Casebook 2.0


I’m very happy to announce that the second edition of my casebook, Internet Law: Cases and Problems is now available from Semaphore Press. Like the first edition, it’s a DRM-free pay-what-you-want PDF download with a suggested price of $30. But your dollar goes even further now: the second edition has almost a hundred pages of new material. Here is the complete table of contents and here are some of the highlights of the new version:

  • Twenty new cases, including recent landmarks like United States v. Doe on Fifth Amendment protection for passwords and Viacom v. YouTube on eligibility for the Section 512 safe harbor.
  • Six new problems, with challenges such as designing a lolcat generator’s DMCA policy and finessing the extradition of a copyright infringement defendant.
  • A revamped Speech chapter, with sections on what qualifies as “speech” online (covering Facebook likes, computer source code, and bloggers as journalists) and on hamrful speech (covering linking liability, harassment, and cyberbulying).
  • A new section on virtual property that considers domain names, theft of information, and items in online games.
  • A new section on “New Frontiers in Copyright Enforcement” that discusses YouTube’s Content ID system as a private alternative to the DMCA, the Copyright Alert graduated response system, and domain-name seizures.
  • Expanded use of legal materials beyond just appellate case reports: more statutory text, pleadings, contracts, and FAQs.

As an experiment, we’re also offering a bound version through Lulu.com. That said, I and my publisher encourage you to save trees and buy the electronic version instead. As always, I welcome your comments and suggestions on the book.


Are you going to release a mobi or epub version?


Let me discuss the question with my publisher. My guess is that producing an ePub version will be easy, but that the quality may suffer in the transition.