Intellectual Property Issues
2012 IP Viewpoints
Judicial Regulation of Digital Copyright Windfalls:
Making Interpretive and Policy Sense of Viacom v. YouTube
and UMG Recordings v. Shelter Capital Partners
Prof. Peter S. Menell, University of California at Berkeley School of Law
May 3, 2012
Nearly a decade after the emergence of user-generated content (UGC) websites, appellate courts finally rendered their interpretation of the applicability of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act’s (DMCA) safe harbor with respect to such entities during the past several months. » Read More
Copyright Clause Trumps Free Speech Clause
Rodney A. Smolla, President, Furman University
April 30, 2012
The Supreme Court in Golan v. Holder upheld Section 514 of the UruguayRound Agreements Act (URAA), which granted copyright protection to preexisting works of Berne Convention member countries, protected in their country of origin, but lacking protection in the United States…. » Read More
Copyright’s Gray Market, Redux
Prof. James Gibson, University of Richmond School of Law
April 24, 2012
In an earlier entry in this series, I discussed an important issue in copyright law – whether the first sale doctrine applies to goods manufactured abroad. The Supreme Court was set to decide the issue in Costco v. Omega…. » Read More
Copyright 1992-2012: The Most Significant Development?
Prof. Jane C. Ginsburg, Columbia University School of Law
April 19, 2012
On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the Fordham International Intellectual Property Conference, its organizer, Prof. Hugh Hansen, planned a session on “Copyright Law: Where has it been, where is it going?” and asked me to look back…. » Read More
Is Lycos a Patent Troll?
Prof. Doug Lichtman, UCLA School of Law
April 2, 2012
Author and investment advisor James Altucher has been attracting a lot of attention the last few days. On Saturday, he published an article with the headline, “Why Google Might Be Going to $0”… » Read More
From Franklin to Bezos: The Amazon Kindle Library
Prof. Randal C. Picker, University of Chicago Law School
March 26, 2012
As I am fond of reminding people, faculty offices at my work home, The University of Chicago Law School, surround thelibrary. I walk out of my office into book stacks. So it can hardly come as a surprise when I say that…. » Read More
Human Cannonball: Off Target or Not?
Rodney A. Smolla, President, Furman University
March 20, 2012
How do assertions that the government possesses legally enforceable intellectual property interests that allow it to control and license access to governmentally sponsored entertainment and athletic events square with the First Amendment? In a prior IP Viewpoints post on this site, I argued…. » Read More
Do Treaties Imposing Mandatory Exceptions to Copyright
Violate International Copyright Norms?
Prof. Jane C. Ginsburg, Columbia University School of Law
February 28, 2012
The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is discussing a possible treaty that would obligate member states to adopt exceptions and limitations to assist the access of the visually impaired to works of authorship…. » Read More
Design for Symbiosis: Promoting More Harmonious
Paths For Technological Innovators and
Expressive Creators in the Internet Age
Professor Peter S. Menell,
University of California at Berkeley School of Law
February 13, 2012
Throughout history, technologies for instantiating, reproducing, and distributing information have evolved in tandem with the creative industries that cultivate, fund, and distribute literature, music, film, and art. Although the relationship…. » Read More
Interpreting the RAND Commitment
Prof. Doug Lichtman, UCLA School of Law
February 6, 2012
A few weeks ago, I wrote a post about the RAND commitment, explaining how technology firms often license patents…. I focused last time on a discussion of why firms might choose RAND over more explicit forms of pricing. This time, I want to think about how the RAND commitment should be interpreted in the event of litigation…. » Read More
Court Uses Human Cannonball To Shoot Hole
In Gannett’s First Amendment Claim
Rodney A. Smolla, President, Furman University
January 30, 2012
In Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association v. Gannett Co., Inc., the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit rejected a claim by Gannett that its newspapers had a FirstAmendment right to broadcast high school athletic games…. » Read More
When a Work Debuts on the Internet, What Is its ‘Country of Origin’ – Part II
Prof. Jane C. Ginsburg, Columbia University School of Law
January 23, 2012
This column follows on the entry of Aug. 29, 2011, which addressed the international copyright law status of works first disclosed in digital format over the Internet, and not subsequently “published” in hardcopy formats. The prior column concluded…. » Read More
Trademark Tension, Part II
Prof. James Gibson, University of Richmond School of Law
January 10, 2012
In the previous entry in this series, I discussed the narrow foundations of trademark law and its more recent expansion – in particular, how new approaches to trademark liability have departed from the law’s traditional focus on disputes about the source of competing goods. I continue that theme now by considering a tension that emerges from this expansion. Although trademark liability has expanded beyond....
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Trademark Tension, Part I
Prof. James Gibson, University of Richmond School of Law
January 6, 2012
In this Intellectual Property Viewpoints series, we tend to focus on copyright and patent law – the “big two” IP regimes that govern innovation in the arts and sciences. But there is a third IP regime, a cousin to copyright and patent, which is important to almost any enterprise, even if its business has nothing to do with innovation. That’s trademark law….
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The First Shall Be Last: Reducing the Role
Of Section 101 in Patent Validity Cases
Professor Robert P. Merges,
University of California at Berkeley School of Law
January 4, 2012
Now that In re Bilski has been decided, there is an enormous amount of speculation about the impact on patent applicants, litigants, and other participants in the patent system. Most of the commentary is concerned with the holding in Bilski….
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