Short Course Description
Digital technology is affecting every aspect of our lives, transforming work, trade, communities, politics and governance. Copyright law is called upon to respond to these challenges, by applying old doctrines to the new information environment. The law is among the many forces which are shaping the digital ecosystem, affecting technological innovation, business models, social relations and political structures. Copyright law shapes access to knowledge, affecting our ability to keep things private, to learn, to share ideas, to use and reuse works, to generate original works, to compete, collaborate and innovate.
This course will demonstrate the interplay between law and digital technology. We will explore the challenges to law in the digital era and discuss contemporary controversies arising from digital distribution: the rise of the information society, the data industry, User-Generated Content, mass collaboration and the sharing economy.
Taking a comparative perspective, we will examine laws, regulatory responses and reform initiatives in different jurisdictions: the U.S. Europe and Israel. It is nevertheless a conceptual course, with the intention of providing students with tools to identify and address policy challenges related to digital technology. Issues covered will include: digital challenges to the incentives paradigm, User-Generated-Content and decentralized production of speech, legal challenges in collaborative production, enforcement challenges and online intermediaries, algorithmic governance, user rights, access to knowledge and the data industry, ownership in the sharing economy, private ordering and licensing schemes.
Prerequisites: Completed, or currently taking (Fall 2020), Intellectual Property Law or Introduction to Intellectual Property Law.
Grade Components: 20% course assignments, 80% take-home exam.
