Author(s): Jason Schultz Year: 2013 Abstract: The outcome of this case will affect the future of private non-commercial time-shifting of television programs – a fair use right expressly recognized by the Supreme Court almost three decades ago in Sony Corp. of America v. University City Studios, Inc., 464 U.S. 417 (1984). The advance of technology […]
Amicus Brief of Law Scholars in Fox v. Dish, No. 12-57048 (9th Cir)
Oracle America, Inc. v. Google Inc., Brief of Amici Curiae Intellectual Property Professors in Support of Defendant-Cross Appellant and Affirmance
Author(s): Pamela Samuelson Year: 2013 Abstract: Three fundamental errors undergird Oracle’s legal position on this appeal of a District Court ruling that the Java Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) at issue in this case are unprotectable by U.S. copyright law. First, Oracle takes an unduly narrow view of 17 U.S.C. § 102(b), which provides that “[i]n […]
Brief Amici Curiae of 133 Academic Authors in Support of HathiTrust Digital Library
Author(s): Pamela Samuelson Year: 2013 Abstract: The HathiTrust digital library contains over 7.3 million potentially in-copyright books. The complaint in this case has demanded that the court impound the in-copyright books in this repository and enjoin the use of all 7.3 million of these books, although the Authors Guild and its co-plaintiffs have identified only […]
Brief of Software Innovators, Start-Ups, and Investors as Amici Curiae in Oracle v. Google
Author(s): Jennifer Urban Year: 2013 Abstract: How Limitations on Copyright in Computer Programs Are Critical to Software Innovation and Investment. This case raises critical questions about how far copyright extends into the basic communication tools — Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) — that are presently ubiquitous in the Web environment and software development generally. APIs establish […]
The Continuum of Excludability and the Limits of Patents
Author(s): Amy Kapczynski and Talha Syed Year: 2013 Abstract: In IP scholarship, patents are commonly understood as more efficient than other approaches to innovation policy. Their primary ostensible advantage is allocative: as a form of property rights, patents act as a conduit between market signals and potential innovators, ostensibly guiding investment toward inventions with the […]
Brief of Amici Curiae National Alliance for Media Art and Culture, the Alliance for Community Media, and Kartemquin Films in Viacom v. YouTube
Author(s): Jennifer Urban Year: 2013 Abstract: This case presents important doctrinal, technical, and theoretical issues for online platform users and innovators – especially for independent voices that rely on open online platforms to reach audiences. Online media platforms like YouTube offer independent media artists opportunities to reach national and global audiences that did not exist […]
One Hundred Years of Solicitude: Intellectual Property Law, 1900-2000
Author(s): Robert P. Merges Year: 2001 Abstract: The elaboration of intellectual property law is closely intertwined with new technologies. This Review Essay draws on selected episodes from the past 100 years to illustrate the three typical stages by which the legal system accomodates new technologies: (1) disequilibrium; (2) adaptation and adjustment; and (3) legislative consolidation. […]
Design for Symbiosis: Promoting More Harmonious Paths for Technological Innovators and Expressive Creators in the Internet Age
Author(s): Peter S. Menell Year: 2012 Abstract: Drawing upon historical patterns and the symbiotic relationship between distribution platforms and creative expression, this commentary examines the problems currently dividing the technology and content sectors over Internet copyright enforcement. It highlights two key factors causing the dysfunction — the vertical fragmentation of distribution platforms in the Internet […]
Warrantless Wiretapping, FISA Reform, and the Lessons of Public Liberty
Author(s): Paul M. Schwartz Year: 2009 Abstract: The central metaphor of Stephen Holmes’s Jorde Lecture1 is a haunting one: it is of emergency room personnel taking time and care during a lifethreatening situation to follow rules. These rules are ones of medical procedure that the staff carefully learns before the emergency and then faithfully follows […]
Justifying Intellectual Property
Author(s): Robert P. Merges Year: 2011 Abstract: Why should a property interest exist in an intangible item? In recent years, arguments over intellectual property have often divided proponents—who emphasize the importance of providing incentives for producers of creative works— from skeptics who emphasize the need for free and open access to knowledge. In a wide-ranging […]