FALL 2008

Copyright Law

Course No. 9200 703 (and 803) 801	TuW 6:30-7:55 p.m.	Room L-134
Professor Jay Dratler, Jr.	Room 231D (IP Alcove)	(330) 972-7972	dratler@uakron.edu

Course Requirements and Policies

Electronic Communication and Examination

Attendance and Class Participation

Evaluation of Your Performance

Electronic Communication and Examination

All class information and assignments will be posted on this website. You should be comfortable enough with web "surfing" to navigate through this website, find what you want, save it on your hard drive and, if necessary, print it out. Please be sure to check the website when in doubt as to your assignment or any changes in the class schedule.

Some time-critical or urgent messages may be sent by e-mail. More important, you will receive your final examination from this website and will submit your answers by e-mail. During the first class session, you will be asked to specify one or more e-mail addresses for communication in this course. You should check the address(es) that you have specified for e-mail pertaining to this course at least twice per week, including once on the day before each class. To avoid last-minute panic regarding the final examination, please try to select e-mail addresses that will be valid for the entire semester.

Attendance and Class Participation

Copyright is a fun but conceptually difficult subject. While its basic, abstract principles are easy to summarize in a Gilbert's or similar outline, they are often difficult to understand and apply. Since the goal of this course is to give you a lawyer's understanding, this will not be a course for "back benchers." Diligent preparation and participation in class discussion will be expected and will affect your grade, as discussed below.

No more than twice during the semester, you may excuse yourself from class discussion and nevertheless attend class. You may exercise this option only by giving give me an "unprepared" note before class. Please use a full page for each such note. (Little slips of paper may get lost!). The note should contain (1) your printed name, (2) the date, (3) the words "I pass" or "unprepared," and (4) your signature.

Evaluation of Your Performance

Grades will be based primarily upon a written, e-mail "take home" examination. The examination will have a time limit (no more than four consecutive hours) and a word limit (no greater than 3,000 words) and will be designed to give no credit whatsoever to pre-prepared or "canned" passages. During the examination, you may consult any generally published material (including material on the Internet) and any material that you yourself have prepared. You may also use LEXIS, WESTLAW and other legal research aids. The following materials, however, should be sufficient for the examination and are strongly recommended as part of your learning process:

1) An outline or issues checklist that you have prepared, on a single letter-sized (8-1/2" x 11") sheet of paper, both sides; and

2) Your Casebook and Supplement, as well as your own printouts of supplementary reading, with your own annotations in the margins. The obvious purpose of recommending these materials and notifying you in advance is to encourage you to: (1) begin making an outline or other conceptual overview of the course as early as possible in the semester; and (2) annotate your reading materials in a way that will be useful for the examination and perhaps later in practice. "Pulling the course together" is best done periodically throughout the semester, not just before the final exam.

Your grade will not be based entirely upon the final examination. Your class performance, participation, and attendance also will count. At the semester's end, I will assess your overall class performance; those whose performance is consistently superior (typically from 10% to 30% of the class) will receive a one-step advance (for example, from B+ to A-, or from C to C+) in their examination grades. As is true in all my classes, quality will count more than quantity. Consistently helpful participation may boost your grade, but passing or "winging it" when called upon will count against you.


Copyright Law Home Page	Assigned Reading	Course Description
	FALL 2007 COURSES