Troubled Times at Upturn Records: Getting Traditional Legal Concepts to Dance to the New Online Beat

• Date: 01 September 2004
• Published date: 01 September 2004
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1744-1722.2004.00009.x

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Troubled Times at Upturn Records:

Getting Traditional Legal Concepts to

Dance to the New Online Beat

Robert C. Bird

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, Lucille M. Ponte

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, Gerald R. Ferrera

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, and

Stephen D. Lichtenstein

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INTRODUCTION

Employment Discrimination. Personal Jurisdiction. First Amendment.

Copyright. All of these topics are commonly taught in many legal envi-

ronment and business law courses. Law faculty often seek to find new and

interesting vehicles for helping their students to better understand and

critically analyze these traditional legal concepts. Today’s college students

are daily users of e-mail, chat rooms, bulletin board services, file-sharing

programs, point-and-click online shopping, and instant and text messag-

ing. Through these various online options, students can collect and share

information, shop in a global marketplace, trade jokes or swap music with

friends, family, and coworkers online. Students are readily able to relate to

current disputes regarding downloading free music, sending offensive

e-mails, viewing online pornography, and getting sued in a global mar-

ketplace. This article introduces a hypothetical case study, Troubled Times at

Upturn Records, with relevant cyberlaw cases that can aid faculty in engag-

ing students who have grown up in an online world to critically think about

and analyze tried and true legal concepts. In examining the hypothetical

1

The Journal of Legal Studies Education

Volume 22, Issue 1, 1–38, Summer/Fall 2004

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Assistant Professor, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT.

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Associate Professor, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL (on leave from Bentley

College).

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Professor of Law & Gregory H. Adamian Professor of Law, Bentley College, Waltham, MA.

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Professor of Law & Chair, Bentley College, Waltham, MA. All Web sites in the text are

current as of August 9, 2004.

case study and these current cyberlaw cases, faculty can integrate tradi-

tional legal environment and business law concepts with contemporary le-

gal problems in the online world, such as electronic discovery in an

employment law matter, freedom of speech under the First Amendment

as regards virtual child pornography, P2P file sharing under copyright law,

and personal jurisdiction in a global marketplace. In the context of the case

study and cyberlaw cases, this article will provide pedagogical guides on

each topic and useful Web sites to aid in class discussions and assignments.

THE CASE STUDY AND CYBERLAW:

AP

EDAGOGICAL SYNERGY

As society and educational institutions respond to the demands of new

technologies, lawteachers have responded swiftly to developments in cyber-

law and have taken steps to integrate cyberlaw topics in their classes. Articles

have appeared in the Journal of Legal Studies Education examining the im-

plementation of a cyberlaw course

1

or the use of online concepts in legal

environment and business law courses.

2

A number of textbooks either di-

rectly address cyberlaw

3

or integrate online topicsinto traditional law texts.

4

Recognizing the importance of cyberlaw in modern law courses, this article

will introduce several key court decisions dealing with traditional law con-

cepts in the context of the rapidly changing online world. Coupling actual

court decisions in the dynamic field of cyberlaw with the traditional tool of a

case study can provide a catalyst for improving student critical analysis and

reasoning in business law and legal environment courses.

1

Gerald R. Ferrera, Stephen D. Lichtenstein & Margo E.K. Reder,Developing and Implementing

a Cyberlaw Course,17J.L

EGAL STUD.EDUC. 201 (1999).

2

See, e.g., Linda Samuels & Richard Coffinberger,An Internet Based L egal EnvironmentResearch

and Advocacy Writing Project,21J.LEGAL STUD.EDUC. 181 (2003); Carolyn Hotchkiss, Web Site

Creation as an Active Learning Strategy in Business Law Cases,20J.LEGAL STUD.EDUC. 235 (2002);

Nancy J. King & Gail A. Lasprogata, What’s in a Domain Name? Online Simulation and Virtual

Dispute Resolution for Business Law Students,20J.L

EGAL STUD.EDUC. 157 (2002).

3

See, e.g., GERALD R. FERRERA ET AL., CYBERLAW:TEXT AND CASES (2d ed. 2003); ROY J. GIRASA,

CYBERLAW:NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVES (2002).

4

See, e.g., HENRY R. CHEESEMAN,BUSINESS LAW,ETHICAL INTERNATIONAL & E-COMMERCE

ENVIRONMENT (4th ed. 2001); MARIANNE M. JENNINGS,BUSINESS,ITS LEGAL,ETHICAL,&

GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT (6th ed. 2002); ROGER LEROY MILLER &FRANK B. CROSS,THE LEGAL

AND E-COMMERCE ENVIRONMENT TODAY (3d ed. 2002).

2 Vol. 22 / The Journal of Legal Studies Education