Intellectual Property: International and Comparative Dimensions

Professor William Fisher

Spring 2002

Syllabus

Comparative History (January 29)

  • William Fisher, "The Growth of Intellectual Property: A History of the Ownership of Ideas in the United States," in Eigentumskulturen im Vergleich 265-91 (Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1999)
  • Jane C. Ginsburg, A Tale of Two Copyrights: Literary Property in Revolutionary France and America, 64 Tulane Law Review 991 (1990)
  • William P. Alford, "Don't Stop Thinking About Yesterday:  Why There Was No Indigenous Counterpart to Intellectual Property in Imperial China," 7 Journal of Chinese Law 3 (1993)
  • Foundations  (February 5)

  • Terrioriality
  • Bradley, "Territorial IP Rights" in Paul Goldstein, International Intellectual Property Law (Foundation Press 2001) [hereinafter "G"] pp. 1-7
  • Notes  [G 15-19]
  • Problem 1  [G 19-20]
  • National Treatment
  • Phil Collins v. Imtrat Handelsgesellschaft mbH  [G 22-27]
  • Notes  [G 27-30]
  • Choice of Forum/Choice of Law
  • Mecklermedia Corp. v. DC Congress GmbH  [G 30-39]
  • Notes  [G 42-45]
  • Itar-Tass Russian News Agency v. Russian Kurier Inc.  [G 45-54]
  • Notes  [G 54-58]
  • Cuno Inc. v. Pall Corp.  [G 58-63]
  • Problem 2  [G 63-64]
  • International Agreements
  • McManis, "IP and International Mergers and Acquisitions"  [G 95-103]
  • Otten, "Implementation of the TRIPS Agreement"  [G 103-110]
  • Notes  [G 110-13]
  • Note on the EU  [G 114-16]
  • Corbet, "The Law of the EEC and IP"  [G 117-27]
  • Notes  [G 127-28]
  • Notes [G 139-41]
  • International Aspects of Copyright Law -- Part 1 (February 12)

  • Note on Copyright  [G 142-46]
  • Goldstein, International Copyright  [G 146-47]
  • Notes  [G 147-49]
  • Excerpts from Berne Convention  [G 149-51]
  • Berne Convention  [Roam around in this site; don't feel obliged to read the whole thing]
  • Excerpt from Rome Convention  [G 151]
  • Notes  [G 151-54]
  • Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, Articles 9-14
  • Teledirect v. American Business Information  [G 154-62]
  • Schricker, "Farewell to the 'Level of Creativity'"  [G 162-68]
  • Questions  [G 168]
  • Geller, "Worldwide Chain of Title to Copyright"  [G 168-76]
  • Materials on "Who is an Author"  [G 176-88]
  • Atlas Film v. Janus Film  [G 188-92]
  • Notes  [G 192-94]
  • Goldstein, Copyright's Highway  [G 267-70]
  • Goldstein, International IP  [G 271-73]
  • Merryman, "The Refrigerator of Bernard Buffet"  [G 273-76]
  • Dietz, "The Moral Right of the Author"  [G 285-95]
  • Notes  [G 295-97]
  •       
    Other Resources:
  • Peter Burger, "The Berne Convention:  Its History and Its Key Role in the Future," 3 Journal of Law and Technology 1 (1988)
  • International Aspects of Copyright Law -- Part 2 (February 19)

  • Neil Netanel, "Asserting Copyright's Democratic Principles in the Global Arena," 51 Vanderbilt Law Review 217 (1998)
  • Ruth Gana, "Has Creativity Died in the Third World:  Some Implications of the Internationalization of Intellectual Property," 24 Denver Journal of International Law & Policy 109 (1995)
  • Database Protection  (February 26)

  • J.H. Reichman and Pamela Samuelson, "Intellectual Property Rights in Data?," 50 Vand. L. Rev. 51 (1997)
  • EC Database Directive
  • Harvey Berkman, "Congress Tackles Database Law," National Law Journal, July 26, 1999
  •       
    Other Resources:

    International Aspects of Patent Law -- Part 1 (March 5)

  • Note on Patents  [G 297-300]
  • Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, Articles 27-36
  • Strauss, "Implications of the TRIPS Agreement"  [G 300-303]
  • George Foster, "Opposing Forces in a Revolution in International Patent Protection:  The U.S. and India in the Uruguay Round and Its Aftermath," 3 UCLA Journal of International Law and Foreign Affairs 283, 296-322 (1998)
  • Correa, "The TRIPS Agreement"  [G 303-07]
  • Notes [G 307-11]
  • Note on Plant Patents  [G 311-13]
  • Notes on Priority Rules  [G 323-26]
  • Beier, "The Inventive Step"  [G 336-48]
  • Notes  [G 348-49]
  • Correa, "The TRIPS Agreement"  [G 362-63]
  • Notes  [G 376-79]
  • Correa, "The TRIPS Agreement"  [G 379-84]
  • Notes  [G 408-11]
  • Note on Infringement and Equivalents  [G 419]
  • Park, "The International Drug Industry: What the Future Holds for South Africa's HIV/AIDS Patients," 11 Minn. J. Global Trade 125 (2002)
  •       
    Other Resources:

