RSS Feed
Facebook
Twitter
Google+Image via Wikipedia The Uneasy Case for Intellectual Property Rights in Traditional Knowledge by Stephen Munzer, Kal Raustiala: Should traditional knowledge—the understanding or skill possessed by indigenous peoples pertaining to their culture and folklore and their use of native plants … Continued
theory
A Misguided Philosophy of Science
PrawfsBlawg: A Misguided Philosophy of Science: During my first year as a economics graduate student, I spent at most two minutes thinking about the philosophy behind empirical work. On the first day of my year-long econometrics sequence, our professor quickly … Continued
Consumers and Copyright: Thoughts about reforming the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) is much maligned, but, I think, not fully understood by very many people. Today, a visitor to our Software Law class from Microsoft presented a very good explanation of the 1998 law. He explained … Continued
Strict International Patent Laws Hurt Developing Countries
Strict International Patent Laws Hurt Developing Countries, an article in YaleGlobal from 2002 by Amy Kapczynski: In 1998, 39 pharmaceutical companies filed a lawsuit against South Africa. They hoped to stop the government from producing the generic drugs that would … Continued
SSRN Papers Dealing with IP, Development and Innovation
Image via Wikipedia The Patent Lottery: Exploiting Behavioral Economics for the Common Good by Dennis Crouch Lotteries are immensely popular. Players are willing to give the organizer a large monetary cut of every ticket purchase in return for a chance … Continued
Against Intellectual Monopoly
Against Intellectual Monopoly, a book by by Michele Boldrin and David K. Levine, two economists who have proposed abolishing copyrights and patents: It is common to argue that intellectual property in the form of copyright and patent is necessary for … Continued
Economists: Abolish Copyright & Patents to Save the Economy
Economists: Abolish Copyright & Patents to Save the Economy: Two economists from Washington University have looked at current copyright and patent laws and concluded that they’re not good. The pair see current intellectual property laws as similar to “medieval trade … Continued
Beyond Economic Analysis of Intellectual Property: The Need For Social and Cultural Theory
The University of Chicago Law School Faculty Blog: Beyond Economic Analysis of Intellectual Property: The Need For Social and Cultural Theory (Madhavi Sunder): Over the course of the last century intellectual property has grown exponentially, but its march into all … Continued
Legal Scholarship, Electronic Publishing, and Open Access
Image via Wikipedia SSRN-Legal Scholarship, Electronic Publishing, and Open Access: Transformation or Steadfast Stagnation? by Stephanie Plotin: Abstract: This article uses a social shaping of technology perspective, which studies the complex interactions between technology and the culture of a discipline, … Continued
Copyright Fight Brewing Over Amazon's Kindle 2
Copyright Fight Brewing Over Amazon’s Kindle 2 | Threat Level from Wired.com: “They don’t have the right to read a book out loud,” said Paul Aiken, executive director of the Authors Guild. “That’s an audio right, which is derivative under … Continued
Reflecting on Darwin
As many are probably aware, the 12th of February was the 200th anniversary of Darwin’s birth. It seems appropriate, then, to reflect on the latest attempts to challenge evolutionary biology through a belief in what is called “intelligent design.” But … Continued
Social Science Research Network (SSRN)
Sam Kamin at PrawfsBlawg points out that the New York Times has discovered SSRN. He writes: It’s actually a pretty decent synopsis of the SSRN phenomenon, noting that it takes away the power of gatekeepers, makes scholarship available to the … Continued
Rothman on Custom in Intellectual Property
Legal Theory Blog: Rothman on Custom in Intellectual Property: The treatment of customary practices has been widely debated in many areas of the law, but there has been virtually no discussion of how custom is and should be treated in … Continued
Should we study Kelsen?
Quite honestly, I had never heard of Kelsen before. Perhaps this is unsurprising, considering the almost complete lack of theory in the law school curriculum. I also never encountered him in my studies of history, philosophy or literary theory, but … Continued
So Why Hasn't Critical Theory Worked in Law?
I wondered previously why critical theory approaches (like the much-criticized Critical Legal Studies) haven’t had much of an impact on U.S. law or legal analysis. Maybe “litcrit” has relied too much on the fabled “Death of the Author” (even without … Continued
Useful Introductions to Theory
The “Introductory Guide to Critical Theory” (which I extract from and link to below, along with other useful reference sites) provides an excellent basic introduction to some of the main points of contemporary critical theory (which I encountered as part … Continued
