Law Commons^™

Applying Mcintyre V. Ohio Elections Commission To Anonymous Speech On The Internet And The Discovery Of John Doe's Identity, Caroline E. Strickland

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Role Of The Internet In Chinese Foreign And Domestic Affairs, Jean Bowman Leedy

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

Problem: Rapid dissemination of Internet technology and the free access to information it affords poses a threat to non-democratic states that rely on control of information to maintain power and stability. This is of substantial concern to the Communist regime in The People's Republic of China due to the fact that its repressed population constitutes the fastest growing body of Internet users in the world.

Methods: This paper examines the potential impact of the Internet on Chinese foreign and domestic policy through interpretation of existing literature as it applies to the Internet, interviews with experts studying the emergence of China's …

E-Commerce And Equivalence: Defining The Proper Scope Of Internet Patents--Foreword, Sanjay Prasad, James T. Carmichael

Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review

The diverse expression of views provided in the following papers provides a rich foundation for consideration of the issues surrounding the scope of Internet-type patents. On behalf of the Symposium writers and sponsors we invite you to continue consideration of the legal rules and policy implications surrounding this interesting and important subject.

The Emergence Of Website Privacy Norms, Steven A. Hetcher

Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review

Part I of the Article will first look at the original privacy norms that emerged at the Web's inception in the early 1990s. Two groups have been the main contributors to the emergence of these norms; the thousands of commercial websites on the early Web, on the one hand, and the millions of users of the early Web, on the other hand. The main structural feature of these norms was that websites benefitted through the largely unrestricted collection of personal data while consumers suffered injury due to the degradation of their personal privacy from this data collection. In other words, …

International And Comparative Law Perspectives On Internet Patents, Toshiko Takenaka

Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review

The Internet and e-commerce have created a borderless market. Goods and services sold on the Internet are subject to the patent statutes and regulations of all countries in which customers have access. Because the presence or absence of patent protection--or variations in that protection--hinders the movement of goods and services throughout the Internet, it is necessary to harmonize the protection afforded by Internet patents in their early stages of development. Among the three papers, however, only Professor Chiappetta touched upon the problem of compliance with the provisions in TRIPS. None of the papers paid attention to the feasibility of harmonizing …

Internet Business Model Patents: Obvious By Analogy, Margo A. Bagley

Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review

This Article contends that part of the problem of Internet business model patents is the narrow view of analogous art employed by judges and USPTO examiners which largely excludes relevant "real-world" prior art in the determination of non-obviousness under § 103 of the Patent Act. Consequently, part of the solution lies in helping courts and the USPTO properly to define analogous art for a particular invention. To do so, judges and examiners must recognize the interchangeability of computer programming (i.e. "e-world" activities) to perform a function, with human or mechanical performance of the same function (i.e. "real world" activities). Such …

Criminalization Of True Anonymity In Cyberspace, The, George F. Du Pont

Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review

The question of whether a state or the federal government can create a narrowly tailored restriction on cyberspace anonymity without violating the First Amendment remains unresolved[...]The Supreme Court has not directly addressed the issue, but it may soon consider the constitutionality of criminalizing certain kinds of cyber-anonymity in light of the unique nature of cyberspace. This comment explores the various forms of anonymity, examines the First Amendment status of anonymity in and outside of cyberspace, analyzes relevant scholarly commentary, and concludes that a narrowly tailored legislative restriction on "true" anonymity in cyberspace would not violate the First Amendment.

Defining The Proper Scope Of Internet Patents: If We Don't Know Where We Want To Go, We're Unlikely To Get There, Vincent Chiappetta

Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review

Part I of this Article addresses the appropriateness of protecting Internet innovations under the current patent regime. It concludes that the doctrinal, historical and policy arguments require different outcomes regarding computing (patentable subject matter) and competitive arts (at best a difficult fit) innovation. Part II argues that the new electronic economy has given rise to a particular kind of competitive arts "market failure" (interference with first-to-move lead-time incentives) which must be addressed. It concludes, however, that tinkering with the existing patent or copyright regimes is not only complex, but poses significant risks, and should be avoided. Part III sketches the …

The Taming Of E-Health: Asserting U.S. Juridiction Over Foreign And Domestic Websites, Melissa K. Cantrell

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Slow And Steady Does Not Always Win The Race: The Nuremberg Files Web Site And What It Should Teach Us About Incitement And The Internet, Nadine E. Mcspadden

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Current Developments In Cyberspace, Eric Easton

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Taking Account Of The World As It Will Be: The Shifting Course Of U.S. Encryption Policy, Tricia E. Black

Federal Communications Law Journal

Encryption, understood on a basic level as the process of scrambling information to disguise its content, has been a topic of intense debate over the past decade because of Internet growth and well-founded concerns about online security. The encryption debate centers on striking an appropriate balance between national security concerns and the potential prosperity of the high-tech industry. The Clinton Administration played an important role in relaxing U.S. encryption policy. This Note argues that the dramatic shift in encryption policy resulted from a recognition of how the world will be in the digital age, and that strong, unregulated encryption technology …

Internet Jurisdiction Today, Adria Allen

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

This paper will use the Yahoo case to illustrate the unique jurisdictional dilemma posed by the Internet as countries try to enforce their laws in an era when laws may be broken, through the use of the Internet, from other countries with conflicting laws.' Part I of this paper will address the Yahoo case and its importance to Internet jurisdiction. Part II will explore traditional jurisdiction and apply it to the Yahoo case. Part III will identify twopotential theories of Internet jurisdiction and investigate whether they are feasible solutions to the problem posed by the Yahoo case. Part IV will …

Contracting On The Web: Collegiate Athletes And Sports Agents Confront A New Hurdle In Closing The Deal, Manpreet S. Dhanjal

Jeffrey S. Moorad Sports Law Journal

No abstract provided.

