Posted: 8/27/1998
Peter W. Martin
Our primary aims in this first block of material and discussion are to: (1) get acquainted with the means of interaction or exchange we'll be using in the course, and (2) identify some of the more important issues arising when contemporary forms of digital communication are confronted by provisions in the Copyright Act crafted with "print or other hard copy and talk" technology in mind.
The simplest way to pursue both aims simultaneously is to dwell at the outset on the copyright questions generated by our own activities in this unique Internet-based course. By studying our own situation we can, I think, identify at least some of the issues of law and policy we'll want to explore in greater detail through the course.
A conventional law school course consists in significant part of assigned readings that are distributed by the teacher or a third-party in physical form, classroom discussions that include both quoted passages from the readings or other sources and original statements of the participants (both teacher and students), and some capture of the highlights of the latter in written form.
By contrast, in this course the readings will be distributed in digital format (see below) and our discussions will take place through the asychronous digital exchange of written comments and a weekly real-time audio/video conference session electronically transmitted.
Though the technology will be different, it is my intention that the activities be fundamentally the same. The straightforward question I would pose to you all is: To what extent does the difference in technology place our activities in a different posture under U.S. copyright law? For example, is there any difference under the Copyright Act between oral contributions by teacher or student in a conventional class setting and the observations that we shall be making to one another via the exchange of written messages in this course (using e-mail or our Web-based course conference)? In creating and offering an electronic course-pack do I face different copyright challenges than if I were having the same material photocopied at Kinkos.
Copyright Act and One Case Applying it to Digital Material--
[An up-to-date version of the Copyright Act for your personal use in this course is available for downloading in both Folio Views infobase format and rtf word-processing format (which should be usable by fans of either WordPerfect or Word)]
Available for any linked references is the LII, HTML version of the U.S. Code (17 U.S.C.)
Illustrating some of the copyright issues we must pursue is a district court decision I'd like you to read: Marobie-FL, Inc. v. National Ass'n of Fire Equipment Distributors, 983 F. Supp. 1167 (N.D. Ill. 1997) (copyright portions only) - LEXIS | WESTLAW
[Note: When I assign decisions or other material not available from an open Web source I'll provide links to the documents in both LEXIS and WESTLAW, on the assumption that all of you have working passwords for one or both commercial databases. To follow such links you'll need to use your password. Since material assigned in this fashion comes unedited I'll also indicate in parenthesis which portions I want you to read.]
The Copyright "Maximalist" Position of the "White Paper" and a Counter View
Through the period beginning Aug. 31 I'll lead a discussion of these questions, in the classroom Webboard conference. My expectation of all of you is that you will follow the discussion and contribute, devoting as much time to the preparation and exchange combined as you would if we were meeting physically. From the written discussion carried out in the classroom conference, I'll begin to outline tentative conclusions about issues, arguments (and relative strengths of arguments), and copyright groundrules or understandings for our work together that we'll review on September 8 in our first video conference meeting. At that meeting, the task will be to reach some measure of agreement about those tentative conclusions.
In all of this we'll be exploring as we proceed how to use these digital tools to best effect.