Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Articles 1 - 5 of 5
Full-Text Articles in Law
Uncertainty As Enforcement Mechanism: The New Expansion Of Secondary Copyright Liability To Internet Platforms, John Blevins
Uncertainty As Enforcement Mechanism: The New Expansion Of Secondary Copyright Liability To Internet Platforms, John Blevins
John F. Blevins
This article examines the role that legal uncertainty plays as a copyright enforcement mechanism against Internet platforms. In recent years, Internet platforms have faced a new wave of copyright enforcement actions arising from their users’ activity. These actions include both civil secondary liability claims and public enforcement actions such as domain name seizures and criminal prosecution. Critically, copyright owners and the government do not necessarily need to prevail in these actions. Instead, the proceedings can be effective so long as they impose sufficient costs upon Internet platforms. In this respect, prevailing is less important than obtaining statutory and doctrinal constructions …
Meet The New Scarcity: A First Amendment Framework For Regulating Access To Digital Media Platforms, John Blevins
Meet The New Scarcity: A First Amendment Framework For Regulating Access To Digital Media Platforms, John Blevins
John F. Blevins
Digital media platforms such as broadband networks and search engines are increasingly viewed as “gatekeepers” that enjoy disproportionate influence over modern speech. Policymakers have responded by adopting regulations to ensure nondiscriminatory access to these platforms. This article examines the intersection of these new access regulations with the First Amendment. The literature continues to analyze these questions through the lens of traditional media technologies such as newspapers and broadcast television. Digital networks, however, differ from these prior technologies in critical, qualitative ways. First Amendment analysis of access regulations must therefore be updated to reflect these technological differences. Specifically, it must recognize …
Death Of The Revolution: The Legal War On Competitive Broadband Technologies, John F. Blevins
Death Of The Revolution: The Legal War On Competitive Broadband Technologies, John F. Blevins
John F. Blevins
In this article, I examine the role that law has played in entrenching incumbents in the communications industry, with a particular focus on broadband services. Earlier this decade, several new “revolutionary” broadband technologies threatened to fundamentally disrupt industry structures. This revolution, however, never arrived. The reason, I argue, is that industry consolidation has helped transform law into a powerful and versatile entrenchment mechanism that has stifled these emerging competitive threats. Simply put, the sheer size superiorities enjoyed by today’s incumbent companies has created new and self-reinforcing opportunities to use law to entrench their market position. My focus, however, is not …
Jurisdiction As Competition Promotion: A Unified Theory Of The Fcc's Ancillary Jurisdiction, John F. Blevins
Jurisdiction As Competition Promotion: A Unified Theory Of The Fcc's Ancillary Jurisdiction, John F. Blevins
John F. Blevins
The FCC’s “ancillary jurisdiction” refers to the agency’s residual authority to regulate matters over which it lacks explicit statutory authority under the Communications Act of 1934. Because many of today’s most controversial and consequential policy debates involve new technologies not explicitly covered by that statute, the scope of the FCC’s ancillary jurisdiction has taken on a critical new importance in recent years. In particular, the future of federal Internet policy depends on resolving the questions surrounding ancillary jurisdiction. In this article, I provide a new theory of the FCC’s ancillary jurisdiction, arguing that it is best understood as an authority …
A Fragile Foundation -- The Role Of "Intermodal" And "Facilities-Based" Competition In Communications Policy, John F. Blevins
A Fragile Foundation -- The Role Of "Intermodal" And "Facilities-Based" Competition In Communications Policy, John F. Blevins
John F. Blevins
The communications industry is currently experiencing extensive and rapid deregulation. The policies justifying this deregulation have been constructed upon the concepts of “intermodal” and “facilities-based” competition. At both the federal and state level, regulators and courts have increasingly embraced deregulatory policies that promote – and assume the existence of – these forms of competition. In short, these concepts have become the theoretical foundation of modern communications policy. In the rush to either embrace or reject these forms of competition, policymakers and scholars have not paused to ask whether these two concepts are descriptively meaningful. In this article, I argue that …