Arguing Takings of IP Rights is, Sadly, a Losing Proposition

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The Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment states that private property “shall not be taken for public use, without just compensation.”[1]  Intellectual property rights – patents, trademarks, copyrights, and other IP – have long been considered property rights.  This belief, however, has been tested by the Supreme Court’s reluctance to specifically define IP as a …

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Collecting Royalties Indicative of Authorship, not Work for Hire

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On August 21, 2019, the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled in an interesting example of what is deemed “work for hire,” as defined by the Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. §201(b), in Morricone Music Inc. v. Bixio Music Group Ltd..[1] Ennio Morricone is the late Italian composer of several musical film scores, which …

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