The internet chapter of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, a secret copyright treaty whose text Obama’s administration refused to disclose due to “national security” concerns, has leaked. It’s bad
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The DMCA has a bad reputation with those who prefer to see greater freedom of information flow. Its anti-circumvention provisions provisions have attracted particular antipathy, and many believe the DMCA takedown provisions are regularly abused.
The point of the DMCA, I believe, was to further the general goal of IP protection in the United [...]
May 052009
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The Uneasy Case for Intellectual Property Rights in Traditional Knowledge by Stephen Munzer, Kal Raustiala:
Should traditional knowledge—the understanding or skill possessed by indigenous peoples pertaining to their culture and folklore and their use of native plants for medicinal purposes—receive protection as intellectual property? This Article examines nine major arguments from the moral, political [...]
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John Pfaff has been writing a series of articles for PrawfsBlawg over the last month or so, focusing on “Empirical Legal Scholarship” (ELS). ELS brings empirical social science research, including especially statistical studies, into the realm of the law. (Law & Economics would be another, related attempt to bring math and the law [...]
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Consider this idea: without copyright protection for digital media, we would have even more Digital Rights Management. Why? Because without it, recouping up-front investment without restricting distribution would be difficult or impossible. Since I often see a confluence of beliefs around those who hate DRM and those who hate copyright laws (I myself [...]
Apr 072009
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Patent Baristas » Indian Biogenerics on an Upswing:
Indias pharmaceutical industry caters to about 30% of the world’s generic requirements. Despite its tremendous volume, it has been facing difficult times recently, with the WHO stance on counterfeit drugs, as well as seizure of Indian generic shipments in the EU.
There is some good news now [...]
Bad Results for Google in Recent 2nd Circuit Ruling Over Keywords – Law Blog – WSJ:
In an opinion penned by Judge Pierre Leval, a three-judge panel ruled that Google must face a trademark infringement lawsuit for selling keywords that trigger ads. Click here for the Recorder story.
An interesting development. Basically, Google was selling the names [...]
Mar 222009
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The Patent Lottery: Exploiting Behavioral Economics for the Common Good by Dennis Crouch
Lotteries are immensely popular. Players are willing to give the organizer a large monetary cut of every ticket purchase in return for a chance at a jackpot. In some ways, our current patent system operates as a lottery as well. Most [...]
Mar 212009
Against Intellectual Monopoly, a book by by Michele Boldrin and David K. Levine, two economists who have proposed abolishing copyrights and patents:
It is common to argue that intellectual property in the form of copyright and patent is necessary for the innovation and creation of ideas and inventions such as machines, drugs, computer software, books, music, [...]
Mar 152009
Economists: Abolish Copyright & Patents to Save the Economy:
Two economists from Washington University have looked at current copyright and patent laws and concluded that they’re not good. The pair see current intellectual property laws as similar to “medieval trade monopolies” which were bad for the economy as a whole, and are calling for the system [...]
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That Was the Copyright Year That Was by Bruce E. Boyden of Marquette University Law School:
I recently compiled a list of the biggest developments in copyright law in 2008, based on a not very systematic survey. I thought it would be worth sharing here, as I know that I often wish for lists [...]
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