates their own research and development. While copyright law has increasingly strengthened in scope and duration over time, there has been a reactive backlash to this in the form of calls for a more balanced copyright regime, including the recognition of a clear right to research. The keys to understanding …

Measuring Change In Copyright Exceptions For Text And Data Mining, Michael Palmedo, Momina Imran, Miguel Alvarenga, Luca Schirru, Duc Le

Joint PIJIP/TLS Research Paper Series

Copyright exceptions for researchers are under debate at the World Intellectual Property Organization and within domestic governments, yet empirical research in this area is rare. In this early working paper, we aim to add to this nascent body of research. We expand PIJIP’s previous review and classification of copyright exceptions in WIPO Members’ laws by tracing changes in the laws over time. We find that most countries have copyright exceptions allowing some unauthorized uses for research purposes. However, most countries’ exceptions restrict some mix of the users, uses, or types of works that are allowed. High-income countries tend to be …

Compliance Of National Tdm Rules With International Copyright Law: An Overrated Nonissue?, Martin Senftleben

Joint PIJIP/TLS Research Paper Series

Seeking to devise an adequate regulatory framework for text and data mining (TDM), countries around the globe have adopted different approaches. While considerable room for TDM can follow from the application of fair use provisions (US) and broad statutory exemptions (Japan), countries in the EU rely on a more restrictive regulation that is based on specific copyright exceptions. Surveying this spectrum of existing approaches, lawmakers in countries seeking to devise an appropriate TDM regime may wonder whether the adoption of a restrictive approach is necessary in the light of international copyright law. In particular, they may feel obliged to ensure …

United States Questionnaire Answers: Concerning Artificial Intelligence, Copyright And Related Rights, Philippa Loengard

Kernochan Center for Law, Media, and the Arts

ALAI-USA is the U.S. branch of ALAI (Association Littèraire et Artistique Internationale). ALAI-USA was started in the 1980's by the late Professor Melville B. Nimmer, and was later expanded by Professor John M. Kernochan.

Dystopian Trademark Revelations, Amanda Levendowski

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Uncovering dystopian technologies is challenging. Nondisclosure agreements, procurement policies, trade secrets, and strategic obfuscation collude to shield the development and deployment of these technologies from public scrutiny until it is too late to combat them with law or policy. But occasionally, exposing dystopian technologies is simple. Corporations choose technology trademarks inspired by dystopian philosophies and novels or similar elements of real life—all warnings that their potential uses are dystopian as well. That pronouncement is not necessarily trumpeted on social media or corporate websites, however. It is revealed in a more surprising place: trademark registrations at the U.S. Patent and Trademark …

The Inherent Monetary Incentive Of Intellectual Property Rights And The Failure Of Intellectual Property Waivers To Recognize This Motive, Ellaheh D. Sims

Barry Law Review

No abstract provided.

There's No Such Thing As Independent Creation, And It's A Good Thing, Too, Christopher Buccafusco

William & Mary Law Review

Independent creation is the foundation of U.S. copyright law. A work is only original and, thus, copyrightable to the extent that it is independently created by its author and not copied from another source. And a work can be deemed infringing only if it is not independently created. Moreover, independent creation provides the grounding for all major theoretical justifications for copyright law. Unfortunately, the doctrine cannot bear the substantial weight that has been foisted upon it. This Article argues that copyright law’s independent creation doctrine rests on a set of discarded psychological assumptions about memory, copying, and creativity. When those …

Name Change Practices, Digital Commons Institutional Repository, Sue Ann Gardner

Copyright, Fair Use, Scholarly Communication, etc.

Includes information on practices for starting the process, guidelines for remedy by type of name change, and default practices for change of first/given name for name changes in the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries' Digital Commons institutional repository.

United States National Aeronautics And Space Agency Response To The Office Of Science And Technology Policy Memo, 2022: Public Access (May 2023)

Copyright, Fair Use, Scholarly Communication, etc.

NASA response to OSTP memo, 2022: Public Access (May 2023)

Patents' New Salience, Janet Freilich

Faculty Scholarship

The vast majority of patents do not matter. They are almost never enforced or licensed and, in consequence, are almost always ignored. This is a well-accepted feature of the patent system and has a tremendous impact on patent policy. In particular, while there are many aspects of patent law that are potentially troubling-including grants of unmerited patents, high transaction costs in obtaining necessary patent licenses, and patents' potential to block innovation and hinder economic growth-these problems may be insignificant in practice because patents are under-enforced and routinely infringed without consequence.

This Article argues that technological developments are greatly increasing the …

The Perks Of Being Human, Max Stul Oppenheimer

Washington and Lee Law Review Online

The power of artificial intelligence has recently entered the public consciousness, prompting debates over numerous legal issues raised by use of the tool. Among the questions that need to be resolved is whether to grant intellectual property rights to copyrightable works or patentable inventions created by a machine, where there is no human intervention sufficient to grant those rights to the human. Both the U. S. Copyright Office and the U. S. Patent and Trademark Office have taken the position that in cases where there is no human author or inventor, there is no right to copyright or patent protection. …

Improving Nasa’S Earth Satellite And Model Data Discoverability For Interdisciplinary Research, Applications, And Education, Zhong Liu, Chung-Lin Shie, Suhung Shen, James Acker, Angela Li, Jennifer C. Wei, David J. Meyer

Copyright, Fair Use, Scholarly Communication, etc.

