Copyright Issues and Implications of Emerging Virtual Reality Technologies
Lauren E. Beausoleil Virtual reality (“VR”) technologies allow users to experience three-dimensional, multi-sensory environments (“virtual worlds”). This new and rapidly-developing technological platform is promising, but does not come without legal challenges. Issues regarding copyrights for virtual worlds and creations within those worlds can be expected. This article involves an exploration into potential application of copyright law to virtual reality technologies, focusing on what might be protected by copyright, potential infringement challenges, and how enforcement of these copyrights might play out for both users and developers. Read Full Text Here
Intellectual Property Indemnity Clauses
Thomas Hemnes, M.S. The practices associated with intellectual property indemnity can be traced in part to Article 2 of the Uniform Commercial Code. At the dawn of the computer age, practitioners searched for legal models that they could use for transactions in intangible rights and products such as computer software. Although computer software did not fit easily into the “sale of goods” paradigm, analogies to the familiar rules governing sales of goods were inevitable. Lurking in the lower reaches of Article 2 of the UCC, one finds an implied warranty of non-infringement in Section 2-312(2): Unless otherwise agreed, a seller...
The Edge of Ethics in iParadigms
Michael G. Bennett In an attempt to stem a perceived rise in student plagiarism, educational institutions are increasingly turning to anti-plagiarism technologies. The use of these technological means to police student writings has been controversial, socially, politically, and legally. This article discusses the outcome of A.V. et al. v. iParadigms, to date the most important opinion on the legality of such technology’s use. The author examines the case in detail and presents arguments against the technology’s use, on the grounds that such use undermines educational policy by allowing the ethics of teachers to become a by-product of available technological means and...
P2P File-Sharing: What the Supreme Court Has an Opportunity to Consider
Margo E. K. Reder When the United States Supreme Court hears Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, Inc. v. Grokster, Ltd. (04-480) on March 29th, it has an opportunity to consider for the first time, the rights, responsibilities and liabilities of p2p network creators and their users, the content industry, and ISPs. Over 25 of the world’s largest entertainment conglomerates joined together in petitioning the Supreme Court for a grant of certiorari. Petitioners characterize this case as “one of the most important copyright cases ever to reach this Court. Resolution of the question presented here will largely determine the value, indeed the very significance, of copyright...
Does Intermediate Copying of Computer Software for the Purpose of Reverse Engineering a Non-Infringing Product Infringe the Copyright in the Software?
Robert V. Donahoe Software developers have successfully applied the affirmative defense of fair use to defeat claims that this intermediate copying violated the owner’s copyright in the computer programmer. Courts have found the equitable nature of the fair use defense useful in analyzing claims of computer program copyright infringement because the functional elements are unintelligible unless the object code is decompiled. In Sony v. Connectix, 203 F.3d 596 (9th Cir. 2000), the Ninth Circuit applied the fair use doctrine to further expand the ability of computer software developers to legally make intermediate copies of computer software for the purpose of...
Not Quite Cryptus Horribilis: 1997’s Developments in the Encryption Debate Have Pushed Sides Further Apart
Adam White Scoville In late 1997, at least six bills or amendments on the use of encryption were either introduced or circulated in draft form. Seven congressional committees considered encryption legislation. A clear trend is emerging from these developments. Law enforcement and national security interests favoring restrictions on encryption are quickly growing further apart from civil liberties groups and computer and telecommunications industry associations favoring liberalization of encryption rules. The rifts have grown wide enough to induce at least one interested group to predict that no satisfactory compromise could imminently be possible and to cease advocating the passage of encryption...
Misunderstanding RAM: Digital Embodiments and Copyright
Kristen J. Mathews In the opinion of the United States federal courts, digital software embodied in a computer’s Random Access Memory (RAM) is sufficiently fixed to constitute a “reproduction” under the Copyright Act. As a reproduction, the creation of the RAM embodiment, or the loading of software into RAM, is a potential copyright infringement. However, a close reading of the Act and its legislative history reveals that a digital work embodied in RAM should not be considered a reproduction of the work. Furthermore, including digital works embodied in RAM as reproductions is a poor fit in light of the policy...
Intelligent Agents and Copyright: Internet Technology Outpaces the Law … Again
Michael B. Sapherstein Intelligent agents, sophisticated computer programs that act on behalf of their users and adjust themselves to users’ behaviors and preferences, may answer the prayers of people who are increasingly overwhelmed by the sheer volume of information available to them on the Internet. Instead of spending frustrating hours “surfing the ‘Net” in search of elusive information, users may soon employ intelligent software agents that gather information efficiently and without need for further human assistance, thereby freeing the user to spend time on more productive, or more leisurely, activities. Still in its infancy, agent software “launches” itself into a...