MediaLawDaily May 5, 2014

Nev.: Supreme Court Panel Upholds $7.5 Million Judgment Favoring Wynn Against Video Magnate
Las Vegas Review-Journal
A panel of the Nevada Supreme Court has upheld a $7.5 million defamation judgment against soft-porn king Joe Francis on behalf of casino developer Steve Wynn.
Opinion: Francis v. Wynn

Minn. Dist.: Man cleared in Cold Spring cop killing sues KSTP-TV
Star Tribune
KSTP-TV wrongly said Ryan Larson was charged in officer’s killing and failed to rescind or correct its broadcast, the suit said.

N.D. Cal.: Sam Keller plaintiffs support NCAA delaying Ed O’Bannon trial
CBS Sports
On Friday night, lawyers for Keller — a former Nebraska and Arizona State quarterback — filed a motion that said that if the claims are not separated at trial, they want to delay the trial.

White House seeks legal immunity for firms that hand over customer data
The Guardian
Obama administration asks legislators drafting NSA reforms to protect telecoms firms complying with court orders.

Advertisers to White House: Stick To Self-Regulation
Multichannel News
Ad agencies have at least one bone to pick with the White House over the Administration’s Big Data report, released Thursday (May 1). The report proposed, among other things, promoted legislation that would enhance communications privacy laws put legislative muscle behind the voluntary agreements the Administration is pushing for as part of its privacy bill of rights.

FTC told to disclose the data security standards it uses for breach enforcement
Computerworld
The Federal Trade Commission can be compelled to disclose details of the data security standards it uses to pursue enforcement action against companies that suffer data breaches, the agency’s chief administrative law judge ruled Thursday.

D.D.C.: Photog Wins Access to FBI’s Cache of Records
Courthouse News
The FBI may be unfairly withholding its records on a photojournalist who worked an International Monetary Fund protest, a federal judge ruled.
Opinion: Sennett v. Dept. of Justice

D.D.C.: Justice Still Stonewalling on NSA Spy Program
Courthouse News
The Justice Department continues to stonewall public records requests for secret court authorizations of NSA spying programs, a digital rights watchdog group claims in court.
Complaint: Electronic Frontier Foundation v. Dept. of Justice

Ill.: FOIA requests, costs increasing in many municipalities
Daily Herald
The law allowing residents and business to request public records may be dubbed the Illinois Freedom of Information Act, but as municipalities are seeing more and more requests come in each year, officials say the cost to comply with the law is anything but free.

Tenn. App.: TSSAA is subject to open records laws
Associated Press
The decision stems from a lawsuit filed after the TSSAA refused to turn over records to the now-defunct Nashville City Paper. The paper was seeking records related to the investigation of recruiting violations at the elite Nashville private school Montgomery Bell Academy.
Opinion: City Press v. TSSSAA

E.D. Wisc.: Wisconsin Media Moves for Access to Lawsuit Alleging Political Retaliation By Criminal Justice Officials
The Wisconsin Broadcasters Association, the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council, the Wisconsin Newspaper Association and other media groups have moved to access a civil lawsuit involving allegations that governmental officials, including Milwaukee prosecutors, intiated a state criminal procedure to intimiadate and retaliate against political adversaries.
Memorandum of Law: O’Keefe v. Schmitz

When a Kidnapped Journalist Is a Freelancer
Medium
A dirty little secret of news publishing is that most of the pictures and videos we see on the front pages of our newspapers and magazines are taken by freelancers.

Newsrooms pay for scoops: will it escalate the practice?
Poynter
Last week, two newsrooms paid sources for exclusive content that broke big stories, and those who would not or did not pay were left quoting those who did.

Josh Rogin comes clean on Kerry tape
Politico
Daily Beast reporter Josh Rogin published a blustery, self-righteous post on Friday owning up to the fact that he taped Secretary of State John Kerry’s address to the Trilateral Commission last week.

