The Ninth Circuit handed down an interesting copyright case today, Perfect 10 v. Amazon.com. It’s interesting case for a number of reasons, but I was particularly intrigued by the clash between virtual and physical descriptions of the Internet on the question of when a computer “displays” a copyrighted work (see analysis starting at 5770). The court adopted a physical/external perspective rather than a virtual/internal one, basing its rule on how computers actually work rather than the impressions held by casual users. For more on the clash between physical and virtual perspectives in Internet law, see here. (Hat tip: Howard)