C-K Faculty Blog

Justice Breyer visits Chicago-Kent

Chicago-Kent was honored to welcome United States Supreme Court Justice Stephen G. Breyer to the law school on September 12 to speak at the inaugural program of our new Institute on the Supreme Court of the United States.

In his thought-provoking, 90-minute presentation to students, faculty, alumni and friends, Justice Breyer addressed the themes set forth in his book Making Our Democracy Work--A Judge's View, and he answered questions posed by the audience.

A video of the talk as well as links to Justice Breyer's interviews with Chicago media can be found here.

Human Rights in Zimbabwe

Professor Bartram S. Brown was a member of the delegation of experts sent by the International  Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI) to conduct a two week mission to Zimbabwe in June 2011.  The goal was to investigate the progress of the rule of law in Zimbabwe.  The delegation met with Prime Minister Morton Tsvangirai, with other cabinet members from both parties, and with many representatives of local NGOs and lawyers' groups in and around the cities of Harare, Mutare, and Bulawayo.

The subsequent report, ZIMBABWE: TIME FOR A NEW APPROACH was released in September of 2011.  It illustrates how the rule of law is still under threat in many areas in Zimbabwe. The issues of independence of the Attorney-General and the judiciary and justice for victims of violence during the 2008 elections remain current and must be addressed before the next elections. 

"Financial Aid" with Professor William Birdthistle

Professor William Birdthistle has created a series of entertaining short videos to explain basic financial concepts to students and the general public. The twelve lessons tackle questions such as What is a Company? What is Equity? What is Debt? with short video explanations that run five to seven minutes. For a list of the twelve lessons and to play one or all of the videos click here.

Making Sense of IP named "Download of the Week"

My new paper, Making Sense of Intellectual Property Law, has been named "Download of the Week" by Larry Solum's Legal Theory Blog.

As Larry says, download it while it's hot!

Making Sense of Intellectual Property Law

I have posted a new paper, Making Sense of Intellectual Property Law, to ssrn. It is forthcoming in the Cornell Law Review. Here is the abstract:

Intellectual property (IP) scholars have long struggled to explain the boundaries of and differences between copyright and patent law. This Article proposes a novel explanation: copyright and patent can be fruitfully understood as establishing a dichotomy between the different human senses. Copyright has bracketed works addressed to the senses of sight and hearing, and it treats products appealing to touch, taste, and smell as functional and, thus, uncopyrightable. To the extend the latter receive IP protection, it is through the utility patent regime. The Article begins by establishing this descriptive proposition, and it shows how some of the most contested areas of IP (e.g., the useful articles doctrine in copyright law and design patents) involve breaches of this sensory dichotomy. Next, I argue that the sensory dichotomy in IP reflects the sensory hierarchy in traditional Western aesthetic theory. According to this tradition, sight and hearing are considered “high” senses capable of unconstrained aesthetic and cultural experiences. Touch, taste, and smell, by contrast, are considered “low” senses, because their connection to natural bodily needs constrains their aesthetic capacities. IP law’s treatment of the senses in copyright and patent law matches this hierarchy. 

In recent years, however, fundamental principles of Western aesthetic theory have been undermined by developments in cognitive neuroscience, evolutionary aesthetics, and haptic and culinary communication. This research suggests that sight and hearing are not as aesthetically unconstrained and functionless, nor are touch, taste, and smell as aesthetically constrained and functional as previously believed. Accordingly, I argue that IP law should treat appeals to the senses uniformly. Works that express or communicate ideas, emotions, or pleasures to any of the five senses in such a way that creates original works of authorship should be potentially copyrightable. The Article concludes with an analysis of this proposal’s effects on various creative fields, including tactile objects, fashion, culinary dishes, and yoga.

Download the paper here.