Lawrence S. Pinsky

(with permission of G. R. Vetter)

 

Internet Law, Spring 2010

Course Description

This course covers a survey of legal issues arising from the rapid growth of the internet and other on-line communications.

Generally Applicable Syllabus Information

Please read carefully the Generally Applicable Syllabus Information. This document sets forth course policy for attendance, preparation and participation, use of computers, examination and grading, and other items. A complete understanding of this document is necessary to take full meaning from the Class Schedule and Other Information set forth immediately below.

Class Schedule and Other Information

Name:

Internet Law

Class # / Section #:

5297 / 16-33221

Place:

BL 3

Time:

Monday 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm (1 class session per week, 2 credit hours-note class will run until 5:50 pm)

 

Required Text:

Margaret Jane Radin, et al., Internet Commerce: The Emerging Legal Framework (2nd ed. 2006) (Foundation Press).

Supplement?:

There is no requirement to purchase a statutory supplement, but references from the Supplement will be made available via this web page

Certain documents may be assigned from time to time from sources other than the casebook. These documents will be provided via links in the class assignment table below or in a separate page of class links. Paper copies of these documents will typically not be provided in class, so students should plan to print them or review them electronically.

Prerequisites

None.

Grading:

The course grade will be primarily based on an open-materials final exam.

"Primarily" means that at least 95% of the course grade will be based on the final exam. Probably 100% of the course grade will be based on the final exam, but I want to have given notice of the possibility of a small percentage of the grade coming from other sources, most likely one or more small exercises, or my assessment of your in-class participation performance.

Brief Description of Coverage:

This class will meet in one ~2 credit-hour block each week. The coverage goal is approximately thirty-five to sixty pages per block. Assignments will be detailed in the table below as the semester progresses.

 

Absences Limit:

Assuming one class meeting a week, three or less absences constitutes attendance meeting the eighty percent requirement. More than three absences means that the eighty percent requirement is not met.
Attendance will be taken via a roll sheet passed throughout the class each session.

"Pick your seat" seating chart date:

This will not be necessary, and you may sit in any seat unless otherwise advised in class.

 

Final Exam Date/Time:

Friday,  May 7, 2010; 5 - 7 p.m.

Final Exam Information:

click here for the Final Exam page.

First day/week's assignment:

Read this course web page, the linked Generally Applicable Syllabus Information, and the assignments detailed in the table below for the first day/week of class.

 

{reserved}

{reserved}

Audio Recording of Class Sessions

You may make audio recordings of the lectures for your sole use only for purposes related to studying for this course.  You may not distribute or make such recordings available to any other person without my express written permission.

Cancellation Day(s)

Monday,  February 22, 2010
&
{perhaps one more}

Makeup(s) for Cancelled Day(s):

None required at this time as extending the class time by 10 minutes each session will accommodate this absence and the syllabus takes account of that need.

Contact Information and Office Hours

These are posted on my home page at:

 

                                                                                          http://www.uh.edu/~lpinsky

 

Course Materials Links by Category

The links below are for general reference and may be used for some class assignments.

Patent Law

  • Selected patent law sections from 35 U.S.C. xxx extracted from the U.S. PTO consolidated laws

Copyright Law

Course Coverage Table

The tables immediately below provide the detailed assignments for this course. It also may provide links to materials for each class and other items related to the course. In order to allow flexibility in the class, assignments beyond those posted for the next week are subject to change; therefore, students who may wish to read ahead are urged to contact the professor before doing so. The rate of progress through the modules depends on the class dynamics.

Class presentation slides are provided as links below in association with each module title. I will generally have the slides available a day or two before a class session. If students want hardcopy of the slides for use during class, please download and print the linked slides file.

Case names are listed in the table below as assignments. Sometimes there are several paragraphs of introduction before the case when the case is the lead case in a new subheading in the book. These introductory paragraphs are part of the assignment and should be read along with the case.

In the table each casebook assignment is given a page range to go with the assignment title. Unless the "Comment/Note" column indicates otherwise, read the entire assignment, encompassed on the indicated pages, including any notes or associated problems.

