Author(s): Peter S. Menell Year: 2012 Abstract: Drawing upon historical patterns and the symbiotic relationship between distribution platforms and creative expression, this commentary examines the problems currently dividing the technology and content sectors over Internet copyright enforcement. It highlights two key factors causing the dysfunction — the vertical fragmentation of distribution platforms in the Internet […]
Design for Symbiosis: Promoting More Harmonious Paths for Technological Innovators and Expressive Creators in the Internet Age
Warrantless Wiretapping, FISA Reform, and the Lessons of Public Liberty
Author(s): Paul M. Schwartz Year: 2009 Abstract: The central metaphor of Stephen Holmes’s Jorde Lecture1 is a haunting one: it is of emergency room personnel taking time and care during a lifethreatening situation to follow rules. These rules are ones of medical procedure that the staff carefully learns before the emergency and then faithfully follows […]
Justifying Intellectual Property
Author(s): Robert P. Merges Year: 2011 Abstract: Why should a property interest exist in an intangible item? In recent years, arguments over intellectual property have often divided proponents—who emphasize the importance of providing incentives for producers of creative works— from skeptics who emphasize the need for free and open access to knowledge. In a wide-ranging […]
Identity Theft: Making the Known Unknowns Known
Author(s): Chris Jay Hoofnagle Year: 2008 Abstract: There is widespread agreement that identity theft causes financial damage to consumers, lending institutions, retail establishments, and the economy as a whole. Surprisingly, there is little good public information available about the scope of the crime and the actual damages it inflicts. The publicly available data on identity […]
Measuring Identity Theft (Version 2.0)
Author(s): Chris Jay Hoofnagle Year: 2008 Abstract: There is no reliable way for consumers, regulators, and businesses to assess the relative rates of identity fraud at major financial institutions. This lack of information prevents a consumer market for bank safety from emerging. As part of a multiple strategy approach to obtaining more actionable data on […]
Debunking the Commercial Profilers’ Claims: A Skeptical Analysis of the Benefits of Personal Information Flows
Author(s): Chris Jay Hoofnagle Year: 2004 Abstract: In comments to the Federal Trade Commission, the authors propose a model for evaluating the costs to personal privacy imposed by uses of personal information. Under this proposal, the costs of information flows would be measured against Fair Information Practices, principles that set out the rights and responsibilities […]
Reviving Telecommunications Surveillance Law
Author(s): Paul M. Schwartz Year: 2008 Abstract: Consider three questions. How would one decide if there was too much telecommunications surveillance in the United States, or too little? How would one know if law enforcement was using its surveillance capabilities in the most effective fashion? How would one assess the impact of this collection of […]
Internet Privacy and the State
Author(s): Paul M. Schwartz Year: 2000 Abstract: In Internet Privacy and the State, Professor Paul M. Schwartz argues that the dominant rhetoric concerning the use of personal data in cyberspace slights the State’s important role in shaping both a privacy market and privacy norms. This Article reaches this conclusion in three steps. In Part I, […]
Protecting Early Innovators: Should Second-Generation Products be Patentable?
Author(s): Suzanne Scotchmer Year: 1998 Abstract: Incentives to develop basic technologies are greater if the patentholder profits from applications or other second-generation products. Assuming that such products infringe the basic patent and that there is not much delay between the innovations, I argue that (i) patents on second-generation products are not necessary to encourage their […]
As Many as Six Impossible Patents Before Breakfast: Property Rights for Business Concepts and Patent System Reform
Author(s): Robert P. Merges Year: 1999 Abstract: In this paper I describe the emergence of patents for business “methods” or concepts, such as the Priceline.com airplane ticket Internet purchase system. I am essentially agnostic about whether these patents are worthwhile. Nevertheless, I argue that the increased volume of patent applications stemming from this newly patentable […]