Seán O’Connor
M.A., Arizona State University
B.A., University of Massachusetts
Intellectual Property (Copyright, Patents, Trademarks, Trade Secrets)
Corporate & Securities Law
Start-up and Entrepreneurship Law
Biotechnology Law
Articles & Essays
The Damaging Myth of Patent Exhaustion, 28 Texas Intellectual Property Law Journal 443 (2020)
BrooklynWorksThe Surprising Reach of FDA Regulation of Cannabis, Even After Descheduling, 68 American University Law Review. 823 (2019) (with Erika Lietzan)
BrooklynWorksDistinguishing Different Kinds of Property in Patents and Copyrights, 27 George Mason Law Review 205 (2019)
BrooklynWorksThe Risks of Clouded Property Title for Cannabis Business Owners, Investors, And Creditors, 3 Texas A&M Journal of Property Law 67 (2016) (with Jason Liu)
BrooklynWorksPatented Electric Guitar Pick-Ups and the Creation of Modern Music Genres, 23 George Mason Law Review 1007 (2016)
BrooklynWorksCreators, Innovators, and Appropriation Mechanisms, 22 George Mason Law Review 973 (2015)
BrooklynWorksThe Lost “Art” of the Patent System, 2015 University of Illinois Law Review 101 (2015)
BrooklynWorksThe Overlooked French Influence on the Intellectual Property Clause, 82 University of Chicago Law Review 733 (2015)
BrooklynWorksCrowdfunding’s Impact on Start-Up IP Strategy, 21 George Mason Law Review 895 (2014)
BrooklynWorksThe Real Issue Behind Stanford v. Roche: Faulty Conceptions of University Patent Assignment Policies Stemming from the 1947 Biddle Report, 19 Michigan Technology Law Review 379 (2013)
BrooklynWorksHired to Invent vs. Work Made for Hire: Resolving the Inconsistency Among Rights of Corporate Personhood, Authorship, and Inventorship, 35 Seattle Law Review 1227 (2012)
BrooklynWorksTaking, Tort, or Crown Right? The Confused Early History of Government Patent Policy, 12 John Marshall Review of Intellectual Property Law 145 (2012)
BrooklynWorksPatents as Promoters of Competition: The Guild Origins of Patent Law in the Venetian Republic, 50 San Diego Law Review 1267 (2012) (with Ted Sichelman)
BrooklynWorksThe Aftermath of Stanford v. Roche: Which Law of Assignments Governs?, 24 Intellectual Property Journal 29 (2011) (Canada)
SSRNDefusing the “Atomic Bomb” of Patent Litigation: Avoiding and Defending Against Allegations of Inequitable Conduct After McKesson et al, 9 John Marshall Review of Intellectual Property Law 330 (2009)
BrooklynWorksTeaching IP From an Entrepreneurial Counseling and Transactional Perspective, 52 Saint Louis University Law Journal 877 (2008)
BrooklynWorksUsing Stock and Stock Options to Minimize Patent Royalty Payment Risks after MedImmune v. Genentech, 3 New York University Journal of Law & Business 381 (2007)
BrooklynWorksStrengthening Auditor Independence: Reestablishing Audits as Control and Premium Signaling Mechanisms, 81 Washington Law Review 525 (2006)
BrooklynWorksThe Use of MTAs to Control Commercialization of Stem Cell Diagnostics & Therapeutics, 21 Berkeley Technology Law Journal 1017 (2006)
BrooklynWorksIntellectual Property Rights and Stem Cell Research: Who Owns the Medical Breakthroughs?, 39 New England Law Review 665 (2005)
BrooklynWorksBe Careful What You Wish For: How Accountants and Congress Created the Problem of Auditor Independence, 45 Boston College Law Review 741 (2004)
BrooklynWorksThe Supreme Court’s Philosophy of Science: Will the Real Karl Popper Please Stand Up?, 35 Jurimetrics Journal 263 (1995)
BrooklynWorksBooks
Method+ology and the Means of Innovation (forthcoming 2026)
Oxford Handbook on Music Law & Policy (ed., 2025)
5G and Beyond: Intellectual Property and Competition Policy in the Internet of Things (ed., 2023) (with Jonathan Barnett)
Genetic Technologies and the Law: Cases and Materials (2007) (with Patricia Kuszler & Katherine Batuello)
