Author(s): Pamela Samuelson Year: 2009 Abstract: It has become lamentably common for courts to issue preliminary injunctions in copyright cases once rights holders have shown a reasonable likelihood of success on the merits without going on to require them to prove that they will suffer irreparable harm unless the injunction issues. Harm is too often […]
Why Plaintiffs Should Have to Prove Irreparable Harm in Copyright Preliminary Injunction Cases
Privacy as Intellectual Property?
Author(s): Pamela Samuelson Year: 2000 Abstract: Some economists and privacy advocates have proposed giving individuals property rights in their personal data to promote information privacy in cyberspace. A property rights approach would allow individuals to negotiate with firms about the uses to which they are willing to have personal data put and would force businesses […]
Legislative Alternatives to the Google Book Settlement
Author(s): Pamela Samuelson Year: 2011 Abstract: In the aftermath of Judge Chin’s rejection of the proposed Google Book settlement, it is time to consider legislative alternatives. This article explores a number of component parts of a legislative package that might accomplish many of the good things that the proposed settlement promised without the downsides that […]
The Mixed Heritage of Federal Intellectual Property Law and Ramifications for Statutory Interpretation
Author(s): Peter S. Menell Year: 2011 Abstract: This article explores the unique and complex mix of statutory provisions and common law jurisprudence that characterizes federal intellectual property law. Patent and copyright law trace their roots back to terse 1790 enactments on which the judiciary embroidered critical requirements and limitations. In line with common law traditions […]
A Fresh Look at Tests for Nonliteral Copyright Infringement
Author(s): Pamela Samuelson Year: 2013 Abstract: A central puzzle for U.S. copyright law in the 20th and 21st centuries has been how to test for infringement of the exclusive right this law gives authors to control the reproduction of their works in copies. No subtlety of analysis is required when a work is copied word-for-word, […]
What Constitutes a Diligent Search Under Present and Proposed Orphan Work Regimes?
Author(s): Jennifer Urban Year: 2013 Abstract: Numerous legal regimes or proposals have been devised to address the problem of whether or under what circumstances in-copyright works can be made available if the works are “orphans,” because their rights holders are unknown or cannot be found. A common feature is a requirement that a prospective user […]
The Access to Knowledge Mobilization and the New Politics of Intellectual Property
Author(s): Amy Kapczynski Year: 2009 Abstract: Intellectual property law was once an arcane subject. Today it is at the center of some of the most highly charged political contests of our time. In recent years, college students, subsistence farmers, AIDS activists, genomic scientists, and free-software programmers have mobilized to challenge the contours of intellectual property […]
Scarcity of Ideas and R&D Options: Use it, Lose it or Bank it
Author(s): Suzanne Scotchmer Year: 2009 Abstract: We investigate rewards to R&D in a model where substitute ideas for innovation arrive to random recipients at random times. By foregoing investment in a current idea, society as a whole preserves an option to invest in a better idea for the same market niche, but with delay. Because […]
Cultural Environmentalism and the Constructed Commons Law and Contemporary Problems
Author(s): Molly S. Van Houweling Year: 2007 Abstract: The public domain is to the world of innovation and creativity what the environment is to the physical world. Concern with the public’s ability to build upon a body of intellectual works that are freely available as raw material for new generations of creativity and innovation echoes […]
Pooh-Poohing Copyright Law’s ‘Inalienable’ Termination Rights
Author(s): Peter S. Menell Year: 2009 Abstract: From its earliest manifestations, copyright law has struggled to deal with the equitable and efficient division of value and control between creators and the enterprises that distribute their works. And for almost as long as copyright has existed, there has been concern about creators getting the short end […]