Media Law

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  • U.S. Falls in Press Freedom Rankings

    First Amendment Law Prof Blog
    firstamendmentblogger
    26 Jan 2012 | 9:27 am
    As noted by Slate, Reporters Without Borders annual Press Freedom Index shows the US slipping to 47th in the world, a ranking below Lithuania, El Salvador, Botswana, and Taiwan. Police treatment of the press as they tried to cover the...

  • More On the Fight Over the Proposed Piracy Bill

    Media Law Prof Blog
    Media Law Prof
    24 Jan 2012 | 2:57 pm
    From the New York Times, an article on the proposed piracy bill, who's for it, who's against it, and why. In particular, the Times analyzes why so many "netizens" are so violently opposed to the SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act)...

  • CMLP ANNOUNCEMENT: Amicus Brief Filed Regarding Intersection of Trademark Law & Freedom of Speech

    Citizen Media Law Project
    CMLP Staff
    27 Jan 2012 | 11:41 am
    On January 18, 2012, the Citizen Media Law Project (under its new name, the Digital Media Law Project -- new website coming soon) filed an amicus brief in the Massachusetts Appeals Court in Jenzabar, Inc. v. Long Bow Group, Inc., No. 2011-P-1533.  The CMLP  submitted its friend of the court brief to urge the Appeals Court to uphold several fundamental legal principles, including protecting critical speech online and preventing the misuse of trademark law in a distinctly non-trademark context to impede the free flow of information. More information about the case and the amicus brief is…

  • Europe Announces Plans To Reform Outdated Data Protection Rules

    Consumer Advertising Law Blog
    randal shaheen
    26 Jan 2012 | 8:33 am
    The European Commission has announced plans to reform comprehensively the existing EU data protection regime. The proposals, in the form of a new Regulation and Directive, aim to modernise, strengthen and future-proof the principles set out in the 1995 Directive, which was designed to safeguard a pre-internet society. The new Regulation will sweep away the current patchwork of national laws in favour of a single EU law, valid across all 27 Member States. This will, it is hoped, end some of the legal uncertainty and fragmentation that companies of all sizes face when doing business in…

  • NH Law Authorizes Parental Override of “Objectionable” Curriculum Material

    First Amendment Law Prof Blog
    firstamendmentblogger
    26 Jan 2012 | 10:09 am
    HB 542, enacted after an override of the governor’s veto, states: Require school districts to adopt a policy allowing an exception to specific course material based on a parent’s or legal guardian’s determination that the material is objectionable. Such policy...
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    Media Law Prof Blog

  • More On the Fight Over the Proposed Piracy Bill

    Media Law Prof
    24 Jan 2012 | 2:57 pm
    From the New York Times, an article on the proposed piracy bill, who's for it, who's against it, and why. In particular, the Times analyzes why so many "netizens" are so violently opposed to the SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act)...

  • SOPA Protests, Washington, Media Reactions

    Media Law Prof
    18 Jan 2012 | 1:17 pm
    The Hollywood Reporter and the New York Times report on the Web protests over SOPA. The media is trying to fill the information void. Washington reacts.

  • THR On SOPA

    Media Law Prof
    17 Jan 2012 | 11:57 am
    The Hollywood Reporter on Washington's stronger anti-piracy laws.

  • Turkish Court Brings Charges Against Sarah Ferguson For 2008 Documentary

    Media Law Prof
    13 Jan 2012 | 12:55 pm
    A Turkish court has charged Sarah Ferguson with violating the law in the way she and ITV acquired footage for a 2008 documentary about the treatment of orphans in Turkish orphanages. If convicted, she could be sentenced to more than...

  • New Domain Names Available Beginning Today

    Media Law Prof
    12 Jan 2012 | 1:05 pm
    From NPR: a story (print and audio) on ICANN's expansion of domain names and critiques from both advertisers and regulators.
 
