Columbus School of Law

Spring 2003

COPYRIGHT LAW

Professor Susanna Frederick Fischer

Welcome to our class Web pages! Updates will be provided throughout the semester. You will be notified in class or by e-mail about all updates.

Follow this link to access the Reading List.
More information about the class, including information on exams and grading may be found in the Course Outline.
Many helpful resources on copyright law are available on the Internet. To get you started, a few links are listed below. You may wish to bookmark these. I hope that you will all surf the Web and find many more helpful copyright law resources. If you find a site which you believe will be of particular assistance to your fellow students, please e-mail it to me so that I can provide a link on this page.
U.S. Copyright Office
Cornell Legal Information Institute Copyright Overview
Stanford Libraries Fair Use Page
Intellectual Property Materials on Jurist Law Profs Network
Stanford Center for Law and Technology page Emily Somma (Peter Pan case) page at: http://cyberlaw.stanford.edu/about/cases/emily_somma_peter_pan.shtml - a link to the complaint is at: http://cyberlaw.stanford.edu/
Eldred v. Ashcroft site at: http://eldred.cc/

Click on links below to access PowerPoint slides for each class. Slides will be posted within a reasonable time after the conclusion of each class. If you have any trouble accessing the slides, please e-mail me.

Slides from Class 1 (Jan. 6, 2003)

Slides from Class 2 (Jan. 8, 2003)

Slides from Class 3 (Jan. 13, 2003) - also mentioned in Class 3 was the Baltimore Orioles, Inc. v. Major League Baseball Players Association, 805 F.2d 663 (in which the Seventh Circuit ruled that a baseball game is a copyrightable work - though Nimmer has commented "It is suggested that the court ruled erroneously"). An edited version of this case is available online at: http://www2.tltc.ttu.edu/Cochran/Cases%20&%20Readings/Copyright-UNT/baltimore-orioles.htm

Slides from Class 4 (Jan. 15, 2003) - The U.S Supreme Court's decision in Eldred v. Ashcroft was published today. As I had expected, the Court rejected Eldred's constitutional challenge (7-2). Justice Ginsburg wrote the majority opinion. It is interesting that her daughter, Jane Ginsburg, is a legal academic who teaches and write on copyright law at Columbia Law School. Justices Stevens and Breyer dissented. The opinion can be accessed at: http://www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/02pdf/01-618.pdf and also on Professor Lawrence Lessig's blog at: http://cyberlaw.stanford.edu/lessig/blog/. In his blog, Professor Lessig reflects on losing the case.

Also, WIPO's website is at: http://www.wipo.org and the WTO's website is at: http://www.wto.org

Slides from Class 5 (Jan. 22, 2003)

Slides from Class 6 (Jan. 27, 2003) Please note that the next class is on Saturday Feb. 1 at 1:10 p.m. in Room 307. The next assignment for Saturday's makeup class is a repeat of the "Useful Articles" assignment : CB pp.215-40. I have revised the online syllabus at: http://faculty.cua.edu/fischer/Copyright03/copyreading2003.htm

Slides from Class 7 (Feb. 1, 2003)

Slides from Class 9 (Feb. 5, 2003) [these include some slides applicable to Class 8 on architectural works and characters; there are no separate slides for Class 8]

Slides from Class 10 (Feb. 10, 2003)

Slides from Class 11 (Feb. 12, 2003)

Slides from Class 12 (Feb. 19, 2003)

Slides from Class 13 (Feb. 24, 2003)

Slides from Class 14 (Feb. 26, 2003) - FOR ANYONE WHO MISSED CLASS, PLEASE SEE MODIFICATIONS TO ASSIGNMENTS at: Reading List. The handout is in the mailbox on the fourth floor opposite the elevators.

Slides from Class 15 (Mar. 10, 2003) UPDATED ASSIGNMENTS ARE at: Reading List. Class is cancelled on Wed. Mar. 12. A makeup will be scheduled on Mar. 22 at 2 p.m.

Slides from Class 16 (March 17, 2003)

Slides from Class 17 (March 19, 2003) Remember that Quiz 2 is due on Monday March 24. Here is a link to the entire opinion in Lee http://laws.lp.findlaw.com/7th/962522.html. You will have to download the Mirage case from Lexis if you want the whole thing. Here is a FAQ on derivative works that may be helpful: http://www.chillingeffects.org/derivative/question.cgi?print=yes

Slides from Class 18 (March 22, 2003) Here is some information on the TEACH Act that amends s. 110(2), plus a link to the act itself: http://www.ala.org/washoff/teach.html

Slides from Class 19 (March 24, 2003) A link to the Harry Fox Agency is at: http://www.nmpa.org/hfa.html A link to ASCAP is at: http://www.ascap.com/ A link to BMI is at: http://www.bmi.com/home.asp The World Trade Organization website is at: http://www.ascap.com/ The TRIPS page is at: http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/trips_e/trips_e.htm The TRIPS dispute settlement page is at: http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/dispu_e/dispu_e.htm - you can search there for specific dispute such as that over s. 110(5) of the 1976 Copyright Act.

