American copyright law has a widely recognized prohibition against the copyrighting of titles, short phrases, and single words. Despite this bar, effective advocacy has often pushed courts into recognizing independent [...]
Scholars have spilled much ink questioning patent quality. Complaints encompass concern about incoming applications, examination by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”), and the USPTO’s ultimate output. The literature [...]
This article describes how historical claims frequently made in arguments about the propertization of copyright are incomplete, focusing on three examples: that intellectual property is a much older phrase than [...]
In recent years, problems with the U.S. patent system have garnered attention from scholars and policymakers of all types. Concerns about the competitiveness of U.S. industry undergird worries that the [...]
It is black letter doctrine in copyright law that facts are not copyrightable: facts are discovered, not created - so they will always lack the originality needed for copyright protection. [...]
The Harvard Law Review rarely publishes articles on copyright law, so there was considerable buzz among intellectual property academics when the Review accepted a piece from a young scholar who [...]
Patents and trade secrecy have long been considered substitute incentives for innovation. When inventors create a new invention, they traditionally must choose between the two. And if inventors choose to [...]
A battle is waging in the media & entertainment industry. No longer is it only legal offerings competing against each other for market share, they now face a formidable foe [...]
This is a reproduction of John Locke's 1694(-5) memorandum opposing renewal of the Licensing Act, along with a short introduction. In the memorandum, Locke strongly attacks the monopoly held by [...]
Following work published in 2006, this article explores the history of the phrase 'intellectual property' as it was used in the 19th century and early 20th century by jurists speaking [...]