The Center for Internet and Society at Stanford Law School is a leader in the study of the law and policy around the Internet and other emerging technologies.
A healthy copyright system must balance the need to provide strong economic incentives through exclusive rights with the need to protect important public interests like free speech and expression. Fair use is foundational to that balance. It's role is to prevent copyright from stifling the creativity it is supposed to foster, and from imposing other burdens that would inhibit rather than promote the creation and spread of knowledge and learning.
The Fair Use Project (FUP) was founded in 2006 to provide legal support to a range of projects designed to clarify, and extend, the boundaries of fair use in order to enhance creative freedom and protect important public rights. It is the only organization in the country dedicated specifically to providing free and comprehensive legal representation to authors, filmmakers, artists, musicians and other content creators who face unmerited copyright claims, or other improper restrictions on their expressive interests. The FUP has litigated important cases across the country, and in the Supreme Court of the United States, and worked with scores of filmmakers and other content creators to secure the unimpeded release of their work.
By Center for Internet and Society • October 9, 2012 at 8:53 am
We are happy to announce the new 2012-2014 CIS Affiliates. The new affiliates are the following: Read more » about CIS Affiliates 2012-2014 Announced
By Jennifer Granick • August 7, 2012 at 9:54 am
Last week, the U.S. Department of Justice's (DOJ) criminal prosecution of British citizen Richard O'Dwyer for operating a site called TVShack hit what ought to be a major stumbling block. TVShack allows users to link to other computer servers that host television shows and movies. Clicking on the link will allow the user to watch those videos from those sites in a frame on TVShack. Read more » about TVShack Extradition Case Tumbling as Seventh Circuit Holds Linking/Streaming is Lawful
By Daniel Nazer • July 19, 2012 at 4:44 pm
Once again, political campaign videos are being censored by copyright law. This time, Mitt Romney is the victim. Read more » about How Copyright Law Censors Campaigns
By Zohar Efroni • June 29, 2012 at 7:39 am
Anyone who has ever attended law school in the United States knows what legal clinics are about. In recent years, clinical work with students in law school settings has been gaining momentum worldwide. Law faculties in Europe, Southeast Asia, South America, Africa, India, Japan and Israel (to name a few) already incorporate clinical activities within the fabric of their more traditional curriculum. Some observers even speak of the emergence of a global movement. And yet, there is still a lot of work to be done. Even in Europe, some folks would assume that “legal clinics” are places where sick laws are being admitted to find cure to their maladies… In Germany, where I currently practice and teach, none of the few clinics around focuses on technology or Internet law. Read more » about The Humboldt Internet Law Clinic Launched
This intensive event over two days is designed for lawyers and Web publishing professionals responsible for sorting out the emerging legal issues surrounding the distribution of content on digital platforms. Read more » about Legal Frontiers in Digital Media
The program committee for We Robot: Getting Down To Business invites you to join us for the second annual robotics and the law conference to take place April 8 and 9 at Stanford Law School. This year’s event is focused on the immediate commercial prospects of robotics and will include panels and papers on a wide variety of topics, including: Read more » about We Robot: Getting Down to Business
Presenter: Julie Ahrens
Fair Use is an important doctrine allowing use of copyrighted works without the owner’s consent in certain situations. But documentary filmmakers and producers of online content under utilize the fair use doctrine in their work. The creation and circulation of information to the public, and public debate, is shaped and limited as a result. This session will explore the fundamentals of fair use, as well as what may and may not be permissible, best practices and new developments. Read more » about Fair Use: Now More than Ever
August 10, 2012
CIS Affiliate Scholar David Levine interviews Profs. Francesca Coppa of Muhlenberg College and Tisha Turk of the University of Minnesota at Morris on vidding. Read more » about Francesca Coppa and Tisha Turk - Hearsay Culture - Show #167 - KZSU-FM
May 14, 2012
This week, David Levine interviews Prof. Daniel Margocsy of Hunter College, co-editor of States of Secrecy, a forthcoming volume of the British Journal for the History of Science. Read more » about Daniel Margocsy - Hearsay Culture - Show #162 - KZSU-FM
May 14, 2012
This week, David Levine interviews Prof. Hamilton Bean of the University of Colorado Denver, author of the book No More Secrets: Open Source Information and the Reshaping of U.S. Intelligence. Read more » about Hamilton Bean - Hearsay Culture - Show #161 - KZSU-FM
May 7, 2012
In July 2012, several major internet access providers (including, very likely, yours) will roll out a new program supposedly intended to inhibit online infringement via peer top peer file-sharing networks. The program is a result of a deal, announced last year, between ISPs and big content providers to work together police online infringement, educate allegedly infringing subscribers and, if subscribers resist such education, take various steps including restricting their internet access. As always, the devil is in the details, and the details here are devilish indeed. EFF Intellectual Property Director Corynne McSherry outlined how the program will work and explained why subscribers might want to demand a reboot. Read more » about Is Your ISP Becoming A Copyright Cop? The Graduated Response Program and "Voluntary" Efforts to Police Online Infringement
