Jury Finds For IMDB.Com, Ending Actress’s Suit Over Disclosure of Her Age
In a case that generated media attention for its unique set of facts and examination of online privacy policies, a federal court jury in the Western District of Washington this month decided that the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) did not commit a breach of contract by revealing the real age of an actress. Hoang v….
Temporary Copies Defense Can Apply to Meltwater Web-Based Users
UK Case Referred to the European Court of Justice By Niri Shan and Adam Rendle Before the Associated Press sued Meltwater for copyright infringement in the US, the UK’s Newspaper Licensing Agency (NLA) was in a dispute with Meltwater and its public relations users about the need for and terms of the NLA’s licences. The…
Virginia Supreme Court Rules Lawyer Blog Is Commercial Speech
Finds Substantial Interest in Regulating Potentially Misleading Lawyer Blogs By James L. McGuire Any lawyer who writes a blog – or who simply wants to boast about her successes – should take note of a recent Virginia Supreme Court case. In Hunter v. Virginia State Bar, 2013 WL 749494 (Va. Feb. 28, 2013), the Court…
D.C. Circuit Clarifies FOIA Procedure
Eases Ability to File Lawsuit for Failure to Respond The Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia this month held that when government agencies fail to timely respond to FOIA requests, requesters can immediately bring suit, bypassing any administrative appeal. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington v. Federal Election Commission, No. 12-5004, 2013…
Military Appeals Court Declines to Rule on Request for Access To Bradley Manning Court Martial Citing Lack of Jurisdiction
The United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces this month held in a 3-2 decision that it did not have jurisdiction to issue a writ of mandamus enabling journalists and the public to have access to court documents and proceedings in the court martial trial of Bradley Manning, who is accused of releasing…
New Judge Unseals Probable Cause Affidavits in Aurora Shooting Case
Public’s First Amendment Rights Outweigh Countervailing Interests in Secrecy By Steven D. Zansberg On April 4, 2013, Judge Carlos Samour Jr. of the Colorado District Court for Arapahoe County, Colorado ordered the unsealing of all of the affidavits of probable cause in People v. James Eagan Holmes, the man accused of the Aurora theater shooting…
U.S. Supreme Court to Court to Consider Application of Calder “Effects Test”
Non-media Fourth Amendment Case May Have Implications for Media Litigation The U.S. Supreme Court recently agreed to hear an appeal of a divided Ninth Circuit decision holding that Nevada has personal jurisdiction to hear a Fourth Amendment / Bivens claim against Georgia-based DEA agents for an alleged illegal search and seizure at Atlanta airport. Fiore…
Tenth Circuit Affirms Summary Judgment in Libel Case Against Documentary Filmmaker
By Steven D. Zansberg On April 15, 2013, a divided panel of the Tenth Circuit affirmed summary judgment to a documentary filmmaker, Richard Bensinger, in a libel suit brought by a construction contracting company. Spacecon Specialty Contractors, LLC v. Bensinger, No. 11-1139. The majority of the panel found that Spacecon had not proffered clear and…
New Jersey Court Affirms Post-Trial Libel Injunction
By Bruce S. Rosen & Kathleen A. Hirce In an issue of first impression for New Jersey, the State’s Appellate Division upheld a permanent injunction that prospectively prohibits one businessman from publicly speaking about another businessman, on ten categories of subjects. Chambers v. Scutieri, No. A-4831-10T1 (N.J. App. Div. April 4, 2013). The opinion, which…
Federal Judge Vacates Prior Restraint in Lawsuit By Haiti’s Prime Minister
By Jonathan D. Stratton and Scott D. Ponce A federal district judge in Miami, Florida vacated a prior restraint that permanently enjoined a U.S.-based Haitian journalist from publishing anything relating to the Prime Minister of Haiti and a prominent Florida businessman. Baker v. Joseph and Haite-Observateur, No. 12-CV-23300 (S.D. Fla. April 9, 2013) Haitian Prime…
North Carolina Federal Court Applies Single Publication Rule to the Internet
