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speaking of great Court of Appeals decisions

December 19, 2003 3:15 PM - comments (7)

I'm sorry it has taken me so long to finally read the Seventh Circuit's opinion in Assessment Technologies v. WIREdata. Judge Posner, writing for a unanimous panel, rejects an "attempt of a copyright owner to use copyright law to block access to data that not only are neither copyrightable nor copyrighted, but were not created or obtained by the copyright owner." In the collection of great cases showing the limits of copyright -- and why limits are sensible -- this should rank highly (indeed, much higher than the Supreme Court's effort in Feist Publications, Inc. v. Rural Telephone Service Co., 499 U.S. 340, 345-48 (1991).)

Posner is a friend. I was his clerk. But the best thing about being his clerk is that he does his own writing, which means the clerk's job is just to disagree. But in the area of copyright and patent, I've found less and less to disagree with. Indeed, if you want a brilliant and balanced analysis of a wide range of IP issues, from the perspective of economics, see his (and Professor Landes') latest book, The Economic Structure of Intellectual Property Law.

Posted on December 19, 2003 3:15 PM | | technorati

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» Another Posner book to add to the list from Stephen Laniel's Unspecified Bunker
Drat: looks like there are at least three more Posner books that I’ll want to read. Professor Larry Lessig — who clerked for Posner (and Scalia, I believe) — writes that Posner and Landes’s book The Economic Structure of Intellectu [Read More]

Tracked on December 19, 2003 9:23 PM

Comments (7)

December 19, 2003 6:09 PM Derek Slater:

Very curious to hear your view of In re: Aimster, since it seems to starkly contrast with Sony

December 20, 2003 2:07 AM bruce:

I love the font the 7th Circuit used in the WIREdata opinion :)

The new Posner/Landes book is phenomenal; the best work on IP law I've ever come across.

December 20, 2003 8:11 AM tomsong:

Great news on the Assessment Tech case. As Public Knowledge points out, we're on a roll here. The judges are starting to "get it." ALL of the legislation pushed by the RIAA has failed in 2003.

Thanks for the tip on Posner's Intellectual Property book. I'm trying to plow through his book "Law, Pragmatism and Democracy." Mainly I am trying to understand why someone like Michael Powell is obsessed with Schumpeter. But this book is hard going. I sometimes try to understand your own infleunces, Professor Lessig---I am intuitively resistant to Chicago School theories.

I am blown away with Dr. Mark Cooper's book "Media Ownership and Democracy in the Digital Information Age." A great example of letting readers sample it online first. I plan on giving Rep. Boucher a copy on Monday, and considering sending other copies to concerned activists. (It is amusing to think of FCC cohorts Copps and Adelstein reading Cooper's dissection of Powell's agenda.)

I dislike Christansen's book Innovator's Solution. This seems to be the current generation's Greed for Dummies 101. Not my bag of tea. I'll send it to you in the mail okay, Professor? In line with our support of lending libraries---

Oh yeah, one more thing, people. Don't buy major label music CD's for Christmas. Your kids already have the digital music files, they'll just take it back to the store and get something useful. Send money in their name to the EFF or Public Knowledge instead.

TOM

December 23, 2003 12:20 AM Roger Schlafly:

Posner cites Aimster as one of his favorite copyright opinions, and in it Posner says that it is unquestionably illegal for a consumer to fast-forward thru a commercial! Surely, Lessig does not agree. (The links are here.)

December 28, 2003 6:30 PM Seth Johnson:

Larry:

I'd like to hear your assessment of Feist Publications, seeing as you compare Assessment Technologies more favorably against it.

From my standpoint. Feist is a primary touchstone.

I've often wondered why I just don't hear more information freedom folks speaking of it.

Seth Johnson

April 16, 2008 5:03 PM wow power leveling:

Very curious to hear your view of In re: Aimster, since it seems to starkly contrast with Sony

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