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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Workshop on Commons Theory for Young Scholars
By Stefan Bechtold • November 22, 2006 at 2:28 pm
In May 2007, the Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods, in collaboration with Stanford's Center for Internet and Society, will hold a "Workshop on Commons Theory for Young Scholars". Larry Lessig and Tim Wu will provide feedback to presentations by young scholars (doctoral students, post-docs and assistant professors). Read more » about Workshop on Commons Theory for Young Scholars
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Victory in Anti-Circumvention Proceedings
By Jennifer Granick • November 22, 2006 at 1:16 pm
Today, the Copyright Office issued new rules allowing people to circumvent technological protection measures on their cell phones in order to be able to switch carriers and use the phone on a different network.
Background: Read more » about Victory in Anti-Circumvention Proceedings
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Lessig to Argue Kahle Case
By Lauren Gelman • November 7, 2006 at 5:05 pm
Lessig will argue at the Appeal in Kahle v. Ashcroft at 9AM November 13, 2006. A post by the Plaintiff Brewster Kahle. Read more » about Lessig to Argue Kahle Case
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Golan v. Gonzales Briefed And Argued In Tenth Circuit
By Anthony Falzone • September 4, 2006 at 9:52 pm
Golan v. Gonzales has been briefed and argued in the Tenth Circuit, and we are awaiting a decision. Government's brief is here. Read more » about Golan v. Gonzales Briefed And Argued In Tenth Circuit
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Golan v. Holder - Peter Decherney's Supreme Court Amicus Brief in support of Golan
Publication Date:June 20, 2011Publication Type:Litigation Brief -
Golan v. Holder - The Conductors Guild and The Music Library Association's Supreme Court Amicus Brief in support of Golan
Publication Date:June 20, 2011Publication Type:Litigation Brief -
Golan v. Holder - Eagle Forum Education & Legal Defense Fund's Supreme Court Amicus Brief in support of Golan
Publication Date:June 17, 2011Publication Type:Litigation Brief -
Golan v. Holder - H. Tomas Gomez-Arostegui and Tyler T. Ochoa Supreme Court Amicus Brief in support of Golan
Publication Date:June 17, 2011Publication Type:Litigation Brief
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Associated Press v. Meltwater
Meltwater News ("Meltwater") is a search engine and research tool that allows users to search for and obtain information about news items that have been made publicly available on the Internet. Read more » about Associated Press v. Meltwater
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Cariou v. Prince
We filed an amicus brief in the Second Circuit on behalf of The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts urging the appeals court to reverse a district court decision that ignored established fair use principles that many artists rely upon in creating their work. Read more » about Cariou v. Prince
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Golan v. Holder
The FUP filed this suit on behalf of a University of Denver conductor and others, challenging Congress’s restoration of copyright to works that had entered the public domain. Read more » about Golan v. Holder
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Sony v. Tenenbaum
We filed an amicus brief on behalf of the Electronic Frontier Foundation asking the First Circuit to affirm the district court’s reduced damages award in Sony v. Tenenbaum, a file-sharing case in which a jury originally ordered a college student to pay $675,000 for infringing copyright in 30 songs. Read more » about Sony v. Tenenbaum
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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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Copyright in the Digital Age - 16th Annual Stanford Technology Law Review Symposium (Past Event)
February 22, 2013Stanford Law SchoolFor more information please visit STLR's website. Read more » about Copyright in the Digital Age - 16th Annual Stanford Technology Law Review Symposium
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Memorial for Aaron Swartz in SF (Past Event)
January 24, 2013Internet Archive
Please join us as we gather to remember Aaron Swartz on the evening of Thursday, January 24th.Reception at 7:00pm - Memorial at 8:00pmat the Internet Archive300 Funston Avenue, San Francisco 94118 -
Four Factors In Search Of a Question: Anchoring Fair Use to Free Expression and Social Value (Past Event)
January 16, 2013Covington & Burling LLPFour Factors In Search Of a Question: Anchoring Fair Use to Free Expression and Social Value Read more » about Four Factors In Search Of a Question: Anchoring Fair Use to Free Expression and Social Value
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CIS Speaker Series - Stopping SOPA: Copyright, Free Speech, and Popular Constitutionalism (Past Event)
November 15, 2012Stanford Law SchoolDuring late 2011 and January 2012, millions of people protested the passage of the controversial copyright bill the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in Congress. The protests culminated in the largest online protest in the history of the Internet, with web giant Wikipedia and thousands of other websites going black in a day of self-censorship. In a few short months, the protesters achieved something remarkable: they defeated money, politicians, Hollywood, and the copyright lobby, all in the name of a “free and open Internet.” This talk with Professor Edward Lee, explains these grassroots movements as a form of popular constitutionalism. Courts didn't define speech rights. People did. And, in the end, it was the people's view of free speech that carried the day. Read more » about CIS Speaker Series - Stopping SOPA: Copyright, Free Speech, and Popular Constitutionalism
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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)