Cyberspace and the Law

Spring, 2008 Course Syllabus

Date: January 8, 2008

Credit hours and meeting times/place: Three credits. Wed., Thur., 10:25-11:40 pm; Law Bldg: Rm. G20

Professor Kevin D. Ashley

Office: Room 525 Law Building, 3900 Forbes Avenue Phone: (412) 648-1495

Room 519 Learning Research and Development Center, 3939 O'Hara Street (412) 624-7496,

Email: ashley@pitt.edu

Secretary: Ms. Patty Blake Phone: (412) 648-1333

Office: Room 514B Law Building Email: pblake@pitt.edu

Course description and rationale: As the Internet and the World Wide Web (WWW) become ever more central to the world’s commercial, social and cultural life, it makes sense to speak of a new dimension in the ways people communicate and express themselves, conduct business, and organize themselves in pursuit of mutual interests via the global information infrastructure: Cyberspace. This course will examine the legal and policy issues arising in connection with Cyberspace, including:

○ information torts and jurisdictional issues occasioned by world wide computer networks,

○ issues of protected speech, defamatory speech, and the treatment of pornography,

○ protecting intellectual property in and fair use of materials published in Cyberspace,

○ protecting privacy expectations in internet communications,

○ commercial transactions in Cyberspace.

The purpose of this course is to provide students a general introduction to and survey of legal issues that are especially interesting because of the unique circumstances of Internet communications. It is appropriate both for students who have not taken or plan not to take other law school courses in intellectual property or technology as well as students who have taken or plan to take such courses. It qualifies as an elective course for the Certificate in Intellectual Property and Technology Law.

TWEN course website: There is a TWEN website for this course, Cyberspace and the Law, at lawschool.westlaw.com. You will need to use your Westlaw password to access the site. Beside the syllabus, the website will contain materials for distribution and a discussion board.

Required texts:

The course text is Cyberspace Law; Cases and Materials, Second Edition, Ku, Raymond and Lipton, Jacqueline 2006, Aspen Law & Business.

Students will also need a late edition of a statutory supplement like Unfair Competition, Trademark, Copyright and Patent: Selected Statutes and International Agreements, Foundation Press. Links are provided below to the Cornell University Law School Legal Information Institute versions of the relevant federal statutes, but it is also useful to have a booklet covering the relevant state and federal laws.

Professor Ashley will distribute via the Materials link of the TWEN course website.

Email distribution list: When you first access the TWEN course website, your email address will be added to the distribution list on the TWEN page. There will be a test of the email distribution list during the first week in class. Students are responsible for double-checking that they are receiving class emails.

Office hours: Prof. Ashley will usually be available in his office, Room 525, every class-day morning at 9:30 AM. Students may also set up appointments via email to meet with him at other times.

Course objectives: Upon successfully completing this course, students will understand: (1) the basic values and policies underlying the law concerning personal jurisdiction and regulatory authority, freedom of speech, intellectual property and tangible property protection, privacy, and private ordering; (2) the extent to which developments in cyberspace challenge these values and policies; (3) how existing legal doctrines govern the collection, dissemination, and use of information via the Internet and how those doctrines might better serve the underlying values and policies.

Evaluation:

Instead of an examination, students will write a ten-to-fifteen-page paper on a topic of their choice approved by the instructor. The first draft of each paper will be submitted to the instructor and distributed for peer-review by a small set of other students in the class.
For each paper to review, the peer reviewer will write a brief commentary of the paper evaluating it along the three dimensions to be posted on the TWEN course site. The commentaries will be sent to the original author and to the instructor.
After receipt of the commentaries, students will prepare a final draft of the paper and submit it to the instructor. Each author will be asked to make a short oral presentation of his or her paper late in the semester.
The paper-writing assignment and oral presentation will give students an opportunity to develop and defend a thesis about some aspect of Cyberspace Law. A thesis is a premise in an argument advancing a new point of view resulting from research. For instance, a thesis might be that some existing legal doctrine does not adequately address the values and policies that should underlie legal regulation of that aspect of Cyberspace. In the oral presentations, students will have about eight to ten minutes to present the thesis and briefly argue in its support.
Grades will be based on the final draft of a student’s course paper, oral presentation, submission of a substantial first draft for peer review, and preparation of peer review commentaries.

Classroom participation is very important in this course. The instructor may assign individual students responsibility for being prepared to discuss individual readings.