Slides from Class 20 (March 26, 2003 Slides from Class 20 (March 26, 2003) A link to the Copyright Office page on webcasting is at: http://www.copyright.gov/carp/webcasting_rates.html. Other interesting resources on webcasting are below:

John Borland, Patent Scare Hits Streaming Industry, CNET News.com (Feb. 6, 2003) at: http://news.com.com/2100-1023-983552.html
Randy Dotinga, Radio Ditches Webcasts En Masse, Wired News (Jan. 9, 2003) at: http://www.wired.com/news/digiwood/0,1412,57134,00.html
Brad King, Webcasters' Fees Slashed in Half, Wired News (June 20, 2002) at: http://www.wired.com/news/mp3/0,1285,53377,00.html
Cole, Raywid & Braverman LLP, Small Webcasters Settlement Act of 2002 Signed Into Law at: http://www.crblaw.com/newsarticle.asp?year=2002&file=smallwebcaster.htm

Here's some material on peer-to-peer:

The entire Ninth Circuit opinion in A & M Records v. Napster (9th Cir. 2001) is available at: http://www.ce9.uscourts.gov/web/newopinions.nsf/4bc2cbe0ce5be94e88256927007a37b9/c4f204f69c2538f6882569f100616b06?OpenDocument
Napster's web page (not much currently happening on it) is at: http://www.napster.com/ Napster was purchased by Roxio at http://www.roxio.com
Kazaa's webpage is at: http://www.kazaa.com KaZaA was once a Dutch company, now bought by an Australian company that is incorporated in Vanuatu. Obviously certain jurisdictional difficulties exist in relation to KaZaA!
Other peer-to-peer services: LimeWire at: http://www.limewire.com/; BearShare at: http://www.bearshare.com
Recording industry online services: MusicNet at: http://www.musicnet.com/; Pressplay at: http://www.pressplay.com/
Recording Industry of America (RIAA) site at: http://www.riaa.org
Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) site http://www.mpaa.org/

Slides from Class 21 (March 31, 2003) Here is the University of Texas "Crash Course in Copyright" site that I mentioned in class: http://www.utsystem.edu/ogc/intellectualproperty/cprtindx.htm More copyright resources are at: http://www.aea10.k12.ia.us/instruct/copyr.html

Slides from Class 22 (April 2, 2003)

Slides from Class 23 (April 7, 2003) For an article on the RIAA lawsuit against the four students, see Katie Dean, RIAA Sues Students Where It Hurts (April 5, 2003) at: http://www.wired.com/news/digiwood/0,1412,58351,00.html The Complaints are posted on Professor Edward Felten's Freedom to Tinker page at: http://www.freedom-to-tinker.com/

Slides from Class 24 (April 9, 2003)

Slides from Class 25 (April 14, 2003) I ran across this link to a t-shirt that is for sale with DeCSS on the front and the DMCA on the back, should anyone be interested: http://www.copyleft.net/item.phtml?&page=product_1175_front.phtml

Slides from Class 26 (April 16, 2003) I just shepherdized the NBA v. Motorola case and, as I had thought, the Second Circuit decision was not reviewed. There were Lanham Act claims as well, but NBA was also unsuccessful on those. Remember that a new Exam Memo II is posted below. Enjoy the break, everyone!!

Slides from Class 27 (April 23, 2003) - The material from this class will not be tested on the exam.

EXAM MEMOS

Exam Memo I (April 9, 2003) - covers course up to Spring Break. I will post exam memos for the material covered after spring break shortly.

Exam Memo II (April 16, 2003) - one more will be posted next week to cover preemption, remedies, and the copyright infringement lawsuit.

Exam Memo III (April 23, 2003) - this is the final exam memo. I have very much enjoyed teaching you all copyright law. You have been wonderful students. Good luck on the exam! If you would like to make an appointment to meet with me for exam review, please e-mail me. Also, if you need any of the quizzes, model answers or other materials handed out in class, I can e-mail them to you or print them out and put them in your mailbox on request. There are several copies of the Model Answer to Exam 3 in the class mailbox on the fourth floor opposite the elevators.