Prof. Robert P. Merges, University of California at Berkeley School of Law October 27, 2014 Introduction The Software Freedom Law Center said that, in its opinion in CLS Bank v. Alice,1 the Supreme Court “took one more step towards the abolition of patents on software inventions. Upholding its previous positions, the Court held that abstract [...]
Prof. Doug Lichtman, UCLA School of Law October 15, 2014 Nearly 25 years ago, Judge Pierre Leval published what would become an enormously influential article on copyright’s fair use doctrine. The Leval article emphasized that an unauthorized use of copyrighted materials is more likely to be a fair use if it is “transformative”; that is, [...]
Prof. Rodney A. Smolla, Duke University School of Law October 6, 2014 I have previously written in IP Viewpoints about “appropriation art” in the context of the Cariou v. Prince1litigation, in which the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit held that artist Richard Prince’s “appropriation” of the copyrighted photographs of Patrick Cariou were [...]
Prof. James Gibson, University of Richmond School of Law September 30, 2014 A small copyright decision out of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit last month has gotten a big reaction from copyright experts. The case is Kienitz v. Sconnie Nation, and it involves an entertaining set of facts. In the 1960s, [...]
Prof. Randal C. Picker, University of Chicago Law School September 15, 2014 The headline of the New York Times of Tuesday, Aug. 7, 1945, is as chilling today as it was then: “FIRST ATOMIC BOMB DROPPED ON JAPAN; MISSILE IS EQUAL TO 20,000 TONS OF TNT; TRUMAN WARNS FOE OF A ‘RAIN OF RUIN.’” Some [...]
Prof. Robert P. Merges, University of California at Berkeley School of Law September 5, 2014 Introduction Exclusive rights for new technologies, in order to promote innovation: that’s what the patent system is supposed to be about. And at least sometimes, even today, it still is. At times, to promote innovation today patents may be interpreted [...]
Prof. Jane C. Ginsburg, Columbia University School of Law August 21, 2014 In ABC v. Aereo, a 6-to-3 majority (Breyer, joined by Roberts, Kennedy, Ginsburg, Sotomayor, and Kagan) held that Aereo was “performing” the broadcast programming when the service captured the programming through the users’ individually assigned antennas, then digitized, momentarily stored in individualized copies, [...]
Prof. Doug Lichtman, UCLA School of Law August 11, 2014 My colleagues and I have written a great deal about copyright law’s “fair use” doctrine on this site over the years. We have disagreed about cases, and we have struggled with various aspects of the standard fair use test. Through all of those discussions, however, [...]
Prof. Randal C. Picker, University of Chicago Law School August 6, 2014 As the New York Times 2004 headline put it, “New Google Service May Strain Old Ties in Bookselling.” Strain indeed. Google announced its mass book digitization project, which it then called Google Print, at that year’s Frankfurt Book Fair. Now almost 10 years [...]
Prof. Rodney A. Smolla, Duke University School of Law July 29, 2014 The Supreme Court in Petrella v. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Inc.1 interpreted the ancient equitable doctrine of “laches” as applied to a copyright holder’s delay in enforcing remedies under the Copyright Act. The laches doctrine operates to bar claims that might otherwise be brought when the [...]