Copyright Section Final Excercise

University of Washington School of Law
E567 – SURVEY OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
Winter 2009
Copyright Section
Professor Steve Davis

FINAL EXERCISE

Instructions:

Answer ONLY ONE of the two optional questions below. The answers must be more than five and less than ten double-spaced pages, including footnotes. Your answer is due at Academic Services by the end of day on Monday, February 9, 2009.

You may use some sources outside of the readings/cases on the syllabus, but the questions can be answered without any additional sources; rely primarily on the readings, class discussions, and more important, your understanding of the world of copyright so far.

In either question, you should not only spot some of the critical issues and discuss their legal implications, but you should take a position – of your own choosing – as to the advice you wish to give. You can do this by choosing a stakeholder, either a potential plaintiff or defendant, or if you want to think more broadly, as an executive in a related business, or a public relations firm asked to sway public opinion on the issue, or a lobbyist considering new legislation on the topic, or even as an individual artist or creator. Put yourself in the shoes of someone for whom the outcome of the scenario is vital to their interests, and explain what they should do, what they should be concerned about, what underlying philosophies or doctrines may affect your thinking, and how they might best proceed. Have fun with it.

SCENARIO I

In late 2004, Google set out to build the cyberspace version of the “Library of Alexandria” by collecting and housing the world’s knowledge for future generations. Pursuant to Google’s corporate mission “to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful,” it started working with many of the leading lending libraries in the world – at Harvard, Stanford, Oxford, New York City and others – to scan all or portion of their collections and make those texts searchable only on Google. For works that are in the public domain, users will be able to access the entire book. For books still under copyright, users would likely receive only parts of the text, although the plans for copyrighted books are still not clear. Google will spend hundreds of millions of dollars on this project and claims the goal is to help users discover books and provide information about where to obtain a complete copy. But Google will also sell advertising related to the pages delivered in Google Books, and undoubtedly integrate these pages into other profitable Google products and services in the future. Google was surprised when many publishers and authors, including the Association of American University Presses, loudly criticized Google for these plans, and several lawsuits have been filed.

There has been much discussion of this case, other similar projects have been launched, and some settlements have been made. Don’t focus on those outcomes as much as think about the stakeholders surrounding Google Books and advise about the potential issues and approaches – legally, technologically, politically – for a resolution.

SCENARIO II

Two twenty-something entrepreneurs, Rock and Roll, both recently left a failing band in order to make their fortune. They now plan to launch a new internet site called Mix-N-Match (by Rock-N-Roll). The site incorporates great tools to enable its users to download song – in whole or in parts – from any source the user chooses, then use their internet mixing board tool to create new mash-ups which can then be stored, uploaded, or played. Both Rock and Roll strongly believe that the internet should promote a “free culture,” where information should be free to use and share and exploit, and have not really considered whether their site may create legal problems or face other challenges in the marketplace. So far, they have not cut any deals with any music publishers, nor have they done any marketing or promotions on the site or offline. Their tool is probably the best online mixing board technology around, but so far contains no other special tools or features regarding managing content. They really want to launch Mix-N-Match soon, and really, really want to get rich, but their venture capital investors have suggested they slow down and consider potential issues related to this effort.