Groucho Marx, on being warned that the name ‘Casablanca’ belonged to Warner Brothers: ‘You claim you own Casablanca and that no one else can use that name without your permission. Later in the unit we will look at some legal cases in detail and explore the tactics used by advocates to persuade us of the merits of their case. It is important to learn to identify opinion and propaganda, and distinguish them from the facts of a case. Advocates with an agenda (for example those who want copyright law restricted or those who want it expanded) use words as a tool to win us over to their side. Lawyers are required to use words with great care and precision to put forward a case and to counter arguments. It may take you some time to read some of the material, so to help we have often summarised the main points for you. Some of the language in this area is legalese, or complicated legal jargon, a way of communicating that many find long-winded and convoluted. Actually, both are much less formal than some of the websites you will encounter. Harris (1917–1986), American journalist and author)Īs you read through this unit and Lessig's book, you might find that the writing is quite formal. " Nobody can be so amusingly arrogant as a young man who has discovered an old idea and thinks it is his own." For the moment, just think of it as the raw materials for generating ideas or creative work, such as inventions, music or art. We will look at this idea of a commons in more detail later. These free resources are all part of what Lessig's book refers to as the ‘commons’. A public highway, a public park, Fermat's last theorem or an 1890 edition of a Shakespeare play are all free to use or copy. Authors, inventors, blues musicians – creators of all kinds – use language, stories, professional skills, musical notes and chords, facts and ideas, all building on the work of earlier creators. To make things we need resources, including intangible resources like information and ideas. One of the most important topics in this unit is the notion of the ‘commons’ put forward by Lawrence Lessig, the author of The Future of Ideas. Nevertheless, you should gain a good appreciation of the main ideas, and the necessary skills and knowledge to investigate further areas of interest to you. We have, therefore, had to be selective about what we have included and we have sometimes simplified complex concepts. It would be impossible to cover all the relevant laws and cases in a short course such as this. This course will not make you an expert in internet law. By analysing the (sometimes controversial) case law, we examine how this internet innovation has affected certain kinds of businesses, the response of those businesses, and the social and economic significance of this. This unit explains how the internet has enabled massive innovation.
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