Midterm Examination in Cyberlaw - Spring 2002

The questions in this exam require several distinct levels of analysis. Demonstrate a factual understanding of elements which appeared in the readings and/or were refined in class. Demonstrate that you have an understanding of the theory of cyberlaw as a social, technological, and legal process. Synthesize the factual foundation and theoretical principles to reason to a solution or explanation of the various phenomena presented in each question.

The exam is not competitively graded. Extremely different answers or answers that are at odds with the answers of other students may receive similarly high grades.

Choose four of the following six questions. Those registered for LSLW499 answer only three questions. You may type them using Word. Print your answers, send them by Email to me, submit them to me on disk, or hand deliver them to me the next time the cousrs meets.. Keep a copy for yourself.

You have two weeks to finish this exam. You may not use any resource other than your mind.

  1. The history of technology has taught us some lessons about the nature of social change and its effect on the law.
    1. Trace three significant technological innovations we discussed in class and explain the changes they have wrought in human interaction at the time.
    2. Explain the manner in which humanity changed its conception of the world because of those changes.
    3. Define a paradigm shift in the humanities sense of the universe and one specific philosophical change that resulted from a technological innovation.
    4. Describe what possible relationship these technological innovations have with the Internet.
    5. Relate your answer to question 1.3 with the american conception of intellectual property as it exists in the present day.
  2. Define copyright in the U.S. system of law. What is its origin and how is it implemented.
    1. Compare and contrast printed intellectual property with that on the Internet.
    2. Choose two technological factors inherant in the functioning of the World Wide Web on the Internet that have caused difficulty for courts in deciding whether:
      1. a copyright held by the creator of Email posted on a bulletin board has been violated when it has been reposted to a user group.
      2. a service provider can be held liable for an infringement which has been reposted from another server.
  3. Define and discuss three rights held by authors under U.S. Copyright law and how technology on the Internet alters the manner in which these rights exist, are protected, or are made more difficult to protect because of the nature of the technology.
    1. Are those rights different on the Internet as compared with printed media.
    2. Are those rights easily violated by ISP's. How so.
    3. How are those rights altered by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
  4. Define copyright infringement and how it relates to MP3 music
    1. Explain how Napster works
    2. Explain how you would argue against Napster and in favor of a finding of copyright infringement against Napster.
    3. Explain how you would argue in favor of Napster continuing and against infringment.
    4. What is vicarious liability and what is its standard of proof. Relate it to Napster
    5. How does the DMCA relate to Napster and MP3?
  5. Describe and Define three ways in which ISP's may be vulnerable to infringement of copyright.
    1. How can an ISP avoid them.
    2. What are the elements defining each defense to ISP infringement of each type.
  6. The owner of the web site, Babes in Boyland, has produced a child pornography site which is located in Greenland. Childhood Games Inc. has purchased the rights to the game Babes in Toyland, a satisfying board game created for 3 to 6 year old children with terminal illnesses. The game has been in existence since 1903. When web surfers hang ten searching for "Babes" the metatags on the web site cause the porn site to be the number one hit on 5 out of 10 search engines.
    1. What are the issues you might consider in determining whether there has been a trademark violation
    2. How would your analysis change if searches for "Babes in Toyland" hit the "Babes in Boyland" site with the same 5 out of 10 percentage.

Extra Credit - Worth 1 standard deviation of credit.

  1. Professor Slobodan Techhead teaches a class in cyberlaw in Slovenia, NY. He has taken substantial passages from three sources: an online free journal, a commercial textbook called cyberlaw, and an unpublished manuscript produced by one of his students for another class.
    1. Explain the meaning of "fair use" and how you would advise him in order to avoid charges of infringement in each of the three cases.
    2. Consider that the textbook is used by other faculty in other cyberlaw classes. Would that change your analysis.