Law Commons^™

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act And Non-Infringing Use: Can Mandatory Labeling Of Digital Media Products Keep The Sky From Falling?, Michael P. Matesky Ii

Chicago-Kent Law Review

Throughout the history of the United States, copyright law, the fair use doctrine, and other non-infringement doctrines have limited copyright holders' right to prevent certain uses of their works. Nowadays, however, copyright holders can prevent users from engaging in non-infringing use of works on digital media by incorporating technological protection measures, such as an encryption code that prevents a CD from being played on a personal computer. Furthermore, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act prohibits circumvention of a technological protection measure that "effectively controls access" to a copyrighted work. This combination of new technological and legal tools gives copyright holders the …

Human Rights And Copyright: The Introduction Of Natural Law Considerations Into American Copyright Law , Orit Fischman Afori

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

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.

Mgm V. Grokster, Brief Amici Curiae Of The Computer & Communications Industry Association And Internet Archive, In Opposition To The Writ Of Certiorari, To The United States Supreme Court, Laura Quilter, Peter Jaszi

Laura Quilter

Amicus on behalf of the Internet Archive and the CCIA, requesting the Supreme Court of the United States to deny the petition for certiorari in the MGM v. Grokster case.

Mgm V. Grokster, Brief Amici Curiae Of The Computer & Communications Industry Association And Internet Archive, In Opposition To The Writ Of Certiorari, To The United States Supreme Court, Laura Quilter, Peter Jaszi

Peter Jaszi

Re-Reifying Data, James Gibson

Law Faculty Publications

There's a war on between those who view digital technology as a reason to expand intellectual property law and those who oppose this expansion. One front in the war is technological: the pro-expansionists enclose their products in restrictive code, which the anti-expansionists circumvent and hack. A second is legislative: the pro-expansionists seek extended copyright duration, favorable changes to contract law, and other new legal entitlements, while the anti-expansionists lobby for the opposite. And a third front is a combination of the first two: it is technological. On this battlefield, the pro-expansionists use the law to fortify their technological protections. But …

Copyright's Communications Policy, Timothy Wu

Michigan Law Review

There is something for everyone to dislike about early twenty-first century copyright. Owners of content say that newer and better technologies have made it too easy to be a pirate. Easy copying, they say, threatens the basic incentive to create new works; new rights and remedies are needed to restore the balance. Academic critics instead complain that a growing copyright gives content owners dangerous levels of control over expressive works. In one version of this argument, this growth threatens the creativity and progress that copyright is supposed to foster; in another, it represents an "enclosure movement" that threatens basic freedoms …

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act: Overextension Of Copyright Protection And The Unintended Chilling Effects On Fair Use, Free Speech, And Innovation, Derek J. Schaffner

Cornell Journal of Law and Public Policy

No abstract provided.

Are Decss T-Shirts Dirty Laundry? Wearable, Non-Executable Computer Code As Protected Speech, Sara Crasson

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Nickled And Dimed: The Dispute Over Intellectual Property Rights In The Bluenose Ii, Teresa Scassa

Dalhousie Law Journal

The Bluenose Schooner forms part of the folk history of Nova Scotia, and is a Canadian icon. Popular assumptions that Its name and image formed part of the public domain were put to the test in 2003 when the Bluenose II Preservation Trust Society brought suit against a Halifax business for Infringement of its official marks, trademarks and copyrights relating to the ship and its name. The litigation garnered local and national media attention, and the provincial government soon became involved in the dispute In this article, the author provides some background to the dispute before moving on to consider …

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 Hegemony Of The Copyright Treatise, Ann Bartow

Ann Bartow

This Article asserts that major conceptions about the appropriate structure, texture, and span of copyright protections and privileges have been fashioned by copyright treatises, particularly the various editions of Nimmer on Copyright. Copyright treatises function in concert with the machinations of Congress, the courts, and custom, but their role is not often scrutinized.

