Intellectual Property Boston College Law School April 18, 2008 State Law – Misappropriation

State Intellectual Property Laws Different areas –Trade Secret –Misappropriation –Contract –Publicity Preemption

Feist Hypo Facts of Feist –Rural publishes white pages –Assume substantial cost to collect and assemble –Feist uses data to create competing directory Misappropriation under INS?

NBA v. Motorola “Hot news” misappropriation claim –(i) Plaintiff collects information at cost/expense –(ii) Value of info highly time-sensitive –(iii) Defendant’s use free rides on effort to collect –(iv) Defendant’s use is in direct competition –(v) Free-riding so reduces incentives to collect that existence or quality of information substantially affected

Misappropriation Examples Data Scraping –Auction data –Travel data –Real estate listings Sports tracking internet sites Fantasy sports league sites

Shrinkwrap Examples Application to other copyrighted goods –Casebook –CD –Magazine Enforceability of terms –No re-sale provision –No personal copies –Limited use –No reverse-engineering –No fair use, criticism

Shrinkwrap/Clickwrap Issues Contract law –Offer and acceptance –Unconscionability Copyright law –Preemption

Administrative Next Assignment –Read VII.C – Publicity