Category Archives: Copyrights & Trademarks

By: Sandra L. Rierson Statutory dilution claims are traditionally justified on the theory that even non-confusing uses of a famous trademark (or similar mark) can nonetheless minutely dilute the source-identifying capacity of the targeted trademark. This Article challenges that theory. … Continue reading →

By: Libby Greismann Copyright law aims to promote the dual goals of incentivizing production of literary and artistic works, and promoting public access and free speech. To achieve these goals, Congress has implemented a policy that acknowledges the rights of … Continue reading →

By: Jing Xu SoundCloud is an online service provider that allows users to upload, share, and download music that they have created. It is an innovative platform for both amateur and established producers and disc jockeys (DJs) to showcase their … Continue reading →

By: Loni Schutte Fashion design in America has never been covered by the extensive intellectual property (IP) protections afforded to other categories of creative works or to the art in other countries. As a result, America has become a safe … Continue reading →

By: Justin Van Etten The rise of software and software licensing has led to another phenomenon: the attempted enforcement of software licenses through copyright law. Over the last fifteen years, content creators have begun to bring copyright suits against licensees, … Continue reading →

By: Jeremy J. Beck & Libby Van Cleve Oral history provides society with voices and memories of people and communities experiencing events of the past first-hand. Such history is created through interviews; an interview, however, like any other type of … Continue reading →

By: Matthew W. Turetzky Copyright law protects orphan and parented works equally–but it shouldn’t. Consequently, current law unnecessarily restrains public access to works that authors have not exercised dominion over for decades. This problem has come to the fore in … Continue reading →

By: Keith Porcaro The political capture of copyright law by industry groups has inadvertently led to orphan works problems arising in less organized industries, such as publishing. Google Book Search (GBS) is a prime example of how private ordering can … Continue reading →

By: James Forrest McKell Jr. Car owners are familiar with the warning lights on the dashboard and the beeping sound reminding them to use their seatbelt. But, neither the legislature nor courts have concretely defined the legal nature of these … Continue reading →

By: Jonathan Reich The intersection of antitrust and intellectual property circumscribes two century-long debates. The first pertains to questions about how antitrust law and intellectual property law interact, and the second pertains to questions about how parties can exploit property … Continue reading →

By: Kathleen O’Donnell The notice and takedown/putback procedures in §512 of the Digital Millennium Act fail to adequately protect the rights of individuals who post content on the internet. This iBrief examines the notice and takedown/putback procedures and Judge Fogel’s … Continue reading →

By: Cassius Sims This iBrief will present a hypothetical network that allows dissidents to transfer information outside the watchful eye of an oppressive government. It will argue that because a network operator meets the requirements of the safe harbor of … Continue reading →

By: Jesse Haskins Commercial-skipping technology can liberate the consumer and make the television business more competitive. It rose to prominence with the advent of the digital video recorder (DVR), also known as the personal video recorder (PVR). PVRs have helped … Continue reading →

By: David Fry Despite using one of the most sophisticated digital rights management systems currently available, the video game Spore was illegally downloaded approximately 1.7 million times between September and December of 2008, making it the most widely pirated game … Continue reading →

By: Charles Yeh The Uniform Computer Information Transactions Act (UCITA) attempts to regulate a nonexistent market failure. Regulators must understand the two market relationships in the software industry, the producer-consumer relationship and the producer-thief relationship, before they can draft effective … Continue reading →

By: Adam L. Rucker In a world where digital pirates freely roam the internet, seemingly plundering at will, the providers of digital content must find a way to protect their valuable assets. Digital fences afford that protection–but not very well. … Continue reading →

By: Dan Tammuz Linking law is barely a decade old. Over the course of this short period, a wide variety of approaches have come to light. In fact, different jurisdictions have come to different conclusions regarding similar issues. Recently, there … Continue reading →

By: Christopher Healey When a domain name is registered, the registrant is given five days to cancel for a full refund. While the purpose of this grace period is to protect those who innocently err in the registration process, speculators … Continue reading →

By: Alicia L. Wright Usenet newsgroups are swiftly becoming a popular vehicle for pirating digital music, movies, books, and other copyrighted works. Meanwhile, courts ignore Usenet’s tremendous potential for copyright infringement. In Ellison v. Robertson, the Ninth Circuit Court of … Continue reading →

By: Ryan McLeod Injunctions are supposed to be among the most extraordinary remedies in the American judicial system, yet they have become anything but rare in trademark litigation. Although the unique nature of trademark protection may explain the frequency of … Continue reading →

By: Benjamin Aitken Podcasting is an increasingly popular new digital technology with the potential to be a great conduit of expression. Currently, the use of music is limited in podcasting due in large part to uncertainty as to what rights … Continue reading →

By: Christine Pope In June 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court issued the decision in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios v. Grokster Ltd., a case that asked whether peer-to-peer networks may be held liable for facilitating the illegal distribution of music over the internet. … Continue reading →

By: Benjamin Aitken A number of trademark holders have recently challenged the policies of Google and other Internet search engines that allow the trademark owner’s competitors to purchase advertising space linked specifically to the owner’s trademarks when entered as search … Continue reading →

By: Elisabeth Hanratty Last December Google announced the formation of partnerships with select major libraries to begin digitizing and storing the libraries’ collections online. Google aims to provide individuals with the ability to search the full text of these books … Continue reading →

By: D. Branch Furtado The entertainment industry has obsessed over the threat of peer-to-peer file sharing since the introduction of Napster in 1999. The sharing of television content may present a compelling case for fair use under the long-standing “Betamax” … Continue reading →