Intellectual Property
Justia Intellectual Property Center
Find an overview on intellectual property law as well as links to news, blogs, and cases.
Stanford University Libraries offers this excellent source of primary law and current legislation pertaining to copyrights.
Nolo Press offers commentary on various intellectual property issues.
Sabrina Pacifici, Editor of LLRX.com, comments on law and technology issues. These often comprise copyright, trademark, patent, and Internet law matters. Like, Tech Law Advisor, beSpacific cites its sources, making additional research easier. The RSS news feed appears to reproduce the entire blog entry.
The University of Maryland University College (UMUC) offers an interactive tutorial that provides an introduction to issues concerning copyright ownership. It outlines the basic principles of copyright law in the U.S.
ACE [Music Copyright] Database
The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) offers its database of music copyright records. The database contains records about both U.S. and foreign compositions licensed by ASCAP. Search by title, writer, performer, publisher, or t-code to obtain matching copyright records.
ACE [Music] Restored Works Database
The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) offers this database containing a partial list of restored works under the Uruguay Round Agreements Act of 1992 (URAA).
AdLaw by Request is a blog from the law firm of Reed, Smith. offers commentary on advertising and intellectual property law issues. The Resources Page provides sample contracts and forms for IP related issues.
Denise M. Howell, an attorney blogger, comments on a variety of legal issues related to intellectual property, Internet law, technology, and more. Denise cites her sources, which facilitates additional research.
Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works
Cornell Legal Information Institute offers the full-text of this international convention as a searchable hypertext document.
From the law offices of Beck & Tyvser, PLLP, this site offers commentary, sample forms and contracts, as well as annotated links to resources for all aspects of intellectual property law.
The Canadian Intellectual Property Office offers a database of copyrights "[r]egistered or [e]xpunged since October 1, 1991. In some cases registrations prior to 1991 were entered into the database due to requests for certified copies." Search by title, author, or other criteria to obtain the copyright record.
The Canadian Intellectual Property Office offers this database of applications and patents.
The Canadian Intellectual Property Office offers this database of trademark data.
Several law schools and the Electronic Frontier Foundation join to provide this database of cease & desist letters and information about intellectual property and free speech law. Browse by topic, or search the database, to find out who's sending and receiving cease & desist letters. The site uses the power of multimedia to link portions of the letters to relevant commentary. For example, it links any language that implies parody (e.g., "We have reviewed your website and have concluded that it incorporates the use and threat of violence towards the childrens character Barney without permission....") to the site's commentary about the legal definition of parody within the context of intellectual property. It also provides images of the original letter(s). While the database currently contains a small number of documents, it offers tremendous potential for investigative or legal research. Those researching various intellectual property topics will like the links to related resources, news, and relevant cease & desist letters.
K. Matthews Dames, President and Managing Partner of Seso Group LLC, a business and technology consulting firm, comments on copyright issues. Dames' blog goes beyond the usual brief references to current events and news items. Many of his comments could be re-published as short articles. Most include references to primary and related materials. RSS fans will also find a feed for keeping up to date with new comments.
The American Library Association's (ALA) Copyright Advisory Network is an open forum for the discussion of copyright issues. While librarians comprise the target audience, the forum is open to anyone who wants to join. Anonymous subscription is also an option. The network also provides links to a few select resources, including the ALA's companion Web site for the book Complete Copyright: An Everyday Guide for Librarians and the copyright code.
The University of Texas Copyright Management Center offers this copyright law primer.
Copyright Issues in Digital Media
This Congressional Budget Office report (August 2004) covers the copyright debate (Has "copyright law ... achieved the appropriate balance between incentives to engage in creative activity and the social benefits that arise from the widespread use of creative works?"), technological developments and challenges and the economics of regulation and proposed legislative action. It is available for reading on the Web or as a PDF download.
Copyright Law of the United States
The U.S. Copyright Office makes available Title 17 of the United States Code both as text (displayable in a browser) and PDF. You may download a PDF copy of the entire text or individual chapters. Appendices contain various copyright laws, including The Copyright Act of 1976, The Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998, The Uruguay Round Agreements Act of 1994, copyright-related sections of Titles 18 (Crimes), 28 (Judicial Procedure) and 44 (Public Printing), and more. Searching is available only through the site's search engine.
