Copyright Protection of Biotechnology Works: Into the Dustbin of History?
James G. Silva Starting in the early 1980s, and ending in the very beginning of the 1990s, a number of scholarly commentators proposed that biotechnology works are proper subject matter for copyright protection. Typically, these commentators focused on the idea that DNA sequences may be copyrightable works of authorship. Many commentators argued that copyrighting biotechnology might be a good idea because it would allow protection of works that would not qualify for patent protection. The idea of copyrighting biotechnology arose in the early 1980s at the time when patent protection of biotechnology seemed doubtful. Analogies of computer programs and DNA...
On-Line Copyright Infringement Liability for Internet Service Providers: Context, Cases & Recently Enacted Legislation
Mark E. Harrington How fast has the Internet grown? At the end of the Reagan-Bush era, just six years ago, the world of cyberspace consisted of fewer than 50 World Wide Web sites, most of them used by computer scientists and physicists. Today the Internet is no longer just for researchers, and it is expected that within five years international commerce on the Internet could reach $3.2 trillion. The fact is that in the past 72 months the number of Internet users has risen from hundreds to millions of users, and is estimated by some experts to reach perhaps a...
Itar-Tass Russian News Agency v. Russian Kurier: Federal District Court Applies the Berne Convention, United States and Russian Copyright Laws To Prevent Piracy in Mass Media
Maxim B. Voltchenko The United States is well known for its vigorous protection of intellectual property rights owned by American nationals as well as foreigners. Similarly, the United States expects other nations to observe intellectual property rights of American nationals. Not surprisingly, the United States makes determined effort to urge other countries, especially the countries with emerging economies, to join the international treaties in the area of intellectual property. Virtually as a result of the United States’ active policy regarding expansion of intellectual property rights protection in the international context, the two principal international documents in this area, the Berne...
Judicial Response: A Safe Harbor in the “Fair Use” Doctrine
Pamela R. O’Brien Despite the cries of some commentators that copyright law is dead (or at least that they wish it was), copyright law is fully capable of responding to the challenges posed by the new technologies of the digital revolution. Copyright law initially developed in response to the invention of the printing press, and has a long history of addressing changes in technology. Where Congress has not explicitly made provisions for the new technology, the courts have stretched statutory interpretation and common law doctrines to do so. The courts’ express goal in fitting existing copyright law to new technologies...
Misunderstanding RAM: Digital Embodiments and Copyright
Kristen J. Mathews In the opinion of the United States federal courts, digital software embodied in a computer’s Random Access Memory (RAM) is sufficiently fixed to constitute a “reproduction” under the Copyright Act. As a reproduction, the creation of the RAM embodiment, or the loading of software into RAM, is a potential copyright infringement. However, a close reading of the Act and its legislative history reveals that a digital work embodied in RAM should not be considered a reproduction of the work. Furthermore, including digital works embodied in RAM as reproductions is a poor fit in light of the policy...
Intelligent Agents and Copyright: Internet Technology Outpaces the Law … Again
Michael B. Sapherstein Intelligent agents, sophisticated computer programs that act on behalf of their users and adjust themselves to users’ behaviors and preferences, may answer the prayers of people who are increasingly overwhelmed by the sheer volume of information available to them on the Internet. Instead of spending frustrating hours “surfing the ‘Net” in search of elusive information, users may soon employ intelligent software agents that gather information efficiently and without need for further human assistance, thereby freeing the user to spend time on more productive, or more leisurely, activities. Still in its infancy, agent software “launches” itself into a...
A Design for the Copyright of Fashion
Jennifer Mencken Fashion apparel is a multi-billion dollar industry that has no national boundaries. Designers, retailers and consumers follow the game of international fashion. Within the last decade, consumer knowledge of specific designers has increased dramatically. Magazines and newspapers now cover the fashion industry as part of their national news coverage, focusing on the ever-changing world of creative designer expressions. The general public has a ready command of the names and faces of fashion models and the designers for which they model. Countless television shows and feature films exploit the fashion industry world. Consumers can now recognize the distinct style...