Module 1: Regulatory Paradigms for Electronic Commerce (slides) 1-63; 1257-1267

Assignment

Start Page

Comment/Notes

Start OH#

Date

Call Group

Separatism - Barlow; Johnson & Post

1-7

 

Mon. Feb. 25

All

Evolutionary - Goldsmith; Rothchild; Long

7-19

 

 

All

Pluralist Regulation

19-32

 

 

All

Appendix A

1257-1259

 

 

 

Activity Outside the Jurisdiction

32-37

 

 

 

ALA v. Pataki (SDNY.1997)

37-45

 

 

 

All

State v. Heckel (Wash.2001)

45-53

 

 

 

Regulated Industries Online: Pharmacies; Telephony

53-63

 

Mon. Feb.  1

 

Appendix B

1260-1267

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Module 2: Commercial Identity Online and Trademarks (slides) 64-114; 135-156

Assignment

Start Page

Comment/Notes

Start OH#

Date

Call Group

Trademark Law Basics

64-68

 

 

 

All

Traditional Confusion - Playboy v. Universal Tel-A-Talk (E.D.Pa.1998)

68-74

 

 

 

 

Albert v. Spencer (SDNY.1998)

74-76

 

T

All

Niton v. Radiation Monitoring Devices (D.Mass.1998)

77-81

 

 

 

 

Initial Interest Confusion - Brookfield v. West Coast (9th.1998)

82-87

 

 

 

All

Playboy v. Netscape (9th.2004)

88-93

 

 

 

 

Rescuecom Corp. v. Google Inc. (2d Cir.2009)

Supp. 5-12

 

 

All

Bihari v. Gross (SDNY.2000)

96-104

 

 

 

 

 

stop at the end of page 104

 

 

All

Trademark Dilution

 

{skip Trademark Dilution cases, but read revised statute}

 

 

 

Trademark Defenses - Fair Use - Brookfield v. West Coast (9th.1998)

135-136

 

 

Mon. Feb. 8

 

Bihari v. Gross (SDNY.2000)

136-139

 

 

 

 

Nominative Use - Playboy v. Welles (9th.2002)

139-146

 

 

 

 

First Amendment - Planned Parenthood v. Bucci (SDNY.1997)

146-149

 

 

 

All

Bally v. Faber (C.D.Cal.1998)

149-152

 

 

 

 

Name.Space v. Network Solutions (2nd.2000)

152-155

 

 

 

All

Taubman Co. v. Webfeats (6th.2003)

155-156

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Module 3: Domain Names (slides) 157-180; 200-289

Assignment

Start Page

Comment/Notes

Start OH#

Date

Call Group

Trademark Infringement and Domain Names - Lockheed Martin v. Network Solutions (9th.1999)

157-169

 

 

 

Green Products v. Independence Corn (N.D.Iowa.1997)

169-175

 

 

 

Cardservice Intl. v. McGee (E.D.Va.1997)

175-180

Cardservice Intl.
stop before "Trademark Dilution"

 

 

 

 

 

{skipping Chapter Three, Sec. II: trademark dilution cases}

These will be discussed in class but you are not responsible to read them…

 

 

 

AntiCyberSquatting Consumer Protection Act

200-205

 

 

Mon. Feb. 15

 

n/a

 

 

 

 

Sporty's Farm v. Sportman's Market (2nd.2000)

205-213

 

 

All

Alitalia-Linee v. Casinoalitalia (E.D.Va.2001)

213-219

 

 

 

Electronics Boutique v. Zuccarini (E.D.Pa.2000)

219-223

 

 

All

Extensions/Questions

223-231

 

 

 

 

GlobalSantaFe Corp. v. GlobalSantaFe.com (E.D.Va.2003)

231-243

 

 

 

Gripe Sites - Taubman Co. v. Webfeats (6th.2003)

243-247

 

 

All

TMI v. Maxwell (5th.2004)

247-251

 

 

 

 

ICANN UDRP - Helfer & Dinwoodie

251-260

 

Mon. Mar. 1

 

n/a

Two example arbitration provisions: One and Two.

