The practices associated with intellectual property indemnity can be traced in part to Article 2 of the Uniform Commercial Code. At the dawn of the computer age, practitioners searched for legal models that they could use for transactions in intangible rights and products such as computer software. Although computer software did not fit easily into [...]

On February 22, and March 5, 1873, Barrett and Walton delivered to plaintiff … one hundred and forty tierces of lard, to be shipped …. On the night of March 14, while the lard was stored in defendant’s warehouse, awaiting shipment, it was destroyed by an accidental fire …. [S]aid goods put in said warehouse [...]

Before Flash ruled the media-streaming world, and when iTunes simply did not exist, there was Monkey Island II: LeChuck’s Revenge (“Monkey Island”). Aside from its highly addictive gameplay, Monkey Island had one noteworthy characteristic: a Decoder Wheel. Upon inserting the game, the software would prompt the user to align various icons on the wheel to [...]

Although the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“PTO”) had issued business method patents (“BMPs”) prior to 1999, the decisions of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (“Federal Circuit”) in State Street Bank & Trust Co. v. Signature Financial Group, Inc. in 1998 and AT&T Corp. v. Excel Communications, Inc. in [...]

The advent of the digital age and the wide diffusion of copyrighted works over the Internet have brought about a drastic challenge to the pre-existing rules and legal standards governing the exchange of information. This article points out one of the ways the development of these new technologies has altered the boundaries of copyright, specifically [...]

Inventions for dosage regimens often arise after the pharmaceutical product has been dosed in patients and more information is known about the in vivo and pharmacokinetic properties of the medical agent. However, securing patent protection for this type of invention has been difficult because dosage inventions are considered to be simple medical methods whose protection [...]

‘Geographical Indications’ (GIs) under the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (hereafter TRIPS) has been the subject of vigorous scholarly debate across the world in the last decade. The TRIPS is the first multilateral text providing for a comprehensive protection of GIs. It provides for (a) a base-level protection for geographic indications related to all [...]

D.J. Girl Talk is one of the budding artists in the music industry today, and his instrument is a laptop. D.J. Girl Talk (hereinafter also referred to as “Girl Talk”), whose real name is Gregg Gillis, “samples,” or uses short clips, from other artists’ songs to create popular dance music. Girl Talk’s songs combine old, [...]

The dawn of peer-to-peer networks and the subsequent rise of file sharing over the Internet have proved to be a considerable threat to the revenues of the Recording Industry Association of America (“RIAA”) and the international music community.  While early music downloading across peer-to-peer networks on the Internet was largely limited “to college students with [...]

Cloud computing, a computer networking model that gives users on-demand access to shared software applications and data storage, [1] is becoming increasingly popular among businesses and individuals. For example, if you use Google’s Gmail [2] for your email and calendaring, or Snapfish [3] for your online photo sharing and storage; or if your business remotely [...]

History has venerated the free transfer of tangible property, and this is partly why students of copyright law can purchase their textbooks “used” at discount prices. [1] If 2L Dave buys Professor William Patry’s copyright treatise at the bookstore, Dave acquires title to the book and can freely transfer it to thrifty 1L Sara the [...]

Mainstream search engines derive their principal source of revenue from advertising. [1] Pay Per Click Advertising (hereinafter “Paid Placement”) is one of the most widely utilized advertising practices, offering content providers the opportunity to create short textual advertisements hyperlinked to their website. [2] Providers bid on keywords associated with their advertisement, [3] and when a [...]

Abstract–“The descriptions in patents are not addressed to the public generally, to lawyers or to judges, but, as [35 U.S.C.] section 112 states, to those skilled in the art to which the invention pertains ***.” [1] This leads to a tenet of patent law, that the meaning of patents and claim terms must be construed [...]

The Food and Drug Administration’s (“FDA”) regulation of drugs and medical devices impacts the everyday lives of Americans in both noticeable and inconspicuous ways. [1] For example, a recall of contaminated food or adulterated pharmaceuticals illustrates how the FDA noticeably affects impacts our everyday lives. [2] Additionally, unobservable consequences springing from the overlap between FDA [...]

Although the right of publicity has historically been a cause of action invoked by celebrities to protect themselves from an extensive range of conduct, the question remains whether non-traditional celebrities deserve the same rights. [2] Can President Obama protect against the unauthorized use of his image since he has arguably attained celebrity-like status? I believe [...]

Unlike traditional pharmaceutical drugs, which are small molecule compounds synthesized by chemists, biologics are typically large molecules that are produced in living things. [1] [2] Breakthroughs in the life sciences over the last two decades have led to new biologically derived treatments for debilitating diseases including autoimmune diseases, metabolic disorders, degenerative diseases, blood disorders, and [...]

“[T]he Internet represents a brave new world of free speech … [it] is fundamentally different from traditional forms of mass communication in at least three important respects. First, the Internet is capable of maintaining an unlimited number of information sources …, Second, the Internet has no “gatekeepers”–no publishers or editors controlling the distribution of information [...]

Abstract–Guitar tablature Web sites have been the subject of recent cease-and-desist letters, forcing most to shut down. Litigation has been side-stepped with the arrival of new creative means to continue operation. The case that may have gone to court is discussed here, ranging from the appropriate legal claims of copyright infringement to the fair-use-defense arguments [...]

On the heels of their ubiquitous and controversial decision in Harvard College v. Canada (Commissioner of Patents) (the so-called ‘Harvard Mouse’ case), [1] the Canadian Courts were soon asked to re-consider the issues surrounding the patentability of biotechnological inventions in Monsanto v. Schmeiser. [2] Unlike Harvard Mouse, this matter was an infringement action. At the [...]

Much of the information to the public is provided by the Internet today. The Internet has also become increasingly popular among researchers who now turn to it for articles, journals, and online databases. [2] Therefore, the question of whether an Internet reference is a “printed publication” is critical for today’s inventors, patent attorneys, and judges. [...]