A View from the Inside
What Do We, as Clients, Want to See and Not See from Our Outside Counsel? By Stephanie S. Abrutyn Welcome to the inaugural column of a new series to be written by a rotating group of in-house counsel – intermittently, of course, because none of the authors can predict their own schedules, except to say…
The Ethics Nerd’s Guide to the Media Lawyer’s Ethics Library
By Lucian T. Pera The ethics nerd. Every law office has, or should have, at least one. You know, the guy or gal that other lawyers frantically descend on when they need to sue a company they represented last year, or when they really want to contact that former CFO of an opposing party. Yes,…
Paid, Political and Issue Ads Remain Banned for Public Broadcasters
By Judy Endejan First Amendment junkies must read the Ninth Circuit’s opinion in Minority Television Project, Inc. v. Federal Communications Commission, No. 3:06-cv-02699, issued on December 2, 2013. An en banc panel reversed a panel decision that had upheld the ban on commercial advertisements but struck down the ban on political ads and issue ads…
Judgment Against Austrian Newspaper Not a Violation of Article 10
Defamation, Privacy and Public Figures By Conor McCarthy and Caoilfhionn Gallagher Print Zeitungsverlag GmbH v. Austria is a somewhat surprising decision by the European Court of Human Rights, in which the Court, applying principles derived, in part, from its case law on privacy, rejected a newspaper’s challenge to a defamation judgment against it in respect…
Across the Pond: Updates on UK and European Media Law Developments
By David Hooper Open Justice: Naming Acquitted Defendants Who Might Be At Risk from Terrorists The recent decision given on 17 December 2013 in the Court of Appeal by the Lord Chief Justice in R v Marines A, B, C, D and E and Guardian and other Media 2013 EWCA 2367 raised an interesting question…
Maine Supreme Court Orders Release of 911 Calls in Double Murder Case
By Sigmund D. Schutz The Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram recently took on and defeated the Maine Office of the Attorney General’s longstanding policy of keeping 911 calls confidential in ongoing criminal investigations. In MaineToday Media, Inc. v. State of Maine, 2013 ME 100 (Nov. 14, 2013), a unanimous Maine Supreme Judicial Court…
Video Excerpts of Unsealed Deposition Transcripts Not Covered by Protective Order
Court Rejects Procedural Bars to Media Intervention By Gayle C. Sproul Videotaped excerpts of depositions, once marked confidential, are no longer covered by a protective order when the corresponding transcripts of those depositions have been filed and unsealed. Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited v. S.A.C. Capital Management, L.L.C., No. MRS-L-2032-06 (N.J. Super. Nov. 15, 2013). The…
Magazine Blog Post About “Birther” Conspiracy Book Is Protected Opinion
Court Declines to Address Whether D.C. SLAPP Law Applies in Federal Court In a ringing endorsement of the protection of political satire and parody from defamation claims, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed dismissal of a complaint against Esquire magazine over a blog post making fun of the publisher and author of a “birther”…
Circuit Declines to Reconsider Applicability of Anti-SLAPP Statute in Federal Court
Judge Kozinski Urged Colleagues to Revisit and Reject Precedent By Thomas R. Burke and Ambika K. Doran Six months after Ninth Circuit Chief Judge Alex Kozinski opined in dicta that his Circuit made a “mistake” in allowing the California anti-SLAPP statute to be raised in federal court, the Circuit declined to take up his suggestion…
Google’s Digital Book Program Passes Fair Use Test
Index and Snippets a “Transformative Use” By Judy Endejan On November 14, Judge Denny Chin ruled that Google’s digitization of more than twenty million books was a fair use under Section 107 of the Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. § 107. Authors Guild, Inc., and Betty Miles, Joseph Goulden, and Jim Bouton v. Google Inc., No. 05 Civ. 8136 (S.D.N.Y.)….
Photojournalist Wins $1.22 Million Judgment Over Images Taken From Twitter
By Itai Maytal After a seven-day trial on damages, a federal jury found that Agence France-Presse and Getty Images willfully infringed upon eight “twitpics” posted by photographer Daniel Morel that he took of the 2010 Haiti earthquake and awarded him $1.22 million. Morel v. AFP and Getty Images, No. 10 Civ. 2730 (S.D.N.Y. jury verdict…
Web Gripe Site Not Covered by New Jersey’s Newsroom Search Statute
Court Puts Burden on Newsgatherers to Invoke Statute By Bruce S. Rosen In a rare ruling interpreting the New Jersey’s version of the federal Privacy Protection Act (PPA) – designed to hold law enforcement accountable for illegal newsroom searches – a New Jersey Appellate Court has required persons who claim protection under the law “to…
Judge Again Gives Boost to Detroit Reporter’s 10 Year Fight to Protect Source
By Herschel P. Fink While much attention recently focused on Fox News reporter Jana Winter’s New York Court of Appeals victory in her effort to protect her anonymous source for a story involving the Aurora, Colorado, theater shooting, retired Detroit Free Press reporter David Ashenfelter chalked up another win in his 10 year long fight…
New York High Court: Don’t Send Journalists to Testify In States with Weak Shield Laws
Subpoena to Jana Winter Rejected By Dori Ann Hanswirth and Patsy Wilson New York-based journalists received good news last week when the State’s highest court reversed a lower court order requiring FoxNews.com investigative reporter Jana Winter to appear for testimony in Colorado because of the substantial likelihood that she would be compelled to identify confidential…
MediaLawLetter December 2013
Download Publication REPORTERS PRIVILEGE New York High Court: Don’t Send Journalists to Testify In States with Weak Shield Laws Subpoena to Jana Winter Rejected Holmes v. Winter E.D. Mich.: Judge Again Gives Boost to Detroit Reporter’s 10 Year Fight to Protect Source Reporter Can Claim Fifth Amendment Privilege Convertino v. U.S. Dept. Justice N.J. Super.:…