Partial List of IT Laws, Policies, and Rulings
| Date | Law / Case / Paper | Summary |
| 1879 | Baker v. Selden | Copyright shouldn't protect methods or functional objects (focus is on expression). |
| 1976 | Copyright Act | Copyright covers software. |
| 1981 | Diamond v. Diehr | Patent claims cannot be rejected for including mathematical algorithms or computer programs. |
| 1990 | Amendment of Copyright Act | Prohibits commercial lending of computer software, except for libraries. |
| 1991 | Feist Publications, Inc. v. Rural Telephone Service Co., Inc. | Raw data is in public domain and can't be protected by copyright. |
| 1995 | Federal Anti-Dilution Act | Trademarks gain protection in domain name disputes, but only if commercial use is violated. |
| 1996 | Telecommunications Act | Expands universal access. Deregulates telecommunications industry. |
| 1998 | Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) | Prohibits decryption of encryption preventing access to digitized materials. Individualizes accountability. |
| 1998 | Congressional white paper: Management of Internet Names & Addresses | Delegates domain name control and policy setting (ie cybersquatters) to Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). |
| 1999 | Los Angeles Times v. Free Republic (California) | Users can't paste newspaper story excerpts into political discussion group. |
| 1999 | Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (ACPA) | Creates additional rights for trademark name holders against domain name registrants ($100,000 fines). |
| 1999 (draft) | Uniform Computer Information Transactions Act (UCITA) - passed in 2 states so far | Validates click-wrap licenses (no reverse engineering). Eliminates "first sale": license-based, so copyright resale is not applicable and lending rights (for libraries) are not guaranteed. |
| 2000 | eBay v. Bidder's Edge (California) | Partially overturns Feist ruling on public access to data. |
| 2000 | Universal City Studios, Inc., v. Reimerdes | Held that DMCA does not allow for fair use. |