Contracts as technology

New York University Law Review

Volumn 88, Issue 1, 2013, Pages 83-127

  Davis, Kevin E ^a  

^a NEW YORK UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 84883191955     PISSN: 00287881     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Note

References (184)

1. See William Easterly, The Elusive Quest for Growth: Economists' Adventures and Misadventures in the Tropics 172 (2001) ("Technological change is indeed a powerful force behind economic growth, which is all about creating new goods and new technologies. ").
2. For seminal works, see Joseph Schumpeter, The Theory of Economic Development: An Inquiry into Profits, Capital, Credit, Interest, and the Business Cycle (1934) (developing a theory in which innovation is central to economic development)
3. Robert M. Solow, Technical Change and the Aggregate Production Function, 39 Rev. Econ. & Stat. 312, 320 (1957) (concluding that technical change as opposed to capital accumulation was the principal source of change in labor productivity in the United States from 1909-1949).
4. Stephen C. Yeazell, Brown, The Civil Rights Movement, and the Silent Litigation Revolution, 57 Vand. L. Rev. 1975, 1977-85 (2004).
5. Ronald J. Gilson, Charles F. Sabel, & Robert E. Scott, Contract, Uncertainty, and Innovation, in Rules for Growth: Promoting Innovation and Growth Through Legal Reform 223, 228 (2011) [hereinafter Gilson, Sabel & Scott, Contract, Uncertainty, and Innovation].
6. See, e.g., Joel Mokyr, The Gifts of Athena: Historical Origins of the Knowledge Economy 2-3 (2002) (defining technology as "useful knowledge"of "natural phenomena that exclude the human mind and social institutions"). The Oxford English Dictionary defines technology as "[t]he branch of knowledge that deals with the mechanical arts or applied sciences. " 2 The New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary 3235 (Lesley Brown ed., 1993).
7. Stephen C. Yeazell, Brown, The Civil Rights Movement, and the Silent Litigation Revolution, 57 Vand. L. Rev. 1975, 1977-85 (2004).
8. Stephen C. Yeazell, Brown, The Civil Rights Movement, and the Silent Litigation Revolution, 57 Vand. L. Rev. 1975, 1977-85 (2004).
9. See generally Charles J. Goetz & Robert E. Scott, The Limits of Expanded Choice: An Analysis of the Interactions Between Express and Implied Contract Terms, 73 Calif. L. Rev. 261 (1985) (focusing on the tensions between express and implied terms, and the implications for contractual innovations).
10. Key contributions to the legal literature include: Stephen J. Choi & G. Mitu Gulati, Innovation in Boilerplate Contracts: An Empirical Examination of Sovereign Bonds, 53 Emory L.J. 929, 982-89 (2004) (analyzing innovation in sovereign bonds between 1995 and 2004).
11. Stephen C. Yeazell, Brown, The Civil Rights Movement, and the Silent Litigation Revolution, 57 Vand. L. Rev. 1975, 1977-85 (2004).
12. A rare example of a study focused on user innovation is Florencia Marotta-Wurgler & Robert Taylor, Set in Stone? Change and Innovation in Consumer Standard Form Contracts, 88 N.Y.U. L. Rev. 240 (2013) (examining the innovation in consumer standard form contracts over seven years).
13. Benjamin Kaplan, Prefatory Note, "The Class Action-A Symposium, " 10 B.C. Indus. & Com. L. Rev. 497, 497 (1969) (expressing the views of the Advisory Committee's Reporter).
14. I have explored the role of trade associations in drafting contracts in earlier work. See Kevin E. Davis, The Role of Nonprofits in the Production of Boilerplate, 104 Mich. L. Rev. 1075, 1078-81 (2006) (describing and explaining the roles that trade associations play in drafting standard form contracts).
15. Stephen C. Yeazell, Brown, The Civil Rights Movement, and the Silent Litigation Revolution, 57 Vand. L. Rev. 1975, 1977-85 (2004).
16. On user innovation, see Eric von Hippel, Democratizing Innovation 2 (2005), arguing that user innovation complements the traditional model of manufacturer innovation. For an overview of the respective roles of for-profit firms, universities, and the government in funding and conducting research and development, see Suzanne Scotchmer, Innovation and Incentives 227-58 (2006), who contends that the private sector is only one of many drivers of growth.
17. Stephen C. Yeazell, Brown, The Civil Rights Movement, and the Silent Litigation Revolution, 57 Vand. L. Rev. 1975, 1977-85 (2004).
18. Ronald J. Gilson, Charles F. Sabel, & Robert E. Scott, Contract, Uncertainty, and Innovation, in Rules for Growth: Promoting Innovation and Growth Through Legal Reform 223, 228 (2011) [hereinafter Gilson, Sabel & Scott, Contract, Uncertainty, and Innovation].
19. Stephen C. Yeazell, Brown, The Civil Rights Movement, and the Silent Litigation Revolution, 57 Vand. L. Rev. 1975, 1977-85 (2004).
20. See Kevin E. Davis, Interpreting Boilerplate 5 (N.Y.U. Law & Econ. Research Paper Series, Working Paper No. 10-21, 2010), available at http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers. cfm?abstract_id=1618925 (providing a formal model premised on this conception).
21. Stephen C. Yeazell, Brown, The Civil Rights Movement, and the Silent Litigation Revolution, 57 Vand. L. Rev. 1975, 1977-85 (2004).