Since the Internet era began, numerous earth science data services have been developed to facilitate data discovery (e.g., data sources, documents, facts, visualization, opinions) and data access for research and application activities. For example, a large collection of NASA’s earth science data has been made searchable and freely downloadable over the Internet. Some value-added services even allow users to analyze and visualize many variables online (e.g., 2,000+ in NASA Giovanni) without downloading data and software.

However, finding and discovering suitable datasets and information for interdisciplinary research (involving two or more scientific disciplines), applications, education, and other emerging activities (e.g., water, …

Know When To Hold Them, When To Fold Them, And When To Walk Away: Tiktoks Are Professional Sports Franchises' Ace In Collective Bargaining Negotiations, Angelica Varona

Pepperdine Law Review

TikTok, the social media app, has become both a central force in entertainment, creating a slew of influencers and young celebrities, as well as an important tool in all things branding and marketing. Athletes have recognized the value of social media and fan engagement and have taken to becoming content-creators on the platform. The growing presence of professional athletes on the app brings up important issues of copyrightability and ownership of the content they are producing. This Comment considers the nature of athlete content-creation on TikTok as well as the employment scheme and contractual responsibilities that form a part of …

Cardozo Aelj Author Interview Series: Caitlin Muraca, Caitlin Muraca

Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal (AELJ) Blog

The Cardozo AELJ Author Interview Series seeks to give our readers further insight into the Articles and Notes published in the Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal. In this interview, Caitlin Muraca discusses her Note, Combating False Election Information in a Section 230 Protected World: to Moderate or Not to Moderate, which was published in Volume 41, Issue 2.

This post was originally published on the Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal website on April 27, 2023. The original post can be accessed via the Archived Link button above.

Dabus, An Artificial Intelligence Machine, Invented Something New And Useful, But The Uspto Is Not Buying It, Trevor F. Ward

Maine Law Review

U.S. patent laws are designed to promote science and the useful arts. They grant temporary monopoly rights to inventors in order to incentivize inventive activity. In the United States, patent rights revolve around the inventor. However, what happens when an Artificial Intelligence (AI) machine invents? Who deserves monopoly rights to the invention? Who will be incentivized by such monopolies? Do U.S. laws protect companies’ investments in AI? In 2019, for the first time in history, an AI machine called DABUS was listed as an inventor on two U.S. patent applications. The United States Patent and Trademark Office denied the applications, …

Behind The Scenes Of The 2021 Hollywood Labor Unrest, Kimberly Shely

Washington Journal of Law, Technology & Arts

In 2021, the Hollywood guild International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) negotiated a new contract with Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP). IATSE had enjoyed a relatively peaceful labor existence in its 128 years. However, after negotiations with AMPTP stalled in 2021, IATSE held a vote to strike. The IATSE voters authorized a strike if negotiations did not produce an agreement.

If IATSE had initiated a strike, productions would have effectively shut down. If Hollywood productions shut down, the industry would suffer millions in lost profits, employees would risk an unpaid strike, and viewers would likely see …

Paradigms For Foreign Tech-Platforms Regulation: U.S. Options After The Tiktok Saga, Zhining Zhang

Washington Journal of Law, Technology & Arts

The heated discussion stirred up by the U.S. regulatory actions against TikTok continues to this day. The nearly predatory popularity of this Chinese application has raised people’s awareness that the country is in urgent need of a fully developed policy in order to deal with the surge of robust foreign digital platforms.

This article gives the contour of the latest development of theories regarding the foreign tech-platforms regulation. Three contemporary frameworks are reviewed. The first laissez faire paradigm inherits the values of early neoliberalism to prevent a “Splinternet,” but its inaction fails to deal with novel security threats ranging from …

The Takings Clause Does Not Prevent The United States From Supporting A Patent Waiver At The Wto But Prevents Domestic Implementation Of The Waiver, Xiang Li

Washington Journal of Law, Technology & Arts

The Biden Administration announced its support for the initiative at the World Trade Organization (WTO) to suspend patent rights protections for COVID-19 vaccines, in the hope of providing equitable and affordable access to the vaccines to low-income countries. Since then, domestic pharmaceutical companies have been voicing vociferous opposition, claiming that “[e]liminating IP protections undermines our global response to the pandemic and compromises safety.”2 Passing a patent waiver at the WTO means eligible member countries can opt to free themselves from the obligations to enforce qualifying patents, and anyone within those countries can accordingly practice the patents without infringement liability. It …

Trump Really Is Too Small: The Right To Trademark Political Commentary, Samuel F. Ernst

Brooklyn Law Review

Can you register a famous person’s name as your trademark? The Lanham Act seems to say no, and the PTO interprets this to mean, no, never, no matter what. The Federal Circuit says, “yes, you can,” at least as applied to marks containing political commentary. 15 U.S.C. § 1052(c) provides, in pertinent part, that the PTO must deny federal registration to a trademark if it “[c]onsists of or comprises a name, portrait, or signature identifying a particular living individual except by his written consent….” Earlier this year the Federal Circuit declared this law unconstitutional in violation of the First Amendment, …