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    Citizen Media Law Project

  • CMLP ANNOUNCEMENT: Amicus Brief Filed Regarding Intersection of Trademark Law & Freedom of Speech

    CMLP Staff
    27 Jan 2012 | 11:41 am
    On January 18, 2012, the Citizen Media Law Project (under its new name, the Digital Media Law Project -- new website coming soon) filed an amicus brief in the Massachusetts Appeals Court in Jenzabar, Inc. v. Long Bow Group, Inc., No. 2011-P-1533.  The CMLP  submitted its friend of the court brief to urge the Appeals Court to uphold several fundamental legal principles, including protecting critical speech online and preventing the misuse of trademark law in a distinctly non-trademark context to impede the free flow of information. More information about the case and the amicus brief is…

  • Bloggers and Shield Laws II: Now, You Can Worry

    Eric P. Robinson
    26 Jan 2012 | 12:25 pm
    A few weeks ago, I wrote that bloggers should not be too concerned about a decision by a federal judge in Oregon that blogger Crystal Cox is not protected by Oregon's reporters' shield law in a defamation suit. But a new decision in Illinois reaching the same conclusion about another blogger is more problematic. The Oregon ruling – which led to a $2.5 million verdict against Cox, that she is seeking to have vacated – concluded that a blogger is not “media.” Obsidian Finance Group, LLC v. Cox, No. CV-11-57-H, 2011 WL 2745849, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 137548 (D. Or. Nov. 30,…

  • SOPA/PIPA Protest Day is Over, But the Battle is Not

    Arthur Bright
    19 Jan 2012 | 4:36 pm
    The day of protest against the now (hopefully) infamous "Stop Online Piracy Act" (SOPA) and "Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act of 2011" (PROTECT IP Act, or PIPA) has ended.  Baffled students can once again access Wikipedia to do their homework; the Google doodle is no longer blacked out; and Jon Stewart can return to lampooning Republican presidential candidates rather than obtuse copyright bills. Mission accomplished, right? Actually, no.  It's only just begun. To be sure, the protest was incredibly successful…

  • CMLP ANNOUNCEMENT: Resources on SOPA/PIPA

    CMLP Staff
    18 Jan 2012 | 11:23 am
    In light of today's internet blackouts, we have received numerous requests for information about the Stop Online Piracy Act ("SOPA") and the Protect IP Act ("PIPA"), as well as the reasons for today's protest of these two bills.  In response to the demand for information, the Berkman Center for Internet & Society, the center at Harvard University that hosts the Citizen Media Law Project, has collected links to useful summaries, statements and commentary about SOPA and PIPA here.  We invite you to visit Berkman's site and learn more about SOPA, PIPA and today's…

  • NewsRight: Rest Easy, We Won't be Righthaven 2.0

    Victoria S. Ekstrand
    17 Jan 2012 | 1:45 pm
    Looking to make their brand “a little more memorable,” the News Licensing Group is now NewsRight – and is billing itself as an “easy rights clearinghouse for the best news reporting and original journalism on the Web.” Earlier this month, the group announced that 29 major news and information companies have signed on as initial investors in the startup, a new independent digital-rights and content licensing venture led by former ABC News President David Westin. (The initial investors in NewsRight are: Advance Publications, The Associated Press, Axel Springer Group, A.H.Belo…
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    Consumer Advertising Law Blog

  • Europe Announces Plans To Reform Outdated Data Protection Rules

    randal shaheen
    26 Jan 2012 | 8:33 am
    The European Commission has announced plans to reform comprehensively the existing EU data protection regime. The proposals, in the form of a new Regulation and Directive, aim to modernise, strengthen and future-proof the principles set out in the 1995 Directive, which was designed to safeguard a pre-internet society. The new Regulation will sweep away the current patchwork of national laws in favour of a single EU law, valid across all 27 Member States. This will, it is hoped, end some of the legal uncertainty and fragmentation that companies of all sizes face when doing business in…

  • Expedited Appeal in Lanham Act Cat Litter Case Will Address Sensory Perception Testing and Key Ingredient Testing

    randal shaheen
    25 Jan 2012 | 4:57 pm
    On January 17, 2012, the Second Circuit granted Clorox’s motion for expedited appeal in the cat litter case (Church & Dwight Co., Inc. v. The Clorox Company), which centers on sensory perception testing and key ingredient testing (along with other issues, including necessary implication and presumption of irreparable harm).  Earlier this month, Judge Jed Rakoff of the Southern District of New York preliminarily enjoined Clorox from airing a commercial claiming that carbon used in its Fresh Step cat litter was more effective at absorbing odors than the baking soda (which happens to…

