Right to Use and Destroy

Question 1

Right to Exclude- Patents

Answer 1

Ownership of a patent gives the patent owner the right to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, selling, or importing into the United States the invention claimed in the patent.

Question 2

Right to Exclude- Trademarks

Answer 2

Ownership of a trademark gives the owner the right to prevent others from using the
same or similar trademark for related goods or services that cause a likelihood of
consumer confusion.

Abandonment- Non-use with intention not to resume use after a short statutory period.

Question 3

Rule to Exclude- Spite Fence

Answer 3

• Property rights dont include the right to use one’s property for the sole purpose of
  injuring others.
• spite fence statute: p need not to prove that malice, the purpose to annoy was the sole motive for building the fence, only that such was the dominant motive, meaning without that malicious motive the fence would not have been created or maintained.

Question 4

Nuisance Law- Introduction

Answer 4

-It’s the principal common law doctrine restricting an owner’s right to use.
- Broader than spite fence because: does not require D to act with malice, may restrict useful conduct.

Question 5

A private nuisance is

Answer 5

intentional
nontrespassory
unsreasonable
substantial interference with the use and enjoyment of Ps land

Question 6

Unreasonable Conduct

Answer 6

gravity of the harm outweighs the utility of the actors conduct.

Question 7

Prah v Maretti (Nuisance Law)

Answer 7

Rule- When one landowner’s use of his or her property unreasonably interferes with another’s enjoyment of his or her property, that use is said to be a private nuisance.

• owners’ right to use land is relative, not absolute. law must balance the rights of landowners.

3 part analysis
- increased regulation of use of land by the landowner
- access to sunlight has new significance and is significant to landowner and society
-need for easy and rapid development is not as great today.

Question 8

Eyerman v Mercantile Trust (right to destroy)

Answer 8

• P didnt have the right to destroy her house after her death. A well-ordered society cannot tolerate the waste and destruction of resources when such acts directly affect important interests of other members of that society.
• there was a lack of reason for destruction; this caprice from P goes against public policy.
• balance interests of the living against those of the dead (utilitarian approach)

Question 9

Right to destroy- Visual Artists Moral Right

Answer 9

artist have moral right to their visual work even after they sell the works. Prohibits owners of artwork to destroy (intentional distortion or mutilation) the work which would be prejudicial to artists honor or reputation.

Question 10

Right to destroy- Human Sperm

Answer 10

Facts: Widow wanted to used deceased husbands sperm, but he signed a contract with storage facility telling them to destroy sperm upon his death.

Ruling: Court denied widow’s petition.

Question 11

Bundle of Rights- Copyright

Answer 11

• reproduce and prepare derivative works
• distribute copies by sale, transfer, or lease
• perform or display work publicly
  -if sound recording, right to perform work publicly by means of digital audio transmission