COS 491: Information Technology and the Law

Spring 2004

Instructor: Edward W. Felten

Readings

The schedule and reading list are subject to change. Please re-check this page periodically.

Feb. 2: Introduction

No reading.

Feb. 9: Jurisdiction

Dan L. Burk. Jurisdiction in a World without Borders. Virginia J. Law and Technology 3, Spring 1997.

9th Circuit Court of Appeals opinion in Cybersell v. Cybersell, 1997.

D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals opinion in GTE New Media Services v. BellSouth, 1997 (abridged).

District Court opinion in Blumenthal v. Drudge, 1998. (Skip Section II.)

Feb. 16: Trespass

I. Trotter Hardy. The Ancient Doctrine of Trespass to Web Sites. 1996 J. Online Law, article 7.

Dan L. Burk. The Trouble with Trespass. 3 J. Small & Emerging Business Law 1, 1998.

California court opinion in Thrifty-Tel v. Bezenek, 1996 (abridged).

U.S. District Court opinion in CompuServe v. Cyber Promotions, 1997 (abridged).

U.S. District Court opinion in eBay v. Bidder's Edge, 2000 (abridged).

Feb. 23: Computer Fraud and Abuse Act

Essay 1 due in class.

Text of Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, 18 U.S.C. 1030

2nd Circuit Court of Appeals ruling in U.S. v. Morris, 1991.

U.S. District Court ruling in Register.com v. Verio, 2000.

U.S. District Court ruling in North Texas Preventive Imaging v. Eisenberg, 1996.

March 1: Competition

The Sherman Act (portions of 15 U.S.C.)

D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals opinion in U.S. v. Microsoft. (Skip sections V and VI.)

Mar. 8: Internet governance

ICANN For Beginners

Kathleen E. Fuller, ICANN: The Debate over Governing the Internet, Duke Law & Technology Review, 2001.

Sharon Eisner Gillett and Mitchell Kapor. The Self-governing Internet: Coordination by Design. In Coordination of the Internet, ed. Brian Kahin and James Keller, MIT Press, 1997.

Lawrence Lessig. Cyberspace's Constitution. Lecture at the American Academy, Berlin.

March 22: Copyright: Linking and framing

Essay 2 due

Copyright Basics. U.S. Copyright Office, Circular 1. (ignore everything after the "International Copyright" section)

Mark Sableman. Link Law Revisited: Internet Linking Law at Five Years. Berkeley Technology Law Journal, vol. 16, 2001.

March 29: Copyright: Secondary liability

U.S. Supreme Court decision in Sony v. Universal, 1984.

9th Circuit Court of Appeals decision in A&M Records v. Napster, 2001 (abridged).

District Court ruling in MGM v. Grokster, 2003.

Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals ruling in In re: Aimster Copyright Litigation, 2003.

April 5: Special Topic

Essay 3 due in class.

TBA.

April 12: Reverse engineering and research

9th Circuit Court of Appeals decision in Sega v. Accolade, 1992.

9th Circuit Court of Appeals decision in Sony v. Connectix, 2000.

April 19: DMCA Anti-Circumvention

Relevant portions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act

2nd Circuit Court of Appeals decision in Universal v. Corley, 2001.

District Court ruling in Lexmark v. Static Control

April 26: Pornography and free speech

6th Circuit Court of Appeals decision in U.S. v. Thomas, 1996 (abridged). In reading, skip sections II.A and II.B.

Supreme Court opinion in Reno v. ACLU, 1997 (abridged).

Supreme Court opinion in U.S. v. American Library Association, 2003.