278.62 sec. 001 - Technology Law and Public Policy Seminar (Fall 2022)
Instructor: David Zapolsky (view instructor's teaching evaluations - degree students only)
View all teaching evaluations for this course - degree students only
Units: 2
Grading Designation: Graded
Mode of Instruction: In-Person
Meeting:
M 6:25 PM - 8:15 PM
Location: 🔒 Log-in to view location
From August 22, 2022
To November 28, 2022
Course End: November 28, 2022
Class Number: 32215
Enrollment info:
Enrolled: 23
Waitlisted: 0
Enroll Limit: 23
As of: 02/17 06:39 AM
This course surveys several different areas of law and policy that have, over the past two decades, meaningfully affected the growth and trajectory of online businesses such as e-commerce stores, search engines, and social networks. Specific focus areas will include content liability and laws governing immunity for hosting user-generated content (e.g., the Communications Decency Act), copyright liability and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, consumer privacy and the role of online businesses in responding to government requests for customer information, the rise of software patents and patent assertion entities, and the evolution of antitrust laws and their application to online businesses. Because the technologies on which online businesses are built have global relevance, the class will also touch on some international aspects of these legal and policy issues.
The format of the class is a seminar, and students who take this class are expected to attend and contribute actively to the conversations in class, which will largely revolve around practical questions and controversies raised by the issues presented within each focus area. Each week we’ll discuss an area of law or policy that affects how online businesses operate, innovate, and grow. In some cases, we’ll also examine whether the law (or lack thereof) achieves the policy goals for which it was designed, and whether there might be better ways of achieving those goals.
Successful completion of the class will require two written memoranda (of no more than six pages) in which students will analyze hypothetical problems arising from some of the issues raised in class and offer practical advice to corporate clients.
Instructor: David A. Zapolsky, SVP, General Counsel & Secretary, Amazon.com, Inc.
Email: david.zapolsky@gmail.com
Before becoming General Counsel in 2012, David Zapolsky served for thirteen years as Associate General Counsel, leading Amazon’s Litigation and Regulatory group and advising on a variety of litigation, privacy, consumer protection, competition law, securities regulation, intellectual property, and labor and employment matters. Prior to joining Amazon in 1999, Zapolsky was a litigation partner in the Seattle offices of Dorsey & Whitney and Bogle & Gates. He moved to Seattle in 1994 from New York, where he served as an Assistant District Attorney in the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office, focusing primarily on sex crimes, child abuse, and domestic violence prosecutions, and an associate at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, where he practiced securities litigation and white collar defense. He is a graduate of Berkeley Law and Columbia College.
In addition to his work at Amazon, Zapolsky is active in several civic, educational, and legal organizations that, among other things, seek to promote diversity and pro bono work in the legal profession. He has served as President and a Trustee of the King County Bar Foundation, a member of the Kids in Need of Defense (KIND) Washington State Advisory Committee, a corporate advisory member of the National Legal Aid & Defender Association, a member of the Leaders Council for the Legal Services Corporation, and a Director of Seattle’s Alliance for Education, the Berkeley Law Alumni Association, and the University of Washington Foundation. In 2013, he founded the Amazon legal department’s pro bono initiative, also known as the Amazon Justice League, which encourages and enables Amazon attorneys and legal professionals around the world to donate thousands of hours of pro bono legal work each year.
Attendance at the first class is mandatory for all currently enrolled and waitlisted students; any currently enrolled or waitlisted students who are not present on the first day of class (without prior permission of the instructor) will be dropped. The instructor will continue to take attendance throughout the add/drop period and anyone who moves off the waitlist into the class must continue to attend or have prior permission of the instructor in order not to be dropped.
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Requirements Satisfaction:
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Exam Notes: (None) Class requires a series of papers, assignments, or presentations throughout the semester
(Subject to change by faculty member only through the first two weeks of instruction)
Course Category: Intellectual Property and Technology Law
This course is listed in the following sub-categories:
Public Law and Policy
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Books:
Instructor has indicated that no books will be assigned.