Monthly Archives: January, 2024
‘Owning Metadata: Dispelling Copyright Misunderstandings About NFTs’
‘The Treachery of Images: Non-Fungible Tokens and Copyright’, Andres Guadamuz, 16 Journal of Intellectual Property Law and Practice 1367 (2021). In a memorable skit on Saturday Night Live, Pete Davidson-as-Eminem inquires about what a non-fungible token (‘NFT’) is and why they are selling for so much money. In this succinct article, ‘The Treachery of Images: […]
Laurent Bergé, Thorsten Doherr and Katrin Hussinger, ‘How Patent Rights Affect University Science’
ABSTRACT How do intellectual property rights influence academic science? We investigate the consequences of the introduction of software patents in the US on the publications of university researchers in the field of computer science. Difference-in-difference estimations reveal that software scientists at US universities produced fewer publications (both in terms of quantity and quality) than their […]
‘Restitution of mistaken payments, again: Chase quickly recovers $50billion; while Citibank eventually recovers (a mere) $500million, defeating defences of “discharge for value”’
In my previous post, I looked at Foris GFS Australia Pty Ltd v Manivel [2022] VSC 482 (26 August 2022), in which cryptocurrency trading platform Crypto.com accidentally transferred Aus$10.5m [€7.35m; US$7m; St£6.3m] to an Australian customer when processing an Aus$100 [€70; US$67; St£60] refund, by mistakenly entering her account number into the ‘payment amount’ field. […]
Hannah Marek, ‘Navigating intellectual property in the landscape of digital cultural heritage sites’
ABSTRACT While three-dimensional digital renderings of cultural heritage sites have been developed over the past decades for informational and preservation purposes, the COVID 19 pandemic has demonstrated that the audience for virtual cultural heritage – so-called ‘technoheritage’ – is likely to grow, engaging lay persons and specialist scholars alike through creative renditions and experiences of […]
Linda Mullenix, ‘Aggregationists at the Barricades: Assessing the Impact of The Principles of the Law of Aggregate Litigation’
ABSTRACT In 2004 the American Law Institute began work on The Principles of the Law of Aggregate Litigation, finally published in 2010. The Principles was addressed to legislatures, administrative agencies, attorneys, private actors, and courts concerning multiparty, multiforum litigation. A purpose of the Principles was to suggest best practices for these institutions and actors. This […]
‘Internet intermediary liability and copyright infringement: shaping an alternative EU framework?’
The thorny issue of internet intermediary liability seems to continue preoccupying EU policymakers. While internet intermediaries act as gatekeepers of content that is transmitted online, their services seem to attract a high number of copyright infringements. Effective and prompt solutions to combat online piracy are more than urgent. This blogpost provides a critical reflection on […]
Andrew Michaels, ‘NFT Litigation is Raising Novel Trademark Questions’
ABSTRACT The recent of explosion of non-fungible tokens (‘NFTs’) has raised various intellectual property issues, resulting in a number of lawsuits currently before federal courts. These suits are already raising novel questions in trademark law, and are presenting old but unsettled questions in a new light. This short article considers some such issues relating to […]
‘The Empirics of Choice of Law’
In an effort to peer into judicial decisionmaking more generally, a recent paper by Dan Klerman (USC), ‘Bias in Choice of Law: New Empirical and Experimental Evidence’, levers both observational and experimental data drawn from the vehicle accident context to examine choice of law disputes. The paper considers three leading sources of choice of law […]
Haim Abraham, ‘Queering the Reasonable Person’
ABSTRACT Critical lenses, such as feminist and critical race theories, have been employed extensively to analyze the reasonable person standard theoretically and doctrinally, noting that courts and scholars personify the standards as a middle-class, white, heterosexual man. Consequently, these critical lenses have indicated that real individuals, who do not share the qualities of the personified […]
Kayleen Manwaring, ‘“Click Here to (Dis)Agree”: Australian Law and Practice in Relation to Informed Consent’
ABSTRACT This article provides a detailed examination of issues with the legislative framework meeting consumer expectations in relation to informed consent, particularly in relation to the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Consumer Law. It also discusses two potential areas that might assist in fleshing out the current minimalist legislative definition of consent: namely […]