The Virginia Law Review Association is proud to announce the launch of In Brief, the online magazine of the Virginia Law Review. As of today, January 22, 2007, In Brief can be found at www.virginialawreview.org. You can also sign up for email notification of when the next issue of In Brief is published. Our debut issue features a discussion of the virtues and vices of strong intellectual property protection in the world of fashion design and elsewhere. In the main essay, Where IP Isn't, Professors Kal Raustiala of the UCLA Law School and Chris Sprigman of the University of Virginia School of Law extend their recent Virginia Law Review Article, The Piracy Paradox: Innovation and Intellectual Property in Fashion Design, to consider the potential consequences and practical implications of stronger legal protection for fashion design. Professor Randal Picker of the University of Chicago responds by challenging one of Raustiala and Sprigman's underlying assumptions and pointing to a historical counter-example. Finally, Professor Rochelle Dreyfuss of the NYU School of Law considers the phenomenon identified by Raustiala and Sprigman at a higher level of generality in an attempt to draw lessons regarding the movement of an industry from a low-IP protection environment to one of greater protection. The purpose of In Brief is to create a forum that will meaningfully contribute to the legal academy's discourse. Because In Brief is available exclusively online, it has the flexibility to accommodate multiple formats and the speed to address timely debates. In order to facilitate these discussions, In Brief publications may respond to articles, essays, or book reviews published in the print edition of the Virginia Law Review, or they may explore new ideas unrelated to the Review's print content. Submissions for In Brief will be accepted from scholars, judges, and practitioners, as well as current law students. The In Brief format, while flexible, will require that all essays and responses be lightly footnoted and less than 3,000 words. We also prefer articles written in a more informal, news magazine opinion/editorial style. These guidelines will make the discourse more accessible to readers and will facilitate an expedited editing process, enabling In Brief to address issues of current interest in the most timely manner possible.
We encourage you to visit the Virginia Law Review website and read this first issue of In Brief. While you are there, sign up for the email service that will notify you when the next issue of In Brief is published. We are actively considering submissions for future publication in In Brief and we encourage you to consider submitting an essay or response.
