Professor Christine H. Farley to Present Research at NYU Law School
Professor Christine Haight Farley will present her current research on reclaiming design protection through trademark law at NYU Law School’s Innovation Policy Colloquium this Thursday, February 8th.
The Colloquium on Innovation Policy focuses each year on different aspects of the law’s role in promoting creativity, invention, and new technology. This year will examine the topic of design in intellectual property law. The Colloquium will start with theories of intellectual property law and go on to study the legal regimes that allow and/or restrain protection of aspects of design (copyright and its useful-articles doctrine; utility patent; design patent; trademark, trade dress, and their functionality doctrine; and sui generis protections); industries in which design is important (such as fashion, industrial design, and marketing generally); the value of design in society and legal and non-legal incentives to produce valuable designs; the role of norms in design; and issues of competition as they relate to design. The discussion will draw on legal sources as well as related work in economics, sociology, history, and disciplines in which design is particularly important, such as engineering, fashion, home furnishings, and marketing.