Course
Overview
This course is dedicated to legal challenges
posed by online platforms (eg YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Amazon). The focus lies
on the liability of platform providers for infringing user uploads, automated
enforcement tools (upload filters) and the lack of transparency that arises in
a platform environment. At the center of the lectures are current approaches by
the European legislature to address these challenges.
Course
Outline
The course
consists of 5 meetings. They are structured as follows:
Meeting
1: Introduction to
the course and to legal challenges posed by online platforms (Monday 20.11.2023,
16:00–17:40, 041)
Meeting 2: Liability of platform providers
for copyright infringing uploads (Tuesday 21.11.2023, 16:00–17:40, 041)
Meeting 3: Upload Filters and approaches to mitigating risks of overblocking (Tuesday 21.11.2023, 18:00–19:40, 041)
Meeting 4: Liability of platform providers for trademark infringements (Wednesday 22.11.2023, 16:00–17:40, 041)
Meeting
5: Transparency of
rankings and search results (Wednesday 22.11.2023, 18:00–19:40, 041)
Preparation
and materials
The
classroom sessions will consist of a mixture of lectures and discussions. All
students are highly encouraged to participate in these discussions. To be able
to engage, reading the assigned materials before each class will be helpful. In
addition, a list of questions is available for each unit.
Further Readings for the Lectures
Frosio (ed), Oxford Handbook of Online Intermediary Liability, Chapters 1 and 15-20
Perel/Elkin-Koren, Accountability in Algorithmic Copyright Enforcement, 19 Stanford Technology Law Review 2016, 473
Examination
The final lecture will conclude with a multiple-choice test. All organizational issues including the mode of
assessment will be discussed at the beginning of the first meeting.