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We provide you with essential tools to advance First Amendment and media rights, and a supportive community in which to discuss emerging legal issues and the future of communication.
Not a member yet?
We provide you with essential tools to advance First Amendment and media rights, and a supportive community in which to discuss emerging legal issues and the future of communication.
Pia Sarma is Editorial Legal Director at the Times Newspapers, London. 1. How’d you get into media law? What was your first job? I got into media law after 9 years working in corporate firms in the City of London. I started out at Slaughter and May in London, working some time also in their…
From the Next Gen Committee Across the Pond By Adelaide Lopez “This is a dispute between a tattoo artist and a retailer of cacti about the use of the trading name ‘PRICK.’” A recent judgment in a passing off claim, handed down by Clarke HHJ sitting in the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court, on 11 April…
By Brent Arnold The Supreme Court of British Columbia has refused a motion to overturn its own worldwide injunction requiring Google to de-list certain websites from its search results pending the outcome of an intellectual property dispute. Equustek Solutions Inc. v. Jack, 2018 BCSC 610. The decision, released April 14, 2018, is the latest step…
Access to Parole Hearings, Serious Harm Standard, Right to Be Forgotten, and More By David Hooper The Sun Achieves Transparency in Parole Hearings Application of DSD, NBV, Mayor of London and News Group Newspapers v The Parole Board of England and Wales (2018) EWHC 694 (admin) In 2009 a London black cab taxi driver called…
By Judy Endejan On February 27, 2018, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled that the media monitoring service, TVEyes, Inc., infringed upon the Fox News Network’s content. Fox News Network, LLC v. TVEyes, Inc., 883 F.3d 169 (2d Cir. 2018). For more than four years, Fox News Network has been claiming…
Plaintiff’s Use of Historical Figures and Quotations Not Protectable By Adam Lazier and Laura Handman In dismissing a copyright claim against Chelsea Clinton’s best-selling children’s book, a court recently reaffirmed the important principle that copyright law does not give anyone a monopoly over history. Kimberley v. Penguin Random House, 17-cv-5107, 2018 WL 1918614 (S.D.N.Y. Apr….
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (“UNC”) must disclose to the media disciplinary records of students responsible for sexual misconduct. DTH Media v. Folt, 2018 N.C. App. LEXIS 402 (N.C. App.) (April 17, 2018) (Tyson, Bryant, and Elmore, JJ). The court rejected UNC’s argument that the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)…
Law Does Not Require Intent to Cause Harm to Depicted Person By Jim Hemphill Texas’ crackdown on spurned lovers who share explicit photos or videos of their ex-inamoratas hit a roadblock when an appellate court held the state’s criminal “revenge porn” law unconstitutional in April. The opinion does not directly address the core conduct prohibited…
By Abigail B. Everdell On April 2, Justice David B. Cohen of New York Supreme Court dismissed libel claims brought by “Diva of Distressed” Lynn Tilton and her private equity firm Patriarch Partners (“Plaintiffs”) against Mergermarket U.S. Ltd, publishers of the financial news publication Debtwire, and reporter Kyle Younker. Patriarch Partners v. Mergermarket, No. 160379/2016 (N.Y….
Court Grants Summary Judgment in Libel in Fiction Case By Jack Greiner The Court of Common Pleas for Hamilton County Ohio recently awarded summary judgment to the defendant in a libel in fiction case. A big part of the reason why was the truth of the allegedly defamatory material. Dudee v. Philpot, (April 5, 2018)….
By Laura Lee Prather, Catherine Robb, and Wesley Lewis This April, a Dallas district court granted a television production company’s motion for summary judgment in a negligence lawsuit arising from the broadcast of the popular documentary television series The First 48. Jones v. Kirkstall Road Enterprises, Inc., No. DC-16-01794 (191st Dist. Apr. 23, 2018). This…
From the Executive Director’s Desk As a kid, I loved historical fictions: books about Civil War heroes played out against the background of Gettysburg or Chancellorsville tickled my youthful fancy. An American Studies major and a somewhat history buff, as an adult I enjoy docudramas. Learn some history, get some inside poop, see a Hollywood…
Download Publication MLRC From the Executive Director: Setting the Record Straight on “The Post” at Home and Abroad 10 Questions to a Media Lawyer: Pia Sarma LIBEL & PRIVACY Tex. Dist.: Texas Court Grants Summary Judgment to Real Crime Show Producer in Negligent Publication CasePlaintiff Alleged Show Almost Got Him KilledThe First 48. Jones v….