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. [...]

Abstract–European Patent Office (EPO) practice, guided by the European Patent Convention (EPC) is in many aspects very similar to Europe’s national patent practice, such as the German patent law. In this article, the US practitioner is briefly reminded of some of the considerable differences between US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) patent prosecution practice and [...]

Abstract–In an attempt to stem a perceived rise in student plagiarism, educational institutions are increasingly turning to anti-plagiarism technologies. The use of these technological means to police student writings has been controversial, socially, politically, and legally. This article discusses the outcome of A.V. et al. v. iParadigms, to date the most important opinion on the [...]

Seven years have passed since Congress enacted the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), the statute which makes circumventing technological barriers to copyrighted works illegal. [1] In the meantime, the DMCA has been widely criticized, and, within the last two years, undergone a major change in interpretation by the Federal Circuit in Chamberlain Group, Inc. v. [...]

Intellectual property has experienced an explosion in recent decades as the value of American corporations has become increasingly reliant on intangible assets. [1] This explosion is reflected in the massive increase in patents issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) [2] and the corresponding spike in patent litigation. [3] Moreover, patent litigation [...]

This article proposes a system of dispute resolution for the virtual world of Second Life. Virtual worlds offer a unique opportunity to examine real world law in a similar environment. These environments might very well be the electronic market place of the future, replacing traditional two-dimensional web pages, but they also provide a fascinating way [...]

Video games have become a prominent pastime for both children and adults in the United States (U.S.) and across the European Union (EU). [1] Today, individuals are spending more time and money on electronic entertainment than ever before. [2] Studies conducted by the National Institute on Media and the Family (NIMF) highlight the significant amount [...]

A. The Fourth Amendment and the Protection of Privacy in Electronic Communications   U.S. citizens are in a constant battle for their rights to privacy, fighting the government’s increasingly pervasive surveillance and justicial needs. One area where court opinions conflict with the public’s expectation of privacy is over the realm of personal electronic communications. The [...]