14 January
Introduction to the Course

16 January
Political Speech 1: Good Speech, Bad Speech, Free Speech

Precedents:
• Brandenburg v. Ohio (1969)
• Watts v. United States (1969)

Cases:
• Planned Parenthood v. American Coalition of Life Activists (9th Cir. 2001)
• United States v. Baker (E. D. Mich. 1995)

Web sites:
• View Stormfront web site
  
• View Nuremberg Files web site
  

21 January
Political Speech 2: Anonymous Speech

Precedents:
• McIntyre v. Ohio Elections Commission (1995)

Cases:
• ACLU v. Miller (N.D. Ga. 1997)
• Dendrite International, Inc. v. Doe, No. 3 (N.J. 2001)

Web sites:
• View Anonymity Index web site

23 January
Sexually Explicit Speech 1: The Case for Regulating the Internet

Precedents:
• Ginsberg v. United States (1968)
• FCC v. Pacifica Foundation (1978)
• Renton v. Playtime Theatres (1986)

Web sites:
• Time Magazine's summary of the Rimm Study
• Excerpts from the Communications Decency Act

28 January
Sexually Explicit Speech 2: Reno v. ACLU

Case:
• Reno v. ACLU (1997)

30 January
Sexually Explicit Speech 3: Child Online Protection Act

Case:
• Ashcroft v. ACLU (2002)

Web sites
• Excerpts from the Child Online Protection Act

4 February
Sexually Explicit Speech 4: State Laws

Precedents:
• Roth v. United States (1957)
• Miller v. California (1973)

Cases:
• United States v. Thomas (6th Cir. 1996).
• American Library Association v. Pataki (S.D. N.Y. 1997)
• American Civil Liberties Union v. Johnson (10th Cir., 1999)
• Cyberspace Communications v. Engler (E.D. Mich. 1999).

6 February
Sexually Explicit Speech 5: Less Restrictive Means

Cases:
• Mainstream Loudoun v. Board of Trustees of the Loudoun County Library (E.D. Va. 1998)
• American Library Association v. United States (E.D. Pa. 2002)

Web sites:
• American Civil Liberties Union, Fahrenheit 451.2: Is Cyberspace Burning? (2002)

11 February
MIDTERM EXAMINATION #1

13 February
Defamation I: Elements

Precedents
• New York Times v. Sullivan (1964)
• Gertz v. Welch (1974)

18 February
Class Cancelled Due to President's Day Blizzard

20 February
Defamation II: Publishers vs. Distributors

Cases
• Cubby v. Compuserve (S.D. N.Y. 1991).
• Stratton Oakmont v. Prodigy (N.Y.S. 1995)
• Zeran v. America Online, Inc. (4th Cir. 1997)

Web sites:
• Section 230 of the Telecommunications Act

25 February
Defamation III: The Legacy of Section 230

Cases
• Ben Ezra, Weinstein and Company v. America Online (10th Cir. 2001)
• Blumenthal v. Drudge and America Online (D.D.C. 1998)
• Jane Doe v. America Online (Fla. 1998)
• Lunney v. Prodigy (N.Y. Ct. App. 1999)
• PatentWizard v. Kinko's (S.D. S.D. 2001)
• Schneider v. Amazon.com (Ct. of Appeals, Wash., 2001)

27 February
Privacy 1: Common Law Privacy Torts, Statutory Privacy, and Email

Cases:
• Dwyer v. American Express (Ill. 1995)
• Leary v. Punzi (N.Y.S. 1999)
• McVeigh v. Cohen (D.D.C. 1998)
• Michels v. Internet Entertainment Group (C.D. Cal. 1998)
• Smyth v. Pillsbury (E.D. Penn. 1996)
• Terry Jessup-Morgan v. America Online. (E.D. Mich. 1998)
• Zeran v. Diamond Broadcasting (W.D. Ok. 1997)

4 March
NO CLASS, SPRING BREAK

6 March
NO CLASS, SPRING BREAK

11 March
Privacy 2: Data Mining

Web sites:
• Privacy.net web site
• EPIC Online Guide to Practical Privacy Tools web site