The Library of Congress offers an experimental Web-based database of copyright information. It does not yet replace the LOCIS System for advanced users available via Telnet. The experimental project provides access to three types of copyright office records: registered works, serials (magazines, journals, newspapers, etc.) and documents (ownership transfers, name changes, etc.).
Copyright Term and the Public Domain in the United States
The Cornell Copyright Information Center makes available a well-documented chart of copyright terms in the U.S. Covering unpublished works, works published in the U.S. and works published outside the U.S., the chart provides the copyright term or duration and a brief description of public domain materials as of 1 January 2004.
This innovative site offers commentary on intellectual property events relating to visual, audio and digital arts. For example, learn about the IP dispute between Warner Brothers and Frederick Hart, the sculptor of the original art that appears in the office of the film's antagonist. The site also offers copyright basics and breaking news.
Attorney/consultant Lesley Ellen Harris offers articles, news, and more pertaining to copyright legal issues. Find commentary on issues like licensing, re-using work, the value of content, and electronic commerce in government, libraries, archives and museums. Librarians and attorneys especially will find this site useful.
Copyscape is a plagiarism research tool. Enter the address of Web page to receive search results from other pages that use similar terms in close proximity. While the utility has potential, its effectiveness depends on the uniqueness of the words on the page and how often the page is cited. Many results, in other words, come from Web pages that are not plagiarizing the work.
Led by several Internet and intellectual property experts, Creative Commons offers model language for various copyright licenses. These are alternatives to the standard "all rights reserved." For example, the site offers model language for several types of attribution. During 2003, Creative Commons plans to launch "the Creative Commons Conservancy, a sort of 'land trust' for intellectual works. It will provide "widespread public access" for acquired or donated works "while safeguarding [them] against exploitive uses."
Edited by University of Texas at Austin law librarian, Jane O'Connell, this resource helps legal professionals stay up to date with legal articles on trademark issues. The citation list appears in reverse chronological order. To display the first page of an article, follow the title link. Scanned images of the first page "will be deleted after 60 days." Lawyers and researchers may receive updates to the list via RSS.
Delphion Intellectual Property Network
Delphion provides patent searching services. Searching requires a subscription.
Find an online version of the treatise, Legal Protection of Digital Information, by Professor Lee A. Hollaar, School of Computing at the University of Utah. The online version is adapted from the BNA Books 2002 edition. Chapters include an overview of copyright law and issues, copyright of computer programs, copyright of digital information, an overview of patents and software-based inventions. Issues covered include reverse engineering, copyrighting source code, file sharing, technological protections, and more. Professor Hollaar was a technical consultant to the plaintiff states in the Microsoft antitrust litigation.
The Web Developer's Virtual Library offers a tool for assisting in the creation of a domain name. Say your business, product or service name is Virtual Chase. Enter it and keywords that describe your business, product or service; e.g., legal research or law. Select the top level domain (.com, .org., etc.) and then submit the information to the wizard. Domain Name Wizard responds with unavailable domain names that match your criteria as well as suggestions for available domain names.
Education in Copyright Law: A Primer for Cyberspace, An
This article appears in the Winter 2003 issue of The Electronic Journal of Academic and Special Librarianship. Written primarily for educators and librarians, it covers the the basics of copyright, including fair use, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, and the TEACH Act (copyright in the digital classroom).
Ernie the Attorney is Louisiana lawyer Ernest Svenson. Ernie comments on a variety of law and technology issues, including copyright, patent, trademark, and Internet law matters. He likes gadgets, so you will often find mention of the latest devices, software, or other new technology.
The European Patent Office offers this database containing information from patent applications published in over 50 countries (and regions) worldwide. Search by keyword, patent application number or company to find abstracts and bibliographic information. Although a free search and retrieval site, the database features a shopping cart that lets you store search results. Site documentation indicates that this feature will soon allow you to order paper copies of patents, if desired.
Free Trademark Searching on the Internet
The International Trademark Association offers brief reviews of government databases for trademark searching.