  • FTC Proposes Changes to Agency’s Investigatory Procedures

    randal shaheen
    23 Jan 2012 | 8:55 am
    As part of its periodic review of agency rules, the FTC recently announced proposed changes to its rules of practice concerning investigations. With the proposed revisions, the FTC seeks to keep pace with the prevalence of electronic discovery, to help expedite Commission investigations, and to minimize compliance burdens on both targets and third parties. The proposed changes deal primarily with Part 2 proceedings – the FTC’s nonadjudicative or investigations phase. With the revised rules, the FTC aims to minimize the burden on entities that are tasked with responding to compulsory…

  • Keeping an Eye on the Folks Marketing Your Brand -- Google Gets Tripped Up in Blogger Controversy

    randal shaheen
    19 Jan 2012 | 9:03 am
    The FTC’s revised endorsement guides have raised the stakes for companies using social media to promote their brands or services.  This is particularly the case with respect to the relatively new disclosure requirements surrounding paid blogger endorsements. We previously discussed paid blogger endorsements in light of the FTC’s Revised Endorsement and Testimonial Guides here, here, and here. Google has become the second company in recent months to allege that an agency hired to promote its services had gone “rogue” and used paid blogger endorsements without the company’s…

  • You Can’t Use This "Crane" To Build A Case Against An “Adjacent” Product Manufacturer

    randal shaheen
    18 Jan 2012 | 8:56 am
    In recent years, some California appellate courts held that a product manufacturer or seller is obliged to warn consumers against foreseeable risks associated with dangerous products with which its product will necessarily be used. Where a manufacturer could plausibly be alleged to be aware of possible harms stemming from what are sometimes termed “adjacent” products, these cases created a potential basis for consumer fraud claims. In O’Neil v. Crane Co., the California Supreme Court unanimously rejected these opinions, and provided helpful guidance on whether, and in what…
 
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    Media and Communications Policy

  • The Truth Behind Google's Copyright-Bills Hysteria

    Patrick Maines
    26 Jan 2012 | 9:28 am
    Though the final chapter in the legislative history of the copyright bills hasn’t yet been written, a couple things are obvious even now: The tech industry has demonstrated great political clout through the mobilization of its users and fan base; and the industry lobby, led by Google, will say and do pretty much anything to advance its commercial interests. This provides the background for what happened within just a few days last week, as Congress was flooded with calls and mail, and petitions were signed by millions, in opposition to bills whose intent was to provide an effective way…

  • A Court Strangely Conflicted About Indecency

    Guest Author
    17 Jan 2012 | 10:17 am
    By guest blogger LAURENCE H. WINER, professor of law, Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, Arizona State University, Tempe, Ariz.    “You taught me language, and my profit on’t is I know how to curse.”  – Caliban in The Tempest Here’s a question the late language maven, William Safire, might have pondered listening to the recent Supreme Court oral argument in the Fox and ABC broadcast indecency cases.   What is truly “indecent” in the normative, Webster’s Third sense of the word as “not conforming to…

  • Orts and All

    Patrick Maines
    10 Jan 2012 | 4:53 pm
    Regulating the ’Net.  Much has been alleged in recent days about the risks to the independence of the Internet were the copyright bills currently before Congress to become law.  As mentioned here and here, the most extravagant of these allegations are flummery of the first water, but copyright issues aside, the ’net is indeed on the cusp of a significant transformation. Evidence of this can be seen in the actions of the FCC, whether on its own initiative or by its implementation of regulations after passage of legislation into law.  The Commission’s…

  • Christopher Hitchens and the Art of Persuasion

    Patrick Maines
    28 Dec 2011 | 10:18 am
    For those who believe in words as a medium not just of expression but of discovery, life is a journey made all the more fascinating by the prospect that one may occasionally hit upon a word or a sentence that reveals something profound, even to oneself.  Christopher Hitchens, a man of many words, was such a person. For those who are unfamiliar with him, the gentleman was a British-American author and journalist.  A prodigious and eloquent writer, Hitchens is perhaps best known for his resolute atheism, ideological tergiversations (from confirmed Trotskyite to alleged…