First Decision in the Fourth Circuit on the Issue By Jonathan Buchan A North Carolina federal court in March 2013 applied the single publication rule in dismissing on statute of limitations grounds a libel suit against several media defendants arising from articles posted on their websites. Marcus Jermaine Johnson v. The City of Raleigh, et…
Michigan Court of Appeals Takes Pass on Dendrite – At Least For Now
James E. Stewart and Leonard M. Niehoff In an April 4, 2013 decision, the Michigan Court of Appeals dashed hopes that Michigan would become one of the states that apply the so-called Dendrite standard to accommodate the tensions between the First Amendment protection for anonymous speech and a person’s right to know the identity of…
Rocker Tom Scholz’ Defamation Lawsuit Against Boston Herald Dismissed
By Joseph D. Lipchitz A Massachusetts Superior Court this month granted summary judgment in favor of the Boston Herald and two of its long-time columnists, dismissing a defamation lawsuit filed by Donald Thomas Scholz, one of the original members of the 1970’s rock band BOSTON, arising from three 2007 articles that reported on the March…
Georgia Supreme Court Expands “Appropriation of Likeness” Tort in Girls Gone Wild Lawsuit
By Tom Clyde On March 28, 2013, the Georgia Supreme Court stepped carefully into the thicket of lawsuits that has emerged out of the Girls Gone Wild video series. Bullard v. MRA Holding LLC et al., Case No. S12Q2087 (Ga. March 28, 2013). In response to certified questions from the United States District Court for…
Ninth Circuit Judges Question Application of California Anti-SLAPP Statute in Federal Court
Judges Kozinski, Paez Say Circuit Precedent Was Wrongly Decided By Thomas R. Burke, Laura R. Handman, Alison B. Schary and Micah J. Ratner Concurring opinions issued on April 17, 2013, by Chief Judge Kozinski and Judge Richard A. Paez of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals invite the Ninth Circuit to review en banc the…
Citizen Journalist Covered By New Jersey Shield Law
Blogger Wins Privilege Claim in Trial Court Ruling By Bruce S. Rosen and Kathleen A. Hirce In one of the first decisions of its kind in the country, a New Jersey Superior Court Judge expanded New Jersey’s Newspersons Shield Law to cover a self-described “citizen watchdog” journalist, who has spent the past seven years blogging…
Ninth Circuit Holds Use of Ed Sullivan Clip in Jersey Boys Musical a Fair Use
Attorney’s Fees Award Justified By Itai Maytal A three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in Central California recently ruled that the producers of Jersey Boys were entitled to use a seven-second clip from The Ed Sullivan Show as a matter of fair use. Sofa Entertainment, Inc. v. Dodger…
Ninth Circuit Upholds Liability of BitTorrent Website for User Copyright Infringement
By Luke Platzer and Rochelle Lundy The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals recently affirmed that the operators of a group of popular BitTorrent indexing websites were secondarily liable for their users’ infringement of copyrights held by major movie studios. Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. v. Fung, No. 10-55946, 2013 WL 1174151 (9th Cir. Mar. 21, 2013)…
Second Circuit Affirms Denial of Preliminary Injunction in Internet Streaming Case
By Jim Rosenfeld and Eric Feder As consumers increasingly obtain entertainment content on the Internet, media companies and technology start-ups are vying over how new content delivery platforms should interact with more established business models for the distribution of that content. This tension has been spilling over into the courts, which must apply established copyright…
Circumventing or Circumnavigating the Law
Supreme Court Allows First Sale Doctrine Defense in Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. By Toby Butterfield and Edward H. Rosenthal In its recent opinion in Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 11-697 (March 19, 2013), the Supreme Court dealt a blow to book publishers, an industry that hardly has been reaping record…
MediaLawLetter April 2013
Download Publication INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY U.S.: Circumventing or Circumnavigating the Law? The Supreme Court Allows First Sale Doctrine DefenseKirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Second Circuit Affirms Denial of Preliminary Injunction in Internet Streaming CasePlaintiffs in Aereo Case to Seek Rehearing En BancAereo v. WNET Ninth Circuit Upholds Liability of BitTorrent Website for User Copyright…