By Jason R. Wachter
Every night of the week club-goers wait in line for hours to get into the hottest clubs in some of the hottest cities in the world. If they are lucky enough to get past the velvet ropes and through the club doors, in a matter of minutes, they could hear the music of as many as ten different artists ranging from the likes of Madonna, the Rolling Stones, and Nirvana to Christina Aguilera, Kanye West, and Snoop Dogg blended into one musical track. This unique phenomenon in the music industry is the work of celebrity disc jockeys (“DJs”), who splice, scratch, and mix classic and popular songs together to create an entertaining musical work of their own. These creations are so entertaining, in fact, that celebrity DJs have developed a new music industry phenomenon that club-goers, club owners, and even radio stations have come to depend on night after night.
Celebrity DJs have created such a demand for their services that they are able to earn up to $1,000 per hour. Most celebrity DJs have “residences” at various nightclubs, often performing a few nights a week. However, due to their popularity and demand, there are times when celebrity DJs may perform at different events every night of the week in different cities across the country. In many cases, DJ performances at nightclubs are even broadcast live on radio stations or over the Internet allowing millions of listeners to enjoy their music. In addition, celebrity DJs pull in profits by hosting private celebrity parties and corporate events. One reason for this rise in the popularity of celebrity DJs is the advent of new technology, which allows not only professionals, but amateurs to remix and package music in their homes with increasing ease and clarity. But is this new age of the celebrity DJ all it is cracked up to be?
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By Catrina Sveum
This book provides an overview of the legal and scientific concepts involving the appropriation of plants for biotechnological purposes. The book focuses on the tension between developing nations and industrialized nations as plant resources become the subjects of patents.
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By Eric Waldman
Peer-to-peer (“P2P”) technology distributors, particularly Grokster and Streamcast Networks, will not miss the year 2005. In June of that year, the United States Supreme Court handed down one of the most anticipated copyright cases in recent memory. In MGM Studios Inc. v. Grokster, the Court held that a distributor of software may be liable for acts of infringement by third parties who use the software if that distributor has taken “affirmative steps to foster infringement” regardless of the device’s lawful uses, a test now known as “active inducement.”
Grokster and Streamcast Networks are two P2P companies whose software was used by individuals to distribute copyrighted works. The Court found that the defendants could be liable for inducing copyright infringement. After the decision, the only content found on Grokster’s website contained a couple of paragraphs, one of which read, “[t]here are legal services for downloading music and movies. This service is not one of them.” The decision not only made a statement to Grokster, but also to all P2P companies who actively induce infringement.
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By David Ray
Try to imagine life without the Internet. Over the last half century, the dramatic growth of the Internet has fundamentally changed the way humans shop, communicate, and entertain themselves. The Internet’s one billion users make nearly six billion searches a year. The growth of the Internet has been dramatic, with usage increasing 200 percent since 2000. According to the Department of Commerce (DoC), e-commerce now accounts for over fifty-six billion dollars in retail sales annually in the United States (U.S.) alone.
After providing a brief history of the Internet and a review of how the DNS operates, this paper examines a number of criticisms that have forced ICANN to confront the challenge of an increasingly hostile international community. This paper identifies several international alternatives to ICANN and evaluates their effectiveness. Ultimately this paper concludes management of the DNS by an international organization is unrealistic, inadvisable, or both. This reality necessitates a restructuring of ICANN to adequately address the international concerns surrounding the current framework.
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By Ryan Crawford
Advances in genetic modification techniques enable the creation of crops with commercially desirable characteristics. Recombined gene sequences may be inserted into a crop’s genome to protect it against herbicides, insects, or rodents. In the United States, a variety of patent and trade secret protections are afforded the developers of such crops and other genetically modified organisms. The scope of these protections has been interpreted more broadly over the years by the courts. This broadening of legal protections has occurred as the relationship between the developers of seed, the government, and farmers has changed from one in which seed development was largely the work of the government and academia, especially public universities and land grant colleges, to one in which seed development is increasingly privatized, or accomplished through the alliance of private and public forces.
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by C. Bradford Jorgensen
For those who enjoy the game of golf, whether you are brand new to the game or have been playing for years, the contents of this article will peak your curiosity and open your eyes. While the article does focus on intellectual property law and the obstacles that golf club manufactures face in the ever-changing world market, there is none of the traditional “legalese” normally found in most law articles. Instead, Mr. Jorgensen’s article is one that could easily be found in Sports Illustrated while providing a brief history of the sport and describing the evolution of the process for manufacturing golf clubs.
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By Katherine E. White
America’s ability to innovate at a rapid pace is an important factor in staying competitive in the global marketplace. Currently, one of the most powerful remedies available for non-manufacturing patentees and patent marketers is the injunction, which makes it possible to immediately stop an alleged infringer from its prohibited activities. Manufacturers may hinder America’s ability to innovate at a rapid pace, by trying to drastically change the patent laws to make them more favorable to patent owners who develop their inventions into products for commercial sale at the expense of those who do not. One proposed change in the patent laws would eliminate the injunction, allowing a manufacturer to continue to infringe, drag out the litigation, and pay the reasonable royalty rate if it loses the infringement suit. Monetary damages are often inadequate to compensate for infringement because the alleged infringer is able to gain market share while the litigation is pending.
Without exclusive rights and the ability to define the metes and bounds of one’s invention, others would wait for an invention to take place, steal it, and use it for their own. If the injunctive power of the courts is eliminated, a leading case stated that the express purpose of the Patent Clause of the U.S. Constitution, to promote the progress of science and innovation, would be seriously undermined. Patent laws historically have been, and should continue to be, used to promote innovation and the progress of science, not manufacturing.
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