March 27 Assignment: Law & Internet Seminar (LAW 745)

Intellectual Property and the InfoBahn

Reading:

1. The White Paper. Please allow yourself enought time to read the rather lengthy Part I ("Law"), concentrating on sections A.1 through A.8, and also Part IV ("Recommendations"). If you did not order a printed copy, choose from the ASCII copy or a PDF format copy or a Microsoft Word 6.0 copy or a zipped postscript copy.
2. S. 1284. Note that Congressional hearings on S. 1284 are planned for March 26, 1996; you can check here for updates. Well that was easy -- they've been postponed...
3. Critiques of the White Paper/S.1284 approach
   • Prof. Pamela Samuelson's essay in WIRED, The copyright grab drew this response from the CEO of Simon and Schuster.
   • The USACM position. See also, if time permits, other USACM NII-related papers.
   • Sample some of the many links from the Home Recording Rights Coalition.
4. Supporters of the White Paper/S. 1284 approach
   • Commissioner Lehman (congressional testimony)
   • Senator Hatch (sponsor of S. 1284)
   • The software publishers
   • Eight myths about S. 1284
5. Dan L. Burk, Trademarks Along the Infobahn , 1 Richmond J.L. & Tech. (1995)

Doing:

Optional

• The Corbis Website terms and conditions of use. This is Bill Gates's new archive of the visual images of modernity. Are these terms enforceable? Just? Reasonable? Wise? Essential? Precatory? [Added Apr. 4]
• Did Bruce Lehman really threaten to rip a law professor's throat out?
• I. Trotter Hardy, Contracts, Copyright and Preemption in a Digital World, 1 Richmond J.L. & Tech. 2 (1995).
• Dan L. Burk, Transborder Intellectual Property Issues on the Electronic Frontier, 6 Stan. L. & Pol'y Rev. (1994).
• Dan L. Burk, Patents in Cyberspace: Territoriality and Infringement on Global Computer Networks, 68 Tulane L. Rev. 1 (1993).
• Mark Lemley, Intellectual property and Shrinkwrap Licenses, 68 S. Cal. L. Rev. 1239 (1995).
• Playboy Enterprises, Inc. v. Frena, 839 F. Supp. 1552 (M.D. Fla. 1993)
• MTV Networks v. Curry, 867 F. Supp. 202 (S.D.N.Y. 1994)
• Thomas G. Field, Jr., Intellectual Property: The Practical and Legal Fundamentals
• EFF's "Intellectual Property Online: Patent, Trademark, Copyright" Archive