 

 

 

Madonna v. Parisi & "Madonna.com" (WIPO.2000)

260-267

 

All

Weber-Stephen Prods. v. Armitage Hardware (N.D.Ill.2000)

267-269

 

 

 

 

Barcelona.com v. City of Barcelona (4th.2003)

269-275

 

 

 

 

Registering Domain Names

276-281

 

 

 

Registering Domain Names as Marks

281-286

New gTLDs

 

 

 

In re Dial-A-Mattress (Fed.Cir.2001)

286-289

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Module 4: Consumer Protection Online (slides) 291-325

Assignment

Start Page

Comment/Notes

Start OH#

Date

Call Group

Consumer Protection Overview

290-293

 

Mon. Mar. 8

All

Fraud Online

293-300

 

 

 

 

n/a

 

 

 

n/a

Read linked article to the left.
Ben Edelmen Internet Fraud research
Also of interest: Newsweek article on blogging and advertising

 

 

 

Agency Responses & Law Enforcement

300-302

McWhortle; history of RagingBull

 

 

 

Online Advertising Issues - Information Disclosures

302-313

 

 

 

Applicability of Rules referencing writing

313-314

 

 

All

Blurring Advertising and Editorial Content

314-316

 

 

 

 

Online Sweepstakes

316

 

 

 

 

ESIGN and Consumer Issues

317-325

Digital_Signature.doc

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Module 5: Jurisdiction over Disputes in Internet Commerce (slides) 326-389

Assignment

Start Page

Comment/Notes

Start OH#

Date

Call Group

Web sites - 3 categories - Zippo Manuf. v. Zippo Dot Com (W.D.Pa.1997)

326-335

 

 

Mon. Mar.  22

All

Cybersell, Inc. v. Cybersell, Inc. (9th.1997)

335-344

 

 

 

 

Effects of online activities - Panavision Int'l v. Toeppen (9th.1998)

344-348

 

 

 

All

Revell v. Lidov (5th.2002)

348-356

 

 

 

 

Entering into transactions - Compuserve v. Patterson (6th.1996)

356-366

 

 

 

 

Distribution of Publications Online

366-367

 

 

 

All

Computer Eqpt. in the Forum State

368-369

 

 

 

 

Combined online/offline contacts

369-370

 

 

 

 

Foreign Defendants under FRCP 4(k)(2)

370-371

 

 

 

 

Long Arm Statutes - business within the state

371-373

 

 

 

 

Tortious injury within the state - Bensusan Rest. v. King (2nd.1997)

373-378

 

 

 

 

Regularly Soliciting Business in a State

378-379

 

 

 

 

Equipment Location as a Long Arm Factor

379-381

 

 

 

 

Choice of Law - Rothchild; Goldsmith

381-386

 

 

 

All

Subject Matter Jurisdiction

386-388

 

 

 

 

General Jurisdiction

388-389

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Module 6: Privacy Online (slides) 390-456

Assignment

Start Page

Comment/Notes

Start OH#

Date

Call Group

Privacy Protection - U.S.

390-395

 

 

Fri. Apr. 2

NOTE DATE

Reidenberg

395-396

 

 

 

Tensions within Privacy

396-399

 

 

 

 

FTC - Fair Information Practices Principles

399-405

 

 

All

Online Surveillance

405-411

Center for Democracy & Technology: Ghosts in our Machines report

 

 

 

Online Profiling

411-418

 

 

 

Uses and Abuses of Online Privacy Policies

418-422

 

 

 

 

State Law Requirements to Post a Privacy Policy

422-423

 

 

 

 

Security Breaches

423-424

New York Times article: Do We Need a New Internet?

 

Mon. Apr. 5

 

Piercing Online Anonymity - Columbia Ins. v. Seescandy.com

424-432

AOL Civil Subpoena Policy; Center for Democracy & Technology: Digital Search and Seizure

 

 

All

Models for Privacy - Self Regulation

432-435

 

 

 

 

3rd Party Certification

435-438

 

 

 

 

Technological Tools

438-441

the Anonymizer products; P3P Spec.; P3P example from spec.; P3P book; the TOR Project

 

 

 

The EC Directive & U.S. Safe Harbor

441-451

U.S. Department of Commerce's Safe Harbor Web site; EU Data Protection home page

 

 

 

Privacy Commodified? - Laudon

451-452

 

 

 

Litman

452-453

 

 

 

Radin

453-456

 

 

 

 

 

{skipping Chapter Six, Sec. VI: COPPA}

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Module 7: Controlling Digital Goods: Copyright (slides) 460-469; 542-582 (music); 583-630 (2ndary liab.); 630-666

Assignment

Start Page

Comment/Notes

Start OH#

Date

Call Group

Copyright Overview

460-469

stop before MAI Systems . . .