  • Rationalizing Theft: A Postscript

    Patrick Maines
    21 Nov 2011 | 9:57 am
    The fight over the copyright bills currently being considered in Congress puts on display two of the tech industry’s least attractive characteristics – its sense of entitlement, and its extraordinary lack of knowledge about things outside the area of its core competency. So it is that the bills in question (the Protect IP and Stop Online Piracy acts) are said by the tech industry’s lobbyists and fan base to threaten the “end of the Internet as we’ve known it,” the same claim they made 13 years ago in opposition to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. …
 
 
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    Student Press Law Center

  • Missourian’s conflict policy conflicts with free speech

    Adam Goldstein
    25 Jan 2012 | 5:47 pm
    The blog J-School Buzz covers the Missouri School of Journalism. Recently, the blog’s then-editor, Kelly Cohen, was forced to resign from the Buzz because Cohen is also on the staff of the journalism school’s newspaper, the Missourian. To understand what’s really wrong here, you have to understand a bit more about what the Missourian really [...]

  • TRANSPARENCY TUESDAY: What’s in your wallet? Maybe your college’s sticky fingers!

    Frank LoMonte
    24 Jan 2012 | 3:47 pm
    If you left college with a shelf full of Visa drink Koozies, Visa beach towels and Visa visors, there’s an excellent chance you also took a load of Visa credit-card debt with you. A 2009 study found that the average U.S. undergraduate carried $3,173 in credit card debt, much of it blamed on rising college [...]

  • Expulsion over raunchy tweets may cost high school football star his college dream

    Nick Glunt
    23 Jan 2012 | 5:51 pm
    A student is once again facing punishment for speech outside of school — but this time it may cost a New Jersey private school student his future. Yuri Wright, a senior football star, was expelled from Don Bosco Preparatory High School for explicit tweeting. He was ranked as the seventh best high school cornerback in [...]

  • Iowa Supreme Court lets adviser’s ‘anti-Hazelwood’ victory stand

    Brian Schraum
    23 Jan 2012 | 1:28 pm
    The Iowa Supreme Court on Thursday decided not to take up the case of a high school journalism adviser who was reprimanded over newspaper content. The move lets stand a November appeals court decision in the adviser’s favor which held that Iowa’s student free expression law provides broad protection for student journalists. Former adviser Ben [...]

  • Onward and upward: A clinic on how to respond to an epic fact error

    Frank LoMonte
    23 Jan 2012 | 11:48 am
    Page A-2 of today’s New York Times carries five corrections. Sunday’s had five, Saturday’s seven, and Friday’s had eight. I can recall seeing as many as 13; a few have attained legendary status. None, so far as I can tell, was made under pressure-cooker deadline conditions. They were just … mistakes. They happen. This is [...]
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    Blog of Rights: Official Blog of the American Civil Liberties Union

  • This Week in Civil Liberties (1/27/2012)

    Rekha Arulanantham, ACLU
    27 Jan 2012 | 5:11 pm
    Which search engine forces you to share your personal data with almost all of its products and sites? A school district in which state will stop illegally promoting religion to public school students after a settlement with ACLU plaintiffs? Which amendment did the government violate when it placed a GPS tracking device on Antoine Jones’s car? Of which band is Billy McCarthy, who talks about solitary confinement in a new Prison Voices podcast, the singer and songwriter? ACLU Lens: Google's New Privacy Policy This week, Google announced a new privacy policy effective March 1. The new…

  • Civil Liberties in the Digital Age: Weekly Highlights (1/27/2012)

    Caitlin O'Neill, ACLU of Northern California
    27 Jan 2012 | 4:59 pm
    In the digital age that we live in today, we are constantly exposing our personal information online. From using cell phones and GPS devices to online shopping and sending e-mail, the things we do and say online leave behind ever-growing trails of personal information. The ACLU believes that Americans shouldn’t have to choose between using new technology and keeping control of your private information. Each week, we feature some of the most interesting news related to technology and civil liberties that we’ve spotted from the previous week. Revealed: The FBI Wants to Monitor…

