Berkeley Center for Law & Technology

Berkeley Center for Law & Technology
Name	Berkeley Center for Law & Technology
Established	1996
Type	Research center
Affiliation	University of California, Berkeley
Location	Berkeley, California

Contents

Berkeley Center for Law & Technology is an interdisciplinary research and educational center at University of California, Berkeley focused on intellectual property and technology law within legal practice, policy, and academia. The center connects scholars, practitioners, policymakers, and students drawn from institutions such as Stanford Law School, Harvard Law School, Yale Law School, Columbia Law School, and international organizations including World Intellectual Property Organization and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. It engages with regulatory developments involving entities like Federal Communications Commission, United States Patent and Trademark Office, European Commission, and judicial bodies such as the United States Supreme Court and European Court of Justice.

History

The center emerged in the context of debates sparked by landmark matters including Sony Corp. of America v. Universal City Studios, Inc., Napster, and the expansion of Internet commerce during the 1990s, alongside institutional initiatives at University of California, Berkeley and initiatives linked to Berkeley Law. Early collaborators included faculty with connections to Harvard University, Princeton University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Yale University, and legal practitioners active in cases before the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Over time the center addressed policy questions raised by statutes and directives such as the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, the European Union Copyright Directive, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and legislative proposals debated in the United States Congress. Its evolution tracked technological shifts involving firms and platforms like Microsoft Corporation, Apple Inc., Google LLC, Facebook, Inc., Amazon.com, Inc., and developments in standards bodies including Internet Engineering Task Force and World Wide Web Consortium.

The center’s mission intersects with regulatory, doctrinal, and design challenges confronted by actors including Senate Judiciary Committee, House Judiciary Committee, Federal Trade Commission, and international tribunals such as the World Trade Organization dispute settlement bodies. Programs examine intersections with frameworks like TRIPS Agreement, Berne Convention, Patent Cooperation Treaty, and national regimes administered by agencies such as United States Customs and Border Protection and United States Department of Justice. Initiatives frequently reference research funded by foundations and organizations such as the MacArthur Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, Ford Foundation, Open Society Foundations, and partnerships with corporate labs at IBM Research, Microsoft Research, Google Research, and Meta Platforms, Inc..

Scholars affiliated with the center produce research on topics reflected in cases and literature involving Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank International, Mayo Collaborative Services v. Prometheus Laboratories, Inc., Google LLC v. Oracle America, Inc., Authors Guild v. Google, Inc., and regulatory rulemakings from Federal Communications Commission and Securities and Exchange Commission. Research outputs engage with scholarship from journals tied to Harvard Law Review, Yale Law Journal, Columbia Law Review, Stanford Law Review, and interdisciplinary outlets connected to Communications of the ACM and Nature. Projects address technical interfaces with standards and institutions such as IEEE Standards Association, ICANN, European Telecommunications Standards Institute, and empirical work referencing datasets from Internet Archive and initiatives like Project Gutenberg.

The center provides curricular and co-curricular opportunities integrated with programs at Boalt Hall, clinics resembling models from Harvard Clinical Program, externships with agencies like United States Patent and Trademark Office and courts including the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and internships at firms such as Morrison & Foerster LLP, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, Kirkland & Ellis LLP, and public interest groups like Electronic Frontier Foundation and Public Knowledge. Students engage with moot court competitions such as Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition and technology policy fellowships modeled after programs from Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society and Stanford Center for Internet and Society.

The center organizes colloquia, symposia, and conferences that bring speakers from institutions like U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, Supreme Court of California, European Court of Human Rights, and organizations including World Bank, International Monetary Fund, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, and industry consortia such as Internet Association. Past events have featured panels on litigation exemplars like Matal v. Tam, MGM Studios, Inc. v. Grokster, Ltd., policy rounds with regulators from Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Commerce, and technical briefings referencing work by DARPA and National Science Foundation.

Faculty and alumni linked to the center include scholars and practitioners who have held appointments or clerked for courts such as the United States Supreme Court, worked with firms including Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, served in government roles at United States Department of Justice and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, or contributed to landmark decisions and legislation like the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and Patent Reform Act of 2011. Alumni have joined institutions including Google LLC, Apple Inc., Facebook, Inc., Microsoft Corporation, European Commission, World Intellectual Property Organization, Public Knowledge, Electronic Frontier Foundation, and academic posts at Harvard Law School, Yale Law School, Stanford Law School, Columbia Law School, and New York University School of Law.