The Innovation Law & Theory Workshop
Professor Barton Beebe
Professor of Law, Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, Yeshiva University
Topic: Intellectual Property Law and the Sumptuary Code
Date: Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Time: 12:30 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Place: Classroom A, Flavelle House, 78 Queen’s Park
Description: In this talk, Professor Beebe asserts that we have begun to transform intellectual property law into a modern form of sumptuary law*, one through which we seek to conserve our system of consumption-based social distinction, our sumptuary code, in the face of emerging social and technological conditions adverse to it. The talk identifies the conditions that are bringing about the peculiar juncture of intellectual property law and sumptuary law. It further explains why it is crucial that we resist this juncture and reverse intellectual property law's sumptuary turn.
Bio: Barton Beebe is, for the 2009 spring semester, a Visiting Professor of Law at Stanford Law School, and was, for the 2008 fall semester, a Visiting Professor of Law at New York University School of Law. He is also a Professor of Law at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, Yeshiva University. In 2007, he was a special master for Judge Shira A. Scheindlin in the case of Louis Vuitton Malletier v. Dooney & Bourke, Inc. in the Southern District of New York. In 2002, he clerked for Judge Denise Cote of the Southern District of New York. Professor Beebe received his J.D. from Yale Law School and his Ph.D. in English Literature from Princeton University. His recent published works include An Empirical Study of U.S. Fair Use Opinions, 1978-2005, 156 Pa. L. Rev. 549 (2008); An Empirical Study of the Multifactor Tests for Trademark Infringement, 95 Cal. L. Rev. 1581 (2006); Search and Persuasion in Trademark Law, 103 Mich. L. Rev. 2020 (2005); and The Semiotic Analysis of Trademark Law, 51 UCLA L. Rev. 621 (2004).
*Sumptuary law: “any law designed to restrict excessive personal expenditures in the interest of preventing extravagance and luxury. The term denotes regulations restricting extravagance in food, drink, dress, and household equipment, usually on religious or moral grounds. Such laws have proved difficult or impossible to enforce over the long term.” (Encyclopedia Britannic)
Lunch will be provided - Please RSVP to centre.ilp@utoronto.ca so we can better
predict the numbers.
Sponsored by the Microsoft Information Society Project.
