How does fair use policy in copyright law affect markets for the production and distribution of creative works? As we come to the end of Fair Use Week, it’s a good time to highlight a report by the Phoenix Center for Advanced Legal and Economic Public Policy Studies, titled “Fair Use in the Digital Age,” that offers interesting insights into how we can optimize fair use to promote fair markets. Read more
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Oracle v. Google: Expansive Fair Use Harms Creators
The following post comes from Rebecca Cusey, a third-year law student at Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University, and a movie critic at The Federalist.
By Rebecca Cusey
The fair use doctrine has expanded far beyond its purpose, according to an amicus brief filed this past Friday on behalf of 13 law professors in Oracle v. Read more
What Would Judge Gorsuch Mean for Fair Use?
On February 1st, President Trump nominated Neil Gorsuch to fill the Supreme Court seat left vacant by the passing of Justice Antonin Scalia. The announcement opened the floodgates of prognostication as to how the appellate court judge from Colorado might sway the Court in the coming terms, with forecasters pouring over his past decisions in an attempt to get into the head of the potentially game-changing jurist. Read more
CPIP Scholars Join Open Letter Providing IP Guidance for New Administration and Congress
The Center for the Protection of Intellectual Property and several of its Senior Scholars are proud to support an open letter released today providing intellectual property guidelines for the Trump administration and the 115th Congress. CPIP Executive Director Matthew Barblan, Co-Founders Adam Mossoff and Mark Schultz, and Senior Scholars Christopher Holman, Kristen Osenga, and Sean O’Connor join a group of legal and policy experts advocating for an effective IP system that supports America’s world-leading innovation, creativity, and entrepreneurship. Read more
CPIP Scholars File Amicus Brief Urging Consideration of Claimed Inventions as a Whole
Last week, CPIP Senior Scholar Adam Mossoff and I filed an amicus brief on behalf of 15 law professors, including CPIP’s Devlin Hartline, Chris Holman, Sean O’Connor, Kristen Osenga, and Mark Schultz. We urge the Supreme Court to grant certiorari in TDE Petroleum v. Read more
Can Copyright Help Fight Censorship in China?
Free expression in China has long been a fraught concern for the entertainment industry. Last year, Chinese regulators forbade local companies from working on foreign films that could “harm national dignity and interest of China, cause social instability, or hurt the national feeling,” striking at the rapidly expanding Chinese post-production industry for Hollywood films. Read more
IPO Publishes Analysis of Recently Released Legislative Proposal
Last week, the Intellectual Property Owners Association (IPO) released a proposed revision to the section of the Patent Act that defines the subject matter eligible for patenting. I discussed the importance of the proposal, noting that there have been several calls for legislative solutions to overly restrictive understanding of what inventions are eligible for patents. Read more
SONA and Songwriters Fight DOJ’s Misguided 100% Licensing Rule
Things are heating up in the lawsuit filed by Songwriters of North America and three of its members (SONA) challenging the new gloss of the Department of Justice (DOJ) on the 75-year-old consent decrees that govern the licensing practices of ASCAP and BMI, the two largest performance rights organizations (PROs). Read more
CPIP Founders File Amicus Brief on Behalf of 11 Law Professors in Converse v. ITC
CPIP Founders Adam Mossoff & Mark Schultz filed an amicus brief today on behalf of 11 law professors in Converse v. International Trade Commission, a trademark case currently before the Federal Circuit.
In late-2014, Converse filed a complaint with the International Trade Commission alleging that more than thirty companies, including Skechers, Walmart, New Balance, and Highline, were violating Section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930 by importing and selling infringing shoes. Read more
IPO Proposes Legislative Solution to the Morass of Patent Eligibility
On January 31, the Intellectual Property Owners Association (IPO) released a proposed revision to the section of the Patent Act that defines the subject matter eligible for patenting.
IPO’s proposed text for an amended 35 U.S.C. § 101 can be downloaded here. Read more