Course Outline

Module 1 - CyberLaw

• Introduction
• History of the Internet
• History of the World Wide Web
• How the Internet Works
• Internet Addresses
• The Language of the Internet
• Accessing a Web Site
• Transmitting Information
• Netiquette
• Regulation of Cyberspace
• Business and Individual Users
• Information Security
• Business Uses of Internet Technology
• Globalization
• Law and Cyberspace

Module 2 - Jurisdiction

• What is jurisdiction?
• Jurisdiction and the “home court advantage”
• Traditional principles of jurisdiction
• State long-arm statutes and personal jurisdiction over a non-resident defendant
• Application of the Due Process Clause over a non-resident defendant
• Motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction
• Judicial History of Personal Jurisdiction
• Constitutional framework for due process under the International Shoe Company case
• Non-resident defendant must “purposely avail itself of the benefits of the state’s economic market” to establish “minimum contacts”
• Personal Jurisdiction in Cyberspace
• Non-active Web site v. inter-active Web site
• Forum selection and choice of law clause
  International Jurisdiction in Cyberspace
• Who governs the online world?
• Principles of national enforcement

Module 3 - Trademarks

• What is a trademark?
• What is a domain name?
• Where are trademarks and domain names filed?
• What is the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act?
• What is the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy?
• How are trademarks classified?
• What is a service mark?
• What is a trade dress?
• Trademarks as Distinctive Identifiers of the Product or Service
• Trademarks as inherently distinctive
• Trademarks that have acquired a secondary meaning
• Principal Register and the Supplemental Register in the PTO
• Trademarks in Cyberspace: Infringement and Dilution
• What is trademark infringement?
• What is trademark dilution?
• How does a trademark become “famous”?
• What is trademark dilution by blurring?
• What is trademark dilution by tarnishment?
• Internet Technology and Trademark Infringement
• What is “deeplinking”?

Module 4 - Copyrights

• Overview of copyright law
• The subject matter of a copyright
• The objective of an e-business in relation to copyright law
• The legal strategy to accomplish that objective
• Copyright Act of 1976
• Review of the Copyright Act
• Criteria for copyright protection of a Web page
• Copyright as a creative work “fixed” under the Copyright Act
• Duration of copyrights — Eldred v. Ashcroft
• Statutory Rights of a Copyright Owner
• Right to reproduce the work
• Right to sell, rent, lease or otherwise distribute copies
• Right to prepare derivative works
• Right to perform and display publicly the copyright work
• Theories of Liability for Copyright Infringement
• Direct infringement
• Contributory infringement
• Vicarious infringement
• Limitations on Copyright Owner’s Exclusive Rights
• Fair use doctrine
• First sale doctrine
• Public domain

Module 5 - Business Methods Patents

• Legal Framework of Patents
• United States Constitution
• Congressional powers
• Patent
• American Inventor’s Protection Act
• Agency enforcement of patent laws
• Courts
• Patent Law as It Relates to Business Practices
• Patentable subject matter
• Invention or discovery
• Types of patents
• What claims are covered?
• First-to-file v. first-to-invent systems
• The Patentability of Software and Business Methods Patents
• Software patents
• Business methods patents
• What may be done with the patent?
• Patent commercialization and knowledge transfer strategies
• Shop rights and ownership of patents
• Enforcing Patent Rights: Plaintiff’s Case
• Literal infringement
• Doctrine of equivalents

Module 6 - Online Contracting and Licensing Agreements

• Online Contracting
• History and development
• Terms of e-commerce
• E-commerce business models
• Benefits to consumers
• Why is online contracting law important?
• Fundamental Principles and Requirements of Contract Law
• Mutual assent
• Consideration
• Capacity
• Legality
• Form
• Warranties, Disclaimers, and Terms of Use
• Express and implied warranties
• Disclaimers
• Disputing the terms of use — Comb v. PayPal, Inc.
• The Developing Uniform E-Commerce Law: UCITA and UETA
• History and development
• UCITA: a controversial measure
• UCITA: key provisions
• UETA
• Electronic Signatures
• E-sign
• The relationship between e-sign and the UETA

Module 7 - Sales Tax in E-Commerce

• What is tax nexus?
• State sales and use tax
• Internet Tax Freedom Act of 1998
• Advisory Commission on Electronic Commerce
• Limitations on a state’s taxing authority under the Due Process and the Commerce Clauses of the United States Constitution
• Taxation in Cyberspace
• What is a sales tax?
• What is a use tax?
• “Grandfather Clause” under the Internet Tax Freedom Act
• Sales tax and the Dormant Commerce Clause
• Streamlined Sales Tax Project
• State Tax Jurisdiction under the United States Constitution
• What is a “substantial tax nexus”?
• What is a mail-order transaction?
• What is the Commerce Clause test for state tax purposes?
• What constitutes state tax jurisdiction?
• Physical Presence “Nexus” Test for E-Commerce Tax Purposes
• Renting an office or a warehouse in the taxing state
• Nexus by attribution — trade shows where employees or agents take orders from customers in the taxing state
• Web merchant’s server
• Maintaining inventory in a taxing state — taxation of digital products
• Software licensing by an out-of-state licensor to licensee in a state with a sales tax
• Web merchant’s agent in the foreign state
• Market maintenance theory
• Internet Tax Freedom Act of 1998
• Purpose of the act
• Advisory Commission on Electronic Commerce
• International Internet Taxation
• Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development Initiatives Committee on Fiscal Affairs Report, 1998
• Neutrality
• Efficiency
• Effectiveness and fairness
• Flexibility
• Certainty and simplicity
• The “permanent establishment” problem
• OECD guidelines on defining “permanent establishment”
• National initiatives defining “permanent establishment”
• Germany
• India
• United Kingdom
• European Union Value Added Tax (VAT) on Internet sales

