The course will provide an introduction and overview to questions of communications and Internet law and policy.
The course will consider the changes to the organization of information, knowledge, and cultural production in the networked environment, and how they have affected, and been affected by, intellectual property law.
The course discusses the emergence of the networked information economy and society, and the ways in which law and policy shape both economic relations and political values in the digital environment.
What prompts people to do what they do? A rapidly growing literature in several disciplines -- psychology, sociology, neuroscience, and economics -- casts new light on this age-old question. We will read deeply in that literature and then consider its implications for the design of legal, political, and economic institutions.
The course will offer an introduction to the basic institutional systems that regulate information production and exchange through the definition and allocation of exclusive rights. We will emphasize copyrights and patents, but also explore other regulatory frameworks, like trademarks and trade secrets.