  • Breaking the Addiction to Incarceration: Weekly Highlights

    Rebecca McCray, Criminal Law Reform Project
    27 Jan 2012 | 4:48 pm
    Today, the U.S. has the highest incarceration rate of any country in the world. With over 2.3 million men and women living behind barsour imprisonment rate is the highest it’s ever been in U.S. history. And yet, our criminal justice system has failed on every count: public safety, fairness and cost-effectiveness. Across the country, the criminal justice reform conversation is heating up. Each week, we feature our some of the most exciting and relevant news in overincarceration discourse that we’ve spotted from the previous week. Check back weekly for our top picks. The Price of…

  • New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's Mixed Grades on Civil Liberties

    Allison Peltzman, ACLU of New Jersey
    27 Jan 2012 | 4:07 pm
    New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has multiple personalities: the national political figure and the one at home. His record on civil liberties is as complex as he is, as the ACLU-NJ showed this week in its midterm report card of his administration. His peculiar role gives him two opposing concerns: maintaining the adulation of his party’s most vocal factions, which have identified him as a rising star, and satisfying the will of the people as the moderate Republican governor of a state with strong liberal leanings. To boot, the reasons for his national rise in prominence mainly involve…

  • Celebration and Struggle: Pregnant and Parenting Teens Honor Title IX Anniversary and Demand Equal Treatment

    Micah McCoy, ACLU of New Mexico
    27 Jan 2012 | 3:41 pm
    “I’m proving everyone wrong by graduating this May, by going to college, by getting my degree AND taking care of my daughter.” That’s what Brianna Miranda, an 18-year-old high school senior from Las Cruces, NM, stood up and said in the New Mexico State Capitol last Tuesday. Brianna, the mother of a two-year-old daughter, faces the same struggle thousands of other pregnant and parenting teens face in New Mexico: graduating from high school. This week, the ACLU of New Mexico, Young Women United and the Southwest Women’s Law Center brought together Brianna and…
 
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    media law news - Google News

  • Media Row Report: Blazers 109, Suns 71 - Blazer's Edge

    28 Jan 2012 | 2:23 am
    Media Row Report: Blazers 109, Suns 71Blazer's EdgeI mentioned in the Kings Media Row Report earlier this year that I don't mind the score-first Crawford in that ball-handling role late in games, and that's especially if starting point guard Raymond Felton is on the fritz, as he often has been this and more »

  • Social media rules evolving - Toledo Blade

    27 Jan 2012 | 11:08 pm
    Social media rules evolvingToledo BladeHe discussed social media and labor law as well as other issues involving the federal labor board in a presentation geared to employers Friday at the Toledo Regional Chamber of Commerce. He said in the last five months, new rulings have made employers

  • Brookstone Law, PC: Banks Will Make 2012 Harder for Homeowners Facing Foreclosure - San Francisco Chronicle (press release)

    27 Jan 2012 | 7:58 pm
    Brookstone Law, PC: Banks Will Make 2012 Harder for Homeowners Facing ForeclosureSan Francisco Chronicle (press release)Recent media reports that California and other states will be engulfed in an enormous wave of long-delayed foreclosure action in 2012 as banks deal more aggressively with delinquent mortgages, means more homeowners than ever could lose their homes and more »

  • SouthtownStar Athletes on Campus: Loyola following Law - SouthtownStar

    27 Jan 2012 | 7:26 pm
    SouthtownStar Athletes on Campus: Loyola following LawSouthtownStarBy Mike Walsh For Sun-Times Media January 27, 2012 7:08PM Loyola University women's basketball player Simone Law was named the Horizon League's Co-Player of the Week for the period ending Jan. 16. Law, who prepped at Marian Catholic, recorded two and more »

  • Controversial vote law focus of Tampa hearing - ABC Action News

    27 Jan 2012 | 5:34 pm
    ABC Action NewsControversial vote law focus of Tampa hearingABC Action Newsheld a hearing on Friday in Tampa to discuss a controversial new voting law in Florida. The Legislature passed and Gov. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) signed HB 1355 last year. * Requires a voter to vote provisionally if they have moved to another county and did Legislators don't want to talk about election-law changesOrlando Sentinelall 95 news articles »
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    Digital Media Law

