Search engines allow millions of users to locate content on the Internet, including content offered by individuals and companies who have infringed upon a copyright holder’s rights. Copyright Law’s contributory infringement doctrine presents a dilemma for search engines like Google, whose services may facilitate the infringement of copyrights by enabling users to locate such content …
In 2006, thirteen-year-old Megan Meier met a teenage boy named Josh Evans on the social networking website MySpace. The two had an amicable relationship until Josh began making derogatory comments to Megan. The correspondence ultimately resulted in her suicide. Months later, “Josh” was revealed to be the collective creation of forty-seven-year-old Lori Drew, her teenage …
Currently, Apple forces owners of the iPhone to use AT&T’s wireless network through software contained in the phone’s operating system. The practice of “unlocking” the Apple iPhone for use over any compatible wireless network raises an interesting legal question. Specifically, this Comment considers this question through analysis of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”), the …
The patentability of communication signals under 35 U.S.C. § 101 first came before the Supreme Court in relation to Samuel Morse’s telegraph. Contrary to the Court’s ruling in O’Reilly v. Morse, however, the Federal Circuit recently held in In re Nuijten that useful, man-made signals are unpatentable because they do not fit within any of …
In the wake of a long history of copyright decisions that have been sparse in terms of First Amendment analysis, the Tenth Circuit in Golan v. Gonzales clearly addresses the First Amendment. This Recent Development analyzes the decision in Golan and argues that while the First Amendment concerns were properly recognized, the ultimate resolution of …
While technology enabling sex selection by Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis (“PGD”) is not new, the debate surrounding it has not abated. A wide variety of models exist. Some countries leave the decision to the parents, while others strictly prohibit sex selection for non-medical purposes. The Israeli system uses a unique model whereby a professional committee is …
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 …
