Week 1
Lecture 1: The Foundations of Copyright Law
Readings:
- 17 U.S.C. 102(a)
- Feist Publications, Inc. v. Rural Telephone Service Co., 499 U.S. 340 (1991) [pdf] [MS Word][h2o]
- Mannion v. Coors Brewing Co., 377 F.Supp. 2d 444 (S.D.N.Y. 2005): paragraphs 1-79 [pdf] [MS Word] [h2o] [Illustrations]
Week 2
Lecture 2: Fairness and Personality Theories
Readings:
- William Fisher, “Theories of Intellectual Property,” in Stephen Munzer, ed., New Essays in the Legal and Political Theory of Property (Cambridge University Press, 2001)
- Turner Entertainment Co. v. Huston, Court of Appeal of Versailles, France, December 19, 1994 [pdf]
Week 3
Lecture 3: The Subject Matter of Copyright
Readings:
- DC Comics v. Towle, 802 F.3d 1012 (9th Cir. 2015) [pdf] [MS Word] [h20]
- Star Athletica v. Varsity Brands (US Supreme Court 2017) [pdf]
Week 4
Lecture 4: Welfare Theory
Readings:
Week 5
Lecture 5: Authorship
Readings:
- 17 U.S.C. 201
- Lindsay v. The Wrecked and Abandoned Vessel R.M.S. Titanic, 52 U.S.P.Q.2d 1609 (S.D.N.Y. 1999) [pdf] [MS Word][h2o]
- Aalmuhammed v. Lee, 202 F.3d 1227 (9th Cir. 1999) [pdf] [MS Word] [h2o]
Week 6
Lecture 6: The Mechanics of Copyright
Readings:
- Stewart v. Abend, 495 U.S. 207 (1990) [pdf] [MS Word] [h2o]
- Eldred v. Ashcroft, 537 U.S.1 86 (2003) [pdf] [MS Word] [h2o]
Week 7
Lecture 7: The Rights to Reproduce and Modify
Readings:
- 17 U.S.C. 106
- Steinberg v. Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc., 663 F.Supp. 706 (S.D.N.Y. 1987) [pdf] [MS Word] [h2o] [Illustrations]
- Rentmeester v. Nike, Inc. (9th Cir. 2018) [pdf]
- Mannion v. Coors Brewing Co., 377 F.Supp. 2d 444 (S.D.N.Y. 2005): paragraphs 81-94 [pdf] [MS Word] [h2o] [Illustrations]
Week 8
Lecture 8: The Rights to Distribute, Perform, and Display
Readings:
- Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons (U.S. Supreme Court, March 19, 2013) [pdf] [MS Word] [h2o]
- American Broadcasting Companies v. Aereo, Inc., 134 S.Ct. 2498 (2014) [pdf] [MS Word] [h2o]
Week 9
Lecture 9: Fair Use and Misuse
Readings:
- 17 U.S.C. 107
- Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc., 510 U.S. 569 (1994) [pdf] [MS Word] [h2o]
- Cariou v. Prince, Docket No. 11-1197-cv (2nd Cir. 2013) [pdf] [MS Word] [h2o]
- Authors Guild v. Google, 804 F.3d 202 (2d Cir. 2015) [pdf] [MS Word] [h2o]
- Oracle v. Google (CAFC 2018) [pdf]
Week 10
Lecture 10: Cultural Theory
Readings:
- 17 U.S.C. 106A
- William Fisher, “The Puzzle of Traditional Knowledge,” 67 Duke Law Journal 1511 (2018)
Week 11
Lecture 11: Supplements to Copyright: Secondary Liability and Para-copyright
Readings:
- Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Inc. v. Grokster, 545 U.S. 913 (2005) [pdf] [MS Word] [h2o]
- Viacom v. YouTube, 676 F.3d 19 (CA2 2012) [pdf] [MS Word] [h2o]
Week 12
Lecture 12: Remedies
Readings:
- 17 U.S.C. 501, 502, 503, 506
- Salinger v. Colting, 607 F.3d 68 (2d Cir. 2010) [pdf] [MS Word] [h2o]
- United States v. Moran, 757 F.Supp. 1046 (D.Neb. 1991) [pdf] [MS Word] [h2o]
Last modified: January 23, 2020
