George Mason University Antonin Scalia Law School

New White Paper Explores the Importance of Property Rights to National Wealth and Security

a hand reaching for a shining, hanging keyA new white paper, Property Rights: The Key to National Wealth and National Security, was published today by Dr. James Edwards, the Executive Director of Conservatives for Property Rights. In the white paper, Dr. Edwards explores how stable and effective property rights in both tangible and intangible property are critical to human flourishing and progress, and he notes that a renewed commitment to strengthening property rights will help to restore U.S. Read more

Letter to Antitrust Chief Applauds DOJ’s New Evidence-Based Approach to IP Enforcement

hand under a lightbulb drawn on a chalkboardA group of judges, former judges and government officials, law professors and economists with expertise in antitrust law and patent law sent a letter to Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim earlier today applauding his recent announcements that the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice (DOJ) would now take a balanced, evidence-based approach in applying antitrust law to patent licensing, especially to patented innovations that have been contributed to technological standards. Read more

U.S. Innovation Economy Falls Even Further in Latest GIPC Patent Rankings

hand under a lightbulb drawn on a chalkboardThe Global Innovation Policy Center (GIPC) at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has just released the sixth edition of its International IP Index. Unfortunately, the report finds that the United States is now tied for 12th place in its patent rankings. Read more

CPIP Scholars File Amicus Brief Urging Supreme Court to Fix Section 101

dictionary entry for the word "innovate"On December 4, 2017, CPIP Founder Adam Mossoff and CPIP John F. Witherspoon Legal Fellow David Lund filed an amicus brief urging the Supreme Court to grant certiorari in RecogniCorp. v. Nintendo. The amicus brief was joined by several law professors, including Richard Epstein and Michael Risch, as well as CPIP Senior Scholars Chris Holman, Kristen Osenga, Mark Schultz, and Ted Sichelman. Read more

Court Confirms the Obvious: Aiding and Abetting Criminal Copyright Infringement Is a Crime

Cross-posted from the Law Theories blog.

closeup of a circuit boardIn July of 2016, a criminal complaint was filed in the Northern District of Illinois alleging that Artem Vaulin of the Ukraine was the mastermind behind the popular torrent site, Kickass Torrents (KAT). At the time, KAT was one of the largest pirate sites in the world, with an estimated 50 million unique visitors each month. Read more

The PTAB’s Regulatory Overreach and How it Cripples the Innovation Economy

files labeled as "patents"On August 14, 2017, the Regulatory Transparency Project of the Federalist Society published a new white paper, Crippling the Innovation Economy: Regulatory Overreach at the Patent Office. This white paper examines how an administrative tribunal created in 2011—the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB)—has become “a prime example regulatory overreach.” Read more

The Drug Innovation Paradox: Matching Incentives to Market Realities

scientist looking through a microscopeThe hardest things are often the most important things. That’s one of the implicit justifications for the intellectual property system. If we want people to do the hard and important work of researching, developing, and commercializing game-changing innovations, then we need to secure the fruits of their labor with property rights. Read more

Another Huge Setback in CloudFlare’s Quixotic Campaign to Protect Pirate Sites

the word "copyright" typed on a computerLast August, I wrote about CloudFlare’s “desperate new strategy” to protect MP3Skull, a notorious pirate site that was sued by various recording companies for copyright infringement. CloudFlare offers content delivery networking, web optimization, and other performance services for websites. Read more

CPIP Scholars Ask Supreme Court to Resist Call to Restrict Venue Choices for Patent Owners

U.S. Supreme Court buildingOn March 8, 2017, CPIP Scholars Adam Mossoff, Devlin Hartline, Chris Holman, Sean O’Connor, Kristen Osenga, & Mark Schultz joined an amicus brief in TC Heartland v. Kraft Foods. CPIP Scholars worked with USD Law’s Ted Sichelman to organize, write, and file the brief. Read more

CPIP’s Sandra Aistars & Scalia Law Alumnae Urge Federal Circuit to Protect Creators and Rein In Fair Use in Oracle v. Google

U.S. Capitol buildingOn February 17, 2017, CPIP Senior Scholar Sandra Aistars filed an amicus brief in Oracle v. Google, a copyright case currently before the Federal Circuit. Prof. Aistars worked in conjunction with Scalia Law alumnae Antigone Peyton and Jennifer Aktins of Cloudigy Law and third-year law student Rebecca Cusey to file the brief on behalf of 13 intellectual property scholars, including CPIP’s Matthew Barblan, Devlin Hartline, Sean O’Connor, Eric Priest, and Mark Schultz. Read more