Author(s): Robert P. Merges Year: 2008 Abstract: This paper is about intellectual property rights (IPRs) and platform technologies. After a brief introduction explaining some basics of networks, standards and platforms, I turn to three policy issues. The first is the role of IP in what might be termed platform policies, the decisions by courts and […]
IP Rights and Technological Platforms
Bridging the Gap between Privacy and Design
Author(s): Deirdre K. Mulligan Year: 2012 Abstract: This article explores the gap between privacy and design in the context of “lateral privacy”— privacy issues arising among users of a service rather than from the service provider — on social networking sites (SNSs) and other platforms by analyzing the privacy concerns lodged against the introduction of […]
Book Review: Is Copyright Reform Possible?
Author(s): Pamela Samuelson Year: 2012 Abstract: Copyright law has taken quite a beating in the legal literature in the past decade or so. Complaints have been legion that copyright industry groups and corporate copyright owners have sought and too often obtained extremely strong and overly long copyright protections that interfere with downstream creative endeavors as […]
The Quest for a Sound Conception of Copyright’s Derivative Work Right
Author(s): Pamela Samuelson Year: 2012 Abstract: The Copyright Act of 1976 confers on authors an exclusive right to prepare derivative works. It defines this term as “a work based upon one or more preexisting works,” giving nine examples to illustrate the concept and ending with “or any other form in which a work may be […]
Brief of Digital Humanities and Law Scholars as Amici Curiae in Authors Guild v. Google
Author(s): Jason Schultz Year: 2012 Abstract: This case raises many legal, technical, and epistemological issues related to the future of higher education, research, and scholarship – especially those efforts that seek to take advantage of “big data” analytics and methodologies. Advances in computer technology and the availability of digital texts will allow scholars of the […]
PIA Requirements and Privacy Decision-Making in US Government Agencies
Author(s): Kenneth A. Bamberger and Deirdre K. Mulligan Year: 2012 Abstract: This chapter explores the ways in which the Privacy Impact Assessment requirement of the U.S. E-Government Act might be implemented in government agencies so as to mitigate agency “tunnel vision” and begin to integrate meaningful consideration of privacy concerns into agency structures, cultures and […]
The Governance of Privacy Through Codes of Conduct: International Lessons for U.S. Privacy Policy
Author(s): Deirdre K. Mulligan Year: 2013 Abstract: The recent White Paper on privacy from the U.S. Department of Commerce encourages, “the development of voluntary, enforceable privacy codes of conduct in specific industries through the collaborative efforts of multi-stakeholder groups, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and a Privacy Policy Office within the Department of Commerce”. The […]
EU Privacy and the Cloud: Consent and Jurisdiction Under the Proposed Regulation
Author(s): Paul M. Schwartz Year: 2013 Abstract: Cloud computing allows dramatic flexibility in information processing—and on a global basis. Its technology permits data transmissions that span the globe. Computing activities now shift from country-to-country depending on load capacity, time of day, and a variety of other factors. These decisions are sometimes made in real time […]
Privacy in Europe: Initial Data on Governance Choices and Corporate Practices
Author(s): Kenneth A. Bamberger and Deirdre K. Mulligan Year: 2013 Abstract: As this Article goes to press, the European Union is embroiled in debates over the contours of a proposed new privacy regulation. These efforts, however, have lacked critical information necessary for reform. For, like privacy debates generally, they focus almost entirely on law “on […]
Protecting Open Innovation: A New Approach to Patent Threats, Transaction Costs, and Tactical Disarmament
Author(s): Jason Schultz and Jennifer Urban Year: 2012 Abstract: Historically, Open Innovation Communities (OICs), such as those who make free and open source software (FOSS), have opted out of the patent system for three main reasons: Patents are expensive to acquire and enforce; they are philosophically, culturally, and politically anathema to many OIC members; and […]