IP Law and the Internet

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: "Joel R. Reidenberg" <reidenberg () sprynet com>
Date: January 31, 2008 3:31:41 PM EST
To: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>
Subject: IP Law and the Internet

Hi,

Just wanted to let you know that my essay from the Baker Botts Lecture  
at the University of Houston has just been published.  It might be of  
interest to IPers:

"The Rule of Intellectual Property Law in the Internet Economy"
44 Houston Law Review 102 (2007)
http://ssrn.com/abstract=1012604

Abstract:
The adaptation to the Internet economy of intellectual property law in  
general, and copyright law in particular, is at the center of a  
profound power struggle for governance that places democratically  
chosen legal rules against technologist-defined network rules. This  
essay argues that many of the technological challenges to intellectual  
property rights such as peer-to-peer software are a movement against  
democratically chosen intellectual property rules. These challenges  
reflect a basic defiance of the Rule of Law. In making this argument,  
the essay first maintains that intellectual property rights have an  
important public function in democracy marking political, economic and  
social boundaries. Next, the essay shows that the public law, as  
enacted by democratic government, has re-allocated intellectual  
property rights to adapt to the information economy. While many  
aspects of the new allocation of rights have been controversial such  
as the scope of copyright's anti-circumvention provisions, these  
decisions nevertheless emanate from duly constituted public  
authorities. The essay then analyzes the rejection of those rules by  
technologists and their fight to take control of rule-making. In  
essence, the technical community seeks to replace the state's decision  
on public intellectual property law with the community's own private  
preferences in subversion of democratic choices. The essay concludes  
with the normative prediction that public law prevails over network  
rule-making.


Regards,

Joel



*******************************************************************

Joel R. Reidenberg
Professor of Law and President of the University Faculty Senate
Founding Director,  Center on Law and Information Policy
Fordham University School of Law
140 West 62nd Street
New York, NY 10023

Tel: 212-636-6843
Fax: 212-636-6899
Email: reidenberg () fordham edu

Center:  http://law.fordham.edu/clip
Web:  http://faculty.fordham.edu/reidenberg
******************************************************************




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