Stairway to Litigation: Laches in the Post-Petrella Era
For rock and roll fans, the opening notes to “Stairway to Heaven” are iconic. The band has amassed a huge fan base, and the song is arguably one of the most popular rock and...
Category: JIPEL Blog 2014 – 2015
JIPEL Symposium 2014 – “Innovation without Regulation: How Necessary is Intellectual Property Protection?”
Thanks to everyone who came out to our symposium this year! In case you missed it, here are videos of each panel. Panel 1: Creative Fields Resisting IP Moderator: Christopher Sprigman, Professor of Law at...
ICANN’s gTLD Expansion: Internet Innovation, Hijinks, and IP Headaches
Last month registration opened for web addresses using the new generic top-level domain (gTLD) .nyc, and more than 50,000 domain names have been registered, making it the most prolific city-based gTLD after .berlin. In...
Saving Face, Not Players: The NCAA’s Concussion Settlement
The NCAA reached a $75 million settlement this summer regarding a concussion lawsuit arising from the NCAA’s policy of allowing individual schools to create their own concussion protocols, which plaintiffs claimed put players at...
Recognizing the Perfect Monkey Selfie
Back in 2011, an Indonesian macaque snapped a grinning self-portrait. Naturally, it became an Internet sensation. The camera owner, British wild-life photographer Daniel Slater, is now suing Wikipedia for copyright infringement, as the non-profit...
Botnet Mitigations by the FBI, DOJ, and Microsoft Stop Cyber Attacks But May Trample on User Rights
Of all the software tools associated with cybercrime, botnets have perhaps the most widespread impact on commerce and on the operation of American businesses. The term “bot” has many meanings, but in criminal law...
Is Our Thirst for Knowledge Being Slaked?: An Overview of Knowledge Commons Governance
A desert watering hole attracts all kinds, with many predators foregoing easy meals in exchange for the water’s precious benefits. Arguably, sharing the water provides a net benefit to the community well beyond each...
Is Close Enough Good Enough?: “Comic Con” vs. “Comic-Con”
Today comic conventions are large, multi-day events that fans buy tickets a year in advance for. The comic conventions of 2014 have come a long way from the one-day event, which included only two...
Nuclear Fusion, Again
Lockheed Martin’s famed Skunk Works, renowned for developing advanced weaponry like the U-2 spy plane and the F-117 stealth fighter, has filed multiple patents relating to a new nuclear fusion reactor design. For those...
What Does Termination of the “Redskins” Trademarks Mean for Washington’s Football Team?
The name was never a label. It was, and continues to be, a badge of honor. – Daniel Snyder Merrit Meets the Enemy. Victory over our Frontier Foes. Thirty-Seven Redskins Sent to the Happy...