MediaLawDaily May 15, 2019

State Legislative Committee Call
Thursday, May 16 at 3 p.m. ET

Ben Sheffner, SVP & Associate General Counsel at the MPAA, will discuss the movement in state legislatures to criminalize “deep fakes.” (and perhaps also the proposed federal law on the subject). Following Ben’s presentation, we will catch up on what bills have become law in the current (or recently completed) legislative sessions around the nation.

Dial-in: 888-857-7121; conference code: 303-376-2409

All MLRC members are welcome to join the call – no need to be on the particular committee.

New York Newspaper Files Cert. Petition for Access to Voir Dire Questionnaires
The Observer-Dispatch, a Gatehouse Media newspaper, is asking the Supreme Court to review a New York Court of Appeals decision holding that under state criminal procedure law the paper did not have standing to appeal denial of a motion seeking voir dire questionnaires used in a high profile murder trial. “This ruling cannot be reconciled with this Court’s longstanding recognition that the press and public must be given an opportunity to be heard before any decision is made restricting access to a criminal case.”
Petition for Cert.: Gatehouse Media v. New York

How Apple’s Supreme Court loss could change the way you buy apps
The Verge
The new ruling establishes that app buyers are Apple’s direct customers, giving them the right to proceed with their antitrust case.
Opinion: Apple v. Pepper

11th Cir.: Court Affirms Dismissal of Former Baseball Player’s Suit vs. ESPN, AP & USA Today
“We conclude that the district court did not err in applying New York law to the statute of limitations and fair report privilege defenses. Both defenses served to defeat Appellants’ defamation claims here. Furthermore, the district court correctly determined that ESPN and USA Today’s wire service defenses warranted dismissal, and finally that the statements at issue were true and lacked a defamatory implication.”
Opinion: Nix v. ESPN

C.D. Cal.: Musk’s new lawyer fights ‘pedo guy’ defamation lawsuit claims
TechCrunch
In court documents filed Tuesday, Musk’s new lawyer Alex Spiro of Quinn Emanuel questioned the motive of Vernon Unsworth, the British cave diver.
Answer: Unsworth v. Musk

N.D. Cal.: FBI Must Unmask Telecoms Freed From Surveillance Gag Orders
Courthouse News
Judge Vince Chhabria found the government failed to show how revealing the names of companies freed from gag orders that accompany national security letters, or secret government demands for customer records, would harm national security.
Opinion: EFF v. DOJ

Vt.: WCAX takes First Amendment battle to high court
WCAX
Should a court’s decision be shielded from the public? That was the heart of a case argued before the Vermont Supreme Court involving WCAX and the First Amendment.
Motion to Unseal: In re VSP-TK/1-16-18 Shooting

Facebook announces “one strike” policy to fight live-streaming abuses
Fast Company
Starting today, any Facebook user who violates any of Facebook’s community standards will get an automatic restriction placed on them from using Facebook Live for a set period of time.

Twitter launches new search features to stop the spread of misinformation about vaccines
TechCrunch
As measles outbreaks in the United States and other countries continue to get worse, Twitter is introducing new search tools meant to help users find credible resources about vaccines. It will also stop auto-suggesting search terms that would lead users to misinformation about vaccines.

N.D. Cal.: Public Citizen files test case over copyright liability for embedded images
Reuters
Schlossberg’s lawyers at Public Citizen and Stanford’s Juelsgaard Intellectual Property and Innovation Clinic filed a declaratory judgment suit in federal court in San Jose, seeking a determination that embedding an image of Luong’s photograph via a deep link to Luong’s website is not copyright infringement.
Complaint for Declaratory Relief: Schlossberg v. Luong

S.D.N.Y.: Embedded Instagram Photo of Justin Bieber is at the Center of a New Copyright Case
The Fashion Law
Photographer Robert Barbera, who has been on a litigation spree as of late, filed a copyright infringement against CBS, alleging that the media giant infringed his rights in a photo of Justin Bieber by “reproducing and publicly displaying it” in an article documenting the “most liked Instagram pics” on March 13.
Complaint: Barbera v. CBS Interactive

Chicago Cubs defeat Iowa man’s bid to trademark ‘Cubnoxious’
Duluth News Tribune
Huber’s “Cubnoxious” mark “likely would be perceived as a combination of the term CUB and the word ‘obnoxious,’ which typically is not a flattering term,” Judge Cynthia Lynch wrote for the TTAB panel in its May 3 decision.
Opinion: Chicago Cubs Baseball Club v. Huber

Condé Nast Sells Brides Magazine to Barry Diller’s Dotdash
New York Times
Dotdash, once known as About.com, plans to scrap the 85-year-old publication’s print edition and keep most of the editorial staff.