Gilbert & Tobin is an Australian corporate, technology and communications law firm. It provides full-text copies of articles covering timely issues in competition law, business law, intellectual property, tax law, and more. From the home page, select the Publications tab.
Google provides search across all USPTO patents and trademarks, free of charge.
This WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization) database contains information about industrial designs submitted in accordance with the Hague System for the International Deposit of Industrial Designs. Covering 1999 to present, the database provides bibliographic information as well as reproductions of industrial designs published in the International Designs Bulletin. The database offers two search interfaces for advanced and novice searchers. It supports Boolean as well as proximity and field searching.
Managing the Digital Enterprise
Part of Professor Michael Rappa's E-Commerce at North Carolina State University Web site, this section provides a brief essay on intellectual property as well as links to several excellent articles and publications.
Intellectual Property Database
The Governments of the Guangdong Province, Hong Kong and Macao Special Administrative Region provide gateway access to intellectual property databases in their regions. The databases cover trademarks, patents, registered designs and copyright. A table indicates whether a specific database is available for a particular region. It also explains the contents of the database (e.g. trademark law, trademark search). The information is available in English.
Intellectual Property Digital Library
The Intellectual Property Digital Library provides access to various intellectual property data collections currently hosted by the World Intellectual Property Organization. Collections include the Hague Express Database, JOPAL (Journal of Patent Associated Literature), Madrid Express Database and PCT Gazette Database. The site offers two levels of free access: membership and guest. Guest users cannot take advantage of a search history feature.
The Hague Express Database provides bibliographical information about reproductions of industrial designs relating to international deposits recorded in the International Register and published in the International Designs Bulletin. JOPAL, or the Journal of Patent Associated Literature, contains bibliographic data about articles published in leading scientific and technical periodicals since 1981. Updated daily, Madrid Express Database contains international registrations currently in force, or which have expired within the past six months. PCT Gazette Database contains the first page data (bibliographic data, abstract and drawing) of published applications under the Patent Cooperation Treaty
A LexisNexis site. Provides a portal for patent law information, including links to blogs, podcasts, news, and other resources.
Intellectual Property Owners Association
Established in 1972, the Intellectual Property Owners Association (IPO) is a U.S. trade association for owners of patents, trademarks, copyrights and trade secrets. There is a special area of the Web site that requires membership. For free, visitors will find weekly summaries of intellectual property-related news. News summaries cover lawsuits and court decisions, legislation, policy and other related events. You will find a detailed outline of intellectual property related legislative issues with links to the relevant documents as well as various IPO publications. One publication of possible interest to our readers is the group's annual compilation of top patent owners.
Intellectual Property Rights Search
U.S. Customs and Border Protection makes available a database of intellectual property rights recordations. Search by keyword, owner, product, lawyer or law firm or other criteria to find trademarks, copyrights or patents recorded by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The search results display in a table, which reveals effective dates, service product name, service or product description, owner, filing contact and firm, recordation number and type of recordation. You can limit search results to trademarks, copyrights, patents or exclusion orders. You can also exclude expired recordations.
The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) offers information about the international classification of patents, trademarks and industrial designs. Find the treaties that established the classifications as well as explanatory materials and the text of the international classifications. The documents are available in English and French.
The University of Maryland and the Maryland Technology Development Corp. offer a database on technologies available for commercialization from academic institutions, federal research facilities and private companies in Maryland, D.C., and Virginia. Search by keyword or institution to find descriptive summaries of the available technologies. Summaries are available as Web pages or in PDF.
A portal for inventors, InventNET offers several resources of potential interest to researchers. Find a tutorial on how to conduct a patent search, an index of patent forms on the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Web site, a patent attorney directory and more.
The Commonwealth of Australia offers information about patents, trade marks, designs ("the shape or appearance of manufactured goods"), copyright, circuit layout rights ("the 3-dimensional configuration of electronic circuits in integrated circuit products or layout designs"), plant breeder's rights, trade secrets, and business, company and domain names. The site also provides search access to Australian patents, trade marks and designs.
German patent attorney Axel Horns comments on intellectual property issues concerning the European Union and member countries as well as the World Intellectual Property Organization. Many of the comments link directly to original documents or sources. A sidebar provides links to many resources of potential interest to intellectual property lawyers with a need for documents and information outside of the United States.
