• Selected
• Entire List

Abstract:
Clinical legal education provides a powerful methodology for students to learn about the relationships among intellectual property law theories, policies and practices; to encounter the experiences of persons who seek protection or who feel the legal regimes of intellectual property impinging on their ability to engage in educational, creative, innovative and culturally significant work; and to develop as lawyers. We describe in this article our motivations for forming an intellectual property law clinic at the American University Washington College of Law, the goals that we seek to achieve, and the tripartite pedagogical structure that we adopted - (1) a seminar built around a year-long simulation that addresses multiple lawyering skills and legal practice settings, (2) a wide variety of live-client student representations performed under close faculty supervision, and (3) weekly case rounds discussions focusing on public interest issues experienced directly by the students in their representations. We provide an example of a particular student representation that illustrates some of the benefits of our clinical model for teaching students about the public interest and intellectual property law doctrines within the framework of teaching about lawyering. We conclude with our reflections on student experiences and the ability of our clinical program to teach intellectual property law and lawyering in concrete factual and policy contexts, helping students better understand the interaction of theory, doctrine and practice in shaping the meaning and consequences of intellectual property regimes. Students came to understand law and lawyering and to see ways to shape their lives as lawyers, through analyzing and evaluating their responses to the interests of their clients, their actions in meeting the demands of a case, their understanding of the relationships among doctrinal areas, and the connection of their activities to the public interest.

clinical legal education, intellectual property law, public interest

Abstract:
This paper explores the story of the quilters of Gee's Bend, Alabama. It traces the emergence of these isolated, disenfranchised craftswomen as both fine artists and the unlikely purveyors of mass-marker consumer culture through commodification based on the power of intellectual property rights. It then looks to recent trends in commodification literature to help explore the tensions and dualities presented in the story. Among other things, it asks whether the quilters have been coerced into the marketplace and are unwittingly alienating part of their identity, or whether they have willingly tapped the power of the marketplace to ultimately better their lives and community. The paper suggests that the unique story of the quilters of Gee's Bend may be instructive to inform both the current debate in commodification literature and the ongoing search for a more nuanced approach to our intellectual property laws.

intellectual property rights, commodification

Abstract:
Philip Napoli's Media Diversity and Localism: Meaning and Metrics is a thoughtful and first of its kind compilation of some of the ongoing research and scholarship examining the concepts of localism and diversity underlying the Federal Communications Commission's public interest standard in broadcasting. The collection of essays addresses these fundamental goals from a variety of disciplines beyond the law, including political science, communications policy, sociology, and economics. These essays explore the values associated with these two goals, apply performance metrics to assess existing regulatory policies intended to preserve and promote these goals, and reflect on their meaning in the new media landscape and for current communications policy and decision-making. The volume provides a scholarly foundation for assessing some of the central questions in the ongoing media policy debates.

media regulation, Federal Communications Cmmission, public interest

Abstract:
In one of his first speeches soon after being sworn in as a commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission, Michael Powell bemoaned the lack of an angel's visit to give him a clearer understanding of the guiding standard in broadcast regulation - the public interest. Without a clear message as to the public interest, he declared the standard too vague.

Five years later, and now serving as Chairman, Powell leads the charge for even further deregulation of the already deregulated broadcast industry. The most recent FCC decision relaxed a wide range of media ownership regulations remaining on the books and poses the latest threat to the public interest standard and its longstanding goals of localism and diversity.

But amidst this backdrop, there may be some signs that Powell's public interest angel is growing restless and may be preparing to deliver a much needed message about the true potential and importance of the public interest standard by giving Chairman Powell and all of us a glimpse of what the world of broadcasting might be like without it.

Why should we care about the latest FCC rulings allowing growing consolidation of our mass media? Why should we care about the public outcry over these efforts? Why should we care about a seventy-five year old public interest requirement or its goals of diversity and localism? And why should we care if there may be signs that Powell's FCC is starting to take more of an interest in these goals and may potentially come to the realization that life in this nation is far better as a result of them? We should care because of the unique role that mass media plays in our democracy.

Federal Communications Commission, public interest, broadcast regulation