2d Cir.: Apple Asks Second Circuit to Boot Antitrust Monitor
AmLaw Litigation Daily
Apple Inc.’s court-appointed antitrust monitor, Michael Bromwich, wrote in a recent report that his relationship with the company has improved. But Apple still wants him gone, as the tech giant made abundantly clear on Thursday in its opening appellate brief seeking Bromwich’s removal.
Brief: United States v. Apple

Cal. Super.: Rare Yelp lawsuit over alleged fake reviews is put on hold to debate merits
Ars Technica
A San Diego lawyer has filed a motion to immediately put on hold last year’s lawsuit that Yelp filed against him. The online reviews giant accuses Julian McMillan of orchestrating false reviews for his own law practice, a charge he squarely denies.
Complaint: Yelp v. McMillan 

Mozilla’s crazy plan to fix net neutrality and turn broadband into a utility – and why it could work
Gigaom
Mozilla filed a petition with the FCC Monday asking the agency to recognize that, in addition to the relationship between ISP’s and their end customers, there is a separate relationship between the content provider (Amazon, Google, Netflix etc) and the ISP, and that relationship should be classified as transport under Title II of the 1996 Telecommunications Act.
FCC Petition

Facebook draws fire on ‘related articles’ push
Boston Globe
The stories apparently are selected by Facebook based on mathematical calculations that rely on word association and the popularity of an article. No effort is made to vet or verify the content.

9th Cir.: Oracle, SAP Set to Brawl Over Damages in Landmark Copyright Case
The Recorder
The case raises an issue that has never been squarely confronted by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit: whether a jury can award damages based on a hypothetical license when the plaintiff has no track record of granting comparable licenses.

N.D. Cal.: Jury finds Samsung infringed Apple patents, must pay $120M in damages
IDG News Service
Apple was dealt a blow in its second major patent-infringement lawsuit against Samsung when a Silicon Valley jury awarded the iPhone maker damages of just $119.65 million for Samsung’s infringement of several of its smartphone patents.

See also
Verdict Seen as Token Apple Victory, Boost for Samsung
Wall Street Journal

E.D. Mich.: ‘Searching for Sugar Man’ Star’s Amazing Journey Erupts Into Fraud Lawsuit
Hollywood Reporter
In 1970, Sixto Rodriguez was allegedly urged by the future chairman of Motown Records to write under “Jesus Rodriguez” to avoid prior contractual obligations.
Complaint: Gomba Music v. Avant

People Magazine to Launch First Ever Daily News Show ‘PEOPLE Now’
TheWrap

Vice to Launch Digital Sports Channel, Highlights 4 New Original Shows
Variety
Vice, the hipster digital media company and studio aimed at Gen Y audiences, is set to launch a sports channel this summer — promising a journalistic deep-dive into drama on and off the field — and called out four new series it has in the works.

Comcast nears deal to stream EA games to TVs: sources
Reuters

Feds OK with Disney/Maker Studios Deal
Multichannel News
Antitrust review is granted early termination; no antitrust issues.

Sony Expects an Even Bigger Loss—and That’s Good News for Sony
Bloomberg Businessweek

New York taking a larger bite out of Hollywood productions
Los Angeles Times

The Great Unwatched
New York Times
By many estimates, more than half of online video ads are not seen, either because they are buried low on web pages or run in tiny, easily ignored video players on those pages, or run simultaneously with other ads.

Facebook’s mobile ad network is shockingly unambitious
Gigaom
Facebook’s first real ad network has a surprisingly narrow scope. App developers will probably take to it, but other advertisers should stick with Google for now and wait for future Facebook mobile innovation.

Social media faces doubts after latest round of results
USA Today
The once-sizzling sector could be on the outside looking in for investors following a string of disappointing financial results and a sharp slide in stock prices the past two months.

Amazon now lets you shop through Twitter
The Verge

How the L.A. Times is redesigning for the mobile Web
Digiday

This is what comes after search
Quartz
The average person with an Android smartphone is using it to search the web, from a browser, only 1.25 times per day, says Roi Carthy, CEO of Tel Aviv-based mobile startup Everything.Me. That isn’t just bad news for Google, which still relies on ads placed along search results for the bulk of its revenue—it also signals a gigantic, fundamental shift in how people interact with the web.

