Fair
Use in the 21st Century: Software after Copyright
Have we entered a new stage in the legal protection
for computer software, one in which contract law dominates
and fair use is negotiated away through shrinkwrap licenses?
In several recent cases, software manufacturers have
successfully used such licenses to contract around the
fair use of reverse engineering. Does such licensing
harm the software industry and, if so, can we trust
the market to correct this harm? More broadly, what
does this shift from the public law of copyright to
the private law of contract mean for the future of creative
works?
Panelists:
Susan Freiwald (moderator), Tom W. Bell, Mark Lemley,
Paul Grewal, Lothar Determann
<<
Listen to the Panel (Real Audio) >>
Fair Use in the 21st Century: Trademark Fair Use
Online
The earliest trademark related Internet cases involved
the use of trademarks as part of the "domain name" that
web surfers use to access a particular Internet location.
Beyond domain names, trademarks may be placed in the
hidden code or metatags that are used by search engines
to identify web sites relevant to a given query. They
may also appear in headers or identifying material of
e-mail messages, be linked to key word advertisingon
search engines, and be used as linkes to another web
site (which may or may not belong to the trademark owner).
Most of these situations have been litigated under traditional
theories that are oftentimes a poor fit with the real
commercial and consumer issues raised by the behavior
in question. This panel will examine current developments
in this area.
Panelists:
J. Thomas McCarthy (moderator), Eric Goldman, Margreth
Barrett, Sally Abel, Neil A. Smith
<<
Listen to the Panel (Real Audio) >>
Fair Use in the 21st Century: Peer-to-Peer at
the Supreme Court: the Grokster Case
The Supreme Court's landmark decision in Sony Corporation
of America v. Universal City Studios, Inc. (a.k.a. the
"Sony Betamax ruling") held that a distributor cannot
held liable for users' infringement so long as the tool
is capable of substantial noninfringing uses. In MGM
v. Grokster, the Ninth Circuit found that P2P file-sharing
software is capable of, and is in fact being used for,
noninfringing uses. Relying on the Betamax precedent,
the court ruled that the distributors of Grokster and
Morpheus software cannot be held liable for users' copyright
violations. The plaintiffs appealed, and in December
2004 the Supreme Court granted certiorari. The case
will be heard on March 29, 2005. In our panel we will
discuss the background and possible implications of
this important pending decision.
Panelists:
Fred von Lohmann, Jay Spillane, James Pooley, Andrew
Thomas
<<
Listen to the Panel (Real Audio) >>
Nanotechnology:
What Law Is Needed for Nanotechnology?
Panelists:
Christine Peterson (moderator), Thomas Kalil, Norris
Alderson, Lynn Bergeson, Don Sadowsky, Susan Kovarovic
<<
Listen to the Panel (Real Audio) >>
Nanotechnology: Are We in Danger of a Nanotechnology
Patent Thicket?
The patenting of nanotechnology has raised new issues
for businesses, scientists and lawyers both in private
and public service. As the number of patents on nanotechnology
has skyrocketed, so has public concern with the danger
of over-patenting. According to some, heavy and early
nanotechnology patenting has promoted innovation. But
according to others, it is only a craze that has raised
the costs of doing business and research. This panel
will investigate which of these views appears more correct
and whether future patenting trends will change.
Panelists:
Philip D. Reilly (moderator), Mark Lemley, Ted Sabety,
Wolfram Förster, R. Stanley Williams, Dan Colbert
<<
Listen to the Panel (Real Audio) >>
Nanotechnology: What
Are the Social and Ethical Implications of Nanotechnology?
Revolutionary technologies have the potential to disrupt
individual and social expectations of the future and
exacerbate wealth inequalities. As more and more nanotechnology
products reach the market in the next 10 to 20 years,
how strongly will existing social dynamics be changed?
Is there a significant danger of privacy erosion, genetic
discrimination or an economic “nano divide”? Importantly,
the 21st Century Nanotechnology Research and Development
Act established a research program on the societal implications
of the technology. But is it realistic to expect that
the conclusions of any such research will affect the
trajectory of nanotech R&D? If not, are there likely
to be any ethical constraints on the development of
nanotechnology?
Panelists:
Christine Peterson, Neal Bhadkamkar, Hank Greely
<<
Listen to the Panel (Real Audio) >>
Nanotechnology: What Nanotech Developments Are on
the Immediate Horizon?
Given the billions of dollars already invested in nanotechnology
by corporations, venture capitalists and government
agencies, the absence of obvious nanotech products on
the market has fed claims of technology hype. Will there
be a nanotech "killer app" anytime soon or at least
mainstream recognition of the importance of the technology?
This panel will explore nanotech developments on the
immediate horizon and longer-term major growth areas.
