Communications Law Commons^™

Can Dna Be Speech?, Jorge R. Roig

Jorge R Roig

Games Are Not Coffee Mugs: Games And The Right Of Publicity, 29 Santa Clara Computer & High Tech. L.J. 1 (2012), William K. Ford, Raizel Liebler

William K. Ford

Are games more like coffee mugs, posters, and T-shirts, or are they more like books, magazines, and films? For purposes of the right of publicity, the answer matters. The critical question is whether games should be treated as merchandise or as expression. Three classic judicial decisions, decided in 1967, 1970, and 1973, held that the defendants needed permission to use the plaintiffs' names in their board games. These decisions judicially confirmed that games are merchandise, not something equivalent to more traditional media of expression. As merchandise, games are not like books; instead, they are akin to celebrity-embossed coffee mugs. To …

The Evolution Of Internet Service Providers From Partners To Adversaries: Tracking Shifts In Interconnection Goals And Strategies In The Internet’S Fifth Generation, Rob Frieden

Rob Frieden

At the Internet’s inception, carriers providing the bit switching and transmission function largely embraced expanding connections and users as a primary service goal. These ventures refrained from metering traffic and charging for carriage based on the assumption that traffic volumes roughly matched, or that traffic measurement was not worth the bother in light of external funding from government grants. Most Internet Service Providers (“ISPs”) bartered network access through a process known as peering in lieu of metering traffic and billing for network use. As governments removed subsidies and commercial carriers invested substantial funds to build larger and faster networks, identifying …

Toward A New Language Of Legal Drafting, Matthew Roach

Matthew Roach

Lawyers should write in document markup language just like web developers, digital publishers, scientists, and almost everyone else.

Network Neutrality And Consumer Demand For “Better Than Best Efforts” Traffic Management, Rob Frieden

Rob Frieden

This paper assesses whether and how ISPs can offer quality of service enhancements, at premium prices for full motion video, while still complying with the new rules and regulations established by the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) in March, 2015. The paper explains that having made the controversial decision to reclassify all forms of Internet access as a telecommunications service, the FCC increases regulatory uncertainty. In particular, the FCC has failed to identify instances where “retail ISPs,” serving residential broadband subscribers, can offer quality of service enhancements that serve real consumer wants without harming competition and the ability of most content …

, The Law School Of The Future: How The Synergies Of Convergence Will Transform The Very Notion Of “Law Schools” During The 21st Century From “Places” To “Platforms”, Jeffrey A. Van Detta

Jeffrey A. Van Detta

This article discusses the disruptive change in American (and trans-national) legal education that the convergence of technology and economics is bringing to legal education. It posits, and then defends, the following assertion about "law schools of the future":

“Law schools will no longer be ‘places’ in the sense of a single faculty located on a physical campus. In the future, law schools will consist of an array of technologies and instructional techniques brought to bear, in convergence, on particular educational needs and problems.”

This paper elaborates on that prediction, discussing the ways in which technology will positively impact legal education, …

The Self, The Stasi, The Nsa: Privacy, Knowledge, And Complicity In The Surveillance State, Richard Warner, Robert H. Sloan

Richard Warner

We focus on privacy in public. The notion dates back over a century, at least to the work of the German sociologist, Georg Simmel. Simmel observed that people voluntarily limit their knowledge of each other as they interact in a wide variety of social and commercial roles, thereby making certain information private relative to the interaction even if it is otherwise publicly available. Current governmental surveillance in the US (and elsewhere) reduces privacy in public. But to what extent?

The question matters because adequate self-realization requires adequate privacy in public. That in turn depends on informational norms, social norms that …

Toward A Textualist Paradigm For Interpreting Emoticons, John Ehrett

John Ehrett

This Essay evaluates the dimensions of courts’ current interpretive dilemma, and subsequently sketches a possible framework for extending traditional statutory interpretation principles into this new domain. Throughout the analysis, the Essay describes the process of attaching cognizable linguistic referents to emoticons and emojis throughout as symbolical reification, and proposes a normative way forward for those tasked with deriving meaning from emoji-laden communications.

Agency Boundaries And Network Neutrality, Tejas N. Narechania

Tejas N. Narechania

The Unexamined Life In The Era Of Big Data: Toward A Udaap For Data, Sean Brian

Sean Brian

No abstract provided.

Innovations In Mobile Broadband Pricing, Daniel Lyons

Daniel Lyons

No abstract provided.

Presentation, The Perils Of Internet Interconnection Disclosure, Daniel Lyons

Daniel Lyons

No abstract provided.