Patent attorney and law professor Gene Quinn comments on cases and other news pertaining to intellectual property, Internet and antitrust law. The site also offers a weekly newsletter by email.
Intellectual property lawyer Margie S. Schweitzer offers this Web site and email newsletter devoted to intellectual property legal information. The twice-weekly email newsletter contains articles, case summaries, and information about recent developments in Internet, trademark, copyright, patent and trade secrets law. Each issue includes links to cases discussed, when available, as well as articles written by IP professionals. While the email newsletters is not free, you may try it free for two months.
Additionally, the Web site offers articles and case summaries that have appeared in earlier editions of the newsletter. It also provides links to several important IP legal documents.
Robert J. Kasunic, senior attorney and principal legal advisor at the U.S. Copyright Office, provides an up-to-date directory of resources on copyright law and litigation. It covers general reference materials, legislation, lawsuits, articles on copyright issues, resources for several intellectual property issues (including trademarks, entertainment law and domain names), Copyright Office reports, database protection and more.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) offers information about liability issues for bloggers. The guide provides an overview of common legal issues for those who post public comments, several FAQs covering intellectual property issues, online defamation law, Section 230 protections and privacy issues. It also provides information for bloggers who act as journalists; that is, bloggers who report news gathered from confidential sources or those who want to secure access to information as media.
The Citizen Media Law Project, jointly affiliated with Harvard Law School's Berkman Center for Internet & Society and the Center for Citizen Media, makes available a database of information about legal threats. Threats include intellectual property infringement lawsuits, cease and desist letters, defamation actions, civil rights actions, and more. You may search by a variety of criteria including the type of threat, the parties involved, lawyers' names, verdict or settlement amounts, jurisdiction (not limited to the U.S.), Web sites involved, keyword and more. The information provided includes all the above that is relevant as well as the current status and a summary of the threat.
Intellectual property lawyer Ronald Coleman comments on developments in trademark, copyright and trade secret law, as well as law involving Internet issues such as branding, media, blogging and free speech.
International law firm Osborne Clarke Alliance offers information "for brand-owners and marketing professionals, including in-depth analysis of the latest marketing and brand law issues, national and international case reports, previews of up-and-coming legislation affecting marketing, plus legal checklists and template agreements." Parts of the site require registration, but access to many of the articles does not. Many of the article pertain to European Union law, but some cover other jurisdictions worldwide.
This site provides one of the few domain name search engines that retrieves .edu registrations in addition to the usual, .com, .org, and .net. It also found possible matches when I entered a phrase rather than a string of characters (e.g., enter virtual chase instead of virtualchase). n@medroppers.com also searches for matching strings within a domain name, something Whois alone cannot achieve (e.g., finds domains like businessresearcher.com upon a search for researcher).
As if these features aren't sufficient, the site offers an advanced query page whereby researchers may exclude terms (e.g., search for law within a domain name, but not lawyer or lawyers).
Upon finding a match, researchers may then click on the Whois link to read the domain registration record.
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office offers a database covering patent assignments recorded since August 1980. You can search by a variety of criteria, including patent number or assignor or assignee name. You can also click the link for an assignor's or assignee's name in any record to find a history (from mid-1980) of assignments.
Attorneys Stephen Albainy-Jenei and Karlyn Schnapp of the law firm, Frost Brown Todd LLC in Cincinnati, OH, blog about intellectual property issues in the biotech and pharmaceutical fields. Current commentary concerns Brazil's threat to break a patent held by Abbot Laboratories and the rejected Lipitor patent. The blog features feeds available in several formats.
Sponsored by the Linux Foundation, the Web site hosts databases containing patents and technical standards available for open source use. "The Patent Commons website will catalogue existing patent commitments from companies and individuals who wish to retain ownership of their patents, and will provide information about different types of pledges and covenants and how they work. In the coming months, the site will expand to include other legal solutions that benefit the open source community, including open source licenses, indemnification programs and information for organizations and individuals who wish to contribute to the commons."
