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. Randal C. Picker, The University of Chicago Law School June 24, 2010 Yesterday, a federal district court in New York granted YouTube’s motion for summary judgment in its long-running litigation with Viacom. Viacom and – separately – the English Premier League sued YouTube and Google alleging that they were liable for infringing works that [...]
Prof. Doug Lichtman, UCLA School of Law June 16, 2010 Section 109 of the Copyright Act states that the owner of a particular copy of a copyrighted work “is entitled, without the authority of the copyright owner, to sell or otherwise dispose of the possession of that copy.” This is the “first sale” doctrine, and, [...]
Peter S. Menell, Professor of Law Director, Berkeley Center for Law & Technology University of California at Berkeley School of Law June 11, 2010 Dear Steve: Congratulations on the iPad, yet another revolutionary product – perhaps Apple’s most transformative. In just a few months, the iPad has broken through the digital book reader barrier – [...]
Prof. Jane C. Ginsburg, Columbia University School of Law June 2, 2010 Several of the IP Issues columns have addressed the Google Book Search controversy, principally from the perspective of the still-pending settlement agreement, which would regulate the online availability of digitized books (or portions of them) to U.S. Internet users. While the proposed settlement [...]
Prof. Randal C. Picker, The University of Chicago Law School May 24, 2010 I am working on a paper on the history of razors and blades (yes, I know that sounds obscure, even for an ivory tower sort; I’ll leave it to another day to try to persuade you that you should be fascinated, too). [...]
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 [...]
Peter S. Menell, Professor of Law and Director Berkeley Center for Law and Technology University of California at Berkeley School of Law May 5, 2010 Mark Twain’s popularization of Benjamin Disraeli’s oft-quoted quip – “[t]here are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics” – has taken on new relevance in the latest round [...]
Dean Rodney A. Smolla, Washington and Lee University School of Law April 29, 2010 The academic freedom rights of university professors are usually discussed in the vocabulary of the First Amendment. Professors at public universities have freedom of speech rights derived from the First Amendment that they may assert against their university employers. Professors at [...]
Prof. Doug Lichtman, UCLA School of Law April 26, 2010 Copyright law’s first sale doctrine is part of our everyday experience. College students, for example, routinely purchase textbooks or study aids, use them for a semester, and then sell them to other students who might be taking the same class the following term. Regular consumers [...]