The Costs And Benefits Of Regulatory Intervention In Internet Service Provider Interconnection Disputes: Lessons From Broadcaster-Cable Retransmission Consent Negotiations, Rob Frieden

Rob Frieden

This paper considers what limited roles the FCC may lawfully assume to ensure timely and fair interconnection and compensation agreements in the Internet ecosystem. The paper examines the FCC’s limited role in broadcaster-cable television retransmission consent negotiations with an eye toward assessing the applicability of this model. The FCC explicitly states that it lacks jurisdiction to prescribe terms, or to mandate binding arbitration. However, it recently interpreted its statutory authority to ensure “good faith” negotiations as allowing it to constrain broadcaster negotiating leverage by prohibiting multiple operators, having the largest market share, from joining in collective negotiations with cable operators. …

Internet Protocol Television And The Challenge Of “Mission Critical” Bits., Rob Frieden

Rob Frieden

The Internet increasingly provides an alternative distribution medium for video and other types of high value, bandwidth intensive content. Many consumers have become “technology agnostic” about what kind of wireline or wireless medium provides service. However, they expect carriers to offer access anytime, anywhere, via any device and in any format. These early adopters of new technologies and alternatives to “legacy” media have no patience with the concept of “appointment television” that limits access to a specific time, on a single channel and in only one presentation format. This paper assesses whether and how Internet Service Providers (“ISPs”) can offer …

Protecting The Sender: Liability Protection For The Senders Of Electronic Communication, Meredith W. Doherty

Meredith W. Doherty

As the technology of smartphones has progressed, electronic communication has become an integral and portable part of our daily lives. A recent New Jersey case highlighted the issue of holding the sender of a text message liable for injuries resulting from a motor vehicle accident in which the driver at fault was reading a text message from the sender at the time of the accident. This note focuses on the implications of such liability being imposed on senders of text messages as well as the slippery slope that could result, taking all forms of electronic communication, social media and mobile …

Drones, Henry H. Perritt Jr., Eliot O. Sprague

Henry H. Perritt, Jr.

Response To Questions In The First White Paper, 'Modernizing The Communications Act', Randolph J. May, Richard A. Epstein, Justin (Gus) Hurwitz, Daniel Lyons, James B. Speeta, Christopher S. Yoo

Daniel Lyons

The House Energy and Commerce Committee has begun a process to review and update the Communications Act of 1934, last revised in any material way in 1996. As the Committee begins the review process, this paper responds to questions posed by the Committee that all relate, in fundamental ways, to the question: "What should a modern Communications Act look like?" The Response advocates a "clean slate" approach under which the regulatory silos that characterize the current statute would be eliminated, along with almost all of the ubiquitous 'public interest' delegation of authority found throughout the Communications Act. The replacement regime …

Panelist, Net Neutrality And The Future Of Internet Access, Daniel Lyons

Daniel Lyons

No abstract provided.

Panelist, A New Fcc And A New Communications Act: Aligning Communications Policy With Marketplace Realitie, Daniel Lyons

Daniel Lyons

No abstract provided.

The Evolution Of The Digital Millennium Copyright Act; Changing Interpretations Of The Dmca And Future Implications For Copyright Holders, Hillary A. Henderson

Hillary A Henderson

Copyright law rewards an artificial monopoly to individual authors for their creations. This reward is based on the belief that, by granting authors the exclusive right to reproduce their works, they receive an incentive and means to create, which in turn advances the welfare of the general public by “promoting the progress of science and useful arts.” Copyright protection subsists . . . in original works of authorship fixed in any tangible medium of expression, now known or later developed, from which they can be perceived, reproduced, or otherwise communicated, either directly or with the aid of a machine or …

Internet Policy’S Next Frontier: Data Caps, Tiered Service Plans, And Usage-Based Broadband Pricing, Daniel A. Lyons

Daniel Lyons

Usage-based pricing has rapidly become one of the most controversial topics in Internet policy. Both wired and wireless broadband providers are migrating from flat-rate pricing to a variety of consumption-based pricing models. Some consumer groups have viewed the change to usage-based pricing with skepticism, fearing it will usher in an era of higher prices, deteriorating service, and increasingly anticompetitive conduct. This article evaluates the merits of data caps, tiered-service plans, and other usage-based pricing strategies. It finds that usage-based broadband pricing is not inherently anti-consumer or anti-competitive. Rather, it reflects a cluster of pricing strategies through which a broadband company …

The Challenge Of Voip To Legacy Federal And State Regulatory Regimes, Daniel A. Lyons

Daniel Lyons

No abstract provided.

