Prof. Peter S. Menell,* University of California at Berkeley School of Law, and Prof. David Nimmer,** UCLA School of Law June 27, 2014 The Aereo case presented two fundamental showdowns: one between the cable industry and a charismatic disruptive technology, and the other between textualists and jurists seeking to vindicate legislative intent.  Much of the [...]

Prof. Peter S. Menell, Koret Professor of Law and Director, Berkeley Center for Law & Technology, University of California at Berkeley School of Law June 4, 2014 As part of Congress’s comprehensive review of the U.S. Copyright Act, the Copyright Office announced a broad-ranging study of music licensing on March 17, 2014.  The Office solicited [...]

Prof. Peter S. Menell, Koret Professor of Law and Director, Berkeley Center for Law & Technology, University of California at Berkeley School of Law May 9, 2014 Following hearings before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Intellectual Property and the Internet on Jan. 14, 2014, Congress asked the Copyright Office to review and assess “the state [...]

Peter S. Menell, Koret Professor of Law and Director, Berkeley Center for Law & Technology, University of California at Berkeley School of Law March 4, 2014 The Supreme Court will soon confront whether Aereo’s service – which affords subscribers access to over-the-air television signals through the use of dime-sized, customer-specific antennas and remote digital video [...]

Prof. Peter S. Menell, Koret Professor of Law and Director, Berkeley Center for Law & Technology, University of California at Berkeley School of Law (Boalt Hall) January 13, 2014 As I explored in a 2010 commentary1 and 2011 article,2 copyright enforcement actions against file-sharers brought the scope of the Copyright Act’s Section106(3) “distribution right” to [...]

Professor Peter S. Menell,1 University of California at Berkeley School of Law October 11, 2012 The fair use doctrine seeks to facilitate socially optimal uses of copyrighted material.  As a practical matter, however, cumulative creators, such as documentary filmmakers and many contemporary musicians, are often reluctant to rely on the fair use doctrine because of [...]

Professor Peter S. Menell,1 University of California at Berkeley School of Law August 24, 2012 On Aug. 10, 2012, Google announced its plan to integrate takedown notice data from copyright owners into its iconic Internet search algorithm.  Google was responding to the fact that searches often ranked links to unauthorized works high in its search [...]

Peter S. Menell* May 3, 2012 Nearly a decade after the emergence of user-generated content (UGC) websites, appellate courts finally rendered their interpretation of the applicability of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act’s (DMCA) safe harbor with respect to such entities during the past several months.  These much-anticipated decisions highlight the difficulties of interpreting copyright law [...]

Professor Peter S. Menell1 University of California at Berkeley School of Law February 13, 2012 Throughout history, technologies for instantiating, reproducing, and distributing information have evolved in tandem with the creative industries that cultivate, fund, and distribute literature, music, film, and art.  Although the relationship between these technology and content industries is often characterized in [...]

Professor Peter S. Menell Herman Phleger Visiting Professor of Law (2011-12), Stanford Law School Robert L. Bridges Professor of Law and Director, Berkeley Center for Law & Technology University of California at Berkeley School of Law December 21, 2011 As fans of the 1970s television hit “Happy Days” will recall, the final curtain became inevitable [...]