Author(s): Peter S. Menell Year: 2012 Abstract: The fair use doctrine seeks to facilitate socially optimal uses of copyrighted material. As a practical matter, however, cumulative creators, such as documentary filmmakers and many contemporary musicians, are often reluctant to rely on the fair use doctrine because of its inherent uncertainty, the potentially harsh remedies for […]
Copyright Fee Shifting: A Proposal to Promote Fair Use and Fair Licensing
Picking Winners in Rounds of Elimination
Author(s): Suzanne Scotchmer Year: 2012 Abstract: We study the optimal way to select projects or agents in environments where information arrives in well defined rounds. Examples include academic environments where review periods are set by policy, aptitude tests such as those given by software developers to programmers applying for jobs, venture capital protocols where the […]
Beyond the Throwaway Society: An Incentive Approach to Regulating Municipal Solid Waste
Author(s): Peter S. Menell Year: Abstract: This Article develops a multi-tier pricing model for internalizing the social costs of municipal solid waste and balancing transaction costs. The Article concludes that, while comprehensive monitoring systems would be prohibitively expensive, there are feasible economic incentive systems that would be extremely effective in reducing the quantity and improving […]
The Limitations of Legal Institutions for Addressing Environmental Risks
Author(s): Peter S. Menell Year: 1991 Abstract: This article compares legal institutions and administrative agencies in controlling toxic torts and hazardous waste leaks. Keywords: Link: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2222391
Institutional Fantasylands: From Scientific Management to Free Market Environmentalism
Author(s): Peter S. Menell Year: 1992 Abstract: This article exposes the utopian parallels between scientific management and free market environmentalism as institutional paradigms for governing environmental resources. It shows that just as traditional economic analysis of environmental problems often ignores the imperfections of public institutions, the free market environmentalist perspective reflects a comparably naive view […]
Orphan Works and the Search for Rightsholders: Who Participates in a ‘Diligent Search’ under Present and Proposed Regimes?
Author(s): Jennifer Urban Year: 2013 Abstract: Over the past several years, policy makers and private actors have developed an evolving set of approaches for addressing the orphan works problem — a problem that arises when “the owner of a copyrighted work cannot be identified and located by someone who wishes to make use of the […]
Trademark Law Primer
Author(s): Peter S. Menell Year: 2013 Abstract: This chapter summarizes trademark principles and substantive law. It is part of a forthcoming volume on managing trademark litigation. Keywords: Trademark Link: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2252872
2014: Brand Totalitarianism
Author(s): Peter S. Menell Year: 2013 Abstract: As the Cold War commenced, George Orwell famously warned of a dystopian future in which government authorities pervasively surveil their citizens as part of an insidious system of public mind control. While leaks of the National Security Administration’s clandestine PRISM mass electronic data mining program have reignited fears […]
Taming the Mongrel: Aligning Appellate Review of Claim Construction with its Evidentiary Character in Teva v. Sandoz
Author(s): Peter S. Menell Year: 2014 Abstract: In its seminal Markman decision, the Supreme Court sought to usher in a more effective, transparent patent litigation regime through its ruling that “the construction of a patent, including terms of art within its claim, is exclusively within the province of the court.” In the aftermath of this […]
Land Recording and Copyright Reform
Author(s): Molly S. Van Houweling Year: 2013 Abstract: The high information costs associated with the contemporary copyright system are widely acknowledged and lamented. Anxiety regarding the inadequacy of information about copyright is manifest, for example, in policy debates about the status of “orphan works” whose owners cannot be identified and located. The ultimate concern is […]