Disney is taking full control of Hulu
CNN
Comcast on Tuesday agreed to sell its ownership stake in the streaming video service to Disney. The sale won’t happen for at least another five years, but Disney will take full operational control of Hulu right now.

See also
The Hulu/Disney/Comcast divorce, explained
Vox

Univision brings local digital newscasts to Altice USA
Axios

A $300M Arbitration Ruling Gives Inside Look at the Cost of Televising Baseball Games
Hollywood Reporter
An internal arbitration panel at MLB refused to guarantee profitability for MASN, a regional sports network largely owned by the Baltimore Orioles. The team continues to be outraged, leaving its future in question amid an ongoing feud with the Washington Nationals.

Lachlan Murdoch Defiant in Face of Fox News Ad Boycotts
Hollywood Reporter
Lachlan Murdoch was defiant Tuesday when he declared that advertising boycotts — like ones against shows hosted by Tucker Carlson or Laura Ingraham — will not dictate the content on Fox News.

Salon Media in talks for $5M fire sale in last-ditch effort
New York Post
Salon Media Group, a one-time digital darling, has fallen on hard times. It lost its CEO of the past three years last week and appears to be on the brink of a deal to sell itself for a fire sale price of $5 million.

Attention, Amazon Shoppers: Google Wants Some of Your Spending Money
New York Times
Amazon wants to sell ads. Google wants to woo shoppers. Their ambitions are putting the tech giants on a collision course.

Group chats are making the internet fun again
New York Magazine
Over the last few years, I and most of the people I know have slowly attempted to extricate our social lives from Facebook. Now it’s the group chat that structures and enables my social life.

Everyone’s ripping off Snapchat’s Stories
Axios
Stories, the string of photos and videos invented by Snapchat and ripped off by Facebook for Instagram are now being ripped off by … everyone.

Canada: Richard Martineau settles $350,000 defamation lawsuit against Ricochet out of court
Montreal Gazette
Journal de Montréal columnist Richard Martineau has accepted an out-of-court settlement in his defamation suit against digital publisher Ricochet Media, which had published a mock obituary of him.

China: Wikipedia Is Now Banned in China in All Languages
Time
Google, Facebook and LinkedIn are among the sites already banned, forcing Internet users to use virtual private networks, or VPN, to bypass what has become known as the “Great Firewall” of China.

French reporters questioned by intelligence service in leak investigation
Committee to Protect Journalists
The reporters refused to answer questions posed by the agents, and declared that they acted in the service of informing the public, according to the statement.

Turkey: Erdogan’s expanding dictatorship is steering Turkey toward dead end
Washington Post
Erdogan has fashioned Turkey’s political system into one of paramount presidential power, and, since a failed coup attempt in July 2016, has waged a merciless campaign to silence critics.

UK: Tommy Robinson will face fresh contempt charges, judges rule
The Telegraph
Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, was jailed for 13 months in May last year for filming people involved in a criminal trial outside Leeds Crown Court and publishing the footage on social media, breaching reporting restrictions imposed by a judge.

UK: The Jeremy Kyle Show axed by ITV after death of guest
BBC News
The pre-recorded episode Mr Dymond took part in was based on the subject of infidelity.

Venezuela: 104-year-old daily is the latest newspaper to stop print edition due to lack of paper
Knight Center
Panorama, founded in 1914 and based in the northwestern state of Zulia, published its last print edition on May 14.

Warren Calls Fox News a ‘Hate-for-Profit Racket’ and Refuses an Appearance
New York Times
Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts on Tuesday broke from her Democratic rivals by declining to participate in a Fox News town hall, denouncing the cable news channel as “a hate-for-profit racket” that seeks to turns Americans against one another.

Michael Wolff finishes “Fire and Fury” sequel, “Siege”
Axios
The book, “about a presidency that is under fire from almost every side,” begins with Year 2 and ends with the delivery of the Mueller report.

Cal. Super.: Edwards Wildman Didn’t Warn About Anti-SLAPP, Jury Told
Law360
A British barrister testified before a Los Angeles jury on Tuesday that he regrets connecting a colleague with Edwards Wildman Palmer to represent the colleague in a privacy suit against the Daily Mail tabloid, saying the firm failed to warn them about California’s anti-SLAPP law.

For background, see
Edwards Wildman Palmer v. Superior Court (Cal. App. 2014)
“The question before us is whether the attorney-client privilege applies to intrafirm communications between attorneys concerning disputes with a current client, when that client later sues the firm for malpractice.”