Prof. James Gibson, University of Richmond School of Law January 6, 2012 In this Intellectual Property Viewpoints series, we tend to focus on copyright and patent law – the “big two” IP regimes that govern innovation in the arts and sciences. But there is a third IP regime, a cousin to copyright and patent, which [...]
Prof. James Gibson, University of Richmond School of Law September 15, 2011 The Digital Millennium Copyright Act has been around for more than a dozen years now. Some of its provisions were just weird, such as the one that established sui generis protection for boat hull designs. Others have had a skeptical reception in the [...]
Prof. James Gibson, University of Richmond School of Law July 12, 2011 The recent agreement between big media companies and big Internet service providers (ISPs) concerning online copyright infringement has the law and technology world abuzz. ISPs like Comcast, Verizon, and Time Warner Cable have agreed to implement a system under which subscribers who repeatedly [...]
Prof. James Gibson, University of Richmond School of Law May 25, 2011 We’ve all seen it. Stick a movie in the DVD player, and up pops a scary message from law enforcement: if you infringe copyright, the feds will come after you. Indeed, this threat is so ubiquitous that it has worked its way into [...]
Prof. James Gibson, University of Richmond School of Law April 12, 2011 In copyright class, professors usually spend most of their time explaining the “public law” aspects of copyright – the exclusive rights that the law gives copyright holders (e.g., reproduction and public performance) and the privileges that the law gives to those who use [...]
Prof. Jim Gibson, University of Richmond School of Law February 16, 2011 Copyright law generally gives authors no control over the aftermarket for their goods. Suppose I write a book, and I sell you a copy of it. You are free to resell the book, or lend it to a friend, or give it away. [...]
Prof. Jim Gibson, University of Richmond School of Law November 23, 2010 When an individual makes a music or movie file available for downloading by others, without the permission of the copyright owner, is that an infringing act? Or does infringement take place only when the file is actually downloaded? This thorny copyright issue is [...]
Prof. Jim Gibson, University of Richmond School of Law September 8, 2010 A few months ago, I wrote an essay for this series that argued for reinstatement of formalities as a prerequisite to copyright protection. I left unaddressed one of the main objections to such a system: the fact that international law is unfriendly to [...]
Prof. Jim Gibson, University of Richmond School of Law July 13, 2010 In an earlier essay in this series, Randy Picker discussed the recent copyright decision in Viacom v. YouTube, and in particular the court’s ruling that the Digital Millennium Copyright Act’s “safe harbor” for remote storage applies to YouTube’s online video service. I agree [...]
Prof. Jim Gibson, University of Richmond School of Law May 18, 2010 In my last IP Issues entry, I discussed the advantages of reinstating formalities as prerequisites to copyright protection. In this entry, I will suggest one way in which this reinstatement might take place. For most of modern copyright law’s existence, a work of [...]