  • Live on Larry Mantle re SAG-AFTRA Merger

    17 Jan 2012 | 11:40 am
    I'll be live on Larry Mantle (http://www.scpr.org/programs/airtalk/) this morning at about 11:05 a.m. PT for a 14 minute segment on SAG-AFTRA merger. Tune in (is that still the verb?) if you have a chance. It'll probably be available archived as well. __________   Check out my new book “Hollywood on Strike!,” available on Amazon (also in a Kindle edition). Subscribe to my blog (jhandel.com) for more about entertainment law and digital media law. Check out my residuals chart there too. Go to the blog itself to subscribe via RSS or email. Or, follow me on Twitter, friend me on…

  • AFTRA, Networks Reach New Three Year Deal

    10 Dec 2011 | 1:38 am
    AFTRA and the television networks reached agreement on a new three-year contract today, with the new pact featuring now-standard 2% annual wage increases and an unusually large 1% increase in employer contributions to health and retirement. Notably, the union achieved the H&R increase without employers taking a bite out of the annual wage increase. Usually, a tradeoff between the two is required, which could have reduced one or more of the annual increases to a politically unpalatable 1-1/2% level. An AFTRA statement confirmed the issues’ importance, calling the 1% increase the…

  • Health and Retirement are the Hangup in AFTRA Netcode Negotiations (Exclusive)

    6 Dec 2011 | 9:07 am
    AFTRA’s negotiations with the networks and television producers resume this week and the big issue, according to a source close to the process, is the same one that’s bedeviled Hollywood labor for the past several years: health and retirement. Negotiations began November 7 under a press blackout, but haven’t produced a deal yet. The contract under negotiation – AFTRA’s Network Code, colloquially referred to as the “front of book” – is the union’s largest, and generates more than $250 million a year in member earnings. It covers programs in all television day parts, except…

  • Homeless Military Widow: “My heart is sad for my teenager”

    12 Nov 2011 | 3:35 am
    Cindy Kureth just wants a job and a place to call home. She had both not long ago, but she got laid off, unemployment ran out, and the mortgage company took her home.Now all the Richmond, Virginia mother has is a motel room for herself and her 16-year old son. That, and memories of her husband, former Army Major Elwood Kureth, Jr., who died eleven years ago, when his son was 5. He and Cindy had been married for nineteen years. “Evan worshiped the ground his father walked (on),” Cindy told me in an email. “They were two peas in a pod.”Yesterday was Veterans Day – a day for…

  • Exclusive: WGA East and LA County AFL-CIO Endorse Occupy Wall Steet / Occupy LA

    3 Oct 2011 | 7:53 pm
    In exclusive statements to the Hollywood Reporter, the Writers Guild of America, East and the LA County Federation of Labor have endorsed the Occupy protests in NY, LA and elsewhere. The WGA East slammed a “system that has diverted capital (to) a tiny handful of people,” while the LA County Fed called out "corporate bullies, banks and investment firms." Details: The Hollywood Reporter -- LA County Fed story; WGA East story. __________   Check out my new book “Hollywood on Strike!,” available on Amazon (also in a Kindle edition). Subscribe to my blog (jhandel.com) for more about…
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    Laurence Kaye on Digital Media Law

  • UK ENTERPRISE INVESTMENT SCHEME ("EIS")

    LaurenceKaye
    17 Jan 2012 | 10:35 am
    Dear reader The EIS scheme is a very significant inducement for investors in start-up and early stage companies in the UK's creative industries. So, I thought I'd take the opportunity to depart from my usual posts on digital media law and, thanks to my friend Bob Wexler, an expert lawyer in this field, provide all my cash rich investors (!) with a handy summary of the rules governing EIS investments. Bob's in transition from Leeds to London but can be contacted on : 07896 713 982. So here are the rules: The EIS is generally intended to encourage investment in the ordinary…