Snapchat’s Redesign Brings Self-Destruction Into the Mobile Messaging Wars
Bloomberg Businessweek
Snapchat is the undisputed people’s champ of smartphone peep shows, but the app with the self-destructing images wants to be so much more.

Moviefone Will Add Broadcast and On-Demand TV Information
New York Times
Type in any title, and broadcast times and on-demand viewing options will pop up, allowing viewers to turn on a television at the appointed time or click a button and watch immediately.

ECHR: Libel ruling has implications for freedom of expression
Irish Times
The received wisdom that “the dead cannot be defamed” has long offered succour to journalists, biographers and academics in the context of otherwise draconian defamation laws. …However, the rule may no longer hold true in all circumstances following a ruling of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in a case called Putitstin v Ukraine, in which the applicant complained of an article which, he said, defamed his dead father.

On World Press Freedom Day, little press freedom to speak of
Columbia Journalism Review
Last Saturday, May 3, was annual World Press Freedom Day. This year, the state of press freedom is especially grim; journalists face imprisonment, kidnapping, and death for doing their jobs.

Australian media regulation research to trigger fresh debate about ownership
The Guardian
Research to be produced by federal officials this month will trigger fresh debate about media ownership reform, even though the Abbott government is playing down the prospects of immediate action.

Australia: Is the piracy crackdown doomed to fail?
The Age
After months of speculation, Federal cabinet will reportedly consider proposals as early as this week to crack down on illegal downloads.

Cambodia’s bloggerati fear new internet law
Al Jazeera
Bloggers and campaigners in Cambodia warn that new law is intended to thwart online debate.

Denmark: Edward Snowden’s latest target is a Danish gossip magazine
Quartz
The former NSA contractor and whistleblower weighed in on what the Scandinavian press has dubbed the “Se og Hør-gate” (Danish): a News-of-the-World-like scandal involving the Danish gossip paper Se og Hør (See and Hear), which is accused of buying the confidential credit card records of the royal family, prime minister and celebrities.

Egypt:  A Voice of Dissent in Egypt Is Muffled, but Not Silent
New York Times
After two decades of mocking the powerful as a columnist and screenwriter, Belal Fadl has been blacklisted, with no newspaper in Egypt willing to defy the government by hiring him.

Israel: How U.S. billionaire Sheldon Adelson is buying up Israel’s media
Washington Post

Qatar to launch Al Jazeera counterweight
The National

Russia Moves Toward China-Style Internet Censorship
Bloomberg Businessweek
Russia’s Parliament has approved a law similar to China’s that would require Internet companies such as Google to locate servers handling Russian traffic inside the country and store user data locally for six months.

Turkey’s Erdogan: One of the World’s Most Determined Internet Censors
Wall Street Journal

UK: High Court judge upholds ban on 94-year-old dementia sufferer talking to journalists
Press Gazette
A 94-year-old dementia sufferer at the centre of litigation involving a local authority lacked the mental capacity to make decisions about “communications with the press”, a High Court judge has ruled.

UK: Jailed Huhne judge Constance Briscoe ‘forged libel case document’ to support claims she was abused by her mother
Daily Mail
A disgraced judge and best-selling author is facing fresh claims that she forged documentation to influence the outcome of a trial when her mother claimed libel against her.

UK: Radio host cleared over ‘scumbag’ tweet jibe to Musilm campaigner
Birmingham Mail
Tim Burton, from the newly formed far right political party Liberty GB, accused Fiyaz Mughal OBE of being a “mendacious grievance-mongering taqqiya artist”.

UK: Jeremy Clarkson given final warning by the BBC
The Guardian
Top Gear presenter says in his Sun column that he will be sacked if he makes another offensive remark.

UK: The State Journalism is in: Edward Snowden and the British Press
International Forum for Responsible Media

Benghazi and the Bombshell: Is Lara Logan too toxic to return to 60 Minutes?
New York Magazine

A Key Player in a Scandal, V. Stiviano Feeds the Media’s Appetite
New York Times (David Carr, Media Equation)
If you wanted to see clearly into how all the various components of the modern media ecosystem interact, you could not come up with a better real-time experiment than the Donald Sterling story.