Harvard Law School: Copyright Law 2023

All of the assigned readings are available online through the links in the syllabus, below.

Week 1

Lecture 1: The Foundations of Copyright Law

Discussion (January 23): Originality

• History of U.S. Copyright Law [pdf] [MS Word]
• 17 U.S.C. 102(a)
• Burrow-Giles Lithographic Co. v. Sarony, 111 U.S. 53 (1884) [pdf] [MS Word]
• Bleistein v. Donaldson Lithographing Co., 188 U.S. 239 (1903) [pdf] [MS Word] [h2o]
• Mannion v. Coors Brewing Co., 377 F.Supp. 2d 444 (S.D.N.Y. 2005): paragraphs 1-79 [pdf] [MS Word] [h2o][Illustrations]

Discussion (January 24): The Idea/Expression Distinction

• 17 U.S.C. 102(b)
• Baker v. Selden, 101 U.S. 99 (1879) [pdf] [MS Word] [h2o]
• Nichols v. Universal Pictures Corp., 45 F.2d 119 (2d Cir. 1930) [pdf] [MS Word] [h2o]
• Alexander v. Haley, 460 F.Supp. 40 (S.D.N.Y. 1978) [pdf] [MS Word] [h2o]
• Feist Publications, Inc. v. Rural Telephone Service Co., 499 U.S. 340 (1991) [pdf][MS Word][h2o]

Week 2

Lecture 2: Fairness and Personality Theories

Discussion (January 30): Labor v. Personhood

• Summary of Theoretical Approaches [pdf] [MS Word]
• John Locke, The Second Treatise of Government (1689), Chapter 5 [pdf]
• Robert Nozick, Anarchy, State, and Utopia (1974), pp. 174-182 [pdf]

Discussion (January 31):  Nonfiction

• A.A. Hoehling v. Universal City Studios, Inc., 618 F.2d 972 (2d Cir. 1980) [pdf] [MS Word] [h2o]
• American Historical Association, Statement on Standards of Professional Conduct, #4: Plagiarism (2005)
• Malcolm Gladwell, “Something Borrowed,” The New Yorker, Nov. 22, 2004

Week 3

Lecture 3: The Subject Matter of Copyright

Discussion (February 6): Characters and Useful Articles

• DC Comics v. Towle, 802 F.3d 1012 (9th Cir. 2015) [pdf] [MS Word] [h20]
• Shine v. Childs, 382 F.Supp.2d 602 (2005) [pdf] [MS Word] [h2o] [Illustrations]
• Star Athletica v. Varsity Brands (US Supreme Court 2017) [pdf]

Discussion (February 7): The Music Business

• U.S. Copyright Office, The Music Modernization Act (December 2019)
• Ben Sisario, “A $550 Million Springsteen Deal? It’s Glory Days for Catalog Sales,” New York Times, December 20, 2021

Week 4

Lecture 4: Welfare Theory

Discussion (February 13): Information Technology

• Lotus Development Corporation v. Borland International, Inc., 49 F.3d 807 (1st Cir. 1995) [pdf] [MS Word] [h2o]
• Google v. Oracle (SCOTUS 2021), paragraphs 1-49, 107-125 [pdf] [MSWord]

Discussion (February 14): Bounded Rationality

• Jolls, Sunstein, and Thaler, A Behavioral Approach to Law and Economics, pp. 1471-1489

Week 5

Lecture 5: Authorship

Discussion (February 20): Multiple Authors

• 17 U.S.C. 201 
• Lindsay v. The Wrecked and Abandoned Vessel R.M.S. Titanic, 52 U.S.P.Q.2d 1609 (S.D.N.Y. 1999) [pdf] [MS Word][h2o]
• Aalmuhammed v. Lee, 202 F.3d 1227 (9th Cir. 1999) [pdf] [MS Word] [h2o]

Discussion (February 21): Works for Hire

• Community for Creative Non-Violence v. Reid, 490 U.S. 730 (1989) [pdf] [MS Word] [h2o]
• Avtec Systems, Inc. v. Peiffer, 21 F.3d 568 (4th Cir. 1994) [pdf] [MS Word] [h2o]

Week 6

Lecture 6: The Mechanics of Copyright

Discussion (February 27): Copyright and Parentalism

• Stewart v. Abend, 495 U.S. 207 (1990) [pdf] [MS Word] [h2o]
• New York Times Company v. Tasini, 533 U.S. 483 (2001) [pdf] [MS Word] [h2o]

Discussion (February 28): Copyright and the Constitution

• Eldred v. Ashcroft, 537 U.S.1 86 (2003) [pdf] [MS Word] [h2o]
• Golan v. Holder, 2012 U.S. Lexis 907 (2012) [pdf] [MS Word] [h2o]

Week 7

Lecture 7: The Rights to Reproduce and Modify

Discussion (March 6): “Probative Similarity” and “Substantial Similarity”