Module 8 - Online Security Offerings

• Raising Capital: Online Securities Offerings
• What is a security?
• The securities laws
• Exemptions from securities laws registration requirements
• The process of conducting a securities offering
• Online Transactions in Securities
• International Aspects of Online Securities Offerings
• Regulation of the international movement of capital
• International cooperation and securities law enforcement
• International securities fraud
• Investments in offshore securities and the Internet: Regulation S
• International Internet securities offerings and “blue sky” laws

Module 9 - Privacy

• What Is the Right to Privacy?
• Constitutional sources
• Federal
• State
• Common Law Torts for Invasion of Privacy
• Major Federal Laws that Regulate Privacy in Cyberspace
• Bulk E-Mail Solicitations (“Spamming”)
• Privacy in the Workplace
• Global Issues of Privacy in Cyberspace
• EU Directive on Privacy Protection
• The US-EU Safe Harbor Agreement
• Other national efforts at regulating Internet data privacy
• Australia
• Canada
• Russia

Module 10 - Obscenity

• First Amendment — Freedom of Speech, Press and Expression
• The Miller Test for Obscenity
• Proving a case of obscenity
• Government Regulation of Cyberporn
• Communications Decency Act (CDA) of 1996
• Allowable defenses
• The CDA attacked
• Child Pornography
• Federal regulation
• Child Pornography Prevention Act (CPPA), 1996
• Child Online Protection Act (COPA), 1998
• Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA), 2000
• Protection of Children from Sexual Predators Act, 1998
• State regulation — usually reflects the federal laws.
• Consenting adults defense
• Employees and Work Place Access to Adult Web Sites
• Employer’s monitoring employees’ use of company-owned computers
• Right of public employees to access adult Web sites
• International Regulation of Obscenity in Cyberspace
• Act of state doctrine and the regulation of obscene transmissions
• Obscenity as a global concept
• Multilateral treaties regulating obscenity
• U.S. views on the importation and exportation of cyberporn
• Other international efforts to regulate obscenity
• China
• Singapore
• United Kingdom

Module 11 - Defamation

• The Common Law Tort of Defamation — Slander and Libel
• Applicability to cyberspace
• Elements of proof required for defamation
• Defenses to defamation
• Liability of Service Providers for Defamation
• Protection for “Good Samaritan” blocking and screening of offensive material
• The applicability of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996 to online service
• Current status of Section 230
• International Regulation of Online Defamation
• International efforts to regulate cyber-defamation
• United Kingdom
• Australia
• ISPs and international acts of defamation
• Defamation and the international choice of law

Module 12 - Internet and Information Security

• The Challenges of Internet and Information Security
• The Goals of Internet and Information Security
• Confidentiality, authenticity and integrity of each communication
• Methods and Legal Challenges for Ensuring Enterprise and Communications Security
• Firewalls
• Transactional security systems
• Password systems
• Certificate authorities (CAs) and digital certificates (DCs)
• Biometrics
• Security tokens/digipasses
• Smart Cards
• Holography
• Processor serial numbers
• Public Key Infrastructure (PKI)
• Cryptography: encryption/decryption — Discussion of First, Fourth and Fifth Amendment challenges to this security method.
• Steganography
  International Aspects of Internet and Information Security
• Global network and information security Council framework on attacks against information systems
• International aspects of encryption and cryptography systems
• Cryptography and Liberty Survey
• OECD guidelines
• Wassenaar Arrangement
• Domestic efforts at regulating encryption
  United Kingdom
  China
  Japan

Module 13 - Internet and Computer Crime

• The Nature of Computer Crime
• What are computer, and Internet crimes?
• The impact on law enforcement
• The elements of a crime
• What are the e-commerce risks?
• The Role of Computers in Crime: Crimes and Perpetrators
• How are computers used in the commission of crimes?
• As a target of crime
• As a tool in crime
• As incidental to crime
• What crimes are being committed in today’s networked environment?
• Crimes against persons or businesses
• Crimes against real and/or intangible property
• Crimes against government or its functions
• Forensics: Gathering and Preserving Evidence
• International Aspects of Cybercrime
• Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime
• Criminalization of illegal acts
• Mutual assistance and facilitation of cybercrime investigations
• European Commission’s Communication on Computer Related Crime
• EU Forum on Cybercrime
• Other international cybercrime initiatives

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