Napster, AIDs and Intellectual Property
Please note: the first day of class is Monday August 31
by David K. Levine
Controversy surrounds the downloading of music over the internet,
and the aggressive response of the RIAA to protect their copyrights.
Included in this is the lawsuit against Grokster, and the
bringing of lawsuits against individual music lovers. Also
controversial is the patent protection afforded AIDs drugs, resulting
in such high prices that they are unavailable in Africa, the area most
devastated by AIDs. Copyrights and patents are justified in the
U.S. Consitution by Article I Section 8: "The
Congress shall have Power To... to
promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for
limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their
respective Writings and Discoveries." The goal of this seminar is to
examine from an economic perspective to what extent modern intellectual
property law does in fact "promote the Progress of Science and useful
Arts."
PREREQUISITES: NONE.
Enrollment limited to 15.
TEXT: We will use the online draft of Against Intellectual Monopoly
by Michele Boldrin and David K. Levine. Classroom discussion/lecture will use slides that you can download. There are also sample presentation slides.
MEETINGS: The
class will meet six times roughly every other week. Meetings are on
Mondays 4-5:30 pm at a location to be determined.
- First Meeting - introductory lecture; organization
of groups for projects (Monday August 31)
- Second Meeting - chapters 1-3; choice of group
projects (Monday September 14)
- Third Meeting - chapters 4-6 (Monday September 28)
- Fourth Meeting - chapters 7-10 (Monday October 12)
- Fifth Meeting - project presentations round 1 (Nov 9)
- Sixth Meeting - project presentations round 2 (Nov 16)
GRADING: P/NP
PROJECT: You will be divided into four
groups.
Each group will choose a topic, and make a 1/2 hour oral presentation.
Tentative topics this quarter:
- Digital aspects of copyrights
- Drug patents
- Legal aspects of copyrights
- Alternatives to copyright