Legal Issues?

[Mr_Dove]

I'm mostly a lurker here and I hang out a bit on the beginner board. I'm also a law student though.

I have a class in computer and internet law (patent and copyright law as applied to computer and internet) this semester in which I have the chance to write a short informative paper for some extra credit. I thought that this might be a good place to ask for a few topic ideas.

I know that legal issues crop up here at times and some folks have strong opinions on them.

So, what might be an interesting topic for a paper in this field?

[adam]

That's easy, do it on either the ebay v. mercExchange case or, if the paper needs to be longer, on several of the other patent cases going before the supreme court this session. 2006 is the biggest year in patent law that we've had in 40 years. There are several major patent cases going before the Sup. Ct. that could have substantial impact on software and business method patents and the time is particularly ripe for change since we've got two new judges on the court and the whole swing vote system that we had with O'Connor is now gone.

[setarip_old]

@Mr_Dove

What country's laws will your paper be based on?

[LordRPI]

Law student? Statistics would say USA'n :P