  • Predictions for 2012

    LaurenceKaye
    13 Jan 2012 | 4:23 am
    Dear reader Just thought I'd look into my crystal ball and share with you my predictions for 2012.  These were published, amongst other predictions, in this month's issue of SCL's Computers & Law Magazine. The term "Transmedia", the child of multimedia, will enter the lexicon of digital media.  It's a phrase I recently heard Jeff Gomez (Starlight Runner) use to get people to think about stories and narratives rather than formats.  It is the notion of stories or narratives being expressed across a range of paltforms in ways suited to each platform, whether…

  • Laurence Kaye vs Laurence Kaye: the pirate and the lawyer in conversation

    LaurenceKaye
    3 Jan 2012 | 10:30 am
    Dear reader Happy New Year! I hope that the weight of your 'Inbox' hasn't made entry into 2012 too painful. It's one of life's little ironies that the Chairman of the UK Pirate Party (aka Loz Kaye) and I share exactly the same name. Name sharing v. file sharing! Olivia Solon of 'Wired' magazine recently interviewed Loz and me on a range of digital media law issues. You can find the piece published today in 'Wired' here. Although we disagreed a quite a few issues (e.g. Digital Economy Act), we also had a lot in common, especially our recognition of…

  • Reflections on yesterday's 'FutureBook' conference

    LaurenceKaye
    6 Dec 2011 | 9:54 am
    Dear reader "New business models", "responding to customer needs", "DRM", "Outsourcing" - not phrases from yesterday's very stimulating #FutureBook Conference. I talked about them in my presentation at 'e-Pub@ London Book Fair' in March 2004. But although change may not rapid, it is definitely happening now - that was the clear impression from yesterday's conference which was full of creative thinking. So here are my 10 key takeaways' from the FutureBook conference, most of which stem from the fact that for trade publishers in…

  • Digital Copyright Exchange update

    LaurenceKaye
    23 Nov 2011 | 6:25 am
    Dear reader  Hot off the press is news about the Richard Hooper's appointment by Business Secretary Vince Cable yesterday announced the appointment of Richard Hooper to lead a feasibility study on developing a Digital Copyright Exchange (DCE) in the UK: http://nds.coi.gov.uk/content/Detail.aspx?ReleaseID=422173&NewsAreaID=2    Whilst a feasibility study is not, of itself, going to unleash the potential for the market for trading in rights in digital content, it's a step in the right direction. But let's remember that there are already rights exchanges developing in the…
 
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    Media Law Journal

  • Silly old TVNZ

    Steven
    26 Jan 2012 | 12:46 pm
    This is why I don’t like doing TV. I gave TVNZ news an interview on the teapot saga yesterday, explaining my views as below that the risk is low for anyone who publishes the contents of the tape. Their broadcast asserts as a fact that “we can’t broadcast what was said for legal reasons”. Later the reporter says “legal experts” (who are the others, I wonder?) say police will struggle to charge the leakers, and then there’s me saying that it’s hard to see how the police could prove the publishers knew they were publishing an illegally obtained…

  • Teapot pours out

    Steven
    25 Jan 2012 | 7:23 pm
    Someone’s put the teapot tape online. That’s the conversation between the PM and ACT candidate John Banks that cameraman Bradley Ambrose said he inadvertently recorded, during the most covered cuppa in NZ history. The media, and even many bloggers, seem hesitant about linking to it. I’m not. Here’s why. Put aside the question of whether it was in fact an offence for Ambrose to have recorded the investigation. The police are investigating that, and the High Court has refused to rule on it. The question is whether the media (and new media) can publish the contents. Now,…

  • Confessions of a tabloid journalist

    Steven
    16 Jan 2012 | 3:00 pm
    For those who just caught be on Nine-to-Noon, those who’ve read Nick Davies’ excellent Flat Earth News, and those who are just interested in what goes on behind the scenes at UK tabs, here’s an insider’s expose, from former Daily Star journo Richard Peppiatt, who gave evidence to the Leveson inquiry. Highlights: journalists never take a bit of notice of the Press Complaints Commission Code, they don’t give a stuff about the odd ruling against them, many stories are basically just made up or exaggerated beyond recognition, and stories are cut to fit the ideology…

