Copyright Law
Haute Mess: Murky Fashion Copyright Law and a New Period of Pro-Designer Jurisprudence
Julia A. Harrison
Abstract Fashion copyright jurisprudence has left unclear standards for the copyrightability of fashion designs. As fashion lies at the intersection of functionality and design, courts have struggled to set bright lines for determining the copyrightability of fashion articles. This ambiguity perpetuates the use of inconsistent standards among courts, leading to periods of leniency and stringency […]
Staking the Boundaries of Software Copyrights in the Shadow of Patents
Pamela Samuelson
Abstract Ever since the venerable Supreme Court opinion in Baker v. Selden, courts and commentators have overwhelmingly endorsed the rule that copyright and utility patent protections for intellectual creations are mutually exclusive. That is, an intellectual creation may be eligible for copyright or utility patent protection, but not both. Original works of authorship are channeled […]
What if Artificial Intelligence Wrote This? Artificial Intelligence and Copyright Law
Victor M. Palace
Abstract The increasing sophistication and proliferation of artificial intelligence has given rise to a provoking question in copyright law: Who is the copyright owner of a work created by autonomous artificial intelligence? In other words, when a machine learns, thinks, and acts without human input, and it creates a work, what person should own the […]
Clark S. Splichal, Recent Development: Craigslist and the CFAA: The Untold Story
Craigslist Inc. v. 3Taps Inc., 942 F. Supp. 2d 962 (N.D. Cal. 2013) Craisglist Inc. v. 3Taps Inc., 964 F. Supp. 2d 1178 (N.D. Cal. 2013) There is one area in which Craigslist Inc. appears particularly invested these days: its legal bills. Notoriously cutthroat, this online classified marketplace has steadfastly clung to its bare-boned business […]
Sonja Wolf Sahlsten, I'm a Little Treepot: Conceptual Separability and Affording Copyright Protection to Useful Articles
To determine if a useful article—generally ineligible for copyright protection—has pictorial, graphic, or sculptural features that are copyrightable, the Copyright Act and the legislative intent expressed through the Act’s legislative history require that those artistic features be identified separately and capable of existing independently of the utilitarian function of the work. If the artistic features […]
Irina D. Manta, The High Cost of Low Sanctions
Low sanctions can initially appear to be a mitigating factor for unjust or inefficient laws, but this perception is likely wrong. This Article argues that low sanctions may have a pernicious effect on the democratic process and on legislative rule making because, as both public choice theory and historical precedent suggest, the laws accompanying these […]
Marc Edelman, Closing the “Free Speech” Loophole: the Case for Protecting College Athletes’ Publicity Rights in Commercial Video Games
When Electronic Arts Inc. (Electronic Arts) launched its video game series NCAA Football in June 1993, the available technology limited developers to crafting avatars that looked like faceless figurines. Today, however, advancements in digital technology have enabled developers to create “virtual players” that strongly resemble their reallife counterparts. For example, in NCAA Football 12, the […]
Juliet M. Moringiello, What Virtual Worlds Can Do for Property Law
62 Fla. L. Rev. 159 (2010) | | | | INTRODUCTION :: Disputes over virtual world items, such as virtual money, Second Life islands, and even “sex beds,” can inform property law generally. Rights in these virtual world items, such as rights in software and many other intangible assets, are transferred by […]
Jennifer Lynch, The Eleventh Amendment and Federal Discovery: A New Threat to Civil Rights Litigation
62 Fla. L. Rev. 203 (2010) | | | | ABSTRACT :: Lawyers for the State of California have argued recently in several federal civil rights cases that the state sovereign immunity doctrine bars all discovery issued to the state, its agencies, and its employees. While courts agree that sovereign immunity generally […]
Steven Hetcher, The Kids Are Alright: Applying a Fault Liability Standard to Amateur Digital Remix
62 Fla. L. Rev. 1275 (2010) | | | | INTRODUCTION :: The term “remix” is used mainly in a digital context, although there is nothing inherently digital about remix. For instance, fan fiction, a widely discussed form of remix, has developed into an important cultural phenomenon in the past forty years, clearly exhibiting a […]
Lydia Pallas Loren, Renegotiating the Copyright Deal in the Shadow of the “Inalienable” Right to Terminate
62 Fla. L. Rev. 1329 (2010)| | | | ABSTRACT :: Few people realize that many contracts that purport to transfer “all right, title and interest” in a copyright can be terminated by the author of the copyrighted work after thirty-five years (in some cases), after fifty-six years (in other cases), and sometimes even after […]
Peter K. Yu, The Graduated Response
62 Fla. L. Rev. 1373 (2010) | | | | INTRODUCTION :: In the past few years, the entertainment industry has deployed aggressive tactics toward individual end-users, Internet service providers (ISPs), and other third parties. While these tactics have had only mixed results and have been heavily criticized by policymakers, civil liberties groups, consumer advocates, […]
Vincent J. Galluzzo, When “Now Known or Later Developed” Fails its Purpose: How P2P Litigation Has Turned the Distribution Right Upside-Down
61 Fla. L. Rev. 1165 (2009) | | | | INTRODUCTION :: In 1999, a Northeastern University freshman needed only a quiet dorm room to design the catalyst that would spark the peer-to-peer (P2P) downloading phenomenon. That freshman, the then-teenaged Shawn Fanning, spawned the now-infamous computer program Napster-a program that facilitated the free transfer of […]
Samuel J. Horovitz, Two Wrongs Don't Negate a Copyright: Don't Make Students Turnitin if You Won't Give it Back
60 Fla. L. Rev. 229 (2008) | | | | INTRODUCTION :: The story goes something like this: There was a particularly difficult college professor notorious for a low grading scale. After years of low grade following low grade, one paper finally earned a B minus, the highest grade ever awarded by this professor. Word […]
Michael W. Carroll, The Struggle for Music Copyright
57 Fla. L. Rev. 907 (2005) | | | | INTRODUCTION :: For intellectual property lawyers, the first decade of the twenty-first century is a period of history-in-the-making. This perception is reinforced on a daily basis by rapidly changing digital and biomedical technologies, an increasingly globalized economy, and growing public debate about the appropriate subject […]
Janelle A. Weber, Don't Drink, Don't Smoke, Don't Download: Parents' Liability for their Children's File Sharing
57 Fla. L. Rev. 1163 (2005) | | | | INTRODUCTION :: When Darlene Emanski subscribed to America Online (AOL), she thought she was providing her teenage daughter with a fun and convenient means of researching school projects, communicating with friends, and listening to music now and then. The Central Florida small business owner never […]
Jacqueline Lipton, Information Property: Rights and Responsibilities
56 Fla. L. Rev. 135 (2004) | | | | INTRODUCTION :: Can you own information? If so, what is the theoretical justification for ownership, and precisely what rights does ownership confer? What is the impact of ownership of information and ideas on society and on the public domain? These questions have increasingly absorbed the […]