22. Stephen C. Yeazell, Brown, The Civil Rights Movement, and the Silent Litigation Revolution, 57 Vand. L. Rev. 1975, 1977-85 (2004).
23. Stephen C. Yeazell, Brown, The Civil Rights Movement, and the Silent Litigation Revolution, 57 Vand. L. Rev. 1975, 1977-85 (2004).
24. See Benjamin E. Hermalin, Avery W. Katz & Richard Craswell, Contract Law, in 1 The Handbook of Law and Economics 3, 7-12 (A. Mitchell Polinsky & Steven Shavell eds., 2007) (explaining how contracts create valuable incentives to follow through on commitments but specification costs and enforcement costs limit that value).
25. Stephen C. Yeazell, Brown, The Civil Rights Movement, and the Silent Litigation Revolution, 57 Vand. L. Rev. 1975, 1977-85 (2004).
26. Benjamin C. Esty, Why Study Large Projects? An Introduction to Research on Project Finance, 10 Eur. Fin. Mgmt. 213, 216 (2004).
27. Benjamin C. Esty, Why Study Large Projects? An Introduction to Research on Project Finance, 10 Eur. Fin. Mgmt. 213, 216 (2004).
28. Enforcing Contracts, World Bank, http://www.doingbusiness.org/data/explore topics/enforcing-contracts (last visited Jan. 30, 2013).
29. See Oliver E. Williamson, Markets and Hierarchies: Analysis and Antitrust Implications (1975) (describing the use of hierarchical organizations as a response to the costs of market transactions).
30. Stephen C. Yeazell, Brown, The Civil Rights Movement, and the Silent Litigation Revolution, 57 Vand. L. Rev. 1975, 1977-85 (2004).
31. Creative Commons is a non-profit organization that has created a series of copyright licenses that are an attempt to develop the copyright spectrum between the end points of "public domain" and "all rights reserved. " See About, Creative Commons, http:// creativecommons.org/about (last visited Jan. 30, 2013) (describing Creative Commons and its vision).
32. For descriptions of users of Creative Commons licenses, including Al Jazeera, Google, and the White House, see Who Uses CC?, Creative Commons, http:// creativecommons.org/who-uses-cc/ (last visited Jan. 30, 2013).
33. See J. David Cummins & Olivier Mahul, Catastrophe Risk Financing in Developing Countries: Principles for Public Intervention 211-18, 222-35 (2009) (describing the structure of catastrophe bonds as well as the development of the market).
34. Benjamin Kaplan, Prefatory Note, "The Class Action-A Symposium, " 10 B.C. Indus. & Com. L. Rev. 497, 497 (1969) (expressing the views of the Advisory Committee's Reporter).
35. Ronald J. Gilson, Charles F. Sabel, & Robert E. Scott, Contract, Uncertainty, and Innovation, in Rules for Growth: Promoting Innovation and Growth Through Legal Reform 223, 228 (2011) [hereinafter Gilson, Sabel & Scott, Contract, Uncertainty, and Innovation].
36. Christopher R. Drahozal, Arbitration Costs and Forum Accessibility: Empirical Evidence, 41 U. Mich. J.L. Reform 813, 815-16, 826-32 (2008) (surveying data suggesting that the relative costs of arbitration and judicial proceedings depend on context).
37. But see Theodore Eisenberg, Geoffrey P. Miller & Emily Sherwin, Arbitration's Summer Soldiers: An Empirical Study of Arbitration Clauses in Consumer and Nonconsumer Contracts, 41 U. Mich. J.L. Reform 871, 890-93 (2008) (setting forth data questioning the assumption that businesses prefer arbitration to litigation).
38. Stephen C. Yeazell, Brown, The Civil Rights Movement, and the Silent Litigation Revolution, 57 Vand. L. Rev. 1975, 1977-85 (2004).
39. Stephen C. Yeazell, Brown, The Civil Rights Movement, and the Silent Litigation Revolution, 57 Vand. L. Rev. 1975, 1977-85 (2004).
40. Am. Inst. of Architects, AIA Document A201-2007: General Conditions of the Contract for Construction, § 3.7.5, available at http://www.admin.state.mn.us/ recs/cs/contracts/AIA%20201%20General%20Conditions%201997%20Edition.pdf.
41. Benjamin Kaplan, Prefatory Note, "The Class Action-A Symposium, " 10 B.C. Indus. & Com. L. Rev. 497, 497 (1969) (expressing the views of the Advisory Committee's Reporter).
42. Benjamin Kaplan, Prefatory Note, "The Class Action-A Symposium, " 10 B.C. Indus. & Com. L. Rev. 497, 497 (1969) (expressing the views of the Advisory Committee's Reporter).
43. See Am. Inst. of Architects, AIA Document Comparative: A201-2007 Compared to A201-1997, §§ 2.2.2, 3.7.4-5, 4.3.4, http://www.aia.org/aiaucmp/groups/aia/ documents/pdf/aias076821.pdf (last visited Jan. 30, 2013).
44. But see Lynn R. Axelroth & W. Alexander Moseley, Owners' and Contractors' Commentaries on Problem Profusions, 28 Construction Law., no. 2, Spring 2008, at 26, 29 (arguing that the new provision, § 3.7.5, was unnecessary and introduces confusion). A more commonplace example of a clause that reduces the probability of costly disputes is a choice-of-forum clause.
