Required Reading

Judicial opinions as assigned

Godwin, Cyber Rights: Defending Free Speech in the Digital Age, MIT Press (Note: Will be available by the end of January.)

Casey, Digital Evidence and Computer Crime, Academic Press, 2000

Gibson, Neuromancer, Ace Books, 1984

Ludlow, High Noon on the Electronic Frontier: Conceptual Issues in Cyberspace, The MIT Press, 1996

Strunk and White, The Elements of Style, Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc.

January 14 Introduction to the course

• "nuts and bolts"
• what the course will attempt to cover
• organization of the materials and lectures
• some fundamental reasons why real world law is hard to apply in cyberspace

January 16 Legal Primer I: Statutory and Common Law

• Peevyhouse v. Garland Coal & Mining Company, 382 P.2d 109 (1962)
• In re Phillip B., 92 Cal.App.3d 796 (1979)
• Guardianship of Philip B., 139 Cal.App.3d 407 (1983)

January 18 Legal Primer II: Contract Law

• Raffles v.Wichelhaus, 2 Hurl. & C. 906 (1864)
• Batsakis v. Demotsis, 226 S.W.2d 673 (1949)

January 23 Contracts

• Lefkowitz v. Great Minneapolis Surplus Store, Inc., 86 N.W.2d 689 (1957)
• Mesaros v. U.S., 845 F.2d 1576 (Fed. Cir. 1988)

January 25 Contracts (continued)

• Arizona Retail Systems, Inc. v. The Software Link, Inc., 831 F.Supp. 759 (D. Ariz. 1993)
• ProCD, Inc. v. Zeidenberg, 86 F.3d 1447 (7th Cir. 1996)
• Hill v. Gateway 2000, Inc., 105 F.3d 1147 (7th Cir. 1997)
• First Paper Assigned

January 28 Legal Primer III: Torts

January 30 Legal Primer III: Torts (continued)

February 1 Defamation

• Gordon v. Lancaster Osteopathic Hospital Assn., Inc., 489 A.2d 1364 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1985)
• Carl Sagan v. Apple Computer, Inc., 874 F. Supp. 1072 (C.D. Ca. 1994)
• Blumenthal v. Drudge, 992 F.Supp. 44 (D.D.C. 1998)

February 4 Liability for Conduct of Others

• Zeran v. America Online, Inc., 129 F.3d 327 (4th Cir. 1997)
• Smith v. California, 361 U.S. 147 (1959)

February 6 Copyrights

• Feist Publications, Inc. v. Rural Telephone Service Company, Inc., 499 U.S. 340 (1991)

February 8 Copyrights (continued)

• Playboy Enterprises, Inc. v. Frena (copyright section), 839 F.Supp. 1552 (M.D. Fla. 1993)
• Community for Creative Non-Violence v. Reid, 490 U.S. 730 (1989)

February 11 Copyrights (continued)

• Walt Disney Productions v. The Air Pirates, 581 F.2d 751 (9th Cir. 1978)
• Sega Enterprises, Ltd. v. Accolade, Inc., U.S. App. LEXIS 78 (9th Cir. 1993)

February 13 Copyrights (continued)

• Lone Ranger Television, Inc. v. Program Radio Corporation, 740 F.2d 718 (9th Cir. 1984)
• RealNetworks v. Streambox, 2000 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1889, January 2000 (Fair Use section only)

February 15 Copyrights (continued)

• New York Times v. Tasini, 121 S.Ct. 2381 (2001)

• FIRST PAPER DUE

February 18 Trade Secrets

• Coca-Cola Bottling Company, Ltd. v. Coca-Cola Company, 107 F.R.D. 288 (D. Del. 1985)
• MAI Systems Corp. v. Peak Computer, Inc., 991 F.2d 511, 518 (9th Cir. 1993) (Trade Secrets section only)

February 20 Trademarks

• Jordache Enterprises v. Hogg Wyld, Ltd., 828 F.2d 1482 (10th Cir. 1987)
• Lucasfilm v. High Frontier, 622 F.Supp. 931 (D. D.C. 1985)

February 22 Trademarks (continued)

• Playboy Enterprises, Inc. v. Netscape Communications Corp., U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9638 (C.D. Ca. 1999).
• Panavision International, L.P. v. Toeppen, 141 F.3d 1316 (9th Cir. 1998)

