This is a survey course on the legal regime(s) governing the Internet. In a short period of time, the Internet has assumed a prominent place in the global economy, facilitating hundreds of billions of dollars worth of business-to-business and business-to-consumer transactions annually. At the same time, the Internet has become and important means of person- to-person and intra-organizational communication. This course will focus on many of the important legal questions that have arisen as a consequence of the rapid expansion of Internet use. Topics to be covered will include jurisdiction over, and choice of law in, the electronic marketplace; cybersquatting and protection of domain names; regulation of indecent or pornographic content; protection of personal information online; electronic contracting and electronic signatures; digital piracy and protection of intellectual property on the Internet, including the Napster case and the debate about open-source software; and electronic-payment systems. Whenever possible, we will focus on international and comparative legal persepctives on the problems posed by Internet regulation.

This is a survey course on the legal regime(s) governing the Internet. In a short period of time, the Internet has assumed a prominent place in the global economy, facilitating hundreds of billions of dollars worth of business-to-business and business-to-consumer transactions annually. At the same time, the Internet has become and important means of person- to-person and intra-organizational communication. This course will focus on many of the important legal questions that have arisen as a consequence of the rapid expansion of Internet use. Topics to be covered will include jurisdiction over, and choice of law in, the electronic marketplace; cybersquatting and protection of domain names; regulation of indecent or pornographic content; protection of personal information online; electronic contracting and electronic signatures; digital piracy and protection of intellectual property on the Internet, including the Napster case and the debate about open-source software; and electronic-payment systems. Whenever possible, we will focus on international and comparative legal persepctives on the problems posed by Internet regulation.