45. Stephen C. Yeazell, Brown, The Civil Rights Movement, and the Silent Litigation Revolution, 57 Vand. L. Rev. 1975, 1977-85 (2004).
46. See Ont. Ass'n of Chiefs of Police, Green Tide: Indoor Marihuana Cultivation and its Impact on Ontario 2, 29 (2003), available at http://www.ontla.on. ca/library/Repository/monoth/3000/10317711.pdf (describing the growth and social problems associated with grow ops in Ontario).
47. Luke I. Johnson & J. David Miller, Consequences of Large-Scale Production of Marijuana in Residential Buildings, 21 Indoor & Built Env't 595, 598-99 (2012) (discussing the potential structural damage and health risks from moisture, mold, chemical residues, and illegal wiring).
48. Stephen C. Yeazell, Brown, The Civil Rights Movement, and the Silent Litigation Revolution, 57 Vand. L. Rev. 1975, 1977-85 (2004).
49. Stephen C. Yeazell, Brown, The Civil Rights Movement, and the Silent Litigation Revolution, 57 Vand. L. Rev. 1975, 1977-85 (2004).
50. Government Relations Issue Update: Marijuana Grow Houses, Toronto Real Estate Bd. (Jan. 2011), http://www.torontorealestateboard.com/about_treb/lobbying/ issues/pdf/grissues_grow-ops0111.pdf (describing realtors' efforts to have grow house clauses added to standard agreements of purchase and sale). In British Columbia, realtors added a question about whether the property had been used as a grow op to the province's standard pre-contractual disclosure statement. Press Release, B.C. Real Estate Ass'n, Grow-Ops Added to Property Disclosure (Feb. 20, 2004), available at http://www.bcrea.bc. ca/docs/news-2004/2004-02-20-pds-release-final.pdf.
51. See David Horton, The Shadow Terms: Contract Procedure and Unilateral Amendments, 57 UCLA L. Rev. 605, 619-45 (2010) (tracing the historical development of contractual procedural terms).
52. See Southland Corp. v. Keating, 465 U.S. 1, 8 (1984) (holding that the U.S. Supreme Court had jurisdiction to decide whether the Federal Arbitration Act preempted state law voiding arbitration clauses).
53. Stephen C. Yeazell, Brown, The Civil Rights Movement, and the Silent Litigation Revolution, 57 Vand. L. Rev. 1975, 1977-85 (2004).
54. 539 U.S. 444, 451-53 (2003).
55. Stephen C. Yeazell, Brown, The Civil Rights Movement, and the Silent Litigation Revolution, 57 Vand. L. Rev. 1975, 1977-85 (2004).
56. Ronald J. Gilson, Charles F. Sabel, & Robert E. Scott, Contract, Uncertainty, and Innovation, in Rules for Growth: Promoting Innovation and Growth Through Legal Reform 223, 228 (2011) [hereinafter Gilson, Sabel & Scott, Contract, Uncertainty, and Innovation].
57. Dale, 498 F.3d at 1224 ("Without the benefit of a class action mechanism, the subscribers would effectively be precluded from suing Comcast. ").
58. See, e.g., Firchow v. Citibank, No. B187081, 2007 WL 64763, at *1-2 (Cal. Ct. App. Jan. 10, 2007) (describing Citibank's modification of a cardholder agreement that inserted a ban on class arbitration but gave its credit card customers twenty-five days to opt out by rejecting the waiver and continuing to use the card pursuant to pre-modification terms until the card expired).
59. Stephen C. Yeazell, Brown, The Civil Rights Movement, and the Silent Litigation Revolution, 57 Vand. L. Rev. 1975, 1977-85 (2004).
60. 131 S. Ct. 1740, 1748-52 (2011) (holding that a state law doctrine used to invalidate a class arbitration waiver was preempted by the Federal Arbitration Act).
61. For an apocalyptic analysis of the implications of advances in nuclear technology, biotechnology, and nanotechnology, see Bill Joy, Why the Future Doesn't Need Us, Wired, Apr. 2000, at 238, available at http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/8.04/joy.html.
62. See Oren Bar-Gill & Kevin Davis, Empty Promises, 84 S. Cal. L. Rev. 1, 19 (2010) (noting incentives for firms to propose modifications that reduce consumers' welfare).
63. For literature on the social costs and benefits of financial innovations, see Peter H. Huang, A Normative Analysis of New Financially Engineered Derivatives, 73 S. Cal. L. Rev. 471, 491-503 (2000) (discussing the social costs and benefits of financial innovation).
64. See, e.g., Kevin E. Davis & Helen Hershkoff, Contracting for Procedure, 53 Wm. & Mary L. Rev. 507, 541-46 (2011) (arguing that procedural provisions such as class waivers can generate negative externalities).
65. Benjamin Kaplan, Prefatory Note, "The Class Action-A Symposium, " 10 B.C. Indus. & Com. L. Rev. 497, 497 (1969) (expressing the views of the Advisory Committee's Reporter).
66. Stephen C. Yeazell, Brown, The Civil Rights Movement, and the Silent Litigation Revolution, 57 Vand. L. Rev. 1975, 1977-85 (2004).
67. Stephen C. Yeazell, Brown, The Civil Rights Movement, and the Silent Litigation Revolution, 57 Vand. L. Rev. 1975, 1977-85 (2004).
68. Stephen C. Yeazell, Brown, The Civil Rights Movement, and the Silent Litigation Revolution, 57 Vand. L. Rev. 1975, 1977-85 (2004).
