Syllabus
Please note that this syllabus is subject to some modifications to meet the students' needs as perceived by the professor during the semester.
Where: Room 2
When: MTTh 10:00-10:50 am
Howard University is committed to providing an educational environment that is accessible to all students. In accordance with this policy, students in need of accommodations due to a disability should contact the HUSL Office of the Dean of Students, Assistant Dean Denise Spriggs (202-806-8006; dspriggs@law.howard.edu), for verification and determination of reasonable accommodations as soon as possible after admission to the Law School and at the beginning of each semester as needed.
This course is one of the fundamental intellectual property courses offered at HUSL. The course covers the basics of copyright law with particular attention to issues of copyrightability and problems of social justice raised by current copyright law. International aspects will be considered as well.
Some aspects of copyright will not be explored very deeply because they are often addressed more fully in specialized courses such as Cyberspace Law (e.g., software and digital copying), Entertainment Law (e.g., music industry), and Communications Law (e.g., cable-related issues). We will not ignore those topics, but the course is not intended to focus on them. It is a general, introductory course.
Normally I do not identify relevant statutory sections in the syllabus. I expect you to read all sections noted in the cases and materials and in class. I cannot emphasize enough the importance of studying the statute. You are expected to know the statute well. The final exam will test for both your facility in finding law in the statute and in interpreting it by testing you on a section of the statute which was not covered thoroughly in class.
The course will be graded mostly on the final exam. The exam will be completely open book. As noted above, copyright law is statutory and the starting point for any analysis is the statute (or perhaps on rare occasion, the Constitution). This goes for the exam as well, i.e., start your analysis on the exam with the statute. The other grade components are the preparation of the creative works and class attendance and participation.
With the growth in the importance of copyrights, and in the number of students taking copyright courses, the number and variety of commercial supplemental educational materials, including treatises, hornbooks, audio tapes, flashcards, and other materials, have expanded dramatically. If you choose to use these materials, be sure to use current editions since the law has been changing significantly on an annual basis for at least the past 15 years. Consequently, materials just a few years old could provide wrong information (e.g., term of copyright protection).
Julie E. Cohen, Lydia Pallas Loren, Ruth Gana Okediji, & Maureen A. O'Rourke, Copyright in a Global Information Economy (Aspen L. & Bus. 2002).2004 Supplement to the Cohen book
Steven D. Jamar, Copyright Basics (2004) (update of paper presented at the Fall 2003 IIPSJ IP CLE)
Other supplemental materials posted online or handed out from time to time
Office
402 Houston Hall
Phone
202-806-8017
sjamar@law.howard.edu (I will typically respond to email within 24 hours.)
Office Hours
The times listed below may change. I will post up-to-date office hours online at http://www.law.howard.edu/faculty/pages/jamar
Mon.
11:00-11:50
Tues. 11:00-noon; 3:30-5:30 Thurs. 11:00-noon I am often in my office at times not posted as office hours and during those times I am generally able to meet with students.
Occasionally I will not be able to keep these office hours because of other commitments.
If you need to see me at another time, please contact me so we can make an appointment.
1.
5 pts.
2.
5 pts.
3.
10 pts.
4.
5 pts.
5.
65 pts.
6.
10 pts.
Please note that items 1-4 are graded primarily on effort rather than result. If you do the work and it shows sufficient effort, you get full points. If you do a rushed, pro-forma job, you get half points.
Prepare a form that would be copyrightable. A "form" in this context means a form that would be used for gathering, storing, or organizing information. Be sure to refer to the Copyright office regulations on copyrighting forms.Include a cover sheet briefly explaining what the form is for and why you think it may be copyrightable. If you doubt that your form would be accepted for copyright, please explain why. The cover sheet must also include your name, the course title, date, and the project title (e.g., copyrightable form), and it must be typed.
Prepare a two dimensional artistic work, e.g., a photograph or drawing, or a very small three dimensional work. It can be a computer graphic as well as hard copy. I prefer that it be something you prepare specifically for this class so that you think about the creative process and its relation to copyright as you create it. Nonetheless, it need not be a work you prepare for this course; it can be a work you did at any time for any reason.Include a cover sheet briefly explaining what the work is (photograph of sunset at Maui, etc.), when you created it, and whether you would permit it to be included in a Copyright Class Art Exhibit which might be displayed toward the end of the semester. Include a brief reflection on the creative process you went through to create the work. All works will be returned. The cover sheet must also include your name, the course title, date, and the project title (e.g., pictorial work),and it must be typed.
I will be providing you with a old French poem and a literal translation of it and perhaps one or two other translations. You are to prepare a derivative work which would be a translation of the French poem into English. You will need to decide what elements of the poem to keep and what to discard. It should be a derivative work, not an "inspired by" sort of new creation. That is, you should capture enough of the style and structure of the poem as well as its content so that it would recognizably be derived from the original.Include a cover sheet briefly explaining the approach you took to the translation/derivative work. What aspects of the poem did you try to keep? Which did you choose to set aside? Why? The cover sheet must also include your name, the course title, date, and the project title (e.g., derivative work),and it must be typed.
Write a parody of a poem, song, or short story (extra credit for performance in front of the class if it is more than a trivial amount of work). Hand in both the original work (if appropriate) and your parody. If the work is something with which I am familiar, I do not need a copy of the original.Include a cover sheet briefly identifying what you are parodying and why you think your work would qualify as fair use. The cover sheet must also include your name, the course title, date, and the project title (e.g., parody),and it must be typed.
