Julie Cohen, Lydia Loren, Ruth Okediji & Maureen O’Rourke, COPYRIGHT IN A GLOBAL INFORMATION ECONOMY (3d edition 2010) [ISBN 978-0-7355-9196-7] & 2012 SUPPLEMENT [ISBN 978-1-4548-1103-9]

I have posted a website for this course at www.umich.edu/~jdlitman/classes/copyright.htm. The website includes this syllabus page, a page with links to references, news, announcements, and items of curiosity, and a page with recommendations for further optional reading. You should consult the site frequently. I will post revised versions of the syllabus and copies of class handouts here.

The authors of your casebook have posted a website at http://www.coolcopyright.com/ with content keyed to the book. It includes links to the unedited version of each case, and useful resources and updates.

The exam in this course will be a 48-hour, take-home examination.

No laptops are allowed in class.

• September 4, 6:
• Casebook, pages 3-42
• Supplement page 355-56
• Spend a bunch of time exploring the links posted at http://www.umich.edu/~jdlitman/classes/copyright/copyref.html. Read an example of recently introduced legislation and try to figure out what it seeks to accomplish. Identify a congenial blog and plan to look in on it once or more each week.
• Optional: Listen to more examples:
  • George Clinton’s Atomic Dog (1982) and Public Announcement’s D.O.G. in Me (1998)
    • (The 6th Circuit’s decision is here)
  • Bob Dylan’s Forever Young (1974) and Rod Stewart’s Forever Young (1988)
• September 11, 12, 14:
• Casebook, pages 45-88
• Supplement, pages 357-60
• 17 USC §§ 101, 102
• Optional:
  • View Screenshots of Midway’s Defender and Artic’s Defense Command
  • View more images of the posters at issue in the Bleistein case here, here and here
  • View photographs of Chapman Kelley’s Wildflower Works
  • Purchase a signed, limited edition of Aram Saroyan’s poem from The Paris Review for $1000.00
• September 18, 20, 21: (No class Monday September 17; class will be made up on Friday September 21 from 2:35 p.m. to 3:50 p.m.)
• Casebook, pages 88-132
• Supplement, Pages 360-61
• 17 USC §§ 101, 102, 103, 201, 202
• Optional: Read Pamela Samuelson, The Story of Baker v. Selden: Sharpening the Distinction between Authorship and Invention, in INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY STORIES (2006) (on course reserve), or online here or here.

