Internet Giants: The Law and Economics of Media Platforms

Description

This seven-week course will investigate the relationship between law and technology, with a strong emphasis on US law and some comparisons to laws from other countries, particularly Europe. Technological advancement is an important source of economic growth, but it also raises broader questions about the human condition, such as how culture evolves and who controls that evolution. Technology also matters in a plethora of other ways, as it frequently establishes the framework within which governments interact with their citizens, both in terms of allowing and blocking speech, as well as defining precisely what the boundaries are between private life and the government. And laws governing areas as diverse as copyright, antitrust, patents, privacy, free speech, and network regulation have a powerful influence on technology.

Syllabus :

1. Introduction to the Course

• Trailer
• Course Overview

 

2. Microsoft: The Desktop v. The Internet

• Very Very Fast 0s and 1s
• The 1956 AT&T Settlement
• The Path to the CPU
• Building BASIC
• Selling Software?
• The Rise of Microsoft and the Personal Computer Era
• The 1994 Licensing Case: Microsoft's Monopoly
• The 1994 Licensing Case: Anticompetitive Licenses
• The 1994 Licensing Case: Anticompetitive Licenses: Analytics
• The Rise of the Internet and Netscape Part One
• The Rise of the Internet and Netscape Part Two
• The U.S. Sues Microsoft (Again) Part One
• The U.S. Sues Microsoft (Again) Part Two
• Resolution in the U.S.
• Remedies: How Do You Solve a Problem Like Microsoft?
• Windows Media Player in Europe
• Europe Looks at Internet Explorer
• Wrap Up: What Have We Learned?

 

3. Google Emerges (and the World Responds)

• Overview
• The State of the Internet Circa 2000
• A Brief Tour of the Federal Trade Commission
• Regulating Search Engines 1.0 Part One
• Regulating Search Engines 1.0 Part Two
• Inventing Google? Part One
• Inventing Google? Part Two
• Building Google
• Monetizing Google
• The PageRank Algorithm Part One
• The PageRank Algorithm Part Two
• Two-Sided Markets Part One
• Two-Sided Markets Part Two
• Auctions and Monopoly Power
• Google Evolves
• Competition and Google
• The European Competition Investigation of Google
• The FTC and Google Part One
• The FTC and Google Part Two
• Back to Europe
• Shopping on Google
• Google Shopping: A New Data Model
• 15 April 2015: The EU Statement of Objections
• 15 April 2015: Google's Response
• Wrap Up: What Have We Learned?
• Video Chat, Friday, 31 July 2015

 

4. Smartphones

• Module Overview
• Controlling the Spectrum
• Finding More Spectrum
• The Smartphone Platform Shifts
• Standard Setting Externalities Part One
• Standard Setting Externalities Part Two
• Winner-Take-All Markets I Part One
• Winner-Take-All Markets I Part Two
• Winner-Take-All Markets II
• Patent Royalty Stacking
• Defining Standards
• Standard Essential Patents
• SSOs and Market Power
• Standard Setting v. Cartelization
• The Other FTC Action against Google Part One
• The Other FTC Action against Google Part Two
• The IEEE Updates its Patent Policy
• The iOS Platform
• Apple v Samsung
• The Android Platform
• The EU Investigation of Android
• Wrap Up: What Have We Learned?

 

5. Nondiscrimination and Neutrality

• Module Overview
• The Post Office: A National Communications System
• The Post Office: Cross-Subsidization and Cream Skimming
• The Postal Act of 1845 Part One
• The Postal Act of 1845 Part Two
• The Commerce Act of 1887
• Classifying Cable ISPs
• Cable ISP Classification in the Supreme Court
• What Counts as an Offer?
• Delivering Pizza
• An Open Internet?
• What Can You Do with Your Internet Connection?
• Poster Child No. 2
• Why Did Comcast Do This?
• Fast Forward: 2010-2014 Part One
• Fast Forward: 2010-2014 Part Two
• Fast Forward: 2010-2014 Part Three
• 2015 FCC Open Internet Order Part One
• 2015 FCC Open Internet Order Part Two
• Framing Net Neutrality Part One
• Framing Net Neutrality Part Two
• Wrap Up: What Have We Learned?

 

6. The Day the Music Died?

• Module Overview
• The Great Unlocking (and Relocking?) Part One
• The Great Unlocking (and Relocking?) Part Two
• Making Music Circa 1871
• A Tech Revolution in Music
• What is a Copy?
• Control at a Distance
• A Little Radio History
• Performing Music on the Radio
• The Blanket License
• The Next Big Music Platform (in 1990): Digital Audio Tape
• The MP3 Player Arrives (and it isn't an iPod)
• The Internet: A Perfect Copying and Distribution Machine?
• The Internet Routes Around: Grokster
• Locking the Music: The DMCA and Sony BMG DRM
• The Day the (Physical) Music Died
• DRM and iTunes: Steve Jobs on Music Part One
• DRM and iTunes: Steve Jobs on Music Part Two
• Our Subscription Future? Part One
• Our Subscription Future? Part Two
• Wrap Up: What Have We Learned?

 

7. Video: Listening and Watching

• Module Overview
• Television?
• The Checkerboard in the Sky
• Sharing Signals (CATV)
• (Copyright) Regulating Cable TV
• The Betamax and the Boston Strangler Part One
• The Betamax and the Boston Strangler Part Two
• The Betamax Case in the U.S. Supreme Court
• Secondary Liability for Sony?
• Substantial Noninfringing Uses of the VCR
• The Dissenting Opinion Part One
• The Dissenting Opinion Part Two
• Building the DVD Platform Part One
• Building the DVD Platform Part Two
• DTV: Bringing 0s and 1s to Television
• Netflix and the First-Sale Doctrine
• Aereo: An Exercise in Triangulation Part One
• Aereo: An Exercise in Triangulation Part Two
• Aereo: An Exercise in Triangulation Part Three
• Ending TV Broadcasting?: Incentive Spectrum Auctions
• Wrap Up: What Have We Learned?

 

8. The Mediated Book

• Module Overview
• Google Launches the Digital Library
• Google's Usage Guidelines
• Google Gets Sued
• A Settlement?
• Google Books and Fair Use
• The HathiTrust Digital Library
• The HathiTrust Lawsuit
• Google Books on Appeal: Briefs
• The Kindle Launches
• The Kindle as Service
• Advertising-Supported Books?
• Apple Gets Sued: eBooks and the iPad
• Dinner in New York
• Apple Enters the eBook Market
• Reading E-Mails (and Draft Agreements) Part One
• Reading E-Mails (and Draft Agreements) Part Two
• What Did Apple Do Wrong?
• How Do You Break the Antitrust Law with a 0% Market Share? (Or: What about Amazon?)
• Wrap Up: What Have We Learned?

 

9. (A) Course Review

• Course Review: Microsoft: The Desktop v. The Internet
• Course Review: Google Emerges (and the World Responds)
• Course Review: Smartphones
• Course Review: Nondiscrimination and Neutrality
• Course Review: The Day the Music Died?
• Course Review: Video: Listening and Watching
• Course Review: The Mediated Book

 

(B) Internet Giants: Experimental

• Done with the course? Wondering what comes next? Me, too, but this is where the experimental module comes in. A module to test other ways to interact and to explore ideas that might appear in future versions of the course.

 

(C) Mandatory Continuing Legal Education Information

• This course has been approved for continuing legal education credit in Illinois and this section describes the process for obtaining that credit.

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