James G. Cutler Professor of Law
Areas of Specialization
Computers and the Law; Intellectual Property Law; Intellectual Property Law--Copyright Law; Intellectual Property Law--Trademark Law; Internet Law
Representative Professional Activities and Achievements
Laura Heymann joined the faculty in 2005. She is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley School of Law, where she was elected to Order of the Coif and served as the Book Review Editor on the California Law Review.
Prior to her appointment, Professor Heymann was the inaugural Frank H. Marks Visiting Associate Professor of Law and Administrative Fellow in the Intellectual Property Law Program at the George Washington University Law School. She has also served as an assistant general counsel at America Online, Inc.; as an associate at Wilmer, Cutler and Pickering in Washington, D.C.; and as a law clerk to the Hon. Patricia M. Wald of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Prior to attending law school, Professor Heymann worked as an assistant editor at St. Martin's Press in New York. She received her B.A. in English, magna cum laude, from Yale. Professor Heymann was selected by the 2008 graduating class as the recipient of the Walter L. Williams, Jr., Memorial Teaching Award. She was the 2012 recipient of the College's Thomas Jefferson Teaching Award and a 2024 recipient of the McGlothlin Award for Exceptional Teaching. She received a Plumeri Award for Faculty Excellence in 2012 and was the Class of 2014 Professor of Law from 2011 to 2014. She served as Vice Dean of the Law School from 2013 to 2017.
Articles
Developer Perspectives on Licensing and Copyright Issues Arising from Generative AI for Software Development, Trevor Stalnaker, Nathan Wintersgill, Oscar Chaparro, Laura A. Heymann, Massimiliano Di Penta, Daniel M. German, and Denys Poshyvanyk
(35 ACM Transactions on Software Engineering and Methodology 1-39 (2026))Attribution as Architecture in the Digital Age, Laura A. Heymann
(65 Jurimetrics Journal 57-96 (2025))"The Law Doesn't Work Like a Computer": Exploring Software Licensing Issues Faced by Legal Practitioners, Nathan Wintersgill, Trevor Stalnaker, Laura A. Heymann, Oscar Chaparro, and Denys Poshyvanyk
(1 Proceedings of the ACM on Software Engineering 882-905 (2024))Trolley Problems, Private Necessity, and the Duty to Rescue, Laura A. Heymann
(60 San Diego Law Review 1-44 (2023))Trademark Law and Consumer Constraints, Laura A. Heymann
(64 Arizona Law Review 339-381 (2022))Trademarks in Conversation: Assessing Genericism After Booking.com, Laura A. Heymann
(39 Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal 955-987 (2021))Knowing How to Know: Secondary Liability for Speech in Copyright Law, Laura A. Heymann
(55 Wake Forest Law Review 333-380 (2020))Reasonable Appropriation and Reader Response, Laura A. Heymann
(9 U.C. Irvine Law Review 343-365 (2019))Reading Together and Apart: Juries, Courts, and Substantial Similarity in Copyright Law, Laura A. Heymann
(102 Iowa Law Review Online 248-258 (2017))Overlapping Intellectual Property Doctrines: Election of Rights versus Selection of Remedies, Laura A. Heymann
(17 Stanford Technology Law Review 239-275 (2013))A Name I Call Myself: Creativity and Naming, Laura A. Heymann
(2 University of California at Irvine Law Review 585-625 (2012))Naming, Identity, and Trademark Law, Laura A. Heymann
(86 Indiana Law Journal 381-445 (2011))The Law of Reputation and the Interest of the Audience, Laura A. Heymann
(52 Boston College Law Review 1341-1439 (2011))Reading the Product: Warnings, Disclaimers, and Literary Theory, Laura A. Heymann
(22 Yale Journal of Law and Humanities 393-415 (2010))The Grammar of Trademarks, Laura A. Heymann
