Intellectual Property Rights in Digital Media: A Comparative Analysis of Legal Protection, Technological Measures, and New Business Models under EU and U.S. Law

The production of digital content is a phenomenon which has completely changed the conditions of access to knowledge. Within this framework it becomes even more important to find and to formulate a new settlement for intellectual property rights balancing contrasted rights. Owners of the old technology and policy makers have found two different solutions and remedies for intellectual property rights: legal and technological. When both remedies work together any rights that a consumer may have under copyright law could be replaced by a unilaterally defined contractual term and condition. To balance this inequity this article analyses different solutions under U.S. and E.U. law, with particular attention paid to the relationship between contract law and copyright law. Ultimately this article suggests seeing technological protection measures as a souped-up standard form contract, and demonstrates how some business models are able to solve the problem of safe diffusion of digital media

ITAL 223 Advanced Conversation in Italian

This course is designed to immerse students into the practice of Italian conversation and into the world of verbal performance. We will familiarize with the vocabulary, expressions and registers that Italians use to express themselves on radio and television, in newspapers, cafés, universities, offices, and on the streets. We will discuss cinema and music, politics and sports; we will learn how to navigate job interviews and interactions with strangers, both friendly and hostile. All the while, we will review and expand our vocabulary and grammatical competencies. Classroom activities include debates, skits, role-play scenarios, task-based scenarios, as well as more traditional close readings, presentations, and oral exams

Desinformación y derecho de autor: una coexistencia difícil

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Climate and landscape composition explain agronomic practices, pesticide use and grape yield in vineyards across Italy

Context Worldwide, organic farming is being promoted as one of the main alternatives to intensive conventional farming. However, the benefits of organic agriculture are still controversial and need to be tested across wide environmental gradients. Objective Here, we carried out an observational study to test how agronomic practices, pest management, environmental impact and yield of conventional and organic vineyards changed along wide climatic and landscape gradients across Italy. Methods We used a block design with 38 pairs of conventional and organic vineyards across Italy. Results and conclusions Most agronomic practices did not differ between conventional and organic vineyards. By contrast, landscape composition and climate were strong predictors of management in both systems. First, increasing semi-natural areas around the vineyards reduced pesticide pressure and related environmental impacts, but was also associated with lower yield. Second, irrespective of the farming system, a warm and dry climate was associated with reduced fungicide pressure. Conventional farming had a yield gain of 40% in cold and wet climate compared to organic but the yield gap disappeared in the warmest regions. Significance In both farming systems, we observed a large variability in management practices that was mainly explained by climate and landscape composition. This large variability should be considered when evaluating the benefits and drawbacks of different farming systems under contrasting environmental contexts