    International Aspects of Patent Law -- Part 2  (March 12)

  • Josh Lerner, "Patent Policy and Innovation over 150 Years" (Working Paper 2002)
  • Gerald Mossinghoff & Vivian Kuo, "World Patent System Circa 20XX, A.D." 38 Idea 529 (1998)
  • William Fisher, "The Impact of 'Terminator Gene' Technologies on Developing Countries," Report to the UK Department for International Development, December 1999
  • William Fisher, "Managing Genetic Resources," in Legal Reform in Central America (Kennedy School of Government 2001)
  •       
    Other Resources:

    Legal Hybrids  (March 19)

  • J.H. Reichman, "Legal Hybrids Between the Patent and Copyright Paradigms," 94 Columbia Law Review 2432 (1994)
  • Ejan Mackaay, "Legal Hybrids: Beyond Property and Monopoly," 94 Columbia Law Review 2630 (1994)
  •       
    Other Resources:

    International Aspects of Trademark Law -- part 1  (April 2)

  • Note on Trademarks  [G 420-21]
  • Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, Articles 15-24
  • Otokoyama Co. v. Wine of Japan Import  [G 422-28]
  • Notes  [G 428-30]
  • Winzersekt GmbH v. Land Rhienland-Pfalz  [G430-36]
  • Notes  [G 436-39]
  • Paris Convention, Art. 6bis  [G 443-44]
  • MacDonald's Cop. v. Joburgers Drive-Inn Restaurant, No. 54/95 (South Africa 1996)  [G 444-55]
  • Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp. v. The South Australian Brewing Company, No. NG 155 of 1996
  • Dara Mehta & Sharad Abhyankar, "India's Courts Increase Protections for Foreign Trademarks" IP Worldwide, November 1997
  • Celestine Bohlen, "For Tuscans: How Can You Copyright Paradise?," New York Times, August 7, 1997
  • Pearson's Co. Ltd. v. Christman  [G 455-60]
  • Notes  [G 460-62]
  • Jonathan Weber, "The Eever-Expanding, Profit-Maximizing, Cultural Imperialist, Wonderful World of Disney," Wired Magazine, Feb. 2002, pp. 71-79
  •     
    Additional Resources:
  • Keith Aoki, "Using Law and Identity to Script Cultural Production: How The World Dreams Itself to be American: Reflections on the Relationship Between the Expanding Scope of Trademark Protection and Free Speech Norms," 17 Loy. L.A. Ent. L.J. 523 (1997)
  • Marshall A. Leaffer, "The New World of International Trademark Law," 2 Marquette Intellectual Property Law Review 1 (1998)
  • International Aspects of Trademark Law -- part 2  (April 9)

  • Imperial Tobacco Limited v. Philip Morris  [G 462-69]
  • Notes [G 469-74]
  • IHT Internationale Heiztechnik GmbH v. Ideal-Standard GmbH  [G 489-99]
  • Notes  [G 500-02]
  • Lever Brothers v. United States  [G 503-09]
  • Silhouette International Schmied GmbH v. Hartlauer Handelsgesellshaft mbH  [G 509-15]
  • Notes  [G 515-19]
  • Swanson, "Combatting Grey-Market Goods in a Global Market," 22 Hous. J. Int'l L 327 (2000)
  • Rosemary J. Coombe, "The Cultural Life of Things," 10 Am. U.J. Int'l L. & Pol'y 791 (1995)
  •       
    Additional Resources:

    Intellectual Property on the Internet -- part 1 (April 16)

  • iLaw:  Domain Names
  • Dan Burk, "Trademark Doctrines for Global Electronic Commerce," 49 South Carolina Law Review 695 (1998)
  • iLaw:  Online Business-Method Patents
  • European Business-Methods Patents
  • iLaw:  Interconnectivity
  • Intellectual Property on the Internet -- part 2 (April 23)

  • iLaw:  Copyright and Peer-to-Peer Copying
  • iLaw:  Alternatives to Intellectual Property
  • Australia's Copyright Amendment (Digital Agenda) Act of 2000
  • Mark Solomons, "Creative Business," Financial Times, February 20, 2001
  • James Boyle, "Whigs and Hackers," Financial Times, February 12, 2001
  • Robin Gross, "Swedish Court Exonerates Teen"
  • Cultural Property  (April 30)

  • Stephanie O. Forbes, Securing the Future of Our Past: Current Efforts to Protect Cultural Property, 9 Transnat'l Law. 235 (1996)
  • John Henry Merryman, Thinking About the Elgin Marbles, 83 Michigan Law Review 1881, 1881-84, 1910-1921 (1985)
  • Paul Kuruk, "Protecting Folklore Under Modern Intellectual Property Regimes: A Reappraisal of the Tensions Between Individual and Communal Rights in Africa and the United States," 48 American University Law Review 769 (1999)  [G 81-94]
  • Questions  [G 94-95]
  •       
    Additional resources:
    Instructor: William Fisher