Section Newsletters

Articles From Kristin L. Lingren

What do Chicago’s Grant Park, moral rights, the Seventh Circuit and wildflowers have in common? By Kristin L. Lingren Intellectual Property, September 2011 This article examines the decision by the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in the case of Kelley v. Chicago Part District within the context of the federal Visual Artists Rights Act of 1990 ("VARA"). The court considered whether a wildflower garden planted and maintained in a public park was a protected "work of visual art" under VARA and whether the park district's reduction and modification of the garden constituted a violation of the creators moral right of integrity. It concluded that the garden did not fall within the purview of VARA because it did not qualify as copyrightable within the meaning of the Copyright Act, lacking the elements of "authorship" and "fixation" required to support copyright and eligibility for protection under VARA. In dicta, the Seventh Circuit questioned the First Circuit's position in Phillips v. Pembroke Real Estate that VARA provided no protection for site-specific art.
Select Illinois case law on non-disclosure agreements and trade secrets By Steven L. Baron & Kristin L. Lingren Intellectual Property, January 2007 The following is a compilation of significant and/or factually interesting cases addressing issues that directly or indirectly affect the enforceability of nondisclosure agreements in Illinois.
KP Permanent Make-Up, Inc. v. Lasting Impression: The U.S. Supreme Court puts fairness back into fair use By Steven L. Baron & Kristin L. Lingren Intellectual Property, January 2005 On December 8, 2004, the United States Supreme Court shook up the law of trademarks by resolving a split in the U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeal concerning the classic "fair use" defense and related burdens of proof.
Trade secret train wreck: How “clickety-clack” transformed a simple idea into a protectable and profitable trade secret By Steven L. Baron & Kristin L. Lingren Intellectual Property, December 2003 A recent Seventh Circuit opinion suggests that in Illinois, a protectable trade secret may now encompass ideas conceived in an "intuitive flash of creativity" and developed with a monetary investment of less than $1.

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