Singularity Law

The Information Technology Law Blog and Podcast by Professor Michael Scott

Archive for October, 2008

And Now for Something Completely Different – A Novel Writing Competition

Man cannot live by legal writing alone. As such, I have decided to participate in the National Novel Writing Month. I can’t start until midnight tonight, and I must complete the novel by the end of November. 50,000 words in 30 days. It won’t be pretty, but should be fun.
The genre will be science fiction, [...]

London Summer Program in IT Law Finalized; Applications Being Accepted

I have written about my law school’s evolving summer program in London (starting in 2009) on International Information Technology Law several time over the last year. (See here and here.) There have been a few wrinkles that had to be ironed out, but I am pleased to announce that the program has been finalized and [...]

Google Stares Down Book Industry: Publishers Blink, Google Book Search Wins

In September 2005, Google was sued by the Authors Guild, the American Association of Publishers and a number of individual authors for copyright infringement for its “Google Book Search” project (which was launched in 2004). The plaintiffs claimed that the project was “massive copyright infringement” and should be shut down. Google held the plaintiffs at [...]

The Singularity Law Podcast Episode 5: Here Come The Robots

Are search engines engaging in widespread copyright infringement? Can eBay sellers bring libel actions against buyers who leave negative feedback about them? What does the revised iPhone NDA mean for developers and the Internet in general? Michael and Josh tackle these questions and more on this week’s edition of The Singularity Law Podcast.
Click the play [...]

The Singularity Law Podcast Episode 4: The Elephant in the Room

Will DRM be the final nail in the coffin of PC gaming? How anonymous can the Internet be? Why won’t YouTube grant a full legal review of all DMCA takedown requests on election campaign videos? Will trademark owners be forced to monitor domain name registrations? Can libraries go digital? Can a record label infringe its [...]

Just What We Don’t Need – A Copyright Czar

Congress recent passed, and the President signed the PRO-IP Act (”Prioritizing Resources and Organization for Intellectual Property Act of 2007″). The Act established a new cabinet-level position, an “IP enforcement czar,” that would report to the President and coordinate enforcement efforts across government.
Over the last 20 years we have seen a steady erosion of the [...]

The Singularity Law Podcast Episode 3: Virtual Law

In this episode Michael and Josh team up with Tigran Palyan, a 3L at Southwestern Law School here in Los Angeles, who tells us about his research into the cutting-edge subject of Privacy in Virtual Worlds.
Click the play button below to listen, or click here to subscribe to us on iTunes!
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Here are the show notes [...]

The Singularity Law Podcast: Episode 2

Here’s the second episode of our new podcast. Once again we discuss the most important tech law issues of the week. This week’s topics include RealNetworks’ new DVD-importing software, the EFF’s report on five years of RIAA litigation, net neutrality, Apple’s threats to shut down iTunes in the midst of a royalty dispute, an online [...]

Network Neutrality: To Regulate or Not to Regulate

“Network neutrality” is a highly charged issue amongst Internet lawyers, business executives, users and government officials. During the formative years of the Internet, the question of whether companies that provided Internet connectivity should treat all users and websites equally was not an issue. It was assumed that they would. Just like the telephone companies treat [...]