Fixing Frand: A Pseudo-Pool Approach To Standards-Based Patent Licensing, Jorge Contreras

Jorge L Contreras

Technical interoperability standards are critical elements of mobile telephones, laptop computers, digital files, and thousands of other products in the modern networked economy. Most such standards are developed in so-called voluntary standards-development organizations (SDOs) that require participants to license patents essential to the standard on terms that are “fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory” (FRAND). FRAND commitments are thought to avoid the problem of patent hold-up: the imposition of excessive royalty demands after a standard has been widely adopted in the market. While, at first blush, FRAND commitments seem to assure product vendors that patents will not obstruct the manufacture and sale …

Copyright Freeconomics, John M. Newman

John M. Newman

Innovation has wreaked creative destruction on traditional content platforms. During the decade following Napster’s rise and fall, industry organizations launched litigation campaigns to combat the dramatic downward pricing pressure created by the advent of zero-price, copyright-infringing content. These campaigns attracted a torrent of debate, still ongoing, among scholars and stakeholders—but this debate has missed the forest for the trees. Industry organizations have abandoned litigation efforts, and many copyright owners now compete directly with infringing products by offering licit content at a price of $0.

This sea change has ushered in an era of “copyright freeconomics.” Drawing on an emerging body …

Emerging Technologies And Dwindling Speech, Jorge R. Roig

Jorge R Roig

Oportunidades Para Las Empresas Dentro De La Omc, Rodolfo C. Rivas Rea Esq.

Rodolfo C. Rivas

The author provides a brief overview of the World Trade Organization (WTO), the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB) by explaining the context of their interrelationship. Afterwards, the author delves into a brief analysis of Mexico’s role in the International Trade arena and concludes by describing the paths through which the private sector can benefit from the WTO.///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////El autor pone en contexto la interrelación entre la Organización Mundial del Comercio (OMC) el Banco Mundial (BM) y el Fondo Monetario Internacional (FMI). Posteriormente, el autor describe brevemente el rol de México dentro de las instituciones de Comercio Internacional …

La Industria Del Libro 3.0 Y J.K. Rowling, Rodolfo C. Rivas Rea Esq., Maria Alejandra Lopez Garcia Esq.

Rodolfo C. Rivas

The authors provide a brief overview of what could be called the 3.0 version of the book industry. Under the 3.0 book industry, the author’s role in exploiting their creations has to embrace new and creative business models, which may often come into conflict with publisher’s old business models. In the article, the authors take a look at the innovative business models implemented by J.K. Rowling, Stephen King, Radiohead and Frank Ocean amongst others. ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Los autores proporcionan una breve descripción de lo que podría llamarse la versión 3.0 de la industria del libro. En la industria del libro 3.0, …

Changing Places: A New Role For Creators In The Digital World, Rodolfo C. Rivas Rea Esq., Maria Alejandra Lopez Garcia Esq.

Rodolfo C. Rivas

The authors provide a brief overview of the author’s role in exploiting their creations and how new technologies have made authors and publishers explore new business models. In the article, the authors take a look at the innovative business models implemented by J.K. Rowling, Stephen King, Radiohead and Frank Ocean amongst others./////////////////////////////////////////////////// Los autores proporcionan una breve descripción de la función del autor en la explotación de sus creaciones y cómo las nuevas tecnologías han obligado a los autores y editores explorar nuevos modelos de negocio. En el artículo, los autores echan un vistazo a los modelos de negocio innovadores …

Implementación De Políticas Corporativas Sobre Internet Y Redes Sociales En México, Rodolfo C. Rivas Rea Esq.

Rodolfo C. Rivas

The author analyzes and describes the necessary elements of a successful social media and Internet corporate policy; through citing common pitfalls and learning lessons from different jurisdictions across the world. The author then offers general guidelines on policies for Mexican enterprises under Mexican legislation.///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////El autor analiza y describe los elementos necesarios de una política corporativa sobre internet y redes sociales exitosa, citando los errores más comunes y aprendiendo lecciones de las legislaciones de distintos países.

Lo Que Usted Debe Saber Al Invertir En Una Franquicia En México, Rodolfo C. Rivas Rea Esq., Marco A. Vargas Iñiguez Esq.

Rodolfo C. Rivas

The authors provide a brief account of the increasing importance of franchises in the current economic environment. Furthermore, in this walkthrough the authors discuss the existing legal regime for franchises in Mexico and provide an analysis of the negotiating positions involved in successfully developing a franchise.//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////Los autores proporcionan un breve estudio sobre la creciente importancia de las franquicias en el entorno económico actual. Además, los autores analizan el régimen jurídico vigente para las franquicias en México y ofrecen un análisis sobre las negociaciones necesarias para el desarrollo exitoso de una franquicia.