Revisiting the 2003 Ethics Corner: Surreptitious Taping by Lawyers
By Bruce E. H. Johnson Almost a decade ago, in the October 2003 issue of the MLRC MediaLawLetter, Memphis ethics expert Lucian Pera (who also serves as an Elvis fetishist and Tennessee media lawyer when the occasions warrant) warned members of the MLRC media bar about “surveillance ethics” risks arising from legal uncertainties about the…
California Issues Important Ruling on Labor Speech Rights of Unions on Private Property
Ralphs Grocery Could Lead to a Review of the Issue by the U.S. Supreme Court By Linda Auerbach Allderdice The California Supreme Court recently issued its decision in Ralphs Grocery Company v. United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 8. Although the ruling resolved a long-standing dispute between a supermarket owner and the labor union…
California Attorney General Cracks Down on Apps That Fail to Comply With Privacy Law
By Daniel Rockey California led the way on privacy for websites when it enacted the California Online Privacy Protection Act (Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code §§ 22575-22579) in 2004, the first law in the country to require websites to post a privacy policy. (Cal OPPA requires “an operator of a commercial Web site or online…
Maryland State Education Board Reaffirms Legal Notice Advertising Law
By Drew Shenkman and Eric Lieberman The Maryland State Board of Education recently reversed the Baltimore County School Board’s decision to approve a new elementary school site because it violated Maryland’s newspaper notice requirement. In Dunloy Townhome Condominium, Inc. v. Baltimore County Board of Education, the State Board remanded the case to the County Board…
Judge Denies NYT Access to DOJ’s Legal Memos About Drone Strikes
By David McCraw While decrying the “Alice-in-Wonderland nature” of government secrecy, a federal judge in New York has dismissed a FOIA suit brought by The New York Times seeking disclosure of Justice Department memoranda analyzing the legality of targeted killings abroad by the U.S. government. “I can find no way around the thicket of laws…
Maine Supreme Judicial Court Intervenes on 24-Hours Notice to Stop Secret Jury Selection in “Zumba” Prostitution Case
Decisive Action to Enforce and Apply Press-Enterprise I By Sigmund D. Schutz and Benjamin S. Piper The “Zumba” prostitution scandal in Maine has already made national and international news for its mix of alleged prostitution by a Zumba dance instructor at her studio and elicit videotaping and meticulous recordkeeping naming 150 or so “johns” (66…
Ninth Circuit Finds That SLAPPing Superman Can Be Subject to Immediate Review in Federal Courts
By Judith A. Endejan On January 10, 2013 in DC Comics v. Pacific Pictures Corporation et al., (No. 11-56934) the Ninth Circuit held that the denial of an anti-SLAPP motion can be immediately reviewed in federal courts. The underlying case involves the rights to the Superman character created in the mid-1930’s by Jerome Siegel and…
Univision Wins Texas SLAPP Law Appeal
By Chip Babcock In the first appellate decision on the merits of the Texas Anti-SLAPP statute the Dallas Court of Appeals has ruled in favor of the Univision Television Group and its local station KUVN reversing a trial court which had refused to rule on the network’s motion to dismiss but rather had ordered substantial…
Seventh Circuit Affirms Dismissal of Privacy Suit Against Joan Rivers
Documentary Scene Not Private, Use Was Incidental The Seventh Circuit this month affirmed dismissal of privacy and misappropriation claims against comedian Joan Rivers and the producers of the documentary “Joan Rivers –A Piece of Work.” Bogie v. Rosenberg, No. 12-1923 (7th Cir. Jan. 17, 2013) (Hamilton, Bauer, Flaum, JJ.). The plaintiff appeared in a 16…
Iowa Expands Definition of “Media Defendant,” Retains Libel Per Se Cause of Action
By Leita Walker and Chuck Tobin On January 18, the Iowa Supreme Court reversed a trial court’s holding in a libel case that a self-publishing company was “not the New York Times, or any other media entity,” instead holding that the company was a “media defendant” entitled to First Amendment protections against presumed falsity, fault,…
2013 MLRC/Southwestern Law School 10th Annual Media and Entertainment Law Conference
On January 17, 2013, MLRC members and friends gathered in Hollywood, California at the Loews Hollywood Hotel for the tenth annual MLRC/Southwestern Law School Biederman Institute Conference on Media and Entertainment Law Issues. The Conference included sessions on copyright protection, international production and distribution, and right of publicity. …
Hobbit Poaching Is Not Allowed: TRO Granted To Prevent Release Of “Age Of Hobbits”
By Judith A. Endejan “What is a hobbit? I suppose hobbits need some description nowadays, since they have become rare and shy of the Big People, as they call us.” – “The Hobbit,” J.R.R. Tolkien In Warner Brothers Entertainment, et. al v. The Global Asylum, Inc. (No. 12-9547PSG) Judge Philip Gutierrez of the U.S. District…
Photographic Memory: Docudrama’s Recreation of Photograph Not a Copyright Infringement
By Lincoln D. Bandlow There is no question that copyright protection applies to photographs. Indeed, although in many instances a photographer is simply capturing spontaneous events as they unfold, the photographer is still contributing original copyrightable expression by doing such things as choosing the precise time to take the photograph, the lighting to use, the…
The True Meaning of ‘Service’ – Media Entities Struggle With Court Interpretation of Twitter’s Terms of Service and What Services Getty Provides
By Toby Butterfield and Anna Kadyshevich Judge Alison J. Nathan of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York recently issued a potentially very significant decision concerning when use of content made available via social media sites like Twitter constitutes copyright infringement, and when websites may constitute an “online service provider”…
MediaLawLetter January 2013
Download Publication INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY S.D.N.Y.: The True Meaning of ‘Service’: Media Entities Struggle With Court Interpretation of Twitter’s Terms of Service and What Services Getty ProvidesSummary Judgment for Haiti Earthquake PhotographerAgence France Presse v. Morel 1st Cir.: Photographic Memory: Docudrama’s Recreation of Photograph Not a Copyright InfringementCourt Analyzes Protection for News PhotographyHarney v. Sony Pictures…