69. Stephen C. Yeazell, Brown, The Civil Rights Movement, and the Silent Litigation Revolution, 57 Vand. L. Rev. 1975, 1977-85 (2004).
70. The concept of reading costs and their significance are discussed in Eric Bennett Rasmusen, Explaining Incomplete Contracts as the Result of Contract-Reading Costs, 1 Advances Econ. Analysis & Pol'y, at art. 2 (2001).
71. See also Abraham L. Wickelgren, Standardization as a Solution to the Reading Costs of Form Contracts, 167 J. Inst. & Theoretical Econ. 30 (2011) (explaining how standard form documents reduced reading costs).
72. Stephen C. Yeazell, Brown, The Civil Rights Movement, and the Silent Litigation Revolution, 57 Vand. L. Rev. 1975, 1977-85 (2004).
73. Stephen C. Yeazell, Brown, The Civil Rights Movement, and the Silent Litigation Revolution, 57 Vand. L. Rev. 1975, 1977-85 (2004).
74. Stephen C. Yeazell, Brown, The Civil Rights Movement, and the Silent Litigation Revolution, 57 Vand. L. Rev. 1975, 1977-85 (2004).
75. Stephen C. Yeazell, Brown, The Civil Rights Movement, and the Silent Litigation Revolution, 57 Vand. L. Rev. 1975, 1977-85 (2004).
76. Stephen C. Yeazell, Brown, The Civil Rights Movement, and the Silent Litigation Revolution, 57 Vand. L. Rev. 1975, 1977-85 (2004).
77. Ronald J. Gilson, Charles F. Sabel, & Robert E. Scott, Contract, Uncertainty, and Innovation, in Rules for Growth: Promoting Innovation and Growth Through Legal Reform 223, 228 (2011) [hereinafter Gilson, Sabel & Scott, Contract, Uncertainty, and Innovation].
78. Stephen C. Yeazell, Brown, The Civil Rights Movement, and the Silent Litigation Revolution, 57 Vand. L. Rev. 1975, 1977-85 (2004).
79. Stephen C. Yeazell, Brown, The Civil Rights Movement, and the Silent Litigation Revolution, 57 Vand. L. Rev. 1975, 1977-85 (2004).
80. See Oliver E. Williamson, Calculativeness, Trust, and Economic Organization, 36 J.L. & Econ. 453, 475-79 (1993) (discussing how cultural factors may induce trust).
81. Ronald J. Gilson, Charles F. Sabel, & Robert E. Scott, Contract, Uncertainty, and Innovation, in Rules for Growth: Promoting Innovation and Growth Through Legal Reform 223, 228 (2011) [hereinafter Gilson, Sabel & Scott, Contract, Uncertainty, and Innovation].
82. See Florencia Marotta-Wurgler, Are "Pay Now, Terms Later" Contracts Worse for Buyers? Evidence from Software License Agreements, 38 J. Legal Stud. 309, 312 (2009) (finding that less accessible end-user license agreements are not systematically biased for or against consumers).
83. Stephen C. Yeazell, Brown, The Civil Rights Movement, and the Silent Litigation Revolution, 57 Vand. L. Rev. 1975, 1977-85 (2004).
84. For a discussion of ISDA's lobbying campaign, see Memorandum from the Int'l Swaps and Derivatives Assoc., Inc. on the Implementation of Netting Legislation (Mar. 2006), available at http://www2.isda.org/attachment/MjM4NQ==/Memo-Model-Netting-Act.pdf.
85. see Netting Legislation-Status, Int'l Swaps and Derivatives Assoc., Inc. (Jul. 26, 2011), http://www2.isda.org/attachment/MzQwMQ==/ NETTING%20LEGISLATION%20072611.pdf.
86. Stephen C. Yeazell, Brown, The Civil Rights Movement, and the Silent Litigation Revolution, 57 Vand. L. Rev. 1975, 1977-85 (2004).
87. See Avery Katz, Your Terms or Mine? The Duty to Read the Fine Print in Contracts, 21 Rand J. Econ. 518, 522-30 (1990) (providing a formal model of this choice that also takes into account the possibility that the drafter of the contract will anticipate the choice made by the potential reader).
88. Stephen C. Yeazell, Brown, The Civil Rights Movement, and the Silent Litigation Revolution, 57 Vand. L. Rev. 1975, 1977-85 (2004).
89. See Todd D. Rakoff, Contracts of Adhesion: An Essay in Reconstruction, 96 Harv. L. Rev. 1173, 1222-23 (1983) (explaining the use of standard forms as a way of reducing the costs of communication within complex organizations).
90. Stephen C. Yeazell, Brown, The Civil Rights Movement, and the Silent Litigation Revolution, 57 Vand. L. Rev. 1975, 1977-85 (2004).
91. Stephen C. Yeazell, Brown, The Civil Rights Movement, and the Silent Litigation Revolution, 57 Vand. L. Rev. 1975, 1977-85 (2004).
92. See Lawrence A. Cunningham, Language, Deals and Standards: The Future of XML Contracts, 84 Wash. U. L. Rev. 313, 314-23 (2006) (discussing the application of XML to commercial contracts).
93. Stephen C. Yeazell, Brown, The Civil Rights Movement, and the Silent Litigation Revolution, 57 Vand. L. Rev. 1975, 1977-85 (2004).
