Design Patent Infringement Needs a Free Expression Defense / La infracción de patentes de diseño necesita una defensa de libre expresión

From 2017:1 Juriste International magazine, available online now from the Union Internationale des Avocats.  Download issue 2017-1 here and find the whole article at page 44. Download the full research article on this subject here.

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Design Patent Infringement Needs a Free Expression Defense
/La infracción de patentes de diseño necesita una defensa de libre expresión 

Richard J. Peltz-Steele & Ralph D. Clifford

As elsewhere in the world, design patents are propagating copiously in U.S. intellectual property law. Notwithstanding their fertility, design patents face potentially prohibitive and as yet unexplored legal challenges. One possibility is that the U.S. Congress might lack the very power to authorize design patents. Another possibility – our subject here, with implications for design patents in Europe and around the world – is that design patents violate fundamental rights if there is not a defense to infringement founded in the freedom of expression.

Las patentes de diseño se propagan en abundancia en el derecho de la propiedad intelectual. Mientras tanto, las patentes de diseño enfrentan desafíos legales aún inexplorados. Enfocándose en la ley estadounidense, este artículo postula que las patentes de diseño violan los derechos fundamentales si no hay una defensa a la infracción fundada en la libertad de expresión. Diseño es único entre las patentes debido a su capacidad expresiva. Por lo tanto, debe acomodarse a la libertad de expresión con defensa de uso o trato justo, comparable a la ley de los derechos de autor.

ABA SIL YIR on Legal Education

The International Legal Education and Specialist Certification Committee of the American Bar Association Section of International Law has published an update of ABA Standards and other data regarding international legal education in U.S. law schools.  Excerpted below, the full article is available (login required) at https://www.americanbar.org/groups/international_law/publications/the_year_in_review/51-yir-articles-by-committee.html.

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International Legal Education and Specialist Certification
Marissa Moran, Diane Penneys Edelman, and Richard Peltz-Steele

Introduction:
The American Bar Association (ABA) promulgates rules and regulations that apply to all United States law schools with ABA-accreditation and approval. Those rules apply specifically to schools offering programs leading to a J.D. degree. In August 2016, the ABA Council approved certain changes to the ABA Standards and Rules of Procedure for Approval of Law Schools, which became effective on August 9, 2016.1 The changes affected not only J.D. programs, but also study abroad programs offered by ABA member schools.

Outline:
I. Amendments to American Bar Association Criteria Relating to Foreign Programs
     A. Summer and Intersession Programs
     B. Student Study at a Foreign Institution
II. First-Year Courses That Focus on International or Comparative Law