Classes

Spring 2006 Term

Constitutional Law

IP Reform

This seminar is to develop practical innovations in the law of copyright to address the problems and opportunities created by digital technology.

Fall 2005 Term

Torts

Rewriting Code

Spring 2005 Term

Constitutional Law

Immunities

In Marbury v. Madison, Chief Justice Marshall wrote, "The very essence of civil liberty certainly consists in the right of every individual to claim the protection of the laws, whenever he receives an injury." Yet our law is shot through with immunities -- for judges, prosecutors, police, presidents, congressmen, states, and increasingly private parties as well. This seminar will survey these immunities, and try to make sense of these exceptions to "the very essence of civil liberty."

Fall 2004 Term

Torts

Spring 2004 Term

Ideas vs. Matter: The Code in Tiny Spaces

As the technologies of genetic engineering and digital matter (nanotechnology) become increasingly real, it becomes important to understand how the law will understand, or grok, these activities. Are these fields of research merely the exploration of ideas, and hence, worthy of the protections of a rich free-speech tradition? Or are they the construction of things of matter, and hence subject to unlimited regulatory control? Is the stuff created by these activities worthy of intellectual property protection?

Fall 2003 Term

Advanced Contracts: The Creative Commons

Spring 2003 Term

Law and Virtual Worlds

Course Number: 348-0-01 / 2 Units

Taught with Julian Dibell

What rules actually regulate communities with cyberspace? Are they rules or technology? What mix between prescriptions and norms is there? This seminar will explore a wide range of "virtual communities," to investigate these issues. Julian Dibbell is a writer and one of the first to describe life and law in virtual worlds. His work is the reason Professor Lessig began work in the law of cyberspace.

Fall 2002 Term

Visiting Professor at Tokyo University

Spring 2002 Term

The Architecture of Identity

Course Number: 239-0-01 / 2 Units

This seminar will explore the issues surrounding surveillance and identification as they are being raised in the context of cyberspace and elsewhere. The course will cover a range of issues including a national ID, data privacy, technologies of surveillance, and the right of anonymity, in an effort to understand the connection between the design of these systems and values they protect. The seminar will include a significant amount of reading and a paper will be required.

Constitutional Law I

Course Number: 203-0-02 / 4 Units

This course examines American constitutional law in historical and modern context; the allocation of decisionmaking authority among government institutions; and guarantees of individual rights stemming from the due process, equal protection, and other clauses in the Bill of Rights and post-Civil War amendments.

Developing Country Patent Law

Course Number: 274-0-01 (with Barton) / 2 Units

This two-unit seminar will explore the special needs of developing nations in patent law. The academic and discussion components will consider the role of the patent system in developing nations, the international agreements governing intellectual property law in developing nations, including both the TRIPS agreement and bilateral agreements between the United States and developing nations, and the areas of special dispute, including the patent protection of pharmaceuticals and biotechnological innovations. In the written portion of the seminar, students will draft legislation, regulation, and treaties, and the necessary supporting documents. To the extent possible, this work will be designed to deal with the actual needs of specific developing nations, and students will be placed in contact with officials from those nations.