Intellectual Property

Copyright and Trademark

Copyrights and trademark are both types of intellectual property (IP). Copyright is a legal term describing rights given to creators for their literary and artistic works. A trademark provides protection to the owner of the mark by ensuring the exclusive right to use it to identify goods or services, or to authorize another to use it in return for payment.

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From the DMCA to the DSA: A Transatlantic Dialogue on Online Platform Liability and Copyright Law

Hosted by the Berkeley Center for Law & Technology

April 6, 2023, Berkeley, CA

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TAP Academics

Paul Goldstein
Stanford University
Intellectual Property, Copyright and Trademark, Patents

Christopher Sprigman
New York University
Innovation and Economic Growth, Intellectual Property, Competition Policy and Antitrust, Copyright and Trademark

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TAP Blog

Pamela Samuelson Pushes Back on Stricter Copyright ISP Liability Rules

Berkeley law professor Pamela Samuelson’s recent article examines proposed reforms of the DMCA’s safe harbor rules that limit the liability of ISPs hosting user-generated content. Professor Samuelson urges Congress to “take a balanced approach” and “consider the interests of a wide range of stakeholders”.

TAP Staff Blogger

November 13, 2020

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Fact Sheets

Piracy and IP Enforcement

In the context of technology, “piracy” is a colloquial term for the illegal copying of copyrighted works. The related problem of counterfeiting is the illegal reproduction of patented or trademarked products.

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Lofi Girl Disappeared from YouTube and Reignited Debate Over Bogus Copyright Claims

“We ended up with this system because in the 1990s, when the contours of the internet and copyright are still coming into view, this is the compromise that representatives of the copyright industries and the internet industries worked out.” — James Grimmelmann, Professor of Law, Cornell University

James Grimmelmann
NPR
July 16, 2022

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Mashups and Fair Use: The Bold Misadventures of the Seussian Starship Enterprise

A book that placed Star Trek characters in illustrations from Dr. Seuss is an unauthorized derivative work under the Copyright Act. The District Court erred in ruling that the book was a “fair use.”

By: Peter Menell, David Nimmer, Shyamkrishna Balganesh

August 15, 2019