• Short multiple choice quiz in class

February 25 Legal Primer IV: The "Right of Privacy"

• Katz v. U.S., 389 U.S. 347 (1967)
• California v. Greenwood, 486 U.S. 35 (1988)
• Kyllo v. United States, 121 S.Ct. 2038 (2001)

February 27 The"Right of Privacy"(continued)

• Smith v. Maryland, 442 U.S. 735 (1979)
• U.S. v. Poulsen, 41 F.3d 1330 (9th Cir. 1994)

March 1 The Right of Privacy (continued)

• Parnell v. Booth Newspapers, Inc., 572 F.Supp. 909 (W.D. Mich. 1983)
• McIntyre v. Ohio Elections Commission, 115 S.Ct. 1511 (1995)

March 4

• Midterm Examination (In class. Covers material through Trademarks.)

March 6 E-Mail

• O'Connor v. Ortega, 480 U.S. 709 (1987)
• Steve Jackson Games, Inc. v. United States Secret Service, 36 F.3d 457 (5th Cir. 1994)

March 8 The "Right of Publicity"

• Vanna White v. Samsung Electronics America, Inc., 971 F.2d 1395 (9th Cir. 1992)
• Second Paper Assigned

March 25 Legal Primer V: Consitutional Law

March 27 The First Amendment in Cyberspace

• Ward v. Rock Against Racism, 491 U.S. 781 (1989)
• F.C.C. v. Pacifica Foundation, 438 U.S. 726 (1978)

March 29 The First Amendment in Cyberspace (continued)

• Reno v. American Civil Liberties Union, et al, 117 S.Ct. 2329 (1997)
• Mainstream Loudoun v. Board of Trustees of the Loudoun County Library, 24 F.Supp. 2d 552 (E.D. Va. 1998)

April 1 Pornography

• Miller v. California, 413 U.S. 15 (1973)

April 3 Pornography (continued)

• United States v. Thomas, 74 F.3d 701 (6th Cir. 1996)

April 5 Pornography (continued)

• New York v. Ferber, 458 U.S. 747 (1982)
• The Free Speech Coalition v. Reno, 198 F.3d 1083 (9th Cir. 1999)

April 8 Advertising

• Bates v. State Bar of Arizona, 433 U.S. 350 (1977)

• SECOND PAPER DUE

April 10 Advertising (continued)

• Coca-Cola v. Tropicana Products, Inc., 690 F.2d 312 (2d Cir. 1982)

April 12 "Spam"

• Cyber Promotions, Inc. v. America Online, Inc., 948 F.Supp. 456 (E.D. Pa. 1996)
• Compuserve Incorporated v. Cyber Promotions, Inc., 962 F.Supp. 1015 (S.D. Ohio 1997)

April 15 Legal Primer VI: Jurisdiction

• International Shoe Co.v. Washington, 326 U.S. 310 (1945)

April 17 Jurisdiction in Cyberspace

• Minnesota v. Granite Gate Resorts, Inc., 568 N.W.2d 715 (Minn. 1997)
• California Software, Inc. v. Reliability Research, Inc., 631 F.Supp. 1356 (C.D. Cal. 1986)
• Compuserve, Inc. v. Patterson, 89 F.3d 1257 (6th Cir. 1996)

April 19 Jurisdiction in Cyberspace (continued)

• Bensusan Restaurant Corp. v. King, 937 F. Supp. 295 (S.D.N.Y. 1996), aff'd, 126 F.3d 25 (2d Cir. 1997)
• Cody v. Ward, 954 F. Supp. 43 (D. Conn. 1997)
• Inset Systems, Inc. v. Instruction Set, Inc., 937 F.Supp. 161 (D. Conn. 1996)
• Cybersell, Inc. v. Cybersell, Inc., 130 F.3d 414 (9th Cir. 1997)

April 22 Legal Primer VII: Criminal Law and Procedure

April 24 Criminal Law and Procedure in Cyberspace

• State v. Lebron, 97 Ohio App.3d 155 (Ohio Ct. App. 1994)

April 26 Criminal Law and Procedure in Cyberspace (continued)

• U.S. v. Riggs, 739 F.Supp. 414 (N.D. Ill. 1990)
• U.S. v. Sablan, 92 F.3d 865 (9th Cir. 1995)

April 29 Review or make-up class

April 30 through May 6: Reading Period (class does not meet)

May 8, 2:00 PM: Multiple Choice Final Exam