Federal Trade Commission:
• Federal Trade Commission, In the Matter of Geocities (1998)
• Federal Trade Commission, Fair Information Practices in the Electronic Marketplace (2000)

13 March
Copyright 1: Fundamentals

Web sites:
• U.S. Copyright Office's Copyright Basics

Laws:
• Excerpts from the No Electronic Theft Act (1997)
• Summary of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (1998)
• Excerpts from the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act (1998)

Cases:
• U.S. v. LaMacchia (D. Mass. 1994)
• Eldred v. Ashcroft (2003)

18 March
Copyright 2: Copyright Infringement

Cases:
• Playboy v. Hardenburgh (N.D. Ohio 1997)
• Playboy v. Sanfilippo (S.D. Cal. 1998)
• Religious Technology Center v. Netcom (N.D. Cal. 1995)

20 March
Copyright 3: Fair Use

Cases:
• Kelly v. Arriba Soft Corp. (C.D. Cal. 1999)
• Los Angeles Times v. Free Republic (C.D. Cal. 2000)
• UMG Recordings, Inc. v. MP3.com (S.D. N.Y. 2000)

25 March
Copyright 4: Digital Millennium Copyright Act

Laws:
• Summary of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act

Cases:
• A & M Records, Inc. v. Napster, Inc.. (9th Cir. 2001) (DMCA)
• A & M Records, Inc. v. Napster, Inc.. (9th Cir. 2001) (copyright infringement)
• Universal City Studios v. Reimerdes (2000)

27 March
Copyright 5: Trademarks, Trademark Infringement, and Trademark Dilution

Cases:
• Mosley v. Victoria's Secret (2003)
• Polaroid Corp. v. Polarad Electronics Corp. (2nd Cir. 1961)
• Playboy Enterprises v. Netscape Communications Co. (C.D. Cal. 1999)

1 April
Copyright 6: Domain Names and Cybersquatting

Cases:
• People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, Inc. v. Doughney (E.D. VA. 2000)
• Planned Parenthood v. Bucci (S.D. N.Y. 1997)
• Intermatic Inc. v. Toeppen (N.D. Ill. 1996)
• Sporty's Farm v. Sportsman's Market, Inc.. (2nd Cir. 2000)
• Shields v. Zuccarini (3rd Cir. 2001)

Laws:
• Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (1999)

3 April
Copyright 7: Web Issues

Cases:
• Painewebber Inc. v. wwwpainewebber.com (E.D. Va. 1999)
• Futuredontics Inc. v. Applied Anagramics Inc. (C.D. Cal. 1998)
• Brookfield Communications v. West Coast Entertainment (9th Cir. 1999)

8 April
MIDTERM EXAMINATION #2

10 April
Special Topics 1: Unsolicited Commercial Email

Web sites:
• Center for Democracy & Technology, Why Am I Getting All This Spam? Unsolicited Commercial E-mail Research Six Month Report

Cases:
• Cyber Promotions, Inc. v. America Online (E.D. Pa. Nov. 4, 1996)
• CompuServe Inc. v. Cyber Promotions (S.D. Ohio 1997)
• Washington v. Heckel (Wash. 2001)

15 April
Special Topics 2: Libraries

Cases:
• Mainstream Loudoun v. Board of Trustees of the Loudoun County Library (E.D. Va. 1998)
• American Library Association v. United States (E.D. Pa. 2002)
• Kathleen R. v. City of Livermore (Cal. App. 2001)

17 April
NO CLASS, EASTER BREAK

22 April
Special Topics 3: Encryption

Cases
• Bernstein v. United States Department of Justice (9th Cir. 2000)
• Junger v. Daly (6th Cir. 2000)

24 April
Special Topics 4: International Issues

Cases:
• In re Somm, Urteil des Amtsgericht Munchen (May 28, 1998) (Ger.)
• League Against Racism and Antisemitism v. Yahoo! Inc. (County Court of Paris 2000)

29 April
Finish special topics and review for final exam

1 May
NO CLASS, STUDY DAY (Thursday)

5 May
FINAL EXAMINATION (Monday, 9 a.m.)

Copyright © 2003 Dale A. Herbeck
Last update: 10 March 2003