Larry Ribstein, Initial Reflections on the Law and Economics of Blogging by Larry Ribstein
Weblogs, or blogs, have proliferated and developed rapidly in recent years, and have attracted significant attention. Moreover, blogs have started to generate significant legal issues. Yet there is so far no coherent economic framework for addressing those issues. This article begins to develop such a framework. Building on blogs’ technical features, it identifies the unique aspects of blogs that should have legal ramifications. It then briefly applies this framework to a variety of legal issues.
Prof. Ribstein examines the legal effects of blogging and the journalists’ privilege, application of election laws, copyright and fair use, media ownership restrictions, defamation law, licensing laws, business organization issues.