94. No. 1:05-CV-1462, 2006 WL 4017651 (N.D. Ga. Jan. 11, 2006).
95. Benjamin Kaplan, Prefatory Note, "The Class Action-A Symposium, " 10 B.C. Indus. & Com. L. Rev. 497, 497 (1969) (expressing the views of the Advisory Committee's Reporter).
96. Benjamin Kaplan, Prefatory Note, "The Class Action-A Symposium, " 10 B.C. Indus. & Com. L. Rev. 497, 497 (1969) (expressing the views of the Advisory Committee's Reporter).
97. Ronald J. Gilson, Charles F. Sabel, & Robert E. Scott, Contract, Uncertainty, and Innovation, in Rules for Growth: Promoting Innovation and Growth Through Legal Reform 223, 228 (2011) [hereinafter Gilson, Sabel & Scott, Contract, Uncertainty, and Innovation].
98. Benjamin Kaplan, Prefatory Note, "The Class Action-A Symposium, " 10 B.C. Indus. & Com. L. Rev. 497, 497 (1969) (expressing the views of the Advisory Committee's Reporter).
99. Benjamin Kaplan, Prefatory Note, "The Class Action-A Symposium, " 10 B.C. Indus. & Com. L. Rev. 497, 497 (1969) (expressing the views of the Advisory Committee's Reporter).
100. Benjamin Kaplan, Prefatory Note, "The Class Action-A Symposium, " 10 B.C. Indus. & Com. L. Rev. 497, 497 (1969) (expressing the views of the Advisory Committee's Reporter).
101. Benjamin Kaplan, Prefatory Note, "The Class Action-A Symposium, " 10 B.C. Indus. & Com. L. Rev. 497, 497 (1969) (expressing the views of the Advisory Committee's Reporter).
102. Stephen C. Yeazell, Brown, The Civil Rights Movement, and the Silent Litigation Revolution, 57 Vand. L. Rev. 1975, 1977-85 (2004).
103. Stephen C. Yeazell, Brown, The Civil Rights Movement, and the Silent Litigation Revolution, 57 Vand. L. Rev. 1975, 1977-85 (2004).
104. Ronald J. Gilson, Charles F. Sabel, & Robert E. Scott, Contract, Uncertainty, and Innovation, in Rules for Growth: Promoting Innovation and Growth Through Legal Reform 223, 228 (2011) [hereinafter Gilson, Sabel & Scott, Contract, Uncertainty, and Innovation].
105. AFLAC, 2006 WL 4017651, at *8 "Necessarily, where the same contractual provision is to be expressed there will be similarity of language. To constitute infringement in such cases a showing of appropriation in the exact form or substantially so of the copyrighted material should be required."
106. See, e.g., Herbert Rosenthal Jewelry Corp. v. Kalpakian, 446 F.2d 738, 742 (9th Cir. 1971) ("When the 'idea' and its 'expression' are thus inseparable, copying the 'expression' will not be barred, since protecting the 'expression' in such circumstances would confer a monopoly of the 'idea' upon the copyright owner free of the conditions and limitations imposed by the patent law. ").
107. Under the Patent Act, only inventions or discoveries may be patented. 35 U.S.C. § 101 (2006). The Supreme Court has construed the term "inventions" to include things "made by man" that utilize or harness a "law of nature" (e.g., gravity) for human benefit. See, e.g., Diamond v. Diehr, 450 U.S. 175, 182-88 & n.11 (1981) (explaining that a mathematical formula was not patentable because abstract ideas did not enjoy patent protection but that a process for curing synthetic rubber, which incorporated a mathematical formula, was patentable).
108. See, e.g., Herbert Rosenthal Jewelry Corp. v. Kalpakian, 446 F.2d 738, 742 (9th Cir. 1971) ("When the 'idea' and its 'expression' are thus inseparable, copying the 'expression' will not be barred, since protecting the 'expression' in such circumstances would confer a monopoly of the 'idea' upon the copyright owner free of the conditions and limitations imposed by the patent law. ").
109. See Claire A. Hill, Why Contracts Are Written in "Legalese, " 77 Chi.-Kent L. Rev. 59, 71-72 (2001) (noting that "for the lawyers' firms, following the standard makes avoiding a bad outcome easier and less costly").
110. Stephen C. Yeazell, Brown, The Civil Rights Movement, and the Silent Litigation Revolution, 57 Vand. L. Rev. 1975, 1977-85 (2004).
111. For a survey of the literature, see Jeanne C. Fromer, Expressive Incentives in Intellectual Property, 98 Va. L. Rev. 1764-81 (2012) (discussing non-pecuniary motivations of authors and inventors).
112. See Kenneth J. Arrow, The Economic Implications of Learning by Doing, 29 Rev. Econ. Stud. 155 (1962) (developing a model in which technical change occurs through experience).
113. Benjamin Kaplan, Prefatory Note, "The Class Action-A Symposium, " 10 B.C. Indus. & Com. L. Rev. 497, 497 (1969) (expressing the views of the Advisory Committee's Reporter).
114. See Mark A. Lemley, The Economics of Improvement in Intellectual Property Law, 75 Tex. L. Rev. 989, 997 (1997) ("[K]nowledge is cumulative-authors and inventors must necessarily build on what came before them. ").
115. Stephen C. Yeazell, Brown, The Civil Rights Movement, and the Silent Litigation Revolution, 57 Vand. L. Rev. 1975, 1977-85 (2004).
