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.
Copyright and Fair Use
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.
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Non-Residential Fellow
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Brett Frischmann
Affiliate ScholarBrett Frischmann’s expertise is in intellectual property and internet law. After clerking for the Honorable Fred I. Parker of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and practicing at Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering in Washington, DC, he joined the Loyola University Chicago law faculty in 2002. He has held visiting appointments at Cornell and Fordham. Read more » about Brett Frischmann
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Lauren Gelman
Non-Residential FellowLauren is an experienced attorney, frequent speaker and start-up advisor who has worked in the field of Internet law and policy since 1995. She is the founder of BlurryEdge Strategies, a legal and strategy consulting firm located in San Francisco that advises technology companies and investors on cutting-edge legal issues. Lauren previously led the Center for Internet and Society at Stanford Law School and taught at the Law School and the Department of Engineering. Read more » about Lauren Gelman
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Jennifer Granick
Director of Civil LibertiesJennifer Granick is the Director of Civil Liberties at the Stanford Center for Internet and Society. Jennifer returns to Stanford after stints as General Counsel of entertainment company Worldstar Hip Hop and as counsel with the internet boutique firm of Zwillgen PLLC. Before that, she was the Civil Liberties Director at the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Jennifer practices, speaks and writes about computer crime and security, electronic surveillance, consumer privacy, data protection, copyright, trademark and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Read more » about Jennifer Granick
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White House in Favor of Phone Unlocking! Now What?
By Jennifer Granick • March 5, 2013 at 3:15 pm
Yesterday, the White House declared "It's Time to Legalize Cell Phone Unlocking". The call was in immediate response to a petition with over 114,000 signatures on it, decrying the Librarian of Congress' decision last October to let lapse an exemption ensuring people who unlocked their phones would not be in violation of the anti-circumvention provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 (DMCA), Read more » about White House in Favor of Phone Unlocking! Now What?
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Call For Papers: Robotics and the Law Conference at Stanford Law School
By Ryan Calo • November 21, 2012 at 1:42 pm
The program committee of We Robot: Getting Down To Business invites submissions from legal scholars and roboticists to the second annual conference on robotics and the law, scheduled to take place April 8-9, 2013 at Stanford Law School. Read more » about Call For Papers: Robotics and the Law Conference at Stanford Law School
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Who owns a link? Google vs. European publishers...
By Christopher Sprigman • November 5, 2012 at 5:00 pm
We have a new post up on the Freakonomics blog about the dispute between Google and a group of European newspapers. Read more » about Who owns a link? Google vs. European publishers...
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Fair Use Prospers on Campus
By Daniel Nazer • October 19, 2012 at 2:42 pm
Last week’s decision in Authors Guild v. HathiTrust – upholding the Mass Digitization Project (MPD) – was a big victory for fair use. The MDP is a project where university libraries and Google have together digitized over 10 million books to allow for full-text searches, preservation, and access for people with print disabilities. When the Authors Guild sued for copyright infringement, HathiTrust defended the suit by arguing that the MDP is fair use.
Judge Baer upheld the MDP. His decision recognizes that the project is a massive public good: it is a tool for scholarship, prevents the loss of our cultural heritage, and provides unparalleled access for the visually impaired. Significantly, he found that these educational purposes are “transformational” in a way that supports fair use. Read more » about Fair Use Prospers on Campus
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Golan v. Holder - Plaintiffs' Opposition to Government's Motion for Summary Judgment
Author(s):Colette VogeleLawrence LessigPublication Date:November 4, 2004Publication Type:Litigation Brief -
Golan v. Holder - Government's Answer to the Second Amended Complaint
Publication Date:October 7, 2004Publication Type:Litigation Brief -
Golan v. Holder - Plaintiffs' Opposition to Defendant's Objection to the Ruling on Plaintiffs' 56(f) Motion
Author(s):Colette VogeleLawrence LessigPublication Date:September 16, 2004Publication Type:Litigation Brief -
Kahle v. Gonzales - Plaintiffs' Opposition to Government's Motion to Dismiss
Author(s):Christopher SprigmanJennifer GranickLawrence LessigPublication Date:September 7, 2004Publication Type:Litigation BriefDistrict Court proceeding. Read more » about Kahle v. Gonzales - Plaintiffs' Opposition to Government's Motion to Dismiss
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Murphy v. Millennium Radio Group, LLC, Craig Carton and Ray Rossi
We filed an amicus brief in the Third Circuit on behalf of Brave New Films urging affirmance of the district court’s finding of fair use and rejection of plaintiff’s DMCA claims. Read more » about Murphy v. Millennium Radio Group, LLC, Craig Carton and Ray Rossi
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Bouchat v. Baltimore Ravens and NFL, et al.