• 17 U.S.C. 106
• Three Boys Music Corp. v. Michael Bolton, 212 F.3d 477 (9th Cir. 2000) [pdf] [MS Word] [h2o]
• Steinberg v. Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc., 663 F.Supp. 706 (S.D.N.Y. 1987) [pdf] [MS Word] [h2o] [Illustrations]
• Rentmeester v. Nike, Inc. (9th Cir. 2018) [pdf]
• Mannion v. Coors Brewing Co., 377 F.Supp. 2d 444 (S.D.N.Y. 2005): paragraphs 81-94 [pdf] [MS Word] [h2o] [Illustrations]

Discussion (March 7): Derivative Works

• Castle Rock Entertainment, Inc. v. Carol Publishing Group, Inc., 150 F.3d 132 (2d Cir. 1998): paragraphs 11-58 [pdf][MS Word] [h2o] [Illustrations]
• Lee v. A.R.T. Company, 125 F.3d 580 (7th Cir. 1997) [pdf] [MS Word] [h2o]
• Micro Star v. FormGen Inc., 154 F.3d 1107 (9th Cir. 1998) [pdf] [MS Word] [h2o]

Week 8

Lecture 8: The Rights to Distribute, Perform, and Display

Discussion (March 20): Distribution and First Sale

• Hotaling v. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, 118 F.3d 199 (4th Cir. 1997) [pdf] [MS Word] [h2o]
• Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons (U.S. Supreme Court, March 19, 2013) [pdf] [MS Word] [h2o]

Discussion (March 21): Performances and Displays

• American Broadcasting Companies v. Aereo, Inc., 134 S.Ct. 2498 (2014) [pdf] [MS Word] [h2o]
• Perfect 10 v. Amazon, 508 F.3d 1146 (9th Cir. 2007): paragraphs 1-65 [pdf] [MS Word] [h2o]

Week 9

Lecture 9: Fair Use and Misuse

Discussion (March 27): Fair Use, Part 1

• 17 U.S.C. 107
• Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc., 510 U.S. 569 (1994) [pdf] [MS Word] [h2o]
• Castle Rock Entertainment, Inc. v. Carol Publishing Group, Inc., 150 F.3d 132 (2d Cir. 1998): paragraphs 60-95 [pdf][MS Word] [h2o] [Illustrations]
• Perfect 10 v. Amazon, 508 F.3d 1146 (9th Cir. 2007): paragraphs 67-91 [pdf] [MS Word] [h2o]

Discussion (March 28): Fair Use, Part 2

• Cariou v. Prince, 713 F.3d 694 (2d Cir. 2013) [pdf] [MSWord]
• Authors Guild v. Google, 804 F.3d 202 (2d Cir. 2015) [pdf] [MS Word] [h2o]
• Google v. Oracle (SCOTUS 2021), paragraphs 50-106, 126-163 [pdf] [MSWord]
• Warhol Foundation v. Goldsmith (2d Cir. 2021) [pdf] [MSWord]

Week 10

Lecture 10: Cultural Theory

Discussion (April 3): Moral Rights in the United States

• 17 U.S.C. 106A
• Sophie Grais, “The Story of 5Pointz” (2021) [pdf]
• Castillo v. G&M Realty (2d Cir. 2020) [pdf] [MSWord]

Discussion (April 4): Traditional Knowledge

• William Fisher, “The Puzzle of Traditional Knowledge,” 67 Duke Law Journal 1511 (2018)

Week 11

Lecture 11: Supplements to Copyright: Secondary Liability and Para-copyright

Discussion (April 10): Secondary Liability

• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Inc. v. Grokster, 545 U.S. 913 (2005) [pdf] [MS Word] [h2o]
• Perfect 10 v. Amazon, 508 F.3d 1146 (9th Cir. 2007): paragraphs 94-131 [pdf] [MS Word] [h2o]
• Viacom v. YouTube, 676 F.3d 19 (CA2 2012) [pdf] [MS Word] [h2o]

Discussion (April 11): Technological Protection Measures

• Universal City Studios, Inc. v. Corley, 273 F.3d 429 (2d Cir. 2001) [pdf] [MS Word] [h2o]
• 37 C.F.R 201.40 (2021) [pdf] [MSWord]

Week 12

Lecture 12: Remedies

Discussion (April 17): Damages

• 17 U.S.C. 504, 505
• Frank Music Corp. v. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc., 886 F.2d 1545 (9th Cir. 1989) [pdf] [MS Word] [h2o]
• Fantasy, Inc. v. Fogerty, 94 F.3d 553 (9th Cir. 1996) [pdf] [MS Word] [h2o]

Discussion (April 18): Injunctions and Crimes

• 17 U.S.C. 501, 502, 503, 506
• Salinger v. Colting, 607 F.3d 68 (2d Cir. 2010) [pdf] [MS Word] [h2o]
• United States v. Moran, 757 F.Supp. 1046 (D.Neb. 1991) [pdf] [MS Word] [h2o]

Last modified: January 18, 2023