Over the past decade, numerous scholars and commentators have asserted that the indirect copyright liability standards applied in the Napster, Aimster, and Grokster decisions, among others, significantly chill technological innovation. This article examines this critical conjecture and offers...

For a century, Congress has sought to protect authors and their families by allowing them to grant their copyrights for exploitation and then, decades later, recapture those same rights. After judicial interpretation of the 1909 Act frustrated this intent, Congress spoke unambiguously in 1976:...

The Supreme Court should grant review of the Federal Circuit's decisions in Oracle v. Google for two compelling sets of reasons. First, the Federal Circuit's decisions conflict with this Court's seminal decision in Baker v. Selden, 101 U.S. 99 (1879), misinterpret Congress's codification of this...

This article explores how 3D printing fits within US copyright law. US copyright law provides a well-developed general framework for the protection of creative designs, whether fixed in CAD files or 3D objects. Enforcement of copyright protection in this industry faces some of the same...

This article calls attention to the dismal state of copyright's public approval rating. Drawing on the format and style of Ira Glass's “This American Life” radio broadcast, the presentation unfolds in three parts: Act I – How did we get here?; Act II – Why should society care about...

Four decades ago, the Ninth Circuit ruled that expert testimony was inadmissible to determine whether Mayor McCheese and the merry band of McDonaldland characters infringed copyright protection for Wilhelmina W. Witchiepoo and the other imaginative H.R. Pufnstuf costumed characters. Since the...

Prior to the emergence of peer-to-peer technology, the Copyright Act’s distribution right was largely dormant. Most enforcement actions were premised upon violations of the reproduction right. The relatively few cases invoking the distribution right involved arcane scenarios. During the past...

This article describes the evolution of copyright protection for computer software. It shows how the courts successfully deployed and adapted copyright doctrines in a manner that protected software against piracy while at the same time allowing for competition and innovation