The final exam is typically 3 hours long, and is open book -- you may use the text, the statute, and any other materials you care to bring. You may use computers.The following description is intended to help you focus your exam preparation efforts. It is not a statement of what the exam will or will not contain. Nor is it a promise that it will break down in time and focus as indicated here. Nonetheless, this is a rough guide as to how I see the exam at this point and if you prepare accordingly you should be well prepared for the exam even if it is quite different from what is noted below (which it may well be).
Prior exams are available for downloading from the copyright course homepage and some are on file in the library.The exam is likely to include: one essay question seeking to cause you to reflect on copyright in general (e.g., consider the relationship of copyright law and artistic creativity); one question which will require you to demonstrate facility with statutory interpretation (e.g., a technical work for hire question which requires reading definitions closely, or a new statutory section which you will be required to parse and apply); and a more typical law school essay question which will require synthesis and application of a variety of things about copyright law (sample topics: subject matter, substantially similar, fair use, preemption). This list does not foreclose questions on anything covered in the course, including questions which require basic knowledge about pre-Berne compliance notice, the 1909 statutory publication requirement, etc.
The fact patterns and exams from 1997, 2003, and Spring 2004 are online. Toward the end of the semester I provide an involved fact pattern on which the exam will be based. The fact pattern may be based on either the 1997 or 2003 or Spring 2004 fact patterns or it may be new. This fact pattern provides you with a structure for preparing for the exam.
The law school attendance policy will be enforced. If you miss 25% or more of the scheduled class sessions, you will receive an "F" for the course unless you formally withdraw from the course before the last day to drop a course as set by the law school academic calendar. Under the law school policy, attendance means being present at the start of class and throughout the class period. Tardy students and students who leave class early, including those who leave and return during class, may be counted as absent.
Class 1 Introduction to the course - scope, teaching methods, gradingClass 2 Overview of Copyright - Read Steven D. Jamar, Copyright Basics (2004) (update of paper presented at the Fall 2003 IIPSJ IP CLE )
Class 3 Fixation - Cohen 63-75
Project 1: Form due Monday , Aug. 30 (n.b. Copyright Office Reg. 202.1, Cohen n. 4 pp. 95-96)
Class 4 Originality - Cohen 75-90
Class 5 Idea/Expression Dichotomy - Cohen 90-107
Class 6 Class Cancelled - continue with Idea/Expression Dichotomy - Cohen 90-107 on Monday
Class 7 Derivative Works and Compilations - Cohen 107-118
Project 1: Form due today (n.b. Copyright Office Reg. 202.1, Cohen n. 4 pp. 95-96)
Class 8 Derivative Works and Compilations - Cohen 107-118
Class 9 Compilations - Cohen 107-118
No class Monday - Labor Day
Class 10 Sole authors, joint authors, works made for hire, U.S. Government Works - Cohen 127-153
Class 11 Sole authors, joint authors, works made for hire, U.S. Government Works - Cohen 127-153
Project 2: Pictorial, graphic, or sculptural work - Assigned -- due Tues. Sept. 21
Class 12 Formalities - Cohen 153-166
Class 13 Duration - Cohen 166-177
Class 14 Renewals; Terminations of Transfers; & Mechanics of Transfers - Cohen 177-213; esp. Abend &Tasini cases; http://www.loc.gov/copyright/forms/
Class 15 Useful articles; Architectural works - Cohen 215-240; 273-283
Class 16 Computer Software; Databases - Cohen 240-273; 295-317
Class 17 Characters - Cohen 284-294
Project 3: derivative work - Due on Tuesday, Oct. 2, read statute on derivative works
Class 18 Elements of Infringement; The Reproduction of Exact Copies; Distribution - Cohen, Ch.6, pp. 317-353
Class 19 Reproduction: Substantial Similarity - Cohen, Ch. 6, pp. 353-375
Class 20 Derivative works - Cohen 375-394
Class 21 Moral Rights - Cohen 394-410
Class 22 Public Performance and Display Rights - Cohen 410-427
Project 3: derivative work due today
Class 23
Project 4: parody assigned - read Copyright Act on Fair Use and Campbell case (Cohen 504-514)
Mon: No class - Columbus Day
Class 24 The Music Industry - Cohen 427-452
Class 25
Class 26 Various Faces of Infringement (Direct, Vicarious & Contributory) - Cohen 452-469Class 27 Various Faces of Infringement (On-line Service Provider Liability) - Cohen 469-478
Class 28
Class 29 Fair Use Cohen, ch. 7, pp. 491-571Class 30 Fair Use (listen to He's So Fine and My Sweet Lord and the MIDI versions on http://library.law.columbia.edu/music_plagiarism/006/006.html; and Pretty Woman, Roy Orbison version, and 2 Live Crew version ) For others check out http://library.law.columbia.edu/music_plagiarism/.
Class 31 Fair Use; Technological Protections (Cohen Ch. 8) (lecture)
Class 32 Preemption - Cohen 605-6292
Class 33 Preemption - Cohen 605-629
Class 34 Publicity and Misappropriation - Cohen, 629-652
Class 35 Contract & Misuse - Cohen, 652-679
Class 36 Jurisdiction, 11th Amendment Cohen 679-712
Class 37 Remedies Cohen 712-743
Classes 38 & 39 Purposes of Copyright, Cohen, et al, Ch. 1, pp. 3-23; Evolution of Copyright, Ch. 2, pp. 25-43; Challenges of New Technologies and Globalization, Ch. 2, pp 43-60