On April 22nd, we will be talking about issues relating to legal issues on the Internet. In preparation for this lecture, students read and summarize in writing (and be prepared to discuss) several court cases that have been decided in recent years, and one of many domain name dispute cases arbitrated by the WIPO (world intellectual property organization).

1. Read the cases you have been assigned. Your name is listed after the cases to which you have been assigned. You may of course read additional articles or cases if you have time. Check the class readings page for April 22nd for more.
   1. A&M Records, Inc. v. Napster, Inc. (Carole)

   2. Sony Corporation v. Universal Studios -- be sure to read both the syllabus (summary) and the majority opinion. The minority opinion is optional. (Rebecca).

   3. Stratton Oakmont v. Prodigy (Eleonora)

   4. Panavision v. Dennis Toeppen . (Carole)

   5. Feist v. Rural Telephone Service (Rebecca)

   6. EBAY, Inc. v. Bidder's Edge, Inc. (Eleonora)

2. Write a short summary, including as best you can the basic legal question being asked, the essential factual points, and the court's decision. These cases are written in legal language that you may find hard to decipher. Please do the best you can at writing up a summary anyway.

3. Read at least one Domain Name arbitration decision from the WIPO Domain Name Dispute Resolution Service website. You may read any case that has been decided; if you're not sure where to begin, two cases of interest are the brucespringsteen.com case, listed as case number D2000-1532, and the yahooasian.com case (D2001-0051). To browse through the cases by case number, begin from http://arbiter.wipo.int/domains/cases/all.html.

4. Write a short summary of the domain name case you chose, explaining as best you can the basic points of contention (what domain name was registered; by whom; who was complaining; what were the grounds for the complaint; what was decided and why).

5. Please send both summaries to the class mailing list as usual.

6. Be prepared to discuss your assigned case and other readings in class on Monday, April 22nd.