Planet earth is host to a dazzling variety of living organisms. This diversity of life, or – biodiversity, is vital to the survival and prosperity of humanity, supplying such vital amenities as food, clothing, shelter, natural biochemicals useful in medicine, industry, and agriculture, and...

This essay is based on a featured lecture that I gave as part of the Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal's 2 symposium on a proposed right of publicity law in New York. The essay draws from my recent book, The Right of Publicity: Privacy Reimagined for a Public World, published by Harvard...

In Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios v. Grokster, the Supreme Court will decide the future of Betamax - not the technology, which is already dead, but the Betamax decision issued by the Supreme Court in 1984. As frequently occurs in copyright law, it is a new, disruptive technology - this time,...

Both trademark and unfair competition laws and state right of publicity laws protect against unauthorized uses of a person’s identity. Increasingly, however, these rights are working at odds with one another, and can point in different directions with regard to who controls a person’s name,...

The virtual world is not merely a ‘sensory experience’ for any user but it has gone into a different level whereby a user can do, act and create new experiences just as one does in the real world. It is very much like providing a new universe whereby any explorer; who is brave enough; can...

Currently trademark bullying has become a serious concern for many small businesses that feel as though powerful corporations are abusing aggressive trademark enforcement and litigation techniques to crush genuine competition. No doubt these concerns merit the serious consideration of all...

Contemporary intellectual property law applications illustrate a very dynamic and rapidly evolving conceptual environment. The proverbial conflict has been between the protection of intellectual creation and the general freedom to create de novo, including expressions of one’s intellect that...

The NCAA maintains a balance between amateurism and the increasing need for generating revenue. In this balancing act, there are various policy considerations and legal constraints. These legal and policy entanglements bore such class action suits as Keller v. Electronic Arts, National...