MediaLawDaily March 7, 2016

Confirmation Hearings Bring Sunshine To The Court
SCOTUSblog (Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.)
Unfortunately, eleven Republican Senators are trying to deny a full and open debate on the next nominee to the Supreme Court – BEFORE that individual has even been named.

April arguments, day by day
SCOTUSblog
The Supreme Court on Friday released the list of oral arguments for the final scheduled sitting of the Term, beginning on Monday, April 18, and continuing for two weeks. Two IP cases are listed for April 25: Kirtsaeng II on attorneys’ fees in copyright cases and Cuozzo Speed Technologies v. Lee on USPTO review of patent validity.

Five cases put off to next Term
SCOTUSblog
Five cases that the Supreme Court had granted in time to be heard and decided during the current Term are being held over for the new Term starting next October 3. Included in the list is Microsoft v. Baker, a case about a federal appeals court’s authority to review a denial of class certification after the lead plaintiff has dismissed a complaint.

D. Del.: Central Bank of Venezuela doubles down in “cyber-terrorism” website lawsuit
Ars Technica
A bizarre lawsuit accusing a website that publishes unofficial dollar/bolivar exchange rates of defaming the central bank of Venezuela lumbers on with an amended complaint.
Complaint: Banco Central de Venezuela v. DolarToday

D. Utah: Man Says Tickling-Contest Film Defamed Him
Courthouse News
The son of late legal giant George D’Amato claims in court that the indie film “Tickled” defamed him in its tale of “competitive endurance tickling.”
Complaint: D’Amato v. Farrier

Fla. Cir.: Hulk Hogan’s lawyer says Gawker posted sex tape to ‘harm’ him
CNNMoney
Hogan will testify later in the day.
Live Video Feed

Tenn.: Erin Andrews Trial Moves to Jury Deliberations
Hollywood Reporter
Sportscaster Erin Andrews soon will find out whether she is to be compensated by a Nashville hotel for the pain she’s endured since she was filmed naked in 2008 through a peephole by stalker Michael David Barrett. On Friday, the case was thrown into a jury’s hands upon the conclusion of closing arguments.

See also
Why is the Erin Andrews nude video still online?
CNNMoney

High Court Rejects Request for Same-Day Audio in Abortion, Immigration Cases
The Blog of Legal Times
The court’s rejection of the audio request contrasts with last April’s arguments in Obergefell v. Hodges, the same-sex marriage case.

Idaho: How Open Are They? Times-News Investigation Tests Access to Public Records
Times-News
Times-News tested access last month by dispatching a team of reporters to ask for public records relevant to our readers’ lives — building permits, police video, food safety inspection results, standardized test scores — from agencies chosen arbitrarily.

Virginia: Gov. Terry McAuliffe agrees to sign open government bill without his rewrite
Roanoke Times
The governor’s attempt to heavily amend Senate Bill 494 was decried by its supporters as an effective veto of the measure.
SB 494

Defense Department Tells MuckRock It Will Need To Come Up With $660 Million To Cover FOIA Request Fees
Techdirt
Martin Peck’s FOIA request for information on the Dept. of Defense’s use of “HotPlug” systems (a portable power pack that keeps seized devices from powering down) has resulted in an FOIA fee estimate exceeding a half-billion dollars.

Supreme Court Declines to Hear Apple’s Appeal in E-Book Pricing Case
New York Times
Apple had wanted to appeal a lower court’s determination that it and five publishers had conspired to raise e-book prices above Amazon’s standard.

Tex.: FanDuel Will Cut Paid Contests Under AG Deal
Law360
Online fantasy sports site FanDuel will stop accepting paid entries in Texas in May as part of a Friday settlement with the state attorney general, though FanDuel continues to dispute the attorney general’s opinion that the contests are unlawful.

C.D. Cal.: Full Brief From San Bernardino District Attorney Even More Insane Than Application About ‘Dormant Cyber Pathogen’
Techdirt
Like many, we wrote about the bizarre filing from San Bernardino County District Attorney Michael Ramos — you know, the one where he speculates randomly that the iPhone might contain evidence of a “dormant cyber pathogen.” But that was just the application to file an amicus brief; the actual brief is even crazier.
Amicus Brief: In re Search of an Apple iPhone

See also
Collected Amicus Briefs in Support of Apple
Apple
Apple has collected links to all of the briefs filed in support of its position.

