Owning Property. Section 4. Intangible Property

4. Intangible Property [November]

Meaning, intellectual property, information, but also dignitary rights & reputation, privacy.

Case Studies

  • Copyright & Electronic Goods
  • Reputation & Privacy (Information About Oneself)

Key Concepts

  • Natural Property Versus Artificial Property (John Taylor, 1790s)
  • Public Goods
  • Free Riders
  • Copyright
  • Patent
  • Dignitary Rights
  • Public Domain
  • Rent-Seeking
  • REFRESH: Excludability
READINGS — Introduction: Intangible Property (11/6)
  • Banner Chapters 2 & 14 (see PDF below)
  • Boyle Chapter 1 (see PDF below)
  • optional: Drahos Chapter 8 (see PDF below)
READINGS — Case Study 5 – Copyright & Electronic Property (Th 11/8 & Th 11/15) 
  • Perzanowski & Schmidt, The End of Ownership, Chapter 1 (see PDF below)
  • Capitol Records v. ReDigi, 934 F.Supp.2d 640 (SDNY 2013) amicus brief (see below)opinion (use westlaw or lexis)
  • UMG Records v. Augusto, 628 F.3d 1175 (9th Cir. 2011) (use westlaw or lexis to read opinion)
  • OPTIONAL: DMCA, Triennial Exemption, Final Rule, 2018
  • Optional: Section 1201 background information
  • Right to Repair movement — learn about it

READINGS — Case Study 6 – Reputation & Personal Data (11/27 & 11/29)

  • Owned by Joshua Fairfield — Introduction (please read) and Chapters 2, 4, 5 (read or skim) (see PDF below)
  • US v. Jones, 565 US 400 (2012) – Supreme Court case about GPS location tracking. Be sure to read the majority opinion as well as  concurring opinion by Sotomayor discussing the third party doctrine. (Use WestLaw or Lexis to find opinion)
    • OPTIONAL: to understand more about the third party (business records) doctrine: Richard M. Thompson (Congressional Research Service), The Fourth Amendment Third-Party Doctrine, 2014
    • OPTIONAL: Orin Kerr, “The Case for the Third Party Doctrine”, 107 Mich. L. Rev. 561 (2009)
    • OPTIONAL: Monu Bedi, “Facebook and Interpersonal Privacy: Why the Third Party Doctrine Should Not Apply”, 54 Boston College L.Rev. 1 (2013)
    • OPTIONAL (for historical context): Olmstead v. United States, 277 US 438 (1928)
    • OPTIONAL: Katz v. US, 389 US 347 (1967) – Establishing the modern “reasonable expectation of privacy” test
  • READ EITHER: