Engelberg Center Innovation Policy Colloquium

Professor Dev Gangjee of the University of Oxford Faculty of Law discusses Geographical Indications. Geographical Indications are legally protected designations of origins for products.We examine why GIs exist in the first place and how they can evolve with legitimacy, especially in the face of innovation and environmental change.

Professor Yafit Lev-Aretz of the Zicklin School of Business at Baruch College and Professor Katherine Strandburg of NYU Law discuss the relationship between privacy regulation and innovation.  We examine ways to add nuance to discussions about the relationship between privacy regulation and innovation, and focus on how regulation can often be used to direct innovation in socially productive directions. 

Professor Amy Adler of NYU Law discusses her work on the role that copyright plays in the world of fine art.  We discuss her work on the mismatch between utilitarian copyright theory and copyright as it operates in that world, specifically how the norm of authenticity in the fine art world is much more important than the types of control the copyright law offers creators. 

Professor William McGeveran of the University of Minnesota Law School discussed his work on selfmarks – trademarks that people – especially famous people or people who hope to be famous - use for themselves.  We discuss why selfmarks exist, and how they relate both to rights of publicity and more traditional trademarks.

Professor Joseph Fishman of Vanderbilt Law School and Professor Deepa Varadarajan of the J. Mack Robinson College of Business at Georgia State University discuss setting boundaries on trade secrets.  Trade secrets have become a hot topic lately, and Professor Fishman and Varadarajan’s work explores the best way to set boundaries on the doctrine, especially when it is unclear if a trade secret is actually connected to an allegedly infringing activity.

Professor Jane Anderson of New York University discussed how indigenous and traditional knowledge interacts with intellectual property law.  Professor Anderson co-created the Local Contexts project, home to the Traditional Knowledge labels, which we discuss in today’s episode.  The Traditional Knowledge labels are designed to help people understand the full context of indigenous and traditional knowledge that is held in archives and museums.You can find out more about the Traditional Knowledge project here: http://localcontexts.org/tk-labels/

Professor Graeme Dinwoodie of the Chicago-Kent College of Law discusses non-traditional trademarks.  While trademarks are usually words or logos, there is an entire universe of other things that can end up being used at trademarks.  We discuss the reasons that it makes sense to allow non-traditional marks, as well as problems that non-traditional marks can create – especially for competition.

Professor Mark McKenna of Notre Dame Law School discussed his work, along with Professor Mark Lemley of Stanford Law School, on unfair disruption.  When disruption comes to an industry, incumbents often look to IP law to defend their position even if their concern is not really rooted in intellectual property protection.  Professors McKenna and Lemley’s work examines when courts should and should not consider this response reasonable, and how other areas of law have developed rules to prevent them from being used too broadly.The Aereo video service is discussed as an example of this type of disruption. You can find more background on Aereo here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aereo

Professor Nicholson Price of the University of Michigan Law School discusses his work on grants with NYU Law Engelberg Center Executive Director Michael Weinberg. We talk about how grants fit in with other ways to incentivize innovation such as patents and prizes. Although the grant system is tens – if not hundreds – of times larger than the prize system, it tends to be understudied as a way to incentivize production. The grant system is especially important in fueling basis science research.

This introductory episode of the Innovation Policy Colloquium podcast also acts as a preview of the upcoming season. Professors Beebe and Fromer describe how the Engelberg Center's Innovation Policy Colloquium works, as well as some of the scholars involved in this year's edition. You can find more information about the Engelberg Center Innovation Policy Colloquium here, and more information about the Engelberg Center itself here.  This podcast is brought to you by NYU Law's Engelberg Center on Innovation Law & Policy.