Attendance: The School of Law’s attendance policy will be enforced in this class. Attendance records will be based on a daily sign-in sheet.

Disabilities requiring accommodation: If you have a disability for which you are or may be requesting accommodation, you should contact the Office of Student Affairs in the Law School as soon as possible in the semester. That office will refer you to the Office of Disability Resources and Services (DRS), 216 William Pitt Union, (412) 648-7890 / (412) 383-7355 (TTY). DRS will verify your disability and determine reasonable accommodations for this course.

Due to the anonymous grading policy, students should not discuss exam accommodations with professors. The Office of Student Affairs and the Registrar will insure that any testing accommodations are provided through the DRS.

Schedule of classes, readings, selected general topics, and course paper progress: A general (and tentative) schedule of reading assignments follows. More specific assignments for upcoming classes will be announced in advance during class. You should be prepared to discuss in class all of the reading assigned, including the author’s notes and the relevant statutory provisions. We will move through the material at whatever pace seems appropriate for adequate understanding. While we will cover most of the material listed below, it is highly likely that some material will be cut later in the semester; updates to the syllabus will be posted from time to time.

Date	Reading Assignment	Topic	Course Papers
1/09	pp. 1-26	Introduction to Course 1. Introduction to the Study of Cyberspace Law A. Internet Basics B. The Study of Cyberspace Law 2. Regulating Cyberspace A. Cyberanarchy v. Cyberorder	Begin topic selection & approval process
1/10	pp. 26-57	B. Personal Jurisdiction	Topic selection & approval
1/16	pp. 58-100	B. Personal Jurisdiction C. Regulatory Authority	"
1/17	"	C. Regulatory Authority	Begin work toward first draft
1/23,24		No class	Preliminary research and selection of thesis (see Evaluation, above.)
1/30	pp. 101-166	3. Speech in Cyberspace A. A New Form of Speech? B. Content Regulation 1. Indecency 2. Filtering	Research and preparing first draft
1/31	"	C. Anonymous Communications 1. The Right to Speak Anonymously 2. The Right to Remain Anonymous	"
2/6	pp. 166-219	D. Access to Cyberspace E. Internet Service Provider Liability for Speech 1. Common Law Liability: Distributor or Publisher 2. Liability after the Communications Decency Act	"
2/7	"	" F. Code as Speech	"
2/13	pp. 221-293	4. Content as Property in Cyberspace A. Trademarks, Domain Names and Metatags 1. Domain Names and Trademark Infringement http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/15/ch22.html	"
2/14	"	2. Domain Names as Speech 3. Metatags and Search Engines 4. Are Domain Names Property?	"
2/20	pp. 293-350	4. Content as Property in Cyberspace B. Copyright in Cyberspace 1. Copyright Basics 2. The Digital Dilemma http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/	"
2/21	"	3. Copyright Infringement	"
2/27	pp. 350-426	4. Fair Use a) Doctrine b) Anti-circumvention under the DMCA
2/28	"	"
3/5	pp. 426-446	C. Patenting Cyberspace http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/35/	"
3/6	pp. 446-472	D. Sui Generis Protection	"
3/10-14		Spring Recess	Complete first draft
3/19	pp. 477-553	5. Privacy A. Privacy of Communications 1. Privacy and New Technology 2. Intercepting Communications http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/18/pI.html	Submit first draft Begin peer reviews
3/20	"	3. Technological Measures to Maintain Privacy: Encryption B. Data Privacy 1. Restrictions upon Government Data Collection and Disclosure 2. Restrictions upon Private Data Collection and Disclosure 3. Technological Measures to Maintain Privacy: P3P	Peer review
3/26	pp. 555-605	6. Network Ownership and Access A. Statutory Prohibitions against Illegal Access;	Peer review
3/27	"	B. Common Law Trespass	Work on second draft
4/2	pp. 607-631	7. Private Ordering of Cyberspace A. Shrinkwrap, Click-Wrap, and Browser Agreements B. Electronic Self-help	"
4/3	"	C. Limitations upon Private Ordering: 1. Freedom of Expression 2. Intellectual Property Preemption	"
4/9		Oral Presentations	Prepare oral presentation and work on second draft
4/10		Oral Presentations	"
4/16		Oral Presentations	"
4/17		Oral Presentations	" Submit second draft