The dominant view of misappropriation doctrine fits trademark law poorly. It is at odds with contemporary theory and the reasons for protecting intellectual property. A more nuanced view of the Supreme Court’s germinal misappropriation case leads to a misappropriation doctrine consistent with both externality theory and public goods theory. When viewed this way, IP theory …
The Federal Circuit’s recent decision in In re Seagate Technology, L.L.C. modified the standard for determining whether a patent has been infringed willfully, but left intact the existing doctrine that requires willfulness to justify enhanced damages under 35 U.S.C. § 284. This Comment presents several arguments as to why the current enhanced damages doctrine should …
Sony v. Divineo appears to sound the death knell for use of mod chips within video game systems. With a three million dollar damages claim against a mod chip distributor, it is becoming cost prohibitive to sell these chips directly to consumers. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act, with its potentially crushing requirements, stifles the creativity …
In Leegin Creative Leather Products, Inc v. PSKS, Inc., the Supreme Court announced a shift in the law of minimum resale price maintenance by overruling the longstanding per se prohibition of these policies. The new rule of reason standard is more permissive of these minimum resale price maintenance agreements and as a result their use …
This Recent Development examines the implications of Doe v. SexSearch.com, a case decided by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio in August 2007, on jurisprudence surrounding website immunity from liability as provided by the Communications Decency Act of 1996. Specifically, this Recent Development compares the reasoning used in SexSearch.com with that …
In March 2007, media giant Viacom brought a $1 billion lawsuit against YouTube for “brazen” and “massive” copyright infringement, claiming the Google-owned online video-sharing website made around 160,000 Viacom-owned videos available to YouTube users without permission. Considering the legal and historical context from which the litigation arose, this Article briefly reviews the dynamic relationship between …
In the spring of 2007, MoveOn.org and Brave New Films posted a spoof political attack ad video on YouTube.com. The video, Stop the Falsiness, contained clips of the Comedy Central show, The Colbert Report. Subsequently, Viacom, which owns Comedy Central, sent a “takedown” notice to YouTube alleging that the video infringed Viacom’s copyrights. After YouTube …
Red light camera technology is in use in many jurisdictions throughout the United States. For some, this technology represents a powerful tool for improving road safety. For others, its use represents overreaching by governments searching for ways to generate additional revenue. In Idris v. City of Chicago, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals examined the …
Electronic data use in United States industries provides a means by which businesses aggregate, track, and manage consumer information. In the health care industry, data mining companies, pharmacies, and pharmaceutical manufacturers have adopted electronic data use with prescription information. The use of electronic prescription data as a commodity raises privacy concerns which have prompted the …
The Earth’s climate is changing rapidly, affecting the distribution of and increasing the pressures placed on natural resources in entirely new and unpredictable ways. Recognizing that water in the United States is not immune to this fate, environmentally conscious citizens are increasingly turning to rainwater collection as a means of securing a precious resource for …
