Ten Questions to a Media Lawyer: Barbara Wall
Barbara Wall is senior vice president & chief legal officer at Gannett Co., Inc. in Virginia. If you’d like to participate in this ongoing series, let us know – medialaw@medialaw.org. How’d you get into media law? Luck! When I was at the University of Virginia Law School, one of the top media law firms in…
The Other Side of the Pond: Updates on English Media Law Developments
By David Hooper Twitter Is Not the Wild West. Tweet at Speed, Repent at Leisure.Monroe v Hopkins [2017] EWHC433 In a decision handed down in March 2017 Mr Justice Warby awarded a food blogger and cooking journalist £24,000 libel damages divided as to £16,000 for the first tweet and £8,000 for the second tweet for…
New York Court Orders Further Review of Body Camera Footage
By Christine Walz, Madelaine Harrington, and Lin Weeks A New York Supreme Court judge has ordered the New York City Police Department to provide the cable news channel Time Warner Cable NY1 with footage from its officers’ body cameras requested under New York’s Freedom of Information Law. The order requires the NYPD to review body-worn…
Court Refuses to Issue Subpoena to Journalist in Hernandez Murder Case
By Tom Curley In what appears to be a matter of first impression in New Jersey, a trial court refused to issue an interstate subpoena for testimony to a former USA Today reporter sought by Massachusetts prosecutors in the Aaron Hernandez murder trial. In the Matter of the Proceedings to Compel Attendance of Kelly Whiteside…
Ninth Circuit Holds Website Can Lose DMCA Safe Harbor by Using Moderators
By Jim Rosenfeld, Ambika Doran, and Rachel Herd Earlier this month, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held that an online provider may become ineligible for the safe harbor provided by Section 512(c) of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act if its moderators help select content submitted by users. Mavrix Photographs, LLC v. LiveJournal, Inc., (9th…
Veteran Loser Perfect 10’s Latest Ninth Circuit Defeat
By Mitchell Zimmerman In the 1940s, Jehovah’s Witnesses, tenaciously litigious in defense of free expression, generated a half-dozen Supreme Court decisions that came to define First Amendment rights in the 20th century. With comparable persistence, but in the service of less lofty interests, erotic-photo publisher Perfect 10 has fought—and nearly always lost—a series of reported…
On Poker and Pokemon: Candy Lab Case Tests the Boundaries of Free Expression in Augmented Reality
By Brian D. Wassom Augmented reality (“AR”) promises to be a revolutionary new medium of expression—if it can overcome reactionary attempts to regulate it. Now, the first shot in the battle for free speech rights in AR has been fired. In February 2017, Milwaukee County, Wisconsin adopted an ordinance regulating “virtual and location-based augmented reality games.”…
Defamation, “Puppy Mills” and “A Dog’s Purpose”
By Joseph E. Martineau In the opening scene of the movie, A Dog’s Purpose, based on the novel by Bruce Cameron, a Golden Retriever puppy escapes from a wire cage when the door is inadvertently left unlatched while a commercial breeder is showing a prospective purchaser a variety of dogs. Cages are stacked upon cages, and though…
“Vlad the Impaler” Loses Libel Suit vs. Time Inc.
Hyperbole and Golf Are No Strangers A Kansas federal district court granted summary judgment to Time Inc. and a Kansas golf club on libel and emotional distress claims brought by a former manager who was referred to as “Vlad the Impaler” and criticized for mismanagement of the club. Clark v. Time Inc., No. 15-9090 (D….
Ninth Circuit Affirms Dismissal of Extreme and Outrageous Conduct Claim
Case Arose from Newspaper Editor’s Ill-Considered Email By Steve Zansberg On April 14, 2017 the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed dismissal of an IIED claim against the Durango Herald newspaper and its former Arts & Entertainment Editor, Ted Holteen. Delevin v. Holteen. Although the Ninth Circuit issued only an unreported Memorandum Decision, having no…
The First 100 Days: Trump and Press – A Q&A
From the Executive Director’s Desk I write this on the 100th day of the Trump Presidency. It has been a period of drama, with a crisis a day. For the media, it has been a time of constant criticism and a continual barrage of threats and anti-press bloviation. On the other hand, newspaper sales are…
MediaLawLetter April 2017
Download Publication MLRC From the Executive Director’s DeskThe First 100 Days: Trump and Press – A Q&A Ten Questions to a Media Lawyer: Barbara Wall LIBEL & PRIVACY Ninth Circuit Affirms Dismissal of Extreme and Outrageous Conduct ClaimCase Arose from Newspaper Editor’s Ill-Considered EmailDelevin v. Holteen D. Kan.: “Vlad the Impaler” Loses Libel Suit vs….