course description

     This seminar addresses selected aspects of copyright law that are unique to music and discusses recent developments concerning the recording industry's battles against digital piracy.  The course provides a historical overview of copyright law as it relates to the music industry and examines critically recent developments concerning the Internet and new communications technologies.

     The course also evaluates the legal and technological measures used to protect copyrights.  Among the issues addressed are the Audio Home Recording Act (AHRA), the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), and the MP3.com, Napster, Grokster, and other peer-to-peer file-sharing cases. The course concludes by exploring the implications of the recent copyright wars for consumers, technology developers, and the content industries. 

     This seminar requires a paper and may satisfy the upper-level writing requirement (ULWR).