116. Am. Family Life Ins. Co. of Columbus v. Assurant, Inc., No. 1:05-CV-1462-BBM, 2006 WL 4017651, at *6 (N.D. Ga. Jan. 11, 2006) (describing revisions).
117. Stephen C. Yeazell, Brown, The Civil Rights Movement, and the Silent Litigation Revolution, 57 Vand. L. Rev. 1975, 1977-85 (2004).
118. Stephen C. Yeazell, Brown, The Civil Rights Movement, and the Silent Litigation Revolution, 57 Vand. L. Rev. 1975, 1977-85 (2004).
119. Stephen C. Yeazell, Brown, The Civil Rights Movement, and the Silent Litigation Revolution, 57 Vand. L. Rev. 1975, 1977-85 (2004).
120. Stephen C. Yeazell, Brown, The Civil Rights Movement, and the Silent Litigation Revolution, 57 Vand. L. Rev. 1975, 1977-85 (2004).
121. Benjamin Kaplan, Prefatory Note, "The Class Action-A Symposium, " 10 B.C. Indus. & Com. L. Rev. 497, 497 (1969) (expressing the views of the Advisory Committee's Reporter).
122. Stephen C. Yeazell, Brown, The Civil Rights Movement, and the Silent Litigation Revolution, 57 Vand. L. Rev. 1975, 1977-85 (2004).
123. "The term wiki reflects both a software platform and a website format. The salient features for the typical wiki website are pages that can be easily edited using a web browser, updated-often in real time-and collectively edited by its readers/participants. " Jon M. Garon, Wiki Authorship, Social Media, and the Curatorial Audience, 1 Harv. J. Sports & Ent. L. 95, 97-98 (2010) (citation omitted).
124. Stephen C. Yeazell, Brown, The Civil Rights Movement, and the Silent Litigation Revolution, 57 Vand. L. Rev. 1975, 1977-85 (2004).
125. As this article went to press, a law firm announced an alliance-apparently in the form of a licensing agreement-with a provider of legal forms. Jennifer Smith, Look Out, LegalZoom! Jacoby & Meyers Gets into Legal Forms, Wall St. J. L. Blog (Oct. 3, 2012, 8:34 AM), http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2012/10/03/look-out-legalzoom-jacoby-meyers-getsinto-legal-forms/.
126. Stephen C. Yeazell, Brown, The Civil Rights Movement, and the Silent Litigation Revolution, 57 Vand. L. Rev. 1975, 1977-85 (2004).
127. Stephen C. Yeazell, Brown, The Civil Rights Movement, and the Silent Litigation Revolution, 57 Vand. L. Rev. 1975, 1977-85 (2004).
128. Stephen C. Yeazell, Brown, The Civil Rights Movement, and the Silent Litigation Revolution, 57 Vand. L. Rev. 1975, 1977-85 (2004).
129. Stephen C. Yeazell, Brown, The Civil Rights Movement, and the Silent Litigation Revolution, 57 Vand. L. Rev. 1975, 1977-85 (2004).
130. Ronald J. Gilson, Charles F. Sabel, & Robert E. Scott, Contract, Uncertainty, and Innovation, in Rules for Growth: Promoting Innovation and Growth Through Legal Reform 223, 228 (2011) [hereinafter Gilson, Sabel & Scott, Contract, Uncertainty, and Innovation].
131. Ronald J. Gilson, Charles F. Sabel, & Robert E. Scott, Contract, Uncertainty, and Innovation, in Rules for Growth: Promoting Innovation and Growth Through Legal Reform 223, 228 (2011) [hereinafter Gilson, Sabel & Scott, Contract, Uncertainty, and Innovation].
132. Benjamin Kaplan, Prefatory Note, "The Class Action-A Symposium, " 10 B.C. Indus. & Com. L. Rev. 497, 497 (1969) (expressing the views of the Advisory Committee's Reporter).
133. For examples of credit card agreements, see Find Sample Credit Card Agreements, Bank of America, https://www.bankofamerica.com/credit-cards/displayPdfListingForAll Cards.action (last visited Jan. 30, 2013), where the bank offers a variety of sample credit card agreements for prospective customers to peruse.
134. Stephen C. Yeazell, Brown, The Civil Rights Movement, and the Silent Litigation Revolution, 57 Vand. L. Rev. 1975, 1977-85 (2004).
135. See The Harvard Law School Contracts Wiki, http://hub.law.harvard.edu/ contracts_wiki (last visited Jan. 30, 2013) (permitting users of the website to suggest contractual provisions designed to respond to specified contingencies and comment on other users' suggestions).
136. Stephen C. Yeazell, Brown, The Civil Rights Movement, and the Silent Litigation Revolution, 57 Vand. L. Rev. 1975, 1977-85 (2004).
137. Am. Bar Assoc., Report of the Task Force on the Model Definition of the Practice of Law 4, n.9-10 (2003) (describing state laws restricting unauthorized practice of law).
138. Stephen C. Yeazell, Brown, The Civil Rights Movement, and the Silent Litigation Revolution, 57 Vand. L. Rev. 1975, 1977-85 (2004).
139. Stephen C. Yeazell, Brown, The Civil Rights Movement, and the Silent Litigation Revolution, 57 Vand. L. Rev. 1975, 1977-85 (2004).
