Learn Something New Every Day

Every day, people learn something new that adds some kind of value to their lives. I am going to try to post at one thing that I learn every day. I am a law school graduate, used to do some IT work, and just generally get out and around, so this shouldn’t be too difficult to do, right? We’ll see…
November 15

States Are Not Subject to Copyright/Trademark/Patent Infringement Claims

States are NOT subject to copyright infringement, or trademark infringement, or patent infringement, under federal law. 

So, If a law review article copies your book/article/anything copyrighted, you have no copyright infringement claim under the Copyright Act of 1976, only under state law may you bring a claim for damages. 

Chavez v. Arte Publico Press, 139 F.3d 504 (1998)

 Voided §501(a) of the Copyright Act, which said that copying a copyrighted work is an infringement.  States that have actions brought against them for money damages in federal court for copyright infringement will not stand.

College Savings Bank v. Florida Prepaid Postsecondary Educ. Expense Bd., 527 U.S. 666 (1999)

 Did the same for Trademark claims.

Florida Prepaid Postsecondary Educ. Expense Bd. v. College Savings Bank, 527 U.S. 627 (1999)

Did the same for Patent claims.