Avoidance of an Unauthorized Post-Petition Transfer of Intellectual Property Under Section 549 of the Bankruptcy Code

(Excerpt) Under section 549 of title 11 of the United States Code (the “Bankruptcy Code”), a trustee may avoid an unauthorized post-petition transfer of property of the debtor’s estate. Property is not limited to tangible property. Thus, a trustee can avoid a post-petition transfer of intangible assets, including intellectual property. This article explores a trustee’s ability to avoid a post-petition transfer of intellectual property. Part I analyzes the legal standard for avoidance of unauthorized post-petition transfers under section 549. Part II examines section 549 in relation to intellectual property. Part III discusses the procedure for remedies a trustee can seek under section 550 upon avoidance of their unauthorized intellectual property transfer

Open Access Publishing: A Literature Review

Within the context of the Centre for Copyright and New Business Models in the Creative Economy (CREATe) research scope, this literature review investigates the current trends, advantages, disadvantages, problems and solutions, opportunities and barriers in Open Access Publishing (OAP), and in particular Open Access (OA) academic publishing. This study is intended to scope and evaluate current theory and practice concerning models for OAP and engage with intellectual, legal and economic perspectives on OAP. It is also aimed at mapping the field of academic publishing in the UK and abroad, drawing specifically upon the experiences of CREATe industry partners as well as other initiatives such as SSRN, open source software, and Creative Commons. As a final critical goal, this scoping study will identify any meaningful gaps in the relevant literature with a view to developing further research questions. The results of this scoping exercise will then be presented to relevant industry and academic partners at a workshop intended to assist in further developing the critical research questions pertinent to OAP

Towards a New Core International Copyright Norm: The Reverse Three-Step Test

This paper argues that international copyright treaties, such as the WTO TRIPS Agreement, should no longer be developed as sets of minimum standards with a standardized exception filter, namely the three-step test, but rather include a normative standard for the copyright rights themselves. In seeking harmony between rights and exceptions, and in light of copyright haphazard evolution (by simply adding new rights when a new way of using protected content was invented), a single new core norm is proposed: the reverse three-step test

Righting the Titled Scale: Expansion of Artists\u27 Rights in the United States

This Note focuses on the expansion of artists\u27 rights in the United States, specifically the moral rights of paternity and integrity. It explores the history of judicial denial of moral rights and the attempt to gain protection through traditional causes of action. The Note then analyzes barriers to adoption of the moral rights doctrine, with emphasis on the challenge to traditional property concepts. The California Art Preservation Act of 1980 and the 1984 Artists\u27 Authorship Act of New York are discussed and evaluated. This Note recommends adoption of the California statute as the model for future artists\u27 rights legislation and defends property rights restrictions imposed by the Act on the basis of support of legal precedent and the justification of protection of the public interest

Righting the Titled Scale: Expansion of Artists\u27 Rights in the United States

This Note focuses on the expansion of artists\u27 rights in the United States, specifically the moral rights of paternity and integrity. It explores the history of judicial denial of moral rights and the attempt to gain protection through traditional causes of action. The Note then analyzes barriers to adoption of the moral rights doctrine, with emphasis on the challenge to traditional property concepts. The California Art Preservation Act of 1980 and the 1984 Artists\u27 Authorship Act of New York are discussed and evaluated. This Note recommends adoption of the California statute as the model for future artists\u27 rights legislation and defends property rights restrictions imposed by the Act on the basis of support of legal precedent and the justification of protection of the public interest

Undampened Oscillations in the Circuit: Combining the Components of 271(f) Doctrine Supplied by the Federal Circuit

Recent Federal Circuit interpretations of patent infringement laws that control cross-border activities appear to be tangled and conflicting because they are not based upon any underlying doctrine. In this note I attempt to unravel andsynthesize current case law into a cogent set of principles. I demonstrate that, although the case law delineates a coherent doctrine, this doctrine is by no means ideal or well-settled due primarily to the fact that method claims areincluded in the purvey of a statute not originally enacted to regulate such inventions. This over breadth causes many tensions that require complex rules, such as the detailed doctrine necessary to properly determine component status of tangible products in relation to a process invention. Insome cases, these rules reinforce the underlying doctrine by correctly excluding certain situations from the creation of § 271(f) liability. This is done, however, at the great cost of complexity and awkwardness. These problems have not only increased the inherent tension in § 271(f) doctrine, buthave also unsettled the Federal Circuit itself, resulting in the issuance of contentious dissenting opinions acknowledging the shortcomings of the current majority. This paper shows that although it is possible to coherently synthesize current C.A.F.C. § 271(f) case law, the resulting rules leave thedoctrine in a precarious position that will not stabilize as long as § 271(f) governs process inventions