Singularity Law

When I began practicing in the field of computer law (a quaint term today), a good computer lawyer had to know contract law, and some tax law — and that was pretty much all. Patents were available for hardware, but not software; the Copyright Office still had its doubts about the copyrightability of computer programs; [...]

Fifth Epoch (2001-20??)
The dot com bust had an enormous impact on the computer industry, as well as those lawyers who serviced that industry. Funding for start-ups disappeared, initial public offerings dried up, and a large percentage of the Internet industry found itself struggling to survive. Lawyers found themselves working more on bankruptcies, mergers [...]

Fourth Epoch (1993-2001)
By the early 1990s, the Internet was old-hat to computer professionals, but virtually unknown to the general public. The system began in 1969 as the ARPANet. It was “designed to enable computers operated by the military, defense contractors, and universities conducting defense-related research to communicate with one another by redundant channels [...]

Third Epoch (1982-1993)
Toward the end of the 1970s, advances in semiconductor technology permitted the development of the first inexpensive, relatively small computers – ushering in the personal computer era. Most of the early companies have been long forgotten – such companies as IMSAI, Cromemco and Osborne. One company, literally started in a garage, [...]

Second Epoch (1969-1982)
IBM’s announcement, which launched the worldwide software industry,1 ushered in the Second Epoch of Computer Law. During this second time period contracting issues became increasingly important, as companies had to develop a new body of licenses and other contracts to deal with the myriad transactions taking place.
In addition, technology allowed companies to [...]

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 [...]

I had the pleasure of speaking at an international conference in Amsterdam in early June. The event was the 20th anniversary of the International Federation of Computer Law Associations (IFCLA), which consists of virtually every computer law organization in the world (except for the U.S.-based ITech Law Associations — previously called the Computer Law Association).
The [...]