Digital Content and the Creative Economy (LAW450H1F)

This course will examine the legal and policy issues that are challenging the producers and distributors of digital works in the entertainment, new media and software industries. The course will move beyond the black letter law to allow students to critically examine the socio-economic policy debates involving intellectual property rights in the digital economy. Course topics will include: the effects of digital rights management technologies on the dissemination of creative content and user rights; open source software and other forms of massively distributed peer production; Canada’s implementation of the WIPO Internet treaties; net neutrality; and, the movement away from market-based compensation to collective licensing levies. The course will focus on the Canadian context, but will also draw heavily on international developments, particularly in the US and EU.