Courses
The Law School curriculum includes a number of courses related to law and media. Examples include:
• First Amendment: Students study the constitutional right of freedom of expression guaranteed by the First Amendment. Topics include conflicts between freedom of speech and national security; defamation and privacy; offensive and racist speech; obscenity and pornography; symbolic expression; commercial speech; regulation of campaign finance; Internet and broadcast regulation; restrictions on time, place, and manner of expression; freedom of the press; and freedom of association.
• Communications Law: This overview course addresses issues in broadcast, telephony, and cable regulation; including broadcasters' "public trustee" obligations, the digital television transition, media concentration, cable must-carry rules, and application of telephony-based rules to the Internet.
• Introduction to Intellectual Property: This course introduces the core doctrines of intellectual property, including trade secret, patent, copyright, and trademark. It considers the rationales for intellectual property protection, as well as the challenges posed to these rationales by the Internet and digital technology, open source innovation, social movements, and the expansion of intellectual property to the developing world.
• Cyberlaw: The digital world of cyberspace presents a host of novel legal questions. This course explores specific problems that arise in the context of applying law to cyberspace in areas such as intellectual property, jurisdiction, privacy, and content control.
• The Law of E-commerce: This course explores the novel legal issues arising from the conduct of business in cyberspace, including whether cyberspace should be regulated at all by governments; emerging doctrines related to personal jurisdiction, electronic contracting, intellectual property, privacy, spam, mobile commerce, and taxation.
• Access to Knowledge Practicum: Students work on projects that promote innovation and distributive justice through the reform of international intellectual property and telecommunications laws, treaties, and policies that shape the delivery of health care services, technology, telecommunications access, education, and culture around the globe.
• Information Privacy Law: This class examines information privacy law with a special emphasis on workplace privacy, and covers consumer privacy and information privacy as against "War on Terrorism" law enforcement demands.
In addition, law students may take courses outside the law school, often for credit toward their degree. A course in Yale College that may be of particular interest to students interested in law and media is:
• ENGL 467, Journalism: An intense workshop for those interested in understanding the changing role of journalism in the new century and in learning the art of journalism – either because they want to pursue careers as journalists or because they want a better sense of how journalism really works. Topics include the definition of journalism, the changing nature of journalism in the Information Age, and the role of journalism in a democracy and in a free market and an introduction to the economics of journalism and how (or if) the high purpose of journalism can con-exist with the need to compete and be economically viable.
• First Amendment: Students study the constitutional right of freedom of expression guaranteed by the First Amendment. Topics include conflicts between freedom of speech and national security; defamation and privacy; offensive and racist speech; obscenity and pornography; symbolic expression; commercial speech; regulation of campaign finance; Internet and broadcast regulation; restrictions on time, place, and manner of expression; freedom of the press; and freedom of association.• Communications Law: This overview course addresses issues in broadcast, telephony, and cable regulation; including broadcasters' "public trustee" obligations, the digital television transition, media concentration, cable must-carry rules, and application of telephony-based rules to the Internet.
• Introduction to Intellectual Property: This course introduces the core doctrines of intellectual property, including trade secret, patent, copyright, and trademark. It considers the rationales for intellectual property protection, as well as the challenges posed to these rationales by the Internet and digital technology, open source innovation, social movements, and the expansion of intellectual property to the developing world.
• Cyberlaw: The digital world of cyberspace presents a host of novel legal questions. This course explores specific problems that arise in the context of applying law to cyberspace in areas such as intellectual property, jurisdiction, privacy, and content control.
• The Law of E-commerce: This course explores the novel legal issues arising from the conduct of business in cyberspace, including whether cyberspace should be regulated at all by governments; emerging doctrines related to personal jurisdiction, electronic contracting, intellectual property, privacy, spam, mobile commerce, and taxation.
• Access to Knowledge Practicum: Students work on projects that promote innovation and distributive justice through the reform of international intellectual property and telecommunications laws, treaties, and policies that shape the delivery of health care services, technology, telecommunications access, education, and culture around the globe.
• Information Privacy Law: This class examines information privacy law with a special emphasis on workplace privacy, and covers consumer privacy and information privacy as against "War on Terrorism" law enforcement demands.
In addition, law students may take courses outside the law school, often for credit toward their degree. A course in Yale College that may be of particular interest to students interested in law and media is:
• ENGL 467, Journalism: An intense workshop for those interested in understanding the changing role of journalism in the new century and in learning the art of journalism – either because they want to pursue careers as journalists or because they want a better sense of how journalism really works. Topics include the definition of journalism, the changing nature of journalism in the Information Age, and the role of journalism in a democracy and in a free market and an introduction to the economics of journalism and how (or if) the high purpose of journalism can con-exist with the need to compete and be economically viable.