Concept
Definition/Elements/Rule
Cases/Examples
Acquisition / Real & Personal
Possession is 9/10 of the law.
First in time, first in line.
Types of Acquisition:
Discovery
Conquest:
Capture:
Ratione Soli:
Externalities
Conversion
Custom
only recognized where:: the act of wrongfully using someone else’s personal property as if it were one’s own (necessary for trover).: effects of one’s acts fall on another person. As a consequence, resources tend to be misused. by reason of [owning] the soil, you have the first right to minerals, animals, etc. on that land One acquires property rights in a wild animal if one captures, traps, or mortally wounds the animal the taking of possession of enemy territory by force. (M’Intosh): the sighting or finding of unknown or unchartered territory.
·
1 Discoverer has the right to set the rules
·2
Conquest applies to land rights among states, or competing sovereigns
·3
If there are people there that don’t accept the rules, by conquest, they have to accept the rules
·4
Owners of land have constructive possession over all wild animals on their property, which generally voids the rights of capturers who trespass and capture game.
·5
Those who make their livelihood off of hunting are generally protected from the unfair hindrance of other though not from fair competition
·1
π must establish actual interference w/ his ownership or right of possession
·2
π must have title or possession or no conversion
·1
application limited to the industry
·2
recognized by whole industry
·3
requires in first taker only act of appropriation possible
·4
necessary for industry survival & works well in practice
Johnson v. M’Intosh (Conquest)
Issue:
Hold:
No. Once GB conquered Indians, it ceased to be theirs to give away, which thereby makes Johnson’s chain of title null and void. US law gives them the right to say when land titles start, and therefore, when chains of title start May the courts of US recognize a title to real property obtained under a grant made by the Indians?
Pierson v. Post (Capture)
Ghen v. Rich
Keeble v. Hickeringill
International News Service v. Associated Press
Issue:
Hold:
No, π had a qausi-property interest in the new it had gathered and could prevent competitors from using it until it’s commercial value had passed away. Can ∆ gainfully use any of π’s news until its commercial value as news had passed away?
Issue:
Hold:
Yes. One who hinders another in his trade in a violent or malicious manner is liable. Does a landowner have the right to attract fowl to his property unimpeded?
Issue
: Who owns a whale that washed up on shore that ∆ found, but
Issue:
Hold:
Dissent
: pursuit with reasonable expectation of capture confers property rights. No. Property right in animal is acquired by occupancy only, even if wounded. Does the pursuer of a wild animal acquire a right to the animal or can someone else come and take it?π shot?
Hold
: π owns because of custom recognized by whole fishing industry was that “the iron (harpoon) holds the whale” not the person who finds it.
Concept
Definition/Elements/Rule
Cases/Examples
Acquisition / Intangible Prop.
Patent
Copyright (USC Art.1 ß8)
Trademark
Trade Secret
Rights of Personality
·1
20 yrs. from time patent application is filed
·2
“new and useful process, machine manufacture or composition of matter
·3
inventor must publicly disclose the patented invention and the best ways to use (practice) it
·4
4 requirements: patentable subject matter, novelty, utility and non-obviousness
·5
first to invent, not file for patent
·1
life of the author + 70 yrs.
·2
creative works embodied in tangible form
·3
ideas cannot be copyrighted – an author/artist’s particular expression of an idea
·4
exhibit at least some originality
·5
automatically attached as soon as fixed in tangible medium of expression
·1
do not need to be novel or original
·2
Lanham Act: symbols, words and other identifying marks which associate goods/services in commerce w/ a particular source
·3
Does not protect descriptions or generic names.
·4
Must serve only as an identifier
·5
No time limit (until loses distinctiveness)
·1
Confidential and commercially valuable info.
·2
Info. must be kept secret
·3
No time limit (as long as kept secret)
·1
Person’s name, likeness and other aspects of personal identity against commercial use w/o the person’s consent
·2
Some states stautory, some common law
Feist Publications v. Rural Telephone Co.
Midler v. Ford Motor Co.
White v. Samsung
Hoffman v. Capital Cities
Diamond v. Chakrabarty
Hecht v. Superior Court
Kass v. Kass
Issue
Hold
: Couple had agreed that pre-zygotes would be destroyed if they weren’t going to use them together, therefore wife didn’t have custody when got divorced.: Who has the authority to dispose of pre-zygotes?
Issue
Hold
: No. No pertinent authority establishes that.: Does the artificial insemination to an unmarried woman with the sperm of a deceased donor violate public policy?
Issue
Hold:
Yes. ∆’s discovery is not nature’s handiwork, but his own; patentable under ß101 – “invents any new, useful process, machine, etc.”: Is ∆’s invention of a human made, genetically engineered bacterium patentable?
Issue
: Did ∆ infringe upon
Issue
Hold
: Yes. Dissent: Classic case of overprotection. Just humor.: Is depicting the image of a famous personality an infringment of intellectual property?
Issue
Hold
: Yes. When a voice is widely known and imitated
er’s land w/ premeditated and predesigned “hostility”. Mostly abandoned by cts.: relationship of passing possession peacefully SOL begins when COA discovered by injured party. This mitigates harsh results of the SOL. (O’Keefe) the joining of consecutive periods by different persons to treat the periods as one continuous period. one way of expressing the req’t. of hostility or claim of right on the part of the adverse possessor. claim found on a written document (deed or will) or a judgment/decree that is for some reason defective and invalid (in some states, shorter SOL w/ COT)
·1
C
·2
O
·3
C
·4
A
·1
The possession must be exclusive and AP must not tolerate trespassers
·2
Constructive possession is never good enough
·3
Of such a nature that the community would think of the adverse possessor as the true owner (enclosure, control, proper use)ctual entry and Exclusive Possessionlaim of title over true ownerpen and Notoriousontinuous for SOL
Van Valkenburg v. Lutz
Mannillo v. Gorski
Howard v. Kunto
O’Keefe v. Snyder
Disability of Landowner
Seasonal Occupancy:
: if, at the time the adverse possessor begins possession, the landowner is disabled (insanity, infancy, prison) and the SOL runs out while the landowner is still disabled, the landowner has 10 yrs from the time his disability is cured to bring Ejectment against the adverse possessor.
Issue
Hold
: Yes. If owner has been diligently searching, SOL pauses during search but starts again when owner discovers possessor & location of object..: Does the discovery rule apply to stolen works of art as far as the SOL is applied?
Issue
Hold
: ∆ gained the occupied land by AP and still could go onto to their rightfully owned land if no one else had adversely possessed it.: ∆ thought they owned a certain piece of property, but actually owned the one next to it.
Issue
Hold
: Yes. Connecticut Doct. Whether or not mistaken, result is the same. Any entry, if exclusive, continuous, uninterrupted, visible and notorious is enough for AP.: Does an entry and continuance of possession under ths mistaken belief that the possessor has title to the land involved hostile enough to obtain title by AP?
·1
Is the real estate designed for summer occupancy?
·2
Open/Notorious as to whether the community knows it is seasonal
Issue
Hold
: Yes. One must clearly show for SOL there has been “actual occupation” of the land. (enclosing/cultivating/improving the land): Must a party occupy another’s land under a claim of title in order to acquire by adverse possession?
