Intellectual Property

On March 31, Professor Henry Smith delivered his Chair Lecture in honor of his appointment as Fessenden Professor of Law. His lecture, entitled Equity Revisited, explored the relationship between law and equity. He examined, through the lens of economic analysis, equity as a solution to opportunism on the part of those who exploit bright-line law, with a focus on equitable maxims, defenses, and remedies.

The Harvard Law School Library recently hosted Professors John Goldberg and Henry Smith for a discussion of their contributions to Oxford University Press’s new series, “Introductions to U.S. Law” (2010).

Harvard Law School Professor Jack Goldsmith wrote an op-ed for the Oct. 21, 2010 edition of the Washington Post titled “Our nation’s secrets, stuck in a broken system.” The piece addresses Bob Woodward’s book, “Obama Wars,” in which ostensibly classified information – presumably obtained from senior White House officials – is disclosed regardless of the “grave damage” that could result from its release.  

If it’s illegal to copy books and paintings, why should fashion designs be any different? That was the question posed by HLS Professor Jeannie Suk ‘02 and Columbia Law Professor C. Scott Hemphill in a recent op-ed in the Wall Street Journal

Benjamin Kaplan, the Royall Professor of Law Emeritus at Harvard Law School and a former justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, died August 18, 2010.

Harvard Law School Professor Lawrence Lessig recently spoke on NPR’s “Talk of the Nation” about a new ruling that allows Apple iPhone users to “hack” into their phones so they can choose a different carrier. Lessig, the director of the Edmond J. Safra Foundation Center for Ethics at Harvard, also discussed recent changes to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

Harvard Law School Professor Jonathan Zittrain recently appeared on NPR’s “On The Media” to discuss the recent decision by the Librarian of Congress that “jailbreaking” a smart phone is not in violation the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), which was enacted in 1998 to prevent the unauthorized distribution of copyrighted material via new media.

HLS Professor and faculty co-director of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society Yochai Benkler recently appeared on NPR's On The Media to discuss the future of the production and exchange of information in our society. 

A Boston University graduate student who is being  represented pro bono by Harvard Law School Professor Charles R. Nesson ’63 in a much-publicized copyright dispute will face a drastically reduced penalty for his illegal file-sharing activity, a federal judge has ruled.

Two Harvard Law School professors have been appointed to faculty chair positions: Jody Freeman LL.M. ’91 S.J.D. ’95 is the Archibald Cox Professor of Law, and Henry Smith is the Fessenden Professor of Law. Freeman and Smith took their new chairs on July 1.

HLS Professors Jack Goldsmith and Lawrence Lessig  co-wrote “Anti-counterfeiting agreement raises constitutional concerns,” an op-ed that appeared in the March 26 edition of the Washington Post. Goldsmith is co-author of "Who Controls the Internet?" Lessig is the author of "Remix: Making Art and Commerce Thrive in the Hybrid Economy."

For students looking for cutting-edge legal work in the realm of new technologies, there may be no better place than the Cyberlaw Clinic at the Berkman Center for Internet & Society. In the fall of 2008, more than 40 students were involved in a wide range of projects that explored areas such as free speech, intellectual property and online child safety in the context of the Internet and other rapidly developing technologies. Many of the projects the center undertook involves issues being litigated for the first time.

As a former curator at the J. Paul Getty Museum stands trial in Italy for criminal conspiracy to receive stolen goods, curators all over America are nervously rethinking their antiquity collections.

A principal at Fish & Richardson in Boston, Charles Hieken '57 has practiced all aspects of intellectual property law for more than 50 years. He and his wife, Donna, recently made a gift to the school to establish the Hieken Professorship in Patent Law.

HLS professor seeks to make copyrighted works accessible to students with disabilities.

HLS Recording Artists Project focuses on the legal side of the music industry.

With conferences, research and ideas, HLS faculty and students keep pace with the ever-changing world of intellectual property issues.

Professor William Fisher III '82 examines the history --and the future--of intellectual property law.

HLS professors propose different ways to address the proliferation of music downloading.

In October, the Supreme Court heard a challenge to the constitutionality of a law extending copyright by 20 years. But the question posed by the case, says Assistant Professor Jonathan Zittrain '95, is whether copyright can last forever.

When the World Wide Web first reached buzzword status in the mid-1990s, corporate presence on the Internet was comparatively small.