Panelists:
Ruben Serrato (moderator), Jim Hurd, Mike McGehee, David
Smolen, Alexei Andrev, Jack Berg
<<
Listen to the Panel (Real Player) >>
eDemocracy:
The Role of Blogs and Online Activitists in 2004
What was the effect of blogs/online activists in the
last election? Dean ran an internet campaign and the
mainstream press discovered blogs, for example, but
much of the discussion of this election really happening
on the internet didn't seem to materialize.
Panelists: Joe
Gandelman (moderator), Aaron Swartz, Mike Krempasky,
Dave Kopel
<<
Listen to the Panel (Real Player) >>
eDemocracy: Out with the Hanging Chad, in with the
Black Box
Now that the dust is settling, what can we conclude
about our nationwide experiment with electronic voting?
While the 2000 election highlighted the problems posed
by voting technology, there were no major legal challenges
based on the machines in the 2004 elections despite
talk of serious issues before the election. What really
happened, and what could be done better in 2006 and
2008?
Panelists:
David L. Dill, Ren Bucholz, Ann Brick, Joseph Lorenzo
Hall, Matt Zimmerman
<<
Listen to the Panel (Real Audio) >>
eDemocracy: When Goverment Goes Online
What Happens to Democracy when the Government is Online? What is the future of eDemocracy? Governments, NGOs and campaigns are moving
online, but what will this mean for the democratic process as it plays out through elections and legislatures?
Panelists: David
Friedman, Chris Nolan, Josh Trevino, Hank Dempsey, Armando
Llorens
<<
Listen to the Panel (Real Audio) >>
International
IP: International Adoption of Free and Open Source
Software and Its Implications for Worldwide Business
Background: Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) is
software which is required to have its source code freely
available, although often with a license attached restricting
usage. Popular license types include the General Public
License (GPL) and the Berkeley Software Distribution
(BSD) license. The two most popular pieces of open source
software are (generically) the Linux operating system
and the Apache web server software. The FOSS movement
is committed to replacing closed-source operating systems
(such as Windows XP and Mac OS) and desktop applications
(Microsoft Office, WordPerfect Suite) with open source
alternatives (Linux and FreeBSD operating systems and
the OpenOffice desktop suite). Major government agencies
in Europe, South and Central America, Asia, and Africa
have begun migrating their software to open source.
These agencies include the entire police force of France,
the city government of Munich, and even the U.S. Department
of Defense. Other countries which have made policy decisions
to prefer or adopt open source software include: India,
China, The Netherlands, Venezuela, Australia, Norway,
and Germany.
Issues: The Business Software Alliance (BSA) estimates
that the packaged software industry accounts for approximately
$180 billion annually in transactions in the global
economy. The industry employs hundreds of thousands
worldwide and contributes significant funds in taxes
in many different countries. Open source software is,
at least historically, largely created by individuals
in their spare time. Some critics argue that widespread
international adoption of open source software could
cause a collapse of the software industry, causing unemployment
and loss of tax revenue in the U.S. and abroad. Others
argue that new business models, such as IBM's open source
software support model, will continue to expand the
software industry. The panel will discuss the economic
impact of Open source software on both domestic and
international business.
Panelists:
Chris Nadan, Yar Chaikovsky, Stephen Mutkoski, Stephen
Johnson
<<
Listen to the Panel (Real Audio) >>
International IP:
Who Should Be Responsible for Top-Level-Domain Governance?
Background: ICANN (the Internet Corporation for Assigned
Names and Numbers) is an "internationally organized
non-profit" corporation for the management of domain
names and addresses. ICANN's primary function is to
manage the allocation of domain names (such as www.law.usfca.edu).
A function included in this governance is the auctioning
off of TLD's (.com .net .biz .info, etc..) to the private
sector, which has become extremely lucrative. ICANN
has its own mandatory private law regime to handle disputes
regarding domain names: the Uniform Dispute Resolution
Policy (UDRP).
Issues: ICANN is not a government body of any sort.
It is not an international body created by treaty, but
a private corporation. Some of the issues arising from
ICANN's private status include: (1) a general inability
by governments to check the decisions that ICANN makes;
and (2) the disposition of money garnered from the public
auction of TLD's is at the complete discretion of ICANN.
Some critics have suggested that ICANN is too strongly
American and should be merged into an international
organization like the WTO, WIPO, or the U.N. One of
the most controversial issues regarding ICANN is the
UDRP which is requires mandatory non-binding arbitration
from one of four "authorized" arbitration providers
when there is a dispute regarding existing trademarks
and domain names. However this policy only applies to
cases of "cybersquatting" on another entities trademark.
Other disputes are resolved by "voluntary negotiation
and lawsuits." The panel will discuss international
governance of TLDs and ICANN's future.
Panelists: Christine
Jones, David Franklyn, Neil Smith, Scott Donahey
<<
Listen to the Panel (Real Audio) >>
|
