Maps

All of the lecture notes prepared by Prof. Fisher for use in conjunction with CopyrightX are contained in two interactive “mind maps.”  The first of these maps summarizes the principal rules that constitute copyright law in the United States.  The second summarizes the main theories used by scholars to justify, criticize, or suggest modifications of those rules.

The maps are available in five formats:

• The “flash” versions are convenient, are available for free, and will open in most modern browsers (not including Safari), but cannot be modified by the user and cannot be viewed on iPads or other devices using the IOS operating system.
• The “native” versions were prepared using the Mindmanager mapping program.  They can thus of course be viewed and modified using Mindmanager, but they can also be imported into a variety of other programs.
• The “iThoughts” versions can be used in conjunction with the iThoughts application — which is inexpensive and compatible with the IOS operating system.
•  The “XMind” versions can be used and edited with the XMind application — which is both free and open-source.
• The “raw” versions consist of text files containing all of the information in the maps in traditional outline format.  They are intended for use by students who find the two-dimensional maps unhelpful and wish instead to build their own outlines.

Links providing access to the various versions are contained in the following chart:

How to use one of these maps:

• To expand and contract branches, click on the “+” and “-” buttons.
• The icons that look like sections of chain provide links (not surprisingly) to other documents. Some of those documents consist of statutes, treaties, or judicial opinions; others are slide presentations that examine cases or doctrines in more detail. Once you have explored one of those collateral documents to your satisfaction, close the browser window to return to the main map.

The maps and all of the collateral slide presentations are licensed under a Creative Commons License, the terms of which are available on the Permission page.

Caution: These maps do not aspire to be treatises; they are not comprehensive, and some of the interpretations they offer of current legal doctrine are controversial. Rather, they are designed to be used as teaching aids. To that end, they attempt to describe and organize the main rules and arguments in each field, paying particular attention to significant recent developments and to especially controversial or unstable issues.

If you make use of these maps and find flaws in them — broken links, errors that need to be corrected, gaps that need to be filled, or references to rules that have been superseded — please email William Fisher at  tfisher at copyx.org.