IU McKinney Event Will Examine Justice Breyer's Impact in Intellectual Property Law
01/31/2022
IU McKinney will host an event February 11 which will consider Justice Stephen Breyer’s intellectual property law jurisprudence. The event will take place in a Zoom format on February 11.
Professor Xuan-Thao Nguyen will moderate the discussion of retiring U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer and his legacy regarding intellectual property law. She is director of IU McKinney’s Center for Intellectual Property Law and Innovation.
Professor Nguyen will be joined by two other members of the IU McKinney faculty: Professor Lea Bishop and Professor Gerard Magliocca. Professor Willajeane McLean of the University of Connecticut School of Law and Professor David O. Taylor of SMU Dedman School of Law also will take part in the panel discussion.
Profesor Bishop will discuss the case, Google v. Oracle. "Its holdings and reasonings will impact future outcomes across artistic fields as diverse as high art, journalism, film, and social media," she said. "Justice Breyer’s approach to resolving the case sidestepped technologically difficult questions to emphasize fair use, revisiting the “transformative” use doctrine the Supreme Court first adopted a quarter century ago."
Professor Magliocca said he will talk about Justice Breyer's major copyright opinions against the backdrop of his copyright scholarship as a professor.
Professor McLean indicated she will discuss two of Justice Breyer's opinions: his majority opinion declaring that color may function as a trademark in Qualitex Co v. Jacobson Products, 514 U.S.159 (1995) and his dissent regarding the registration of Booking.com as a trademark in USPTO v Booking.com BV, 591 U.S.__;140 S.Ct. 2298 (2020).
Professor Taylor said he will examine Justice Breyer’s approach to deciding patent cases, and particularly to his approach to the doctrine of patent eligibility as applied to modern technologies, with reference to his majority opinion in Mayo Collaborative Services v. Prometheus Laboratories, Inc. addressing medical diagnostic technology; his concurring opinion in Bilski v. Kappos addressing computer technology; and his opinion dissenting from a decision not to hear Laboratory Corp. of America Holdings v. Metabolite Laboratories, Inc. addressing medical diagnostic technology.
The hour-long event will begin at noon. To learn more and register, visit the IU McKinney website.
