Trump Can Make 'Buy American' More Than A Slogan. Just Enforce A 1980 Law

By Professor Justin Hughes
Hon. William Matthew Byrne, Jr. Chair

This op-ed originally appeared in the July 3, 2017 edition of USA Today. 

China is not manipulating its currency to our detriment, and NAFTA is a good thing for the U.S. economy. But Donald Trump has been right in his basic observation — as both candidate and president — that we need to do more to address our country’s trade deficit, how other countries "game" international trade, and how American jobs move offshore. Trump may not realize it but he could advance his “Buy American and Hire American” goals by activating a policy tool already buried in U.S. patent law.

Year in and year out, the federal government has spent tens of billions of dollars supporting scientific and technological research —­ for example, more than $131 billion in 2015 alone. Before 1980, federal agencies had different policies on inventions resulting from this federally funded research, with most of them reserving any patent rights to the federal government. That meant there was a vast trove of inventions collecting dust in government files: As of 1980, there were 28,000 patents held by the government this way — and fewer than 4% had been licensed for commercial use. While many of those were patents on military technology — and shouldn’t be licensed — there was clearly underutilization of a vast technological portfolio.

Read the full op-ed here >>

Intellectual Property – Ethiopia’s Experience (continued)

Professor Justin Hughes recently completed a State Department trip to Ethiopia to conduct talks on intellectual property. The U.S. embassy in Addis Ababa's official blog is publishing a series of his posts on the topic. The first was published on June 1, 2017.

In my last blog post, I focused on Ethiopia’s coffee industry; now let’s talk more broadly about Ethiopian’s intellectual property (IP) laws and how those laws potentially impacts the country’s growth.

Ethiopia is almost unique among African countries for its lack of participation in the multilateral treaties that govern the international IP system. There are two main multilateral conventions for IP: the Paris Convention (for patents and trademarks) and the Berne Convention (for copyright law). Today, those treaties have 195 and 183 members, respectively. Ethiopia is the largest economy not participating in the Paris Convention and perhaps the second largest economy not participating in the Berne Convention (after Iran).

Read the complete blog post

What Will It Take to Fulfill Trump’s Promise on Trade Law Enforcement?

By Professor Justin Hughes

This is an excerpt from an op-ed originally published in the Sacramento Bee.

Beneath the headlines of renegotiating NAFTA and torpedoing the Trans-Pacific Partnership, President-elect Donald Trump has often spoken about improving trade law enforcement, especially against China. On the campaign trail, he beat that drum in pretty much the same rhythm as Hillary Clinton.

While Clinton specifically proposed a new trade “prosecutor” and to triple the enforcement staff at office of the U.S. Trade Representative, the Trump campaign promised to use “every lawful presidential power to remedy trade disputes if China does not stop its illegal activities” and to bring new trade law cases in this country and at the World Trade Organization.

Trump is no stranger to litigation, but how can he and his administration execute on this promise?

Read the entire op-ed here.

Ohio Gov. John Kasich is Really Running for Vice President

By Professor Justin Hughes
Originally posted on The Los Angeles Daily News

Ohio Governor John Kasich just did very well in the New Hampshire primary — second place behind Donald Trump and first among the pack that might be called “mainstream” Republican candidates. That success will hide from view something that John Kasich knows all too well: that by running in these primaries Kasich has made himself the GOP’s most obvious and most perfect choice for a vice presidential nominee. If Trump heads the ticket, Kasich brings serious foreign affairs, Washington and executive government experience, not to mention a sensible, moderate voice. And he helps galvanize Ohio’s critical swing vote — ask any pundit or politically mindful Ohioan: you have to go back to 1960 to find someone elected president who did not carry the Great State of Ohio.

Kasich would bring that same formula to a Cruz campaign, a Rubio campaign, a Bush campaign or a Carson campaign.

4th Annual US-China IP Conference 2015

Loyola Law School, Los Angeles, Berkeley Center for Law & Technology, and Renmin University of China Law School organized the fourth annual US-China IP Conference to compare developments and trends in two countries critical for any IP creation and protection strategy. Leading scholars, government officials and practicing lawyers from China will join US experts to examine vital current topics including: new trends in transnational technology investment, developments in copyright, and cross-border IP enforcement.

Professor Seagull Song and Director of the Asia-America Law Institute, Professor Justin Hughes, and Professor Jeffrey Atik will be speaking at this event.

Year in Review: Top Chinese Entertainment Law Cases between 2014-15
The year of 2014 has been a fantastic year for Chinese film market. China became the second largest box office in the world, right behind the U.S. In same year, we also witnessed a significant increase in entertainment law cases filed, argued and decided by Chinese courts, covering issues ranging from copyright infringement, trademark, anti-unfair competition, to privacy, right of publicity, defamation, labor law, and of course, contract disputes. This presentation will discuss some top Chinese entertainment law cases decided during the same period of time and addresses key issues of significance to the Chinese entertainment industry. They range from idea/expression dichotomy, movie title protection, director credit, movie revenue sharing, and the balance between privacy and freedom of speech.

Recent Developments on Copyright: Legislation and Cases
As part of a panel discussing recent developments in U.S. copyright law, Professor Hughes discussed the Ninth Circuit's recent Garcia v. Google decision as well as movements in Washington toward ratification of the Beijing Treaty on Audiovisual Performances (2012) and the Marrakesh Treaty for the Blind (2013).

Specialized IP Courts
An almost all-EU patent court is the institutional centerpiece of the new EU 'unitary' patent system. The new court, to be known as the European Unified Patent Court, will have jurisdiction over all invalidation and infringement actions involving patents issued by the European Patent Office that are designated to have 'unitary effect,' that is effectiveness within the great number of EU states participating in the new scheme. The substantive patent law to be applied by the new court is an awkward amalgam of European, treaty and national law - and the national law is determined largely by the formalistic presence of the patent applicant in a particular EU member state. Atik's presentation explores the various sources of this new (and variegated) substantive patent law, and the hierarchical relationship of its various elements.

The conference will be held at University of California Berkeley on October 8-9, 2015. Click here to register.

Visiting Prof. Hughes Contributing to Prawsblawg Series

This semester, Loyola is delighted to be hosting Professor Justin Hughes, who is visiting from Cardozo School of Law. Professor Hughes is currently participating in an online forum on Robert Merges' book, Justifying Intellectual Property. You can find his first post here.