140. See, e.g., LexisNexis Precedent Search, LexisNexis, http://law.lexisnexis.com/communityportal/ articles/articles.aspx?g=QFsTyLJ1USs=&c=S61RDZGNKnw=&a=PcrQFe XKXis= (last visited Jan. 30, 2013) ("Turn to new LexisNexis Precedent Search to [g]et access to more than a half million current model agreements-that's millions of precedent clauses and defined terms-including those drafted by the nation's top law firms.").
141. See, e.g., LegalZoom, http://www.legalzoom.com (last visited Jan. 30, 2013) (offering a variety of legal documents for both business and personal purposes).
142. See, e.g., Rocket Lawyer, http://www.rocketlawyer.com (last visited Jan. 30, 2013) (featuring a user interface that offers simultaneous equal access to both document creation and lawyer referrals).
143. See, e.g., About Us, Biztree, http://www.biztree.com (last visited Jan. 30, 2013) (describing Business-in-a-Box product which includes legal document template software).
144. See, e.g., Onecle, http://www.onecle.com (last visited Jan. 30, 2013) (featuring advertisements that link to legal document providers next to example documents).
145. See, e.g., Rocket Lawyer, http://www.rocketlawyer.com (last visited Jan. 30, 2013).
146. For example, fine print at the bottom of LegalZoom's website states: "Disclaimer: Communications between you and LegalZoom are not [protected] by the attorneyclient privilege or as work product. LegalZoom provides access to independent attorneys and self-help services at your specific direction. We are not a law firm or a substitute for an attorney or law firm. " LegalZoom, http://www.legalzoom.com/ (last visited Jan. 30, 2013).
147. Some law firms may, however, have superior access to information about unreported disputes such as commercial arbitrations. Arbitral awards often are not published but law firms that represent parties in arbitrated disputes will automatically have access to the resulting awards and can use the knowledge they extract from those awards in drafting contracts for other clients.
148. Consider the following offerings from one major legal database provider: "Save significant time drafting Business forms and documents with Westlaw Forms Complete Business Transactions Solution. This collection provides you access to 600 buildable Business forms, with no charge linking to related content, including state and federal codes, primary law and related analytical materials, on WestlawNext. " Westlaw Form Builder, Westlaw, http://store.westlaw.com/westlaw-form-builder-business-transactionssolution-westlawnext-pro/182455/41172130/productdetail (last visited Jan. 30, 2013).
149. Until recently, the three largest global players-Thomson Reuters's Westlaw, Wolters Kluwer, and Reed Elsevier's LexisNexis-together held over seventy percent of the global market share in the legal, tax, and regulatory information industry. Bloomberg recently acquired the Bureau of National Affairs (BNA), previously the seventh largest global provider. David Curle, The Big Four Legal, Tax & Regulatory Players: Strategic Analysis, Outsell Inc., available at http://www.outsellinc.com/store/products/1089-thebig-four-legal-tax-regulatory-players-strategic-analysis (promotional summary).
150. Stephen C. Yeazell, Brown, The Civil Rights Movement, and the Silent Litigation Revolution, 57 Vand. L. Rev. 1975, 1977-85 (2004).
151. Stephen C. Yeazell, Brown, The Civil Rights Movement, and the Silent Litigation Revolution, 57 Vand. L. Rev. 1975, 1977-85 (2004).
152. Ronald J. Gilson, Charles F. Sabel, & Robert E. Scott, Contract, Uncertainty, and Innovation, in Rules for Growth: Promoting Innovation and Growth Through Legal Reform 223, 228 (2011) [hereinafter Gilson, Sabel & Scott, Contract, Uncertainty, and Innovation].
153. Ronald J. Gilson, Charles F. Sabel, & Robert E. Scott, Contract, Uncertainty, and Innovation, in Rules for Growth: Promoting Innovation and Growth Through Legal Reform 223, 228 (2011) [hereinafter Gilson, Sabel & Scott, Contract, Uncertainty, and Innovation].
154. Benjamin Kaplan, Prefatory Note, "The Class Action-A Symposium, " 10 B.C. Indus. & Com. L. Rev. 497, 497 (1969) (expressing the views of the Advisory Committee's Reporter).
155. Stephen C. Yeazell, Brown, The Civil Rights Movement, and the Silent Litigation Revolution, 57 Vand. L. Rev. 1975, 1977-85 (2004).
156. See Revision Policy, Am. Inst. of Architects, http://www.aia.org/contractdocs/ AIAS076676 (last visited Jan. 30, 2013) (stating that in order to "reflect the best, most upto-date legal trends and building industry practices" and to "maintain such a high level of accuracy and timeliness, " the AIA maintains a documents revision policy that "requires periodic republishing of new editions and, after a stated grace period, withdrawal of prior editions from the marketplace").
157. See Am. Inst. of Architects, Introducing the New AIA Contract Documents, YouTube (May 11, 2011), http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7L7GeitDVk.
158. See Contract Documents, Am. Inst. of Architects, http://www.aia.org/ contractdocs/index.htm (last visited Jan. 30, 2013).
159. See Reference Material, Am. Inst. of Architects, http://www.aia.org/contractdocs/ referencematerial/index.htm (last visited Jan. 30, 2013).
160. See, e.g., Suzanne Harness & Phil Simon, Am. Inst. of Architects, 2007 AIA Contract Documents: What's New?, BlueSkyBroadcast. com, https://live.blueskybroadcast.com/ bsb/client/CL_DEFAULT.asp?Client=643475&PCAT=2773&CAT=2773 (last visited Jan. 30, 2013) ("Explore the revisions to the AIA's major construction contract documents and how these revisions may affect [the user].").