E-Obviousness, Glynn S. Lunney Jr.

Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review

As patents expand into e-commerce and methods of doing business more generally, both the uncertainty and the risk of unjustified market power that the present approach generates suggest a need to rethink our approach to nonobviousness. If courts fail to enforce the nonobviousness requirement and allow an individual to obtain a patent for simply implementing existing methods of doing business through a computer, even where only trivial technical difficulties are presented, entire e-markets might be handed over to patent holders with no concomitant public benefit. If courts attempt to enforce the nonobviousness requirement, but leave undefined the extent of the …

A Symposium Précis, Thomas E. Baker

Faculty Publications

This article is an introduction to and overview of the Drake University Law School symposium The Constitution and the Internet, held in February of 2001. It highlights important issues including the Constitution and the Internet, civil liberty and the application of a 200 year old document to the modern age of rapidly changing technology.

Fool Us Once Shame On You—Fool Us Twice Shame On Us: What We Can Learn From The Privatizations Of The Internet Backbone Network And The Domain Name System, Jay P. Kesan, Rajiv C. Shah

Washington University Law Review

One goal of this Article is to describe and document the privatization processes for the backbone network and the DNS. We initially assumed the privatization of the Internet consisted of a simple shift from a subsidized network to a competitive market for backbone services. However, we found the privatization process to be quite complex and problematic. Unfortunately, many of these same problems are reoccurring in the current privatization of the DNS. Our study found three categories of problems that occurred during the privatizations of the Internet’s backbone network and the DNS: procedural problems, problems with the management of competition, and …

Cybersmear Or Cyber-Slapp: Analyzing Defamation Suits Against Online John Does As Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation, Joshua R. Furman

Seattle University Law Review

This Comment will first survey the law of cybersmear, illustrating the paradigmatic issues and legal theories employed. Then, it will discuss the free speech issues and theoretical bases argued in court and legal journals, paying special attention to the shortcomings in current protection of defendant anonymity. Next, it will examine the value of online anonymity and the protections that the Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (SLAPP) theory offers. Finally, given the breakdown in the public and private space dichotomy, this Comment will argue for a new understanding of the SLAPP constitutional protections in cyberspace. This understanding will recognize the powerful …

Introduction: From Sheet Music To Mp3 Files—A Brief Perspective On Napster, Harold R. Weinberg

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

The Napster case is the current cause celebre of the digital age. The story has color. It involves music-sharing technology invented by an eighteen-year-old college dropout whose high school classmates nicknamed him "The Napster" on account of his perpetually kinky hair. The story has drama. Depending on your perspective, it pits rapacious big music companies against poor and hardworking students who just want to enjoy some tunes; or it pits creative and industrious music companies seeking a fair return on their invested effort, time, and money against greedy and irreverent music thieves. And the case has importance. Music maybe intellectual …

Is Coppa A Cop Out? The Child Online Privacy Protection Act As Proof That Parents, Not Government, Should Be Protecting Children's Interests On The Internet, Melanie L. Hersh

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This Note first presents a historical background of media regulations protecting children, and introduces COPPA. Next, it presents the arguments fueling the debate about who should regulate the Internet - the government or non-government entities. It then argues that in light of COPPA's shortcomings and faulty attempts to emulate regulations of other media, the government should step back and allow parents to maintain the bulk of regulatory responsibility. Finally, it suggests a future course of action for successfully regulating the Internet to protect children's privacy while taking into account the Internet's dissimilarity to previously regulated media. This Note concludes that …

E-Commerce And Trans-Atlantic Privacy, Joel R. Reidenberg

Faculty Scholarship

For almost a decade, the United States and Europe have anticipated a clash over the protection of personal information. Between the implementation in Europe of comprehensive legal protections pursuant to the directive on data protection and the continued reliance on industry self-regulation in the United States, trans-Atlantic privacy policies have been at odds with each other. The rapid growth in e-commerce is now sparking the long-anticipated trans-Atlantic privacy clash. This Article will first look at the context of American e-commerce and the disjuncture between citizens' privacy and business practices. The Article will then turn to the international context and explore …

Yahoo And Democracy On The Internet, Joel R. Reidenberg

Faculty Scholarship

This article examines the French court order requiring Yahoo to prevent French Internet users from accessing images of Nazi memorabilia available for auction on the company's American web site. The article uses the French case to challenge the popular belief that an entirely borderless Internet favors democratic values. The article starts from the premise that while the Internet enables actors to reach a geographically dispersed audience, the Internet should not change the accountability of those actors for their conduct within national borders. The article shows that Yahoo's extensive business in France justifies the application of France's democratically chosen law and …

Comparative Institutional Analysis In Cyberspace: The Case Of Intermediary Liability For Defamation, Susan Freiwald

Susan Freiwald

Almost every day brings reports that Congress is considering new cyberspace-targeted laws and the courts are deciding novel cyberspace legal questions. These developments lend urgency to the question of whether a particular cyberspace legal change should come through operation of new statutes, judicial decisions, or the free market. If we can develop sophisticated analytical methods to evaluate institutional competence in cyberspace, we can vastly improve the development of cyberspace law and public policy.

Comparative Institutional Analysis in Cyberspace: The Case of Intermediary Liability for Defamation promotes just such an approach. By describing and extending a recently proposed model of comparative …