Because copyright treatises typically do a far better job than Congress or the courts of explicating copyright law in straightforward and accessible language, such treatises can not only communicate the copyright law, but also influence its development and direction. Policy makers no doubt understand that content owners …

Owning Music: From Publisher's Privilege To Composer's Copyright, Michael W. Carroll

ExpressO

More than four years after Napster demonstrated the power of the Internet as a means of distributing music, we still are in the midst of a cultural and legal debate about what the respective rights of music copyright owners, follow-on creators, disseminators, and purchasers should be. A common assumption underlying much of the debate is that whatever settlement emerges, it will apply equally to all forms of expression. This Article questions that assumption by investigating the early history of copyright in music.

For the first time in legal scholarship, the Article reveals and examines the distinct early history of copyright …

What Does Pruneyard Have To Do With California Internet Trade Secret Law?, Adam J. Sheridan

Marquette Intellectual Property Law Review

This comment discusses the facts of the Bunner case and the decisions of the Sixth District and the Supreme Court. The Bunner case involves Andrew Bunner and his act of putting a link on his Web page allowing visitors to access a Digitial Video Disc (DVD) descrambler program, which allowed a computer user to decrypt DVDs. The DVD Copy Control Association sought an injunction against Bunner under the California Uniform Trade Secrets Act (UTSA). The author analyzes the historical protection given free speech and trade secrets under California law. Looking at the Bunner case in light of Pruneyard, the author …

Peer-To-Peer File Sharing And Technological Sabotage Tactics: No Legislation Required, Hillary M. Kowalski

Marquette Intellectual Property Law Review

This comment examines the current state of downloading of copyrighted material using peer-to-peer (P2P) technology. The author overviews the P2P technology and details tactics being used by copyright holders to protect their works on the P2P networks. The author next analyzes various legal issues surrounding the copyright-protection tactics. The author concludes by examining proposed legislation designed to benefit copyright holders and asserts that Congressional intervention enabling sabotage tactics will not solve the P2P problem because such retaliatory measures will only worsen the situation by aggravating music lovers.

Too Many Markets Or Too Few? Copyright Policy Toward Shared Works, Michael J. Meurer

Faculty Scholarship

Proper analysis of sharing requires attention to the ways copyright law shapes markets. It also requires an analytic framework that identifies the gains and losses to copyright owners and users operating under the different market forms that can be sustained by different versions of copyright law. My framework will help judges avoid two mistakes that a market failure orientation invites. First, some judges overemphasize transaction costs and fail to appreciate the reasons to apply fair use to sharing even when negotiation and payment costs are zero. One reason is well known: sharing that generates positive externalities may be treated as …

Fine Art Online: Digital Imagery And Current International Interpretations Of Ethical Considerations In Copyright Law, Molly A. Torsen

ExpressO

This writing explores the fast-changing intersection of law, technology and ethical considerations related to the visual arts. My paper explores differences in domestic intellectual property laws as well as regional considerations in moral rights law application.

Communicating Entitlements: Property And The Internet, William Hubbard

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Rationalizing The Allocative/Distributive Relationship In Copyright, Jeffrey L. Harrison

UF Law Faculty Publications

It is the position of this article that the benefits of a regime of copyright law can be maintained while shedding at least some of the wastefulness of monopolistic competition. This article cuts against the grain of modem copyright law by making the case that a more substantive approach to the issues of creativity and authorship would lower costs, streamline the system, and raise the level of socially beneficial creativity. In Section II, I will elaborate on the allocative/distributive distinction and their interconnectedness. In Section III, I will focus on an enhanced creativity standard and argue that an elevated standard …

Reform(Aliz)Ing Copyright, Chris Sprigman

ExpressO

Reform(aliz)ing Copyright looks at the effect of the removal from the U.S. copyright laws of copyright formalities like registration, notice, and renewal. Beginning in 1976, the U.S. moved from a “conditional” copyright system that premised the existence and continuation of copyright on compliance with formalities, to an “unconditional” system, where copyright arises automatically when a work is “fixed”. Richard Epstein has aptly characterized these changes as “copyright law . . . flipping over from a system that protected only rights that were claimed to one that vests all rights, whether claimed or not.” That is a fundamental shift in any …

A Pattern-Oriented Approach To Fair Use, Michael J. Madison

Michael J. Madison

No abstract provided.