Contributions to Books
Music as a Continuous Aural Experience: Time for a New Music Copyright Paradigm Beyond European Written Notation, in Oxford Handbook on Music Law & Policy (ed., forthcoming 2025)
Introduction -The New Music Ecosystem: from the Physical to the Virtual and Back Again?, in Oxford Handbook on Music Law & Policy (ed., forthcoming 2025)
Concluding Thoughts: Music Law and Policy for AI, Style, and Aesthetics, in Oxford Handbook on Music Law & Policy (ed., forthcoming 2025)
What is a Music Producer?, in Oxford Handbook on Music Law & Policy (ed., 2024)
The Lead Sheet Problem in Music Copyright: Williams and Skidmore Revealed the Systematic Diminution of Pop Music’s Aural Composers, in Handbook of Intellectual Property and Social Justice: Access, Inclusion, Empowerment (Steven Jamar & Lateef Mtima eds., 2023)
AI Replication of Musical Styles Points the Way to an Exclusive Rights Regime, in Research Handbook on Intellectual Property and Artificial Intelligence (Ryan Abbott ed., 2022)
Determining the Composition, in Oxford Handbook on Music Law & Policy (ed., 2022) (with Joe Bennett)
The Curious Contrast Between Corporate Authorship and Inventorship in the United States, in Research Handbook on Intellectual Property and Employment Law (Niklas Bruun & Marja-Leena Mansala eds., 2021)
Authors and Inventors Under U.S. IP Law: Implications for Software and AI Generated Works, in La Properiété Intellectuelle en Dehors de Ses Frontières (Amélie Favreau ed., 2019) (with Franck Macrez)
The Promises and Perils of Digital Business Models, in Global Perspectives and Challenges for the Intellectual Property System Publication Series (2018)
Transforming Professional Services to Build Regional Innovation Ecosystems, in Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Evolving Economies: The Role of Law (Megan Carpenter ed., 2012)
Controlling the Means of Innovation: The Centrality of Private Ordering Arrangements for Innovators and Entrepreneurs, in Handbook on Law, Innovation and Growth (Robert Litan ed., 2011)
The Central Role of Law as a Meta Method in Creativity and Entrepreneurship, in Law, Creativity & Entrepreneurship (Shubha Ghosh ed., 2011)
Navigating the Issues of Multidisciplinary Student Teams Serving University Spin-offs, in Spanning Boundaries and Disciplines: University Technology Commercialization in the Idea Age (Gary Libecap et al., eds., 2010)
U.S. Perspective on IP and Antitrust Issues in Proposed Biosimilars Regulatory Pathway, in Les Pratiques de L’Industrie Pharmaceutique au Regard du Droit de la Concurrence (Clotilde Jourdain-Fortier & Isabelle Moine-Dupuis, 2010) (France)
IP Transactions as Facilitators of the Globalized Innovation Economy, in Working Within the Boundaries of Intellectual Property (Rochelle Dreyfuss et al., eds., 2010)
Enabling Research or Unfair Competition? De Jure and De Facto Research Use Exceptions in Major Technology Countries, in Patent Law And Theory: A Handbook Of Contemporary Research (Toshiko Takenaka ed., 2008)
La Legislación Como Impulsora de las Innovaciones Tecnológicas y Su Comercialización, in Propiedad Industrial Certidumbre Juridica y Competitividad (Jorge Aguirre Hernández & Roberto Garza-Leonard eds., 2005)
Other
Copyright: AI & Creative Style, in Elgar Concise Encyclopedia of Artificial Intelligence and the Law (Ryan Abbott & Elizabeth Rothman eds., forthcoming 2025)
Corporate Governance: Documents, Disclosures, and Communications, in Elgar Concise Encyclopedia of Artificial Intelligence and the Law (Ryan Abbott & Elizabeth Rothman eds., forthcoming 2025)
Securities Regulation: Disclosures for Reporting Companies, in Elgar Concise Encyclopedia of Artificial Intelligence and the Law (Ryan Abbott & Elizabeth Rothman eds., forthcoming 2025)