We filed an amicus brief in the Fourth Circuit in support of the Baltimore Ravens and the NFL urging the Fourth Circuit to grant rehearing or rehearing en banc, after a divided panel ruled that the Raven’s incidental use of a copyrighted logo in historical game films was not a fair use. Read more » about Bouchat v. Baltimore Ravens and NFL, et al.
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Aguiar v. Webb
We defended a documentary filmmaker who was sued for copyright infringement for clips appearing in his documentary about Count Dante, an enigmatic, Chicago martial arts legend. Read more » about Aguiar v. Webb
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Vargas v. BT
We successfully defended Grammy-nominated American music producer, composer, and songwriter, Brain Transeau’s (better known by his stage name, BT), against spurious copyright infringement claims. Read more » about Vargas v. BT
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Knockoff handbags, a big push to the fashion industry?
Date published:September 13, 2012 -
Must You Pay to Use Photos of Public Domain Artworks? No, Says a Legal Expert
Date published:September 12, 2012 -
Apple vs. Samsung: Is Copying Theft or Innovation?
Date published:September 4, 2012 -
Apple vs. Samsung
Date published:August 29, 2012Chris Sprigman, professor of law at the University of Virginia, co-author of The Knockoff Economy: How Imitation Sparks Innovation,and CIS Affiliate Scholar discusses what Apple's latest victory against Samsung means for technological innovation in the future. Read more » about Apple vs. Samsung
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2/10: CIS Speaker Series - Andrew McLaughlin: How To Get A Job in Tech Policy (Past Event)
February 10, 2011Stanford Law SchoolAndrew is a lawyer (Harvard '94) who has worked as Deputy Chief Technology Officer of the U.S. in the Obama White House, Director of Global Public Policy at Google, Vice President and Chief Policy Officer at ICANN, Senior Fellow at the Berkman Center, and as a member of the litigation team that successfully challenged the Communications Decency Act before the Supreme Court in 1997.Please RSVP for this free event. Read more » about 2/10: CIS Speaker Series - Andrew McLaughlin: How To Get A Job in Tech Policy
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5/19: EFF Geek Reading with Cory Doctorow (Past Event)
May 19, 2010San FranciscoJoin EFF for a fundraising event featuring award-winning writer Cory Doctorow. Cory will be reading from his newly released novel, For the Win. This is his first visit to the Bay Area in over a year, so don't miss your opportunity to hear him read from his ground-breaking new work. Read more » about 5/19: EFF Geek Reading with Cory Doctorow
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5/6: Legal Frontiers in Digital Media (Past Event)
May 6, 2010Stanford Law SchoolFor more information and to register for this event please visit: http://mlrc-digitallaw.stanford.edu/
A joint conference of:
• Media Law Resource Center
• Stanford Law School Center for Internet & Society
• John S. Knight Journalism Fellowships at StanfordThis intensive two-day event 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 5/6: Legal Frontiers in Digital Media
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2/25: Wireside Chat with Lawrence Lessig (featuring Eclectic Method) (Past Event)
February 25, 2010Stanford Law SchoolThe Open Video Alliance is teaming up with the Harvard Berkman Center to deliver a global webcast of a talk by Lawrence Lessig. It's happening February 25th from 6:00 to 7:30 EST, live from Cambridge, MA. Along with the Cambridge event, OVA is hosting live webcast screenings around the world with special guests. The event hosted by the Stanford Fair Use Project will feature a live VJ mashup with Eclectic Method. Read more » about 2/25: Wireside Chat with Lawrence Lessig (featuring Eclectic Method)
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First Amendment Architecture - STLR Symposium 2012 - First Amendment Challenges in the Digital Age (Video)
February 29, 2012
STLR Symposium 2012 - Co-Hosted by the Center for Internet and Society
February 10, 2012 -
Taking Forgetting Seriously - 2012 STLR Symposium - First Amendment Challenges in the Digital (Video)
February 28, 2012
STLR Symposium 2012 - Co-Hosted by the Center for Internet and Society Read more » about Taking Forgetting Seriously - 2012 STLR Symposium - First Amendment Challenges in the Digital (Video)
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First Amendment Architecture - STLR Symposium 2012 - First Amendment Challenges in the Digital Age (Audio)
February 28, 2012
STLR Symposium 2012 - Co-Hosted by the Center for Internet and Society
February 10, 2012 -
Taking Forgetting Seriously - 2012 STLR Symposium - First Amendment Challenges in the Digital Age (Audio)
February 28, 2012
STLR Symposium 2012 - Co-Hosted by the Center for Internet and Society Read more » about Taking Forgetting Seriously - 2012 STLR Symposium - First Amendment Challenges in the Digital Age (Audio)