• September 24, 25, 27:
• Casebook, pages 132-56, 158-89
• Supplement, pages 363-71
• 17 USC §§ 101, 104, 104A, 105, 201, 203, 204, 302, 303, 304, 305, 401, 402, 403, 404, 405, 406, 407, 408, 409, 410, 411, 412
• Optional:
  • 1909 Act §§ 10, 12, 19, 20, 21
  • Lolly Gasaway’s chart: When Works Pass Into the Public Domain
• October 1, 2, 4:
• Problem Set
• 17 USC §§ 101, 102, 113, 117, 203, 304
• Optional:
  • Explore Creative Commons Labs’ CC Termination of Transfer Tool (Beta)
• October 8, 9, 11:
• Casebook, pages 191-246
• Supplement page 373
• 17 USC §§ 101, 106, 120
• Optional:
  • Look at some bicycle racks in downtown Ann Arbor:
    • This one
    • This one
    • This one
    • This one (at the Kerrytown famers' market)
  • Is Mia Cinelli’s Loop a copyrightable sculpture?
• October 17, 18:
• Casebook, pages 246-57, 264-91
• Supplement pages 373-83
• 17 USC §§ 106, 120, 501
• Spend some time exploring the architecture of South Hall at the Law School Building Project page. Then, take fifteen minutes to look at the expression of that architecture in the actual building. What does the architect’s copyright protect?
• Check out Brian Joseph Davis’s The Composites
• October 22, 23, 25:
• Guest Speaker Monday October 22, Justin MacLean, Associate, GreenbergTraurig
  • (Review 17 USC §§ 203, 304 for Monday's class)
• Casebook, pages 291-333
• 17 USC § 106
• Optional:
  • Listen to the songs at issue in Arnstein v. Porter
  • Watch some H.R. Pufnstuff here or here. Then watch McDonaldland commercials here, here, here, and here.
    • I was able to play the files at the links on two different computers using three different browsers. If the links don’t work for you, though, the YouTube files I linked to are:
      • Pufnstuf - Golden Key - 1/2, at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZNRkCmfxOk
      • Pufnstuf - Birthday Party - 1/2, at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7j-t8YbHYk
      • 1970s McDonaldland Commercial at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3kDbEz_Wz4
      • Mayor McCheese is the Law at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4JgvTOdhtQ
      • McElection, at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9GZIxi17xQ
      • 1970 McDonaldland "Say Cheeseburger", at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWVQpJgPgIU
• October 29, 30, November 1:
• Guest speaker, Monday October 29: Cindy Cohn, Legal Director, Electronic Frontier Foundation
• Statutory Drafting Exercise
• Casebook, pages 333-381
• Supplement pages 385-87
• 17 USC §§ 106A, 109, 602
• Optional:
  • Listen to Xscape performing One of those Love Songs and to Mariah Carey singing Thank God I Found You
  • Watch the Jib Jab video
  • Read the transcript of oral argument in Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons
• November 5, 6, 8:
• Casebook, pages 381-442
• Supplement pages 387-88
• 17 USC §§ 110, 115, 501
• Statutory Drafting Exercise
• Optional: Visit ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, the Harry Fox Agency, SoundExchange, and RightsFlow by Google and look around. What rights does each entity license, and for whom?
• November 12, 13, 15:
• Guest Speaker Monday, November 12: Brian Willen, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati
  • For Monday's class, be sure that you have read pages 480-505 of the Casebook, pages 389-412 of the Supplement, and 17 USC § 512
• Casebook, pages 442-505, 514-18
• Supplement page 389-412
• 17 USC §§, 114, 115, 506, 512, 1001, 1002, 1003, 1008
• Optional: Visit chillingeffects.org. Look around.
• Also Optional: The Downfall parody Brian Willen mentioned is here. Other Downfall parodies are here, here, and here. The Megaupload song video is here. News stories about the Megaupload video takedown are here, here, and here.
• November 19, 20:
• Casebook, pages 529-579
• Supplement page 413
• 17 USC § 107
• Optional:
  • Read The Ford Memoirs: Behind the Ford Pardon, The Nation, April 7, 1979, at 1.
  • Read Judge Baer’s decision in Authors Guild v. Hathi Trust.
• November 26, 27, 29:
  • Guest Speaker Monday November 26: Brandon Wiener, Creative Rights
  • Casebook pages 580-632, 640-55
  • Supplement pages 415-26
  • 17 USC §§ , 201, 202, 204
  • Optional:
    • Read the complaint in Fourth Age Limited v. Warner Brothers Digital Distribution.
    • Explore CreativeCommons.org. Then, visit the Free Software Foundation. Finally, take a look at the Open Source Initiative. What similarities and differences do you see?

• December 3, 4, 6:
• Statutory drafting exercise due Monday 12/3 at 9:00 a.m.
• Bring your laptops to class on Tuesday December 4 to complete course evaluations
• Casebook pages 657-704
• Supplement pages 427-34
• 17 USC §§ 301, 501, 502, 503, 504, 505, 507, 1201, 1202
• Handout
• Optional:
  • Read the 2012 Exceptions to the Prohibition of Circumvention of Copyright Protection Systems for Access Control Technologies, 37 CFR § 201, 77 Fed. Reg. 65260 (Oct. 26, 2012)
  • Explore Professor Dave Touretzky’s Gallery of CSS Descramblers