Journal of Intellectual Property Law

In SoundExchange, Inc. v. Sirius XM Radio Inc. (S.D.N.Y. 2025), the court held that SoundExchange—the congressionally designated nonprofit that collects and distributes statutory digital performance royalties under 17 U.S.C. § 114—lacks authority to bring suit to recover alleged underpayments. That ruling creates an enforcement paradox at the center of the section 114 statutory-license ecosystem:…

The more deceptive the claim, the safer it becomes. Recent false advertising decisions hold that a categorical marketing promise is not literally false so long as it works for someone—even if it fails for ordinary consumers in ordinary use. Under this logic, technical accuracy immunizes practical deception, and truth is measured by theoretical possibility rather than communicative meaning. This N…

Today, the vast majority of American military servicemembers have active personal social media accounts. By creating and posting content online—particularly when in uniform—they run the risk of reflecting poorly on the image of the Department of Defense and their respective branches. Yet, the statutory and regulatory restrictions on content creation are loose and ambiguous. To combat this problem…

The growth of social media, AI-generated imagery, and name, image, and likeness (NIL) licensing has exponentially increased the reproduction of tattoos, yet their status under the Copyright Act remains unsettled. While tattoos arguably satisfy the threshold requirements of Title 17, their fixation on human skin challenges the definition of a "material object" and raises unique conflicts regarding…

Over the past decade, social media has enabled an increasing number of people to pursue influencing as a full-time career on platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube. To succeed commercially, these creators make repeated stylistic choices that both conform to online trends and project a carefully curated persona. As these personae become profitable, however, they also become susceptible t…

Technologies improve primarily through evolutionary change not rational optimization. New technologies emerge as attempts to solve practical problems, the technologies are tested in marketplaces to determine if they are superior in cost and function to alternatives, and those that fare well in the testing gain widespread adoption.  Widely adopted technologies, and their problems, form the basis f…

Patent specifications have nearly quadrupled in length over the past four decades, rising from approximately 3,500 words in the early 1980s to over 13,000 words by 2025. At the same time, the average number of claims per patent has declined since peaking in 2005. Using the population of 7.6 million published patent applications from 2005 through early 2025, this Article advances a supply-side exp…

Everyday millions of counterfeit goods are shipped from suppliers on Alibaba’s website based in China to retailers on Amazon, Walmart, and other e-commerce platforms and sold to U.S. consumers. The significance of this massive pipeline seems to have eluded brand owners and U.S. government authorities. Most brand owners have concentrated their efforts on suppressing counterfeits on U.S. e-commerce…

Recommended Citation Jared Brown, Table of Contents, 33 J. Intell. Prop. L. (2026). Available at: https://digitalcommons.law.uga.edu/jipl/vol33/iss2/1

Abstract In 2019, musicians joined together to launch two separate lawsuits against Sony Music Entertainment (“Sony”) and Universal Music Group (“UMG”) after the record labels ignored the musicians’ copyright termination notices. Copyright termination is a powerful tool that allows the original owner of a work, under some circumstances, to regain possession years after they have assigned it to an…

Abstract Available in the form of pills, powders, gummies, bars, and countless other options, dietary supplements have become a cornerstone of the health and wellness industry and a popular product amongst health-conscious consumers. Fueled by the rise of social media influencers and a surge in health-awareness following the COVID-19 pandemic, the supplement industry has experienced rapid growth,…

Abstract This note examines the intersection between shareholders agreements and intellectual property ownership in Delaware corporations after Delaware Senate Bill No. 313. Delaware corporate governance law has created extensive statutory and case law balancing the competing interests of corporate actors. The board of directors maintains an exclusive right to manage the affairs of a corporation,…

Abstract Advancements in technology and the development of new online platforms have paved the way for true crime to become one of the most popular genres today. While some believe true crime content is akin to news reporting, others have raised ethical concerns and believe that victims’ identities should be protected by a right of publicity. The key is to find a balance between protecting victim…

Abstract The rapid rise of artificial intelligence(AI)in music creation has sparked concern over how the rights of artists can remain adequately protected from unauthorized uses of their voices, likeliness, and stylistic elements. A popular proposed solution to this complex problem is the creation of a federal right of publicity. Proponents of this solution stress that it would provide artists wi…

Abstract Patent practitioners have gradually shelved Jepson claims for four decades. In those four decades, Supreme Court patent subject matter eligibility jurisprudence has taken a roller-coaster ride from an ancient point-of-novelty approach through the days of Diamond v. Diehr and back to a modernized arguably point-of-novelty-focused approach again in Mayo and Alice. In the absence of congres…

Abstract This study examines the Cayman Islands’ unique position in the global intellectual property (IP) landscape, contrasting its success as an exporter of financial and legal services with the inherently domestic nature of patent protection. We hypothesize that due to this limitation, the Cayman Islands functions as a strategic, cost-effective jurisdiction for augmenting patent protection ini…

Abstract The Supreme Court’s 2023 decision in Andy Warhol Foundation v. Goldsmith narrowed the transformative fair use inquiry but left unresolved where derivative adaptation ends and genuine transformation begins. This article proposes that the Purpose-Expression Shift (PES) Framework can supply that missing line, a dual-pronged standard rooted in § 107(1) that asks (1) whether the secondary wor…

Abstract Clinical trial data occupy a contested space between private commercial assets and public goods. While the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has historically shielded these data through expansive trade-secret interpretations, the European Union (EU) has adopted a more open disclosure regime. This Article compares the two regimes and traces how the EU’s two-decade journey t…

Abstract Conventional scholarly wisdom tends to discount the importance of copyright as a tool for delivering remuneration to the artists that sustain the digital creative ecosystem or as an enabling mechanism that facilitates the licensing, distribution, and financing transactions that constitute the economic infrastructure of the media and entertainment industries. This position runs counter to…

Recommended Citation Jared M. Brown, Table of Contents, 33 J. Intell. Prop. L. (2026). Available at: https://digitalcommons.law.uga.edu/jipl/vol33/iss1/1