  • Public expectations and media standards

    Steven
    13 Dec 2011 | 10:17 pm
    The Law Commission suggests that its proposed independent media regulator consult with the public to establish what their expectations are of journalistic standards, so that these can be reflected in the structures and ethics codes it draws up (see paras 5.93 and 6.95). Is this really the right question? I rather doubt it. If you’re asking what standards the public expect of the media, new and old, I wouldn’t be surprised if you got some fairly cynical responses. But I suppose it’s implicit in this that we’re asking them what standards they think the media should be…

  • Law Commission’s new media paper

    Steven
    11 Dec 2011 | 5:25 pm
    The Law Commission has issued an issues paper on reform of news media and new media regulation. This isn’t a final report; they’re looking for feedback on their proposals. I think it’s a thougthful and well-researched paper. It’s very much alive to the problems of online regulation and the importance of free speech and the media. It contains some big ideas, some of which are getting lost in reporting by journalists who don’t seem to have read it. It’s in two parts. The first is about regulation of - for want of a better phrase - mainstream media. That is,…
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    Shear on Social Media Law

  • Supreme Court Signals It Will Protect Students' Social Media Privacy Rights

    23 Jan 2012 | 6:35 pm
    The Supreme Court ruled today that the Fourth Amendment still matters in the Social Media Age. In U.S. v. Jones, the court voted 9-0 that a warrant was required to place a GPS tracker onto a car.This case has wide ranging ramifications in the Social Media Age. If the installation of a GPS tracking device onto a car constitutes a search then the required installation of social media monitoring software onto a student's personal electronic device by a state school also constitutes a search. In addition, the requirement by public schools that their students provide them access to all of their…

  • Supreme Court Signals It Will Protect Students' Social Media First Amendment Rights

    18 Jan 2012 | 7:41 pm
    The Supreme Court recently declined to review three social media free speech cases. According to the Associated Press, the Supreme Court let stand two cases that stated that public schools do not have the right to discipline students for off campus speech that was disseminated via social media. In the third case, the Supreme Court let stand a student's suspension by a West Virginia school that was handed out because the student created a web page that suggested another student had a sexually transmitted disease.On-campus and off-campus speech has been blurred because of the reach of social…

  • Twitter Account Ownership Follow Up

    13 Jan 2012 | 1:45 pm
    On December 26, 2011, I discussed the Twitter account ownership lawsuit between PhoneDog and Noah Kravitz. On December 28, 2011, I appeared on Canada's CTV News to discuss the case. Since not all the facts are yet known it is too soon to speculate who owns the account. However, as I previously stated on December 26, 2011, PhoneDog's claim that each Twitter Follower is worth $2.50 appears to be clearly erroneous.If PhoneDog hires an expert that claims under oath that each Twitter Follower is worth $2.50, I believe it would be easy to dispute this assertion. While some of the lawsuit's exact…

  • Disconnecting From Social Media in 2012

    10 Jan 2012 | 8:33 pm
    Disconnecting from social media may help one realize that there is more to life than Facebook posting, Tweeting, Google plussing, etc... On Wednesday January 4, 2012, I discussed some of these issues with Washington, DC's Fox 5 News morning Co-Anchor Tony Perkins.Disconnecting from Technology in 2012: MyFoxDC.comLife is more fun in the real world than in the virtual world.To learn more about these issues you may contact me at www.shearlaw.com.Copyright 2012 by the Law Office of Bradley S. Shear, LLC. All rights reserved.© 2009-2010 Law Office of Bradley S. Shear, LLC All Rights Reserved.

  • Social Media Law Predictions For 2012

    8 Jan 2012 | 10:48 pm
    Having foresight and advising clients on how to successfully navigate potential legal risks is what lawyers are paid to do. On January 10, 2011, I made 10 social media law predictions for the year and nine of them have come true; the tenth one appears that it will be realized within the next couple of months. In no particular order, below are some of my social media law predictions for 2012:1) Social Media account ownership issues will increase. 2) State Legislatures and/or the courts in the United States will address whether employees may be required to turn over their social media user…
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