 

Mon. Apr.12

All

The Reproduction Right

469-473

 

 

Mon. Apr.19

 

The Derivative Work Right

474-491

 

 

 

 

The Distribution and Public Display Right

491-499

 

 

 

 

Limitations on Exclusive Rights

500-517

 

 

 

 

Copyright and Common Internet Activities

517-541

 

 

 

 

Fundamentals of Digital Music Copyright - Reese

542-556

 

Mon, Apr.12

All

Digital Reproduction of Music - UMG Recordings v. MP3.com (SDNY.2000)

556-559

 

 

 

 

Downloads - Reese

560-564

 

 

 

 

A&M Records v. Napster (9th.2001)

565-573

 

 

 

 

RIAA v. Diamond Multimedia (9th.1999)

573-582

 

 

 

 

Secondary Liability - ISPs - Religious Tech. Ctr. v. Netcom (ND.Cal.1995)

583-600

 

 

 

All

ISP Safe Harbors - Ellison v. Robertson (9th.2004)

601-606

 

 

Mon. Apr.26

All

Ellison v. Robertson (CD.Cal.2002)

606-612

 

 

 

 

A&M Records v. Napster (ND.Cal.2000)

612-617

 

 

 

 

ALS Scan v. RemarQ Communities (4th.2001)

617-622

 

 

 

 

Hendrickson v. Amazon.com (CD.Cal.2003)

622-625

 

 

 

 

Intellectual Reserve v. Utah Lighthouse Ministry (D.Utah.1999)

625-628

 

 

 

All

Perfect 10 v. CCBill (CD.Cal.2004)

629-630

 

 

 

 

Secondary Liability - Control over Technology - Sony Corp. v. Universial (1984)

630-643

 

 

 

 

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer v. Grokster (2005)

643-666

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

{end}

 

Module 8:  Chapter 8 Databases and Database Protection (Slides)

Assignment

Start Page

Comment/Notes

Start OH#

Date

Call Group

Databases and Copyright

667-678

{To be added} 

 

Mon. May

3

Protection for Databases in the US

679-684

 

 

 

 

Sui Generis Protection in the EU

684-699

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Module 9: Technological Protection of Digital Goods (slides) 700-790

Assignment

Start Page

Comment/Notes

Start OH#

Date

Call Group

{detailed assignments forthcoming}

 

 

 

Skip

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Module 10: Contracting Online (slides) 791-904; 905-955 (IP in eCommerce)

Assignment

Start Page

Comment/Notes

Start OH#

Date

Call Group

{detailed assignments forthcoming}

 

 

 

Mon. Apr. 26

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Module 11: n/a {reserved for chapter numbering to match module numbering}

Assignment

Start Page

Comment/Notes

Start OH#

Date

Call Group

n/a

 

{skipping Chapter Eleven: online business method patents}

 

 

 

Module 12: Electronic Intrusions (slides) 1012-1050 (spam); 1051-1072 (data); 1072-1090 (Hamidi)

Assignment

Start Page

Comment/Notes

Start OH#

Date

Call Group

{detailed assignments forthcoming}

 

 

 

Mon. May 3

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Module 13: ISP & Other Intermediaries Liability for Online Harm (slides) 1091-1146

Assignment

Start Page

Comment/Notes

Start OH#

Date

Call Group

{detailed assignments forthcoming}

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Modules 14 to 16: n/a {reserved for chapter numbering to match module numbering}

Assignment

Start Page

Comment/Notes

Start OH#

Date

Call Group

n/a

 

{skipping Chapters 14 through 16}

 

 

 

Last modified on Jan. 23, 2010, by Lawrence S. Pinsky