Dennis S. Karjala (December 19, 1939 – April 26, 2017) was an American

intellectual property Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, co ...

law professor at Arizona State University. His major interests in teaching and research were primarily in the area of intellectual property, specifically in copyright and its applications in digital technologies. His work in the field of intellectual property was internationally recognized and complemented by his ease in speaking and writing in Japanese. Karjala, who began working at Arizona State University in 1978, taught international copyright and intellectual property in cyberspace. However, for a long time he worked and wrote articles in the areas of security, corporate rights, federal (personal and corporate) taxation and business planning. He was a visiting professor at numerous universities including the University of Minnesota and UCLA leading classes in the areas of security and copyright. He also worked as a lawyer early in his career at

McCutchen, Doyle, Brown & Enersen Bingham McCutchen LLP was a global law firm with approximately 850 attorneys in nine US offices and five international offices. It ceased operations in late 2015, when several hundred of its partners and associate lawyers left the firm to join Phi ...

in California.

Karjala on copyright

Karjala has been very involved with causes related to the laws of

copyright A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive legal right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, ...

and is cited in several cases related to this subject. In 1992, he was involved with the '' Sega v. Accolade'' case, in which

Sega is a Japanese video game company and subsidiary of Sega Sammy Holdings headquartered in Tokyo. It produces several List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises for arcade game, arcades and video game cons ...

was suing

Accolade The accolade (also known as dubbing, adoubement, or knighting) () was the central act in the rite of passage Ceremony, ceremonies conferring knighthood in the Middle Ages. Etymology The term ''accolade'' entered English by 1591, when Thomas ...

with allegations of infringement of copyrights,

trademarks A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a form of intellectual property that consists of a word, phrase, symbol, design, or a combination that identifies a product or service from a particular source and distinguishes it from ot ...

, and

unfair competition Anti-competitive practices are business or government practices that prevent or reduce competition in a market. Antitrust laws ensure businesses do not engage in competitive practices that harm other, usually smaller, businesses or consumers. ...

Copyright extension

Karjala has written and testified regarding copyright term extension, first with the 1998

Copyright Term Extension Act The Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act – also known as the Copyright Term Extension Act, Sonny Bono Act, or (derisively) the Mickey Mouse Protection Act – extended copyright terms in the United States in 1998. It is one of several ac ...

(CTEA). He testified in front of the Judiciary Committee, arguing that the proposal would generate great costs to the general public without bringing any benefit. In addition, Karjala also wrote several letters directed to members of Congress, arguing that the proposed extension would not benefit the public. However, despite these efforts, the law was passed. Karjala owns a website called "Opposing Copyright Extension" where he talks about the CTEA, expresses his opinion on the subject and disseminates materials on the law and copyright terms policies. On the website itself, he mentions that it was created in the hope that when this topic comes up again, those who seek to defend the public interest have more ammunition for it. Karjala also thanks Harvard University professor

Lawrence Lessig Lester Lawrence "Larry" Lessig III (born June 3, 1961) is an American legal scholar and political activist. He is the Roy L. Furman Professor of Law at Harvard Law School and the former director of the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics at Harvar ...

for his dedicated efforts. According to Karjala, Lessig provided an immeasurable amount of his time, money and talent in favor of the cause and that, no matter how they did not succeed, the struggle was important to present the problem to the public. In 2013, Karjala was quoted in ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' in a story about the extension of

, discussing the CTEA, and the possible extension of extension of the copyrights protection of several classics, including

Mickey Mouse Mickey Mouse is an American cartoon character co-created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. The longtime icon and mascot of the Walt Disney Company, Mickey is an anthropomorphic mouse who typically wears red shorts, large shoes, and white ...

and even

Superman Superman is a superhero created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, which first appeared in the comic book ''Action Comics'' Action Comics 1, #1, published in the United States on April 18, 1938.The copyright date of ''Action Comics ...

, for another 20 years. Referring to the CTEA, Karjala said that "there was not a single argument that could be maintained after any kind of reasonable analysis." In another citation of the article, he mentions that the people who support the law are precisely those who would benefit directly if it were approved, i.e., copyrights of old works that were about to expire. In 2015, the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'' reviewed the copyright problems with ''

The Diary of Anne Frank ''The Diary of a Young Girl'', commonly referred to as ''The Diary of Anne Frank'', is a book of the writings from the Dutch-language diary kept by Anne Frank while she was in hiding for two years with her family during the Nazi occupation of t ...

'', which is still under copyright. Karjala, quoted, said there is nothing that would make a 95-year copyright term an incentive for anyone to create anything and that the law is not meant to influence artistic expression.

Personal life

He was married to Katarina Karjala and had three children. Karjala was fluent in Japanese, and also familiar with German, French and Slovak.

Education

Before entering the field of

, Karjala studied

electrical engineering Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems that use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

. * 1961 -

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

Electrical Engineering Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems that use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

Physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...

, B.S.E.

Cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sout ...

* 1963 -

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United ...

, M.S. * 1965 -

, Ph.D. * 1972 -

University of California at Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after the Anglo-Irish philosopher George Berkele ...

Law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...

, J.D.,

Order of the Coif The Order of the Coif () is an American honor society for law school graduates. The Order was founded in 1902 at the University of Illinois College of Law. The name is a reference to the ancient English order of trial lawyers, the serjeants-at-la ...

