Fordham Law Review Volume 85 Issue 1 Article 7 2016 The Second Circuit and the Development of Intellectual Property Law: The First 125 Years Kenneth A. Plevan Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/flr Part of the Intellectual Property Law Commons Recommended Citation Kenneth A. Plevan, The Second Circuit and the Development of Intellectual Property Law: The First 125 Years, 85 Fordham L. Rev. 143 (2016). Available at: https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/flr/vol85/iss1/7 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by FLASH: The Fordham Law Archive of Scholarship and History. It has been accepted for inclusion in Fordham Law Review by an authorized editor of FLASH: The Fordham Law Archive of Scholarship and History. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. THE SECOND CIRCUIT AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAW: THE FIRST 125 YEARS Kenneth A. Plevan* INTRODUCTION There is no question that the Second Circuit has had a significant influence on the development of U.S. intellectual property law, especially copyright law, and the reasons are evident. Historically, many of the business segments for which intellectual property rights were key assets, or at the heart of the endeavor, were concentrated in the New York area, including television, music, advertising, publishing, and theater. Regardless of the reasons, it is inarguable that the Second Circuit has had a profound impact on copyright law. Judge Learned Hand’s decision in Nichols v. Universal Pictures Corp.1 helped define for later generations the fundamental idea/expression dichotomy.