(14 Lewis & Clark Law Review 1313-1350 (2010))A Tale of (At Least) Two Authors: Focusing Copyright Law on Process Over Product, Laura A. Heymann
(34 Journal of Corporation Law 1009-1032 (2009))The Public's Domain in Trademark Law: A First Amendment Theory of the Consumer, Laura A. Heymann
(43 Georgia Law Review 651-715 (2009))Everything Is Transformative: Fair Use and Reader Response, Laura A. Heymann
(31 Columbia Journal of Law and the Arts 445-466 (2008))The Reasonable Person in Trademark Law, Laura A. Heymann
(52 Saint Louis University Law Journal 781-793 (2008))Metabranding and Intermediation: A Response to Professor Fleischer, Laura A. Heymann
(12 Harvard Negotiation Law Review 201-223 (2007))The Trademark/Copyright Divide, Laura A. Heymann
(60 Southern Methodist University Law Review 55-102 (2007))Inducement as Contributory Copyright Infringement: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. v. Grokster, Ltd., Laura A. Heymann
(37 International Review of Intellectual Property and Competition Law 31-46 (2006))The Birth of the Authornym: Authorship, Pseudonymity, and Trademark Law, Laura A. Heymann
(80 Notre Dame Law Review 1377-1449 (2005))The Cosmetic/Drug Dilemma: FDA Regulation of Alpha-Hydroxy Acids, Laura A. Heymann
(52 Food and Drug Law Journal 357-375 (1997))Blogs
Together and Apart in an Online Classroom, Laura A. Heymann
(Medium (December 17, 2020))Are Legal Restrictions On Disparaging Personal Names Unconstitutional? In re The Slants, Laura A. Heymann and Eric Goldman
(Technology & Marketing Law Blog (December 23, 2015))Book Chapters
Naming, Expressive Interests, and the Law: The Implications of Governmental Form Design, Laura A. Heymann
(I.M. Nick, ed. Names, Naming, and the Law: Onomastics, Identity, Power, and Policy (Routledge, 2024, pp. 35-50))Book Reviews
Who Owns (What We Characterize as) the News?, Laura A. Heymann
(6 Critical Analysis of Law 229-239 (2019))Book Review of In the Opinion of the Court, Laura A. Heymann
(85 California Law Review 761-767 (1997))Conference Proceedings
How to Challenge White Supremacy & Be More Than an Ally (August 6, 2020), Shené Owens, Laura Shepherd, Laura A. Heymann, and Tolu Olaniyan
Magazine Articles
The Satellite Has No Conscience: §230 in a World of ‘Alternative Facts’, Laura A. Heymann
(The Recorder (November 10, 2017))Podcasts
Section 230 and the Future of Free Speech on the Internet, Sam Scinta, Rick Kyte, and Laura Heymann
(The Inspired Minds Podcast (January 14, 2021))Responses or Comments
Whose Progress?, Laura A. Heymann
(102 Boston University Law Review Online 78-81 (2022))The Meaning of McDonald's [(R)], Laura A. Heymann
(JOTWELL (September 17, 2020))United States Patent and Trademark Office v. Booking.com B.V.: How Do We Know When Something Is a Name?, Laura A. Heymann
(The George Washington Law Review's On the Docket Forum (July 2, 2020))What We've Got Here Is a Failure to Indicate, Laura A. Heymann
(JOTWELL (Decembe 4, 2019))Copyright and the Single Work, Laura A. Heymann
(JOTWELL (November 28, 2018))Creative Communities and Intellectual Property Law, Laura A. Heymann
(Intellectual Property JOTWELL (November 1, 2017))Copyright Law’s Origin Stories, Laura A. Heymann
(JOTWELL (December 16, 2016))Authorship, Attribution, and Audience, Laura A. Heymann
(JOTWELL (December 7, 2015))Surveying the Field: The Role of Surveys in Trademark Litigation, Laura A. Heymann
(JOTWELL (February 23, 2015))Trademark as Promise, Laura A. Heymann
(JOTWELL (November 18, 2013))The Scope of Trademark Law in the Age of the Brand Persona, Laura A. Heymann
(98 Virginia Law Review In Brief 61-70 (2012))Symposium Articles
How to Write a Life: Some Thoughts on Fixation and the Copyright/Privacy Divide, Laura A. Heymann