Singularity Law

In 1995 I read a book written by Nicholas Negroponte – the Founding Director of the MIT Media Lab. Called, Being Digital, the book made some predictions that were both incredibly exciting and seemingly improbable. This was a time when the Internet was just coming into its own – having been a closed, government-funded network [...]

For a number of years, I have taught a law school course titled “Drafting and Negotiating Technology Contracts.” It is one of many skilled-based courses being offered by law schools today to help their students “hit the ground running” as they enter the practice of law. Over the last decade, law firms have increasing insisted [...]

During the last week there were two articles – one on the Wall Street Journal and one in the Los Angeles Times – about law firm establishing “specialties” in videogame law — as if this was a new field.
The fact is lawyers have been “specializing” in videogame law since the 1980s. When I began working [...]

I was interested in an article that appeared in the Los Angeles Times shortly before Christmas. It indicated that some of the major writers were meeting with venture capitalists to see of they could start their own production companies to create entertainment products specifically for the Internet. The writers apparently see this as one [...]

First Epoch (1960-1969)1
Putting a date on when the field of computer law began is as difficult as putting a date on when the “modern” computer industry began. And yet the two fields are inexorably intertwined, and so, deciding when a “modern” computer was first used will provide us with the earliest possible date for [...]

Viacom recently sued YouTube for copyright infringement, claiming a billion dollars in damages for unauthorized copies of its content posted on the popular website. Many observers suspect that the suit was filed by Viacom, not because it intends to litigate the matter through to judgment, but as a negotiating ploy to get a better licensing [...]

The news media and blogosphere have been abuzz about the move by Viacom to have all of its content removed from YouTube. Viacom paid someone (and probably a lot of someone’s) to compile a list of 100K video clips on YouTube that arguably infringe its copyrights (I say “arguably” since news reports indicate that [...]

What happens to existing distribution networks when new methods of distribution become feasible? The general rule has been that existing distributors will pressure producers to eschew these new forms of distribution to protect the existing distributors’ business. We saw that several years ago when IBM and Blockbuster announced a service that would allow users to [...]