Associate Dean Daryl Lim joins Supreme Court copyright amicus brief

CARLISLE, PA—Daryl Lim, H. Laddie Montague Jr. Chair in Law and associate dean for research and strategic partnerships, is one of two amici curiae on a brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to grant review in Yonay v. Paramount Pictures Corp., a case involving a significant circuit split over the test for substantial similarity in copyright infringement cases. The brief is filed in support of the petitioners and seeks a uniform nationwide standard.

The brief draws directly on Lim’s scholarship on copyright substantial similarity, including his articles “Saving Substantial Similarity,” 73 Florida Law Review 591 (2021), and “Substantial Similarity’s Silent Death,” 48 Pepperdine Law Review 713 (2021). It explains the historical development of competing substantial-similarity tests and the broad scholarly recognition that those approaches are materially different. Lim’s participation reflects the connection among his copyright scholarship, his teaching, and his broader work on intellectual property law.

The case concerns a longstanding division among the federal courts of appeals. The Second, Third, Fifth, Seventh, and D.C. Circuits use an ordinary-observer approach, while the Fourth, Eighth, and Ninth Circuits use an extrinsic/intrinsic test. The amici take no position on which approach is ultimately correct; instead, the brief argues that the tests are materially different and that Supreme Court review is warranted to provide clarity and consistency in federal copyright law. Eugene Volokh, Thomas M. Siebel Senior Fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution and Professor of Law Emeritus at UCLA, serves as counsel of record and is the other amicus curiae.

Daryl Lim is the H. Laddie Montague Jr. Chair in Law at Penn State Dickinson Law. He is also the Associate Dean for Research & Strategic Partnerships and Founding Director of the Intellectual Property (IP) Law and Innovation Initiative. At the university level, he is a co-hire at the Institute of Computational and Data Sciences and an affiliate at the Center for Socially Responsible Artificial Intelligence.

Professor Lim is an award-winning author, observer, and commentator on national and global trends in IP and competition policy and how they influence and are influenced by law, technology, economics, and politics. He helps policymakers, attorneys, corporate counsel, scholars, and the public understand the world around them. He is a founding member of the Global IP Alliance and its local chapters in Pennsylvania and Illinois. In addition, he serves as Co-Chair of the University Education Committee in the US IP Alliance.

In December 2022, the American Law Institute elected Professor Lim to its membership based on demonstrated excellence and outstanding professional achievement. In 2023, the US Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission recognized him as “a leading expert in antitrust law and economics” and the IAM Strategy 300, a guide to the industry pioneers with “exceptional skill sets, as well as profound insights into the development, creation, and management of IP value,” named him to its World’s Leading IP Strategists 2023 list. In 2024, he was appointed to the consultative group advising the United Nations Secretary General’s High-Level Advisory Body on Artificial Intelligence. In 2025, he received the IP Professor of the Year Award at the Global Intellectual Property, Artificial Intelligence & Technology Conclave & Awards.