Rocking Wrigley: The Chicago Cubs' Off-Field Struggle To Compete For Ticket Sales With Its Rooftop Neighbors, Ronnie Bitman

Federal Communications Law Journal

Wrigley Field, home of the Chicago Cubs, is one of the most unique and beloved baseball stadiums in the country. In recent years, however, the owners of several rooftop viewing platforms near the stadium provided the Cubs with unwanted off-field competition for ticket revenues. This Note discusses the intersection of sports, property rights, and copyright law in the context of recent dilemmas and litigation by professional sports organizations and teams. Although this Note briefly touches on the Lanham Act, the Author's focus remains on copyright law and the FCC's support for proprietary rights in sports.

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 …

Copyrights And Creative Copying, Ann Bartow

Ann Bartow

People invest their time, energy and resources to produce a broad variety of copyrightable works of original authorship for an expansive array of reasons, many of which appear economically irrational. This makes it impossible to offer defensible generalizations about the effect, if any, that copyright laws have upon human creators, their artistic impulses, and the decision making underlying the formation of creative works. Nevertheless, it seems highly probable that authors can be negatively affected by the specter of copyright infringement suits in a manner that burdens and chills the creative process. Exact, whole-text copying can be avoided by authors aspiring …

The Ims Health Decision: A Triple Victory, Estelle Derclaye

Estelle Derclaye

No abstract provided.

The Ims Health Decision: A Triple Victory, Estelle Derclaye

Estelle Derclaye

No abstract provided.

Copyright Under Siege: The First Amendment Front, Lackland H. Bloom Jr.

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

Over the past decade, the law of copyright - traditionally an arcane and obscure specialty - has evolved into an extraordinarily controversial legal arena. To a significant extent, though not exclusively, this has been caused by the emerging clashes between copyright on the one hand and digital technology and the internet on the other. Some see copyright as the aggressor in the copyright wars, guilty of threatening the digital revolution, the internet, information policy, privacy, freedom of speech and the public domain. Much of this assault on copyright is culturally driven by the Internet's champions. Inevitably, this cultural challenge is …

Life After Eldred: The Supreme Court And The Future Of Copyright, Marshall Leaffer

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

The Escalating Copyright Wars, Peter K. Yu

Hofstra Law Review

Piracy is one of the biggest threats confronting the entertainment industry today. Every year, the industry is estimated to lose billions of dollars in revenue and faces the potential loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs. To protect itself against Internet pirates, the entertainment industry has launched the latest copyright war. So far, the industry has been winning. Among its trophies are the enactment of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, Vivendi Universal's defeat and purchase of MP3.com, the movie studios' victory in the DeCSS litigation, the bankruptcy and subsequent sale of Napster and its recent relaunch as a legitimate subscription-based …

Copyright, Derivative Works And Fixation: Is Galoob A Mirage, Or Does The Form (Gen) Of The Alleged Derivative Work Matter?, Tyler T. Ochoa

Faculty Publications

The Copyright Act gives a copyright owner the exclusive right "to prepare derivative works based on the copyrighted work." Does the Copyright Act require that a derivative work be "fixed in a tangible medium of expression" in order to be infringing? Existing case law is contradictory, stating both that a derivative work does not need to be "fixed" but that it does need to be embodied in some "concrete or permanent form." This contradiction stems from the fact that although the statutory language does not appear to require fixation, reading the statutory language literally would render illegal merely imagining a …