Round 1: The FBI vs. Apple. Round 2: The FBI vs. journalists?
Poynter
Unlike Apple, media companies don’t make password-protected gadgets with localized encryption. But they do have a related technical problem in that most of them haven’t done enough to encrypt the networked flow of information in and out of the newsroom. This leaves sources and users vulnerable.

E.D. Cal.: Facebook Can Shield User Info of Kazakh Reporters
Courthouse News
Facebook does not have to provide Kazakhstan’s dictator Nursultan Nazarbayev’s government with information that he could use against the last vestiges of the country’s free press, a federal judge ruled.
Order: Republic of Kazakhstan v. Does

Verizon Settles With FCC Over Its Use of ‘Supercookies’ for Targeted Ads, Will Pay $1.3 Million Fine
Re/code

U.S. Supreme Court rejects appeal in Batmobile copyright case
Associated Press
The Supreme Court is staying out of a copyright dispute involving a California man who produced replicas of the Batmobile for car-collecting fans of the caped crusader. The justices on Monday let stand a lower court ruling that said the Batmobile’s bat-like appearance and high-tech gadgets make it a character that can’t be duplicated without permission from DC Comics, the copyright holder.

Fed. Cir.: Biggest patent troll of 2014 gives up, drops appeal
Ars Technica
In 2014, no company filed more patent lawsuits than eDekka LLC, a Texas-based company with just one asset, but 168 of those cases came to a sudden halt in October, when US District Judge Rodney Gilstrap stopped the litigation campaign in its tracks. eDekka has now dropped its appeal of Gilstrap’s order, but the company is still facing orders to pay attorneys’ fees to some targets of the campaign.

N.D. Ill.: McGraw-Hill Sues AIG Unit For Coverage Of Copyright Suits
Law360
Textbook publisher McGraw-Hill Education Inc. sued an American International Group unit Friday in Illinois federal court, claiming the insurer has flouted its obligation to cover settlements in copyright infringement suits alleging McGraw-Hill has misused photos in its publications.
Complaint: McGraw-Hill Education v. Illinois National Insurance

D. Mass.: ‘House of Cards’ Distributor Sued for Trademark Infringement
Hollywood Reporter
Massachusetts-based D2 Holdings says it owns the trademark for “House of Cards” and wants the court to order distributors of the show to stop using the phrase and destroy any physical or digital materials that bear the mark.
Complaint: D2 Holdings v. MRC II Distribution

Bloomberg again at center of his company, but readying exit?
Associated Press
Since returning to the financial information company that bears his name, Michael Bloomberg has presided over two years of robust expansion andrecord revenue, all while laying the groundwork for his second departure — whether that’s to retirement in 10 years or a presidential campaign in 10 days.

‘Reach and return’: The Financial Times is making its paywall leakier
Digiday
Traffic from social platforms has risen 80 percent, according to the publisher.

Marketing, printing and events help Dallas Morning News owner keep revenues steady
Poynter
A.H. Belo achieved one of its financial goals for 2015, generating enough revenue from its digital marketing, printing and events businesses to avoid any significant decreases in revenue.

How WaPo and The Financial Times are honing their products through smart testing
Media Briefing

IAB Creates Guide for Publishers to Combat Ad Blocking
Advertising Age
Organization describes six tactics including paying the ad blockers.

See also
Ad Blockers Are Making Money Off Ads (And Tracking, Too)
Wired

Barnes & Noble is shutting down the Nook App Store on March 15th
The Verge
Barnes & Noble has notified its users that it will shut down the Nook App Store, Nook Video, and the UK Nook Store on March 15th. The company sent out an email to users and developers on Thursday explaining that third-party app sales and in-app purchases would soon cease to work in the Nook App Store, and pushed users and developers toward the Google Play Store for future app transactions.

