As thoughts turn to transition and, with any luck, healing divisions, the Biden-Harris administration should avoid any temptation to repeat mistakes made by the Obama administration with regard to cyber policy. I admire Barack Obama for many reasons, but the fact remains that his administration was too cozy with Silicon Valley, and this was understandable, if not entirely reasonable or ...
Welcome to Professor Lemley’s Home for Wayward Works. Formerly known as the Asylum for Orphan Works, but we really prefer not to use the O-word as this connotes a state of abandonment and a feeling of being unwanted. Although we are certainly happy that the term Bastard Works was retired after 1912. At PLHWW, we believe that every work deserves ...
Just a few years ago, it would have been damn hard to find a random citizen who had even heard of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996. Now, this bit of wonky, statutory arcana is a topic buzzing on mainstream news, chirping in the Twitterverse, opining in the blogosphere, and echoing through all those extra dimensions where ...
In a post published in August 2019, I discussed the fact that online IP enforcement is not just about the people we think of as traditional artists. Many small businesses—from garage start-ups to a few million in sales with employees to support—sell unique merchandise based on original designs protected by copyright and under trade names protected by trademark. And it ...
On September 30, the House Judiciary Committee held a hearing to discuss the Copyright Office report, published in May, commenting on the efficacy of Section 512 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). Section 512 provides conditional immunity to online service providers for copyright infringements conducted by users of their services. (For a basic summary of conditions, see page here.) ...