Patent law blog Patently Obvious (see separate annotation) outlines sources for finding news about patents and patent-related issues. In addition to secondary sources such as several select Weblogs, it covers primary sources such as the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals.
Patent Attorney Bob Shaver (Dykas, Shaver & Nipper, LLP in Boise, Idaho) spotlights certain inventions and educates--sometimes humorously--about the patent process.
Tutorial and Guide to Online Resources and Information: McKinney Engineering Library at University of Texas at Austin offers a guide of exceptional quality for those new to patent searching. Available in three parts, the guide provides a short treatise on patents as well as two interactive searching tutorials. The treatise explains why patent searching is important. It defines different types of patents, describes what is patentable and identifies patent myths. The search tutorials cover the basics of patent searching and patent application searching. The one on patent searching discusses brainstorming, using the Index to the U.S. Patent Classification, looking up classification codes, reviewing classification definitions, examining individual patents, keyword searching and additional practical advice.
Dennis Crouch, patent attorney at the law firm, McDonnell Boehnen Hulbert & Berghoff LLP, comments on patent issues. The commentary goes beyond what you read in the news. Crouch discusses current patent claims, cases, legislation and more.
This WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization) database contains information about international patent applications filed under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT). Covering 1997 to present, the database provides bibliographic information, including abstracts, drawings and images of PCT pamphlets. From April 1988 to present, claims and descriptions also appear for published or republished applications. The database offers three search interfaces for advanced and novice searchers. It supports Boolean and field searching.
Librarian Sharon Stoerger, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, maintains an annotated bibliography of articles and other resources covering plagiarism. The extensive bibliography includes resources for instructors and resources for students as well as linked citations for relevant case studies, plagiarism detection tools and examples of term paper sites.
While promoting the services and technologies of Turnitin and iThenticate, the Web site provides information and statistics about plagiarism. Under the heading Research Resources, students and teachers will find helpful information for avoiding plagiarism. This includes handouts you can download and print (Word format) that define plagiarism, give examples of types of plagiarism and explain citations.
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office maintains Public PAIR (Patent Application and Information Retrieval), a utility for finding and displaying information and documents pertaining to patent applications not covered by confidentiality laws. This research system also enables online ordering of certified copies of patent applications.
Searching PAIR requires an application, patent or publication number. Use the established Published Applications database (Patent Full-Text and Full-Page Image Databases) to find applications by keyword. PAIR provides a lot of potentially useful information, including the name of the patent examiner and PDF images of documents filed during the application process.
Caution: The Norton Personal Firewall 2004 interferes with the operation of PAIR. If you use this software, you might have to disable it to access and search the utility.
The Law Office of Lloyd L. Rich, Denver, Colorado, offers articles and an email notification service about publishing law issues. Recent articles cover the importance of contract "material terms" and Web linking.
Three intellectual property lawyers -- J. Matthew Buchanan, Stephen Nipper and Douglas Sorocco -- discuss developments in copyright, trademark and patent law. They also created RSS news feeds for news from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
Scribes: The American Society of Writers on Legal Subjects
"Scribes was established in August 1953 to promote better writing across the legal community -- in the courthouse, the law office, the publishing house, and the law school." The Web site provides information about the organization, its members, activities and publications. You will find the table of contents for The Scribes Journal as well as the full-text of the newsletter, The Scrivener.
Strategy Targeting Organized Piracy (STOP!) is a multi-government agency initiative "designed to crack down on the networks that traffic in counterfeit and pirated products ... and help American businesses ... enforce their rights...." The Web site mostly explains what the initiative is and links to external sources of information. It helps users find resources, including an online complaint form.
TESS, U.S. Trademark Electronic Search System
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's trademark database provides access to pending, registered, and dead federal trademarks. Various search options exist, including keyword searching, Boolean, and field searching. The site offers good help documentation, which is well worth reading. It also documents known problems with the database. While TESS provides potential trademark owners with a free option for conducting preliminary trademark research, it is not an easy database to use. Nor does it always provide consistent results.
Powered by ThomasRegister and ThomasRegional, ThomasNet provides information for both industrial suppliers and buyers. You may find information about U.S. and Canadian companies and their brands. The site enables searching by company name, product or service, or brand name. It provides business contact information, Web site, brief business description, number of employees, year founded, export markets, import markets, and more. Please note the new domain.