Bob Iger broadens Disney’s horizons in age of disruption
Financial Times
Cord-cutting poses threat to core cable product but chief confident in diversification steps.

AMC’s Carmike Deal: Justice Department Review Could Impact Licensing of Blockbuster Movies
Hollywood Reporter
AMC Theatres’ $1.1 billion deal to acquire the Carmike theater chain will potentially result in the biggest theater circuit around the world. It could also give the U.S. Justice Department an opportunity to reshape licensing practices for first-run films.

Business Insider Is Losing Money But Growing Fast. That’s Why Axel Springer Valued it at Over $400 Million.
Re/code
When Axel Springer bought control of Business Insider last year, it paid the largest ever sum for a digital publisher, turning the deal into a bellwether transaction that’s likely to influence future content acquisitions.

Meerkat Is Ditching the Livestream — And Chasing a Video Social Network Instead
Re/code
The livestreaming business is hard. So Meerkat, in true Silicon Valley fashion, is pivoting.

Europe’s Antitrust Enforcer on Google, Apple and the Year Ahead
New York Times
In an interview, Margrethe Vestager, the European Union’s competition commissioner, discusses the issues underpinning her current investigations and whether she unfairly targets American companies.

India: AAP Government to take action against 3 TV news channels for airing doctored JNU clips defaming Kanhaiya Kumar
India.com
The Aam Aadmi Party led Delhi state government is all set to take action against three television news channels who aired doctored clips of Jawaharlal Nehru University showing Student Union leader Kanhaiya Kumar raising separatist, anti-India slogans.

Turkey’s Zaman: Editorial tone changes after takeover
Al Jazeera
Pro-government slant marks newspaper’s first edition since judicial intervention which set off two days of protests.

See also
Turkey: Leading UK journalists back campaign to reverse Turkish state take-over of leading opposition newspaper
Press Gazette

UK: Stocker Facebook libel trial, claimant awarded £5,000 damages (which he turns down)
International Forum for Responsible Media
In the first libel trial of 2016, Mr Justice Mitting found that the claimant, Ronald Stocker, had been defamed by his ex-wife, Nicola Stocker, in a post on his new partner’s Facebook page.

UK: The Jump: ‘most dangerous show on TV’ escapes Ofcom censure
The Guardian
Channel 4’s winter sports reality show The Jump has escaped censure from the broadcasting regulator despite a string of complaints about serious injuries suffered by star.

See also
ITV’s This Morning cleared over eight-year-olds pole dancing
The Guardian
Ofcom assessed the complaints but decided there were not grounds to launch a formal investigation to see if ITV was in breach of the UK broadcasting code.

UK: Imagine, a newspaper without a website
Media Life
A newly launched paper in the UK focuses on print.

Millennial Reporters Grab the Campaign-Trail Spotlight
New York Times
Young reporters from BuzzFeed, CNN, The Washington Post and other news outlets have become the media stars of the topsy-turvy 2016 race.

Las Vegas newspaper sellers agreed to keep buyers a secret ‘indefinitely’
Politico Media
Gatehouse/New Media Investment Group agreed to keep the new owner of the Las Vegas Review Journal secret “indefinitely” after the company sold it, according to a copy of the purchase agreement.

A Plagiarism Scandal Is Unfolding In The Crossword World
FiveThirtyEight
A group of eagle-eyed puzzlers, using digital tools, has uncovered a pattern of copying in the professional crossword-puzzle world that has led to accusations of plagiarism and false identity.

11th Cir.: ‘Docs v. Glocks’ Judge Wilson Doesn’t Dissent Lightly
Bloomberg BNA
Judge Charles R. Wilson’s three dissents defending the First Amendment rights of Florida doctors to ask patients about firearm ownership shouldn’t be taken lightly. He’ll now have a fourth chance to weigh in on Florida’s Firearm Owners Privacy Act, when the case is reheard en banc.

8th Cir.: Court of Appeals Rules in Funeral Protest Statute Case
The Court held that a Westboro Baptist Church member’s due process claims over Missouri’s funeral protest statute were moot after the law was repealed, but that the district court erred by lowballing the fees Phelps-Roeper was entitled to recover.