Cyberspace Law For Non-Lawyers Lessons 1-31

seeing as the law is inadequate when dealing issues regarding new technologies.

you cannot use another person's trademark if that use would confuse the reasonable consumer about the identity of goods or services associated with that trademark.

It has to be in some way distinctive, not what courts call "ordinary" or "merely descriptive" or "generic": you can't use trademark to protect the common name of your product - say, the name "Modems" for the modems you are selling (because that is a generic term) nor the phrase "Tasty donuts" (which merely describes the donuts).

This cannot totally ban anonymity because of the freedom of free speech although it can enact measures to enable traceability of messages in order to pinpoint the person or machine who sent them.

a technique for turning your message into gibberish, readable only by the person intended to read the message -- someone else who has the proper key. The most powerful forms of encryption have two keys: one public, the other private.

intercept messages when necessary to assure the continuation of service or to protect the rights of the service provider.

based on practices and technology that have long been obsolete. Current practices and technologies are, therefore, not accounted for.

protects the citizens from physical invasions, which requires a warrant. Other types of invasions, such as wire-tapping, do not require a warrant.

American law does not generally cover "data protection" as is with European democracies.

if someone complains about an infringing post, the service provider must take reasonable steps to determine whether the post is actually an infringement - whether it actually copies someone else's work, whether it's a fair use

this noncommercial copying became WIDESPREAD, would it *displace some sales

seeing as the law is inadequate when dealing issues regarding new technologies.

you cannot use another person's trademark if that use would confuse the reasonable consumer about the identity of goods or services associated with that trademark.

It has to be in some way distinctive, not what courts call "ordinary" or "merely descriptive" or "generic": you can't use trademark to protect the common name of your product - say, the name "Modems" for the modems you are selling

This cannot totally ban anonymity because of the freedom of free speech although it can enact measures to enable traceability of messages in order to pinpoint the person or machine who sent them.

a technique for turning your message into gibberish, readable only by the person intended to read the message -- someone else who has the proper key. The most powerful forms of encryption have two keys: one public, the other private.

intercept messages when necessary to assure the continuation of service or to protect the rights of the service provider.

based on practices and technology that have long been obsolete. Current practices and technologies are, therefore, not accounted for.

This only protects the citizens from physical invasions, which requires a warrant. Other types of invasions, such as wire-tapping, do not require a warrant.

American law does not generally cover "data protection" as is with European democracies.

someone complains about an infringing post, the service provider must take reasonable steps to determine whether the post is actually an infringement - whether it actually copies someone else's work

this noncommercial copying became WIDESPREAD, would it *displace some sales* (or some advertising revenues)? If it will, it's unfair.

Has the original work been published

Copying an IDEA from someone else's work isn't considered copying for copyright purposes (though in some situations it might violate rights under the *patent* laws).

Fair use

gives a copyright owner the exclusive right to control copying

this hasn't been resolved yet seeing as the law is still not adequate in dealing with issues regarding new technologies.

Anyone who uses a trademark may affix the ™ symbol to it to show ownership of said trademark while the ® symbol is reserved for those who have had their trademarks registered with the concerned government agencies.

certain registrations are only a formality but exist to make claims easier to verify.

seeing as the law is inadequate to deal with privacy issues regarding new technologies. Private spaces only generally include homes, postal mail, and others.

people choose what parts of themselves they should hide while on cyberspace, people can choose what they can show.

to exceed the authorization you have under any permission you have been granted.

The Electronic Communications Privacy Act which makes it illegal (with important exceptions we discuss below) for an individual or the government to intercept or disclose private electronic communications. To enforce this right, it gives victims the right to sue for damages.

It was the statement, "the constitution protects people, not places."

American law does not expressly protect people from having websites gather information about them while they are accessed.

truths about you that you have kept private.

You key in an article from a paper magazine that doesn't have a Web site and post it to a news group.
PROBABLY UNFAIR, if the magazine is available on some online service (such as DIALOG or NEXIS), or if the magazine is still on the newsstands for people to buy.

If you're copying more than a little bit, but you're doing it for (a) SYSTEMATIC NEWS REPORTING, (b) CRITICAL COMMENTARY (whether positive or negative), or (c) PARODY, your use is probably FAIR.
Note that it's not enough just to say "I'm reporting the news to the list" or "I'm commenting on this article just by quoting it." A little test: If pretty much any copier can make the same claim of "news reporting" or "commentary" that you're making, your claim is probably too ambitious.

a copyright owner acts in such a way that "reasonable people would assume that he's allowing them to make copies", the law interprets his conduct as creating an "implied license."

It covers MANUAL copies as well as mechanical copies: It doesn't matter whether you make an electronic copy of an electronic document, scan in a print document, or hand-enter a document into the computer. All of this is copying.

If you simply copy what someone else has done, without adding anything new of your own, your copy is generally not copyrighted.

a new and exciting frontier, and presents a host of new and difficult legal questions in many areas. The development of legal rules that will govern activity in this new environment is likely to be a complex, and at times a controversial, process. We hope to give you a basic framework that will help you think about some of the questions that have arisen in six areas of the law: copyright, privacy, trademark, libel, free expression, and contracting.