L-645: Copyright Syllabus

Instructor, Shubha Ghosh
A survey of United States Copyright law with particular emphasis on new technologies and the impact of international treaty obligations. Topics covered include: copyrightable subject matter, infringement, fair use, remedies, compulsory licensing, database protection, Copyright Management Systems and Digital Millennium Copyright Act, Audio Home Recording Act, and the relationship with state law of contract, misappropriation and the right of publicity. No prerequisites, although those who have had the Intellectual Property survey course might have some advantage.

This course is a continuation of copyright with a special emphasis on advanced topics. We will meet four times and focus on the following topics: Fair Use and Technology; Secondary Liability; Remedies; and State & International Law. All readings are from Joyce et al., Copyright Law (6th Edition) (“casebook”) and the 2004 Cumulative Supplement. You are responsible for the materials in the supplement in addition to the pages assigned below from the casebook. There will be a take home final which will be handed out the last day of class (May 6) and will be due in the Registrar’s Office on the last day of finals (Thursday, May 19) by noon. You are expected to do the entire reading assignment before class and I will expect active and serious participation.

READING ASSIGNMENTS

• April 15: Fair Use and Technology
  Casebook: pp 922-964; Coursepack: NXIVM Corp. v. The Ross Institute, 364 F. 3d 471 (2nd
  Cir. 2004).
  
• April 22: Secondary Liability
  Read the materials in the following order: Coursepack: Sony v. Universal Studios, 14 S. Ct.
  774 (1984); then Casebook: pp 769-776; then Coursepack: A&M Records v. Aimster, 284
  F.3d 1091 (9th Cir. 2002); Aimster, 334 F. 3d 643 (7th Cir. 2003); UMG Recordings v.
  Grokster, 380 F.3d 1154 (9th Cir. 2004).
  Note: I realize this is a heavy assignment, particularly given the length of the Sony decision.
  But Sony is perhaps the seminal case in copyright law, and its terms are up for grabs in the
  forthcoming Supreme Court decision in Grokster. By the time we meet for class, the oral arguments
  in Grokster will have occurred (on March 29), but an opinion will most likely not be released until
  June. I will try to provide links to or a hard copy of the oral arguments in Grokster and other related
  materials. All of which is a long winded way of saying that these readings are important.
  
• April 29: Remedies
  Casebook: pp 975-1018; Coursepack: Boisson v. Banian, 280 F. Supp. 2nd 10 (E.D.N.Y.
  2003); Chavez v. Arte Publico Press, 204 F. 3d 601 (5th Cir. 2000); Rodriguez v. Texas
  Commission on the Arts, 199 F. 3d 279 (5th Cir. 2000).
  May 6: State and International Law
  Casebook: pp 1018-1059; 749-765.