Digital Law Online: Introduction

Table of Contents:

- Introduction

Foreword

Preface to the printed version

Full treatise table of contents

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Introduction to the online version

Welcome to the online version of my treatise, “Legal Protection of Digital Information.” This online version contains all the text of the printed version, published by BNA Books, except for the appendices containing excerpts from the statutes (which are available by clicking on the link in the footnote), tables of cases and statutes, the index, and my biography. I’ve updated the material to make the corrections indicated in the errata to the printed version.

I have divided the material for the online version differently than the hierarchy of headings and subheadings in the printed version, to try to make the web pages for some topics be of a more reasonable size. I’ve also created an active table of contents on the left side of each page. If you click on any entry in the table of contents, you’ll be taken there. And if there are many parts to that entry, such as the one for “Software Copyrights,” the table of contents expands to show you those parts when you click on the major topic entry.

There is also a complete table of contents, with links to the section in this online version. You can find a link to it at the end of the abbreviated table of contents to the left of each page.

I’ve moved the footnote text so that it appears at the point where the little raised footnote number would be. Many footnote entries have hypertext links to the document referenced in the footnote. Eventually, all of them will. For browsers that support it, the footnotes have been grayed so they are easier to skip over when reading the text, and the hypertext links have been hidden. You’ll see them change color or the cursor change whenever you position over them.

The treatise quotes extensively from primary material such as court decisions. The hypertext link in the footnote following a quotation from a court decision not only takes you to the decision, but I’ve highlighted the quoted passage in the decision so that you can see any citations that have been omitted to make the quote easier to read and see the quoted passage in its context. In the next few months, I’ll be doing the same for quotations from congressional reports.

For subscribers to BNA's online Intellectual Property Library, which contains the cases from 68 USPQ through the current volume of USPQ2d, I have included hyptertext links in the cases that will take you to the cited case or page. After you click on the link, you will be asked your user name and password. For more information about BNA's online Intellectual Property Library or to get a free trial subscription, click here.

In addition to the many people who helped me with the printed treatise, some of whom are mentioned in its preface, there are two people who deserve special thanks for their help developing this online version. My good friend Steve McRea designed the graphics for the pages on this web site. Simple things add greatly. And my son, Mark Hollaar, was invaluable in helping me highlight the quotations.

I hope that you enjoy this online version and find it useful. You can find out more about it in the Preface section. But before going there, take a minute to look at the copyright and other important information, by clicking on the link just below.