Spring 2009 Course Schedule

Adv. Copyright Law & Policy (LAW-924-001)
Kasunic

Meets: 06:00 PM - 08:40 PM (W) - Room 103

Enrolled: / Limit:

Administrator Access


Notices

There are no notices at this time.

Description

This year the class will focus on recent and current controversies before the courts, the Congress and the Copyright Office. Topics covered generally address the effect of technological developments on copyright law and policy, including Viacom v. YouTube, filtering of content on YouTube, fair uses of sound recordings (sampling) and of audiovisual works (mixing and mashing on YouTube), parody, First Amendendment and copyright, The Google Book Search suit and settlement, the Cablevision decision that is on appeal to the Supreme Court, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) including the triennial rulemaking on section 1201 and the notice and takedown provisions of section 512, and other recent legislative proposals, such as the Orphan Works legislation and the Report on Orphan Works by the Copyright Office.

Major themes of the course include the balance between public and private interest, incentive and control, technology and authorship, ownership and reasonable use, the impact of the law on society, and the role law plays in shaping cultural policy. Hot topics and particular areas of student interest will be addressed in the class. Students will write a research paper for the course grade and are allowed to meet their upper-level writing requirement in this class.

Textbooks and Other Materials

The textbook information on this page was provided by the instructor. Students should use this information when considering purchases from the AU Campus Store or other vendors. Students may check to determine if books are currently available for purchase online.

There is no textbook required for the class. Readings will all be available online with links provided from the syllabus that will be posted on Blackboard and handed out at the first class.

First Class Readings

For the first class, please read pp. 1 - 29 of Will Fair Use Survive, available at: http://www.fepproject.org/policyreports/WillFairUseSurvive.pdf. What are your impressions of the current state of copyright law? Where is it? Where's it going? Where should it go?

Also, search for some general information about the Viacom v. YouTube suit. Do you know of any interesting YouTube videos that incorporate copyrighted works (music, pictures, video, etc.) that might be fair uses? Send me links and we'll look at some of them for discussion.