Our Spring 2022 Issue—Volume 11, Issue 3—considers intellectual property debates happening across the world.
We begin in India, where a pending copyright case threatens access to academic literature. Authors M P Ram Mohan and Aditya Gupta explain how copyright laws have allowed commercial publishers to amass huge profits by keeping academic articles guarded behind steep paywalls. Those who can’t pay miss out on treasure troves of information, which in turn limits subsequent discoveries and innovations. In response, a wave of “academic pirates” have begun sharing articles freely online, but these organizations raise significant copyright concerns. Mohan and Gupta therefore consider whether copyright laws can (and should) protect the pirates.
Next, Jacob J. Golan combines wine and cheese with intellectual property. What’s better than that? Specifically, Golan explores what legal protections are available for the microbial cultures used in fermented foods. From Kentucky Bourbon to Champagne, the need for legal protections impacts communities worldwide, but no clear path currently exists. In a search for answers, Golan highlights the difficulty in defining microbes and the corresponding difficulty in protecting them under traditional legal mechanisms. Still, he finds that trade secrets may provide a solution for communities across the globe.
You may view and download a PDF of the complete issue here.
The two pieces herein share an international scope but tackle very different topics. Taken together, they illustrate how vast the field of intellectual property has grown. I couldn’t ask for a better way to end my tenure as Editor-in-Chief.
Thank you to those who worked on this, and thank you for reading.
Sincerely,
Taylor Peterson
Editor-in-Chief
NYU Journal of Intellectual Property & Entertainment Law