Career

He had worked in several universities as a visiting professor and often takes sabbatical years to devote himself to his research. It follows a little of his career over the years: * 1966–1969: Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering at Michigan State University, teaching courses in the field of electromagnetic field theory. * 1972–1977: He worked as a lawyer at McCutchen, Doyle, Brown & Enersen in San Francisco, California, engaged in business and corporate practice involving companies of all sizes. * 1977: Independent researcher at the Center for Interdisciplinary Research at the University of Bielefeld in Germany, in a project that investigated the historical development of big business in England, France, Germany and the United States. * 1978: He worked as an instructor in writing and legal analysis at New Mexico University and entered Arizona State University as an associate professor. * 1980–1981: He was a lecturer at the Faculty of Law of Hokkaido University in Japan. * 1981: Became a law professor at Arizona State University, where he works until today. * 1984: Visiting professor at UCLA Law School, teaching courses in tax and safety areas. * 1985–1986: Tokyo University, sabbatical year. Karjala conducted research on

computer law Information technology law (IT law), also known as information, communication and technology law (ICT law) or cyberlaw, concerns the juridical regulation of information technology, its possibilities and the consequences of its use, including comp ...

, particularly Japanese software law. * 1987: He returned to

University of Tokyo The University of Tokyo (, abbreviated as in Japanese and UTokyo in English) is a public research university in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in 1877 as the nation's first modern university by the merger of several pre-westernisation era ins ...

during the summer as a visiting researcher. * 1988: Visiting professor at Washington University, where he offered a basic course on corporations and a seminar on computers and the law. * 1990: Visiting professor at Tokyo University, conducting classes on advanced topics of security laws. * 1992–1993: Sabbatical year as a researcher at the

Max Planck Institute The Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science (; abbreviated MPG) is a formally independent non-governmental and non-profit association of German research institutes. Founded in 1911 as the Kaiser Wilhelm Society, it was renamed to the M ...

in Munich, studying in the area of copyright protection of computer software. * 1997–1998: Visiting professor at the University of Minnesota Law School, teaching courses in the areas of copyright, business associations, and security laws. * 2001–2002: Sabbatical year in Canada as a visiting researcher at the Faculty of Law of the University of British Columbia. * 2008–2009: Sabbatical year in Bratislava, teaching courses on the United States and international intellectual property at the Law School of Comenius University.

Publications

Karjala had an extensive list of scholarly articles on his curriculum. In addition, he has published some books, including some in Japanese.

Books

* "Human Genome Initiative" (Center for the Study of Law, Science and Technology, Arizona State University 1992). * '' Seminar on American Securities Law '' (Sho¯ji Ho'mu Kenkyu¯kai 1991). * Dennis S. Karjala & K. Sugiyama, "Japan U.S. Computer Copyright Law" (Nihon Hyo, Inc., 1989). * "Cases and Materials for Computers and the Law" (Arizona State University College of Law 1984).

Contribution to books

* '' Intellectual Property Management in Health and Agricultural Innovation: A Handbook of Best Practices '' (, MIHR-USA, 2007). * "Functionality as the Distinction Between Patent and Copyright Subject Matter" (227 Lorrie Cranor & Steven Wildman eds., MIT Press 2003). * "Federal Tax Aspects of Separation and Divorce" (3d ed Michie 1998). * ''The Term of Copyright in Growing Pains: Adapting Copyright to Libraries, Education and Society'' Laura N. Gasaway ed., Fred B. Rothman & Company 1997. * "The Future of Copyright in the Digital Age" (H. Herrmann ed., Walter de Gruyter 1996). * Recent Developments in the Copyright Protection of Computer Software in the United States and Japan, 909, (H.G. Leser & T. Isomura, eds., Duncker & Humblot 1992). * Intellectual Property Rights in Japan and the Protection of Computer Software (F. W. Rushing & C. G. Brown eds., Westview Press 1990). * Federal Tax Aspects of Separation and Divorce (Michie 1986). * The board of directors in English and American Companies through 1920 (N. Horn & J. Kocka eds., Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht 1979).

Recent articles

"Sustainability and Intellectual Property Rights in Traditional Knowledge,"
53 Jurimetrics J. 57 (2012). *
Intellectual Property Rights Within the University: The Lithuanian and U.S. Examples
, Dennis Karjala & Mindaugas Kiskis, 1 Intellectual Economics 65 (2011). * "Protecting Innovation in Computer Software, Biotechnology and Nanotechnology", 16 Va. J. L. Tech. 42 (2011). * "Access to Computer Programs Under the DMCA", 25 J. Marshall J. of Comp. & Info. Law 641 (2009).

, 15 U.C.L.A. Ent. L. Rev 169 (2008).
"Judicial Oversight of Copyright Legislation"
35 N. Ky. L. Rev. 253 (2008).
"Does Information Beget Information?"
2007 Duke Law & Tech. Rev. 1 (2007).
"Biotech Patents and Indigenous Peoples"
7 Minn. J. L. Sci. & Tech. 483 (2006). * "Congestion Externalities as a Basis for Extended Intellectual Property Protection", 94 Geo. L. J. 1065 (2006). * Harry Potter, Tanya Grotter, and the Copyright Derivative Work, 38 Ariz. St. L. J. 17 (2006). * "Distinguishing Patent and Copyright Subject Matter", 35 Conn. L. Rev. 439 (2003). * "Looking Beyond Intellectual Property in Resolving Protection of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Indigenous Peoples," Robert K. Paterson & Dennis S. Karjala, 11 Cardozo J. Int'l & Comp. L. 633 (2003).
"Judicial Review of Copyright Term Extension Legislation"
36 Loy. L.A. L. Rev. 199 (2002). *"Digital Copyright", 42 Jurimetrics J. 97 (2001).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Karjala, Dennis S. 1939 births 2017 deaths American legal scholars Copyright scholars University of California, Berkeley alumni Arizona State University faculty