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Full-Text Articles in Law
Access To Knowledge As A Bridge Over The Troubled Waters Of Copyright Fair Use -- From Jefferson To Mandela To Google, Douglas L. Rogers
Access To Knowledge As A Bridge Over The Troubled Waters Of Copyright Fair Use -- From Jefferson To Mandela To Google, Douglas L. Rogers
ExpressO
The copyright fair use doctrine is a key to increasing access to knowledge and decreasing the digital divide between information-rich and information-poor countries. Publishers have sued Google for copyright infringement for scanning the copyrighted books of the publishers into a digital database, so Google users can search the database for certain words to determine what books contain words of interest to the user. The Google litigation, however, is only a small piece of the larger access to knowledge puzzle. The larger issue is access to the books themselves, translated into the native languages of citizens of developing countries. Yet copyright …
Technoconsen(T)Sus, Andrea M. Matwyshyn
Technoconsen(T)Sus, Andrea M. Matwyshyn
ExpressO
Law is contributing to an information security paradox. Consumers are regularly “consenting” to the installation of computer code that makes them more vulnerable to harms such as identity theft. In particular, digital rights management technology accompanying digital music has recently left a wake of compromised user machines. Using the case study of security-invasive digital rights management technology, this article argues that a fundamental tension exists among intellectual property law, computer intrusion law and contract law regarding meaningful consumer consent in digital contexts. This article proposes to ease the noise in consent doctrine through creating an objective “reasonable digital consumer” standard …
The Problem Of Freedom Override By Digital Rights Management Technologies: The Market Mechanisms And Possible Legal Options, Yuko Noguchi
The Problem Of Freedom Override By Digital Rights Management Technologies: The Market Mechanisms And Possible Legal Options, Yuko Noguchi
ExpressO
One of the major problems of copyright regulations in the digital and network era is that the Digital Rights Management (DRM) technologies are overriding the freedom incorporated within the copyright regulations in the analog world. The override problem partly comes from the strict implementation of the DRM systems by the market, and partly from the anti-circumvention regulations that almost blindly protect such implementation. This research reviews the scope of anti-circumvention regulations by introducing Japanese regulations, which are rather modest, and by comparing with the U.S. regulations. It also extensively analyzes the market mechanisms that cause rather strict implementation of DRM …
Opting Out: Procedural Fair Use, Michael R. Mattioli
Opting Out: Procedural Fair Use, Michael R. Mattioli
ExpressO
This article explores the advantages of opt-out plans, and identifies a critical shortcoming in Copyright’s doctrine of Fair Use. The discussion is fueled by a current controversy: In December of 2004, Google, Inc. announced its plan to digitally scan thousands of copyrighted books as part of a massive new digital indexing service. Hedging against possible litigation, Google provided a free and easy opt-out procedure for authors who didn’t want their books scanned. Despite this measure, two major authors’ groups have sued Google, claiming the opt-out plan imposes an unfair burden. This article explores the fairness of established opt-outs in contract …
Digital Wars -- Legal Battles And Economic Bottlenecks In The Digital Information Industries, Curt A. Hessler
Digital Wars -- Legal Battles And Economic Bottlenecks In The Digital Information Industries, Curt A. Hessler
ExpressO
The Digital Age has spawned major legal battles over the fundamental principles of intellectual property law and antitrust law. These diverse struggles can best be analyzed using the basic norm of "value added" from neo-classical normative economics. This analysis suggests that current intellectual property doctirnes provide excessive protection and current antitrust doctrines remain awkward in dealing with the cross-market leveraging of monopoly power in the presence of "natural monopolies" created by network effects.
The Drm Dilemma: Re-Aligning Rights Under The Digital Millennium Copyright Act, Jacqueline D. Lipton
The Drm Dilemma: Re-Aligning Rights Under The Digital Millennium Copyright Act, Jacqueline D. Lipton
ExpressO
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (‘DMCA’) prevents unauthorized copying and distribution of digital copyright works by regulating devices that can be used to circumvent Digital Rights Management (‘DRM’) measures that are used to restrict access to those works. A significant problem is that those devices, like many new technologies, have the potential to be used for both socially harmful and socially beneficial purposes. There is no obvious way for Congress to regulate circumvention devices to prevent the social harms, while at the same time facilitating the social benefits they might provide. Recent judicial interpretations of the DMCA have unsurprisingly erred …
Thinking Outside The Pandora's Box: Why The Dmca Is Unconstitutional Under Article I §8 Of The U.S. Constitution, Joshua L. Schwartz
Thinking Outside The Pandora's Box: Why The Dmca Is Unconstitutional Under Article I §8 Of The U.S. Constitution, Joshua L. Schwartz
ExpressO
No abstract provided.
Seventeen Famous Economists Weigh In On Copyright: The Role Of Theory, Empirics, And Network Effects, Stan Liebowitz, Stephen Margolis
Seventeen Famous Economists Weigh In On Copyright: The Role Of Theory, Empirics, And Network Effects, Stan Liebowitz, Stephen Margolis
ExpressO
The case of Eldred v. Ashcroft, which sought to have the Copyright Term Extension Act (CTEA, aka Sonny Bono Copyright Act) declared unconstitutional, was recently decided by the Supreme Court. A remarkable group of seventeen economists including five Noble laureates, representing a wide spectrum of opinion in economics, submitted an amicus curie brief in support of Eldred. The economists condemned CTEA on the grounds that the revenues earned during the extension are so heavily discounted that they have almost no value, while the extended protection of aged works creates immediate monopoly deadweight losses and increases the costs of creating new …
The Dmca Subpoena Power: Who Does It Actually Protect?, Thomas P. Ludwig
The Dmca Subpoena Power: Who Does It Actually Protect?, Thomas P. Ludwig
ExpressO
After years of legal maneuvering and courtroom skirmishes, the lines in the war between copyright holders and online copyright infringers have been clearly drawn. This conflict, which is poised to erupt in courts across the country, began decades ago with the birth of the Internet, which gave rise to a previously unparalleled opportunity for the dissemination, sharing, and enjoyment of every conceivable form of human expression. In addition to the benefits it has provided, the Internet also has given rise to copyright infringement on a global scale through the unauthorized posting and sharing of digital files. After years of unsuccessfully …