161. See Amicus Briefs, ISDA, http://www2.isda.org/functional-areas/legal-anddocumentation/ amicus-briefs (last visited Jan. 30, 2013) (compiling amicus briefs filed by ISDA).
162. See Richard L. Sandor, Good Derivatives: A Story of Financial and Environmental Innovation 55-56, 243-45 (2012) (discussing Sandor's early insight and contribution to the development of these new markets).
163. See Devon K. Roepcke, "Should I Stay or Should I Go?": Preventing Illegal Immigration by Creating Opportunity in Mexico Through Microcredit Lending, 38 Cal. W. Int'l L.J. 455, 458 (2008) ("Microcredit is a concept that began in Bangladesh with a man named Mohammad Yunus. ").
164. But see Rebecca Farrer, Exploring the Human Rights Implications of Microfinance Initiatives, 36 Int'l J. Legal Info. 447, 454 n.28 (2008) ("While Muhammad Yunus is often credited as having created microfinance the Self Employed Women's Association ('SEWA') predated Yunus's first loan and Grameen Bank. ").
165. Ben Adida, Creative Commons Announced, Creative Commons (Oct. 16, 2002), http://creativecommons.org/press-releases/page/17.
166. What Is Creative Commons, Creative Commons, http://wiki.creativecommons.org/ images/3/35/Creativecommons-what-is-creative-commons_eng.pdf (last visited Jan. 30, 2013).
167. The CORI K-Base, CORI, http://cori.missouri.edu/pages/ksearch.htm (last visited Jan. 30, 2013) ("Most of the contracts in the collection are executed agreements made available in public disclosure filings or in filings with a regulatory agency.").
168. Stephen C. Yeazell, Brown, The Civil Rights Movement, and the Silent Litigation Revolution, 57 Vand. L. Rev. 1975, 1977-85 (2004).
169. Stephen C. Yeazell, Brown, The Civil Rights Movement, and the Silent Litigation Revolution, 57 Vand. L. Rev. 1975, 1977-85 (2004).
170. Stephen C. Yeazell, Brown, The Civil Rights Movement, and the Silent Litigation Revolution, 57 Vand. L. Rev. 1975, 1977-85 (2004).
171. Stephen C. Yeazell, Brown, The Civil Rights Movement, and the Silent Litigation Revolution, 57 Vand. L. Rev. 1975, 1977-85 (2004).
172. Stephen C. Yeazell, Brown, The Civil Rights Movement, and the Silent Litigation Revolution, 57 Vand. L. Rev. 1975, 1977-85 (2004).
173. See, e.g., Janson v. LegalZoom. com, Inc., 271 F.R.D. 506, 508 (W.D. Mo. 2010) (alleging that the online document preparation service known as LegalZoom was engaged in the unauthorized practice of law in violation of a Missouri statute).
174. See Paul D. Paton, Multidisciplinary Practice Redux: Globalization, Core Values, and Reviving the MDP Debate in America, 78 Fordham L. Rev. 2193, 2198-216 (2010) (offering an historical account of the multidisciplinary practice (MDP) debates and their ultimate rejection of fee-sharing between lawyers and nonlawyers).
175. Stephen C. Yeazell, Brown, The Civil Rights Movement, and the Silent Litigation Revolution, 57 Vand. L. Rev. 1975, 1977-85 (2004).
176. Regulation S-K, 17 C.F.R. § 229.601(a), (b)(10) (2012). Item 1.01 of Form 8-K requires issuers to promptly disclose summaries of new material contracts. See 17 C.F.R. § 240.13a-11 (2011).
177. Search the Next-Generation EDGAR System, Sec. & Exch. Comm'n, http://www.sec. gov/edgar/searchedgar/webusers.htm (last visited Jan. 30, 2013).
178. When it proposed to introduce the requirement to promptly disclose summary information about material contracts, the SEC said: "We propose these amendments to provide investors with better and faster disclosure of important corporate events. " Proposed Rule: Additional Form 8-K Disclosure Requirements and Acceleration of Filing Date, 67 Fed. Reg. 42,914, 42,914 (proposed June 25, 2002).
179. Stephen C. Yeazell, Brown, The Civil Rights Movement, and the Silent Litigation Revolution, 57 Vand. L. Rev. 1975, 1977-85 (2004).
180. FERC eLibrary, Fed. Energy Regulatory Comm'n, http://www.ferc.gov/docsfiling/ elibrary.asp (last visited Jan. 30, 2013).
181. California Electronic Access to Securities & Franchise Information, Cal. Dep't of Corps., http://www.corp.ca.gov/CalEASI/caleasi.asp (last visited Jan. 30, 2013).
182. See PPP in Infrastructure Resource Center: For Contracts, Laws and Regulation (PPPIRC), World Bank, http://ppp.worldbank.org/public-private-partnership/ (last vis ited Jan. 30, 2013) (describing the World Bank's library of public-private partnershiprelated documents).
183. See About PPPIRC, World Bank, http://ppp.worldbank.org/public-privatepartnership/ about-pppirc (last visited Jan. 30, 2013) (listing the government-sponsored aid agencies that fund the PPPIRC).
184. Stephen C. Yeazell, Brown, The Civil Rights Movement, and the Silent Litigation Revolution, 57 Vand. L. Rev. 1975, 1977-85 (2004).