Arvic Search Services, Inc. offers low-cost common law trademark research services. This is not an online database, but a research service.
Those conducting their own research will find useful resources here. For example, The Basics provides tips for conducting common law trademark research and suggestions for resources. The vendor also offers several detailed research guides.
Trademark Assignments on the Web
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office makes available this database of trademark assignments back to 1955. Search by a variety of criteria, including assignor or assignee name, applicant name or registrant name. Information provided includes the name of the owner, the mark and the serial and registration number. Follow the serial or registration number link to find the Trademark Assignment Abstract of Title. It contains information about the registrant and assignments, including the date recorded, the type of conveyance, the assignee and correspondent. You can find a history of all agreements (back to 1955) between the two parties by clicking through on the assignee name.
Intellectual property lawyer Martin Schwimmer comments on trademark-related events and issues.
Trademark Document Retrieval (TDR)
This portal of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office provides access to electronic documents associated with U.S. trademark applications, applications for extensions of protection and U.S. trademark registrations. It also contains information concerning international registrations and applications for international registration filed under the Madrid system through the United States.
The conversion of trademark records to digital format will take several years. Currently, TDR provides access to most pending applications and Madrid Protocol filings, as well as many trademark registrations. Search by U.S. serial, registration or reference number, or by international registration number.
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office offers a database for discovering the status of a trademark application. Enter a serial or registration number to find the registration status.
Trademark Trial and Appeal Board Inquiry System (TTABVUE)
The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) maintains this system, which allows users to view images of documents concerning trademark disputes. TTABVUE includes images of most documents filed since January 2003. Some earlier records covering the period June 2001 to January 2003 also are available. Access is available only by entering a TTAB proceeding number.
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office offers two patent databases covering 1790 to present. The Bibliographic Database provides front page information for quick retrieval. The Full-Text Database offers the complete patent image. While serious researchers should read the site documentation about limitations concerning the databases, as of the date of this writing, they include:
* No assignment changes;
* Only two searchable fields for patents issued from 1790 to 1975; these include the patent number and U.S. classification.
A joint project of the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center at The University of Texas at Austin and the University of Reading Library, Reading, England, the WATCH database contains "the names and addresses of copyright holders or contact persons for authors and artists whose archives are housed, in whole or in part, in libraries and archives in North America and the United Kingdom." Search by writer/artist, contact name, or notes (keyword in notes field); or browse by writer/artist last name. (Note: the above URL, owned by the Library of the University of Reading, redirects to the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center.)
WIPO Cases and WIPO Panel Decisions
The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) provides a database of UDRP (Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy) cases and panel decisions. Search by WIPO case number, disputed domain name, or keyword to find a case summary, domain names involved, complainants, respondents, and the result of the decision. Click the hyperlinked result to find the full-text of the decision.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) makes available information about pending legislation on several hot topics, including criminal justice, death penalty, drug policy, free speech and more. Browse the collection by issue or ACLU region. Stay up-to-date with these issues by requesting to receive email updates.
Because of reported discrepancies in various Whois databases, BetterWhois offers an interface for searching "the shared domain registry" by domain name. It returns matches, which provide the name of the registrar for the domain.
This search feature serves primarily to find owners of registered domains and to identify reserved names. You cannot search by owner.
This utility queries several WHOIS databases for information about the owners of a domain name. It covers several top-level domains (TLDs) including .com, .edu., .net., .org, .mil, and those of many foreign countries.
The Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section of the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice offers this site on computer and intellectual property crimes. Find general information, such as how to report an Internet-related crime as well as legal and policy information. The Web site offers press releases on cases involving computer and intellectual property crimes, guidance documents, relevant laws and other documents.
Network Solutions, once the sole registry of Internet domain names, offers this site to assist researchers in understanding the domain name resolution process. Find answers to Frequently Asked Questions, the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy, the rules governing administrative procedures, and a list of accredited dispute resolution service providers and their supplemental rules.
The Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School offers a monthly newsletter on pressing public interestoriented Internet issues. It provides news summaries with links, not only to the news source, but to related documents discussed in the news. It offers information about the activities of the Center and provides links to Web sites of potential interest.
Maintained by Atlanta-based intellectual property and technology lawyer Doug Isenberg, Gigalaw offers commentary on news and legal developments pertaining to intellectual property, technology and Internet-related issues. You may keep up-to-date with news posted via e-mail or RSS feed.
Internet Demographics Resources and Sites
A Subject Tracer™ Information Blog developed and created by Internet expert, author, keynote speaker and consultant Marcus P. Zillman, M.S., A.M.H.A. for monitoring Internet Demographics resources and sites on the Internet.
Internet Library of Law and Court Decisions
The site offers a well-organized collection of digested case law on topics involving the Internet. A sampling includes advertisements online, blogs, copyright, e-mail, jurisdiction, meta tags and spam. A search engine helps you find full-text or digested cases, articles and more. There is also a subject index for browsing the digest. If you would like to receive periodic updates about new cases, the site offers an e-mail service.
Cindy Chick, former co-editor of LLRX.com, recently launched a Weblog on law library technology and knowledge management. Since Cindy works with knowledge management issues on a day-to-day basis, LawLibTech should be a great resource. Currently, in addition to knowledge management, topics covered include PDF, search engines, spam and virtual libraries.
Yedidya Melchior, currently a law student in Israel offers a periodic email newsletter on computer and Internet law issues. Researchers may subscribe via this link. They may also browse the online archive, which dates back to March 1999.
Pike & Fischer Internet Law & Regulation
Provides information on recent developments in internet law, primary source documents including legislation, statutes, reports, foreign law documents, and more, topical case digests, case law, forms related to providing Web-based services, pleadings, and more.
The law firm, Davis Wright Tremaine LLP, maintains this blog on privacy and security law. Lawyers comment on events in the news and legal developments, such as court decisions and state or federal legislation.
This site offers summaries, and links to, current news items worldwide related to the Internet and information. It also provides free email delivery and appears to publish weekly. Articles appear mostly in English, but occasionally also in German and French.
John Marshall Law School professor David E. Sorkin offers easy access to U.S. federal and state, as well as European Union and other country, laws regarding mass email. The site covers both enacted laws and proposed legislation.
The Progress & Freedom Foundation (PFF) released the 9th edition of The Digital Economy Factbook. Co-written by Stephen McGonegal, President of Independent Analysis, Inc., and PFF Research Associate Daniel B. Britton, the fact book contains statistics and other information on the digital economy. Its 7 chapters comprise the following topics: The Growth of the Internet, The Hardware Sector, The Communications Sector, Digital Media, Electronic Commerce, Threats to the Digital Economy, and The Worldwide Digital Economy.
According to PFF, "[t]his year's edition of the popular publication contains an expanded chapter on the worldwide digital economy. The section focuses on both global statistics and information from three important regions: Europe, China and India.... The data and statistics included in the book are the most up to date available in the years 2006 to 2007."
Cornell Legal Information Institute offers the full-text of the Uniform Commercial Code as a searchable hypertext document. Professional researchers should note this version does not include the 1994 revised Article 8 nor the 1995 revised Article 5. The text appears to be a 1992 edition.
Find a nifty, easy-to-use utility for discovering who hosts a Web site at a particular domain. Once you have the Web host, the next step to discovering who owns the site may require sending the host a subpoena, assuming the information isn't apparent in the domain name registration record.
Whois Source provides a WHOIS look-up utility for domains registered with the following gTLDs: .com, .net, .org, .info, .biz or .us. Search by partial or full domain name, or keyword, to find registration records. A legend in the search results indicates whether the domain is a registered and active Web site, parked, redirected, registered with no Web site, on hold status, deleted and available or never registered. Details include the Web site title, description and keywords (generated from meta tags), number of listings in the Open Directory Project, availability via Yahoo, reverse IP look-up, IP address and more. This is an excellent utility for investigating domains and Web site ownership.
This utility queries over 1100 domain extensions to find the owner of a domain. While it claims to search partial, as well as complete, domain names, it did not process searches for partial names during our visit. The site provides a complete list of TLDs covered.
