Maryland Media Coalition Wins Access to Officials’ Email Address Lists
By Charles D. Tobin A coalition of media companies — the Carroll County Times, Washington Post, Baltimore Sun and Scripps Media’s WMAR-TV — won a novel victory this month under the Maryland Public Information Act (MPIA) that will help prevent officials from using email to conduct government business outside of the sunshine. A judge on…
The NFL Ravens Score Touchdown for Fair Use
By Cory Struble and Robert Raskopf The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit last month issued the latest decision in a nearly two-decade long copyright dispute between the NFL Ravens and Frederick Bouchat, holding that the NFL’s “fleeting and infrequent” use in videos and displays at the Ravens stadium of the “Flying…
Supreme Court Hears Argument Over Laches Defense to Copyright Claim
MGM Tries to Keep Raging Bull Copyright Plaintiff from Being a Contender “Raging Bull” is the story of middleweight boxing champion Jake LaMotta who was known for taking the fight to his opponents and stalking them in the ring. The plaintiff in this copyright action, in contrast, used a “rope-a-dope” tactic and waited nearly 20…
Singapore Court of Appeal Rejects Request For Pre-Action Disclosure of Journalist’s Sources
Court Took Note of Public Interest in Exposing Corruption By George Hwang and Intan Krishanty Wirayadi The Singapore Court of Appeal in James Dorsey v World Sports Group [2014] SGCA 4, has on 14 January 2014 handed down a decision on pre-action 3rd party interrogatories which has wide implications on the disclosure of journalists’ sources….
MLRC Joins Coalition Seeking Grand Chamber Review in Delfi v. Estonia
ECHR Held News Portal Could Be Liable for User Comments This month, 69 media organizations, internet companies, human rights groups and academic institutions asked the President of the European Court of Human Rights to support Grand Chamber review of the judgment in Delfi v. Estonia (Application No. 64569/09), holding that an Estonian news portal could…
Researcher-Participant Privilege Is Established in Canada
Court Recognizes Need to Protect Promises of Confidentiality in Academic Research By Peter Jacobsen and Tae Mee Park A recent landmark decision from a Canadian court has, for the first time, recognized a confidentiality privilege between researchers and participants. Parent c. R., 2014 QCCS 132 (CanLII). The decision, from the Quebec Superior Court, is seen…
Wall Street Journal Wins UK Access Motion
Phone-hacking Prosecutors Must Supply Exhibits, No Strings Attached By Jason P. Conti and Jacob P. Goldstein In October 2013, as the criminal phone-hacking trial commenced in London, the Crown Prosecution Service refused to provide “overseas media outlets” with copies of trial exhibits and other materials unless they signed an agreement that the materials are “only…
Anti-SLAPP Law Applied to Weatherman’s Employment Discrimination Claim
Statute Applies to All Acts in Furtherance of First Amendment Right By Thomas R. Burke On December 11, 2013, the California Court of Appeal ordered published its Opinion in Hunter v. CBS Broadcasting, Inc., finding that California’s anti-SLAPP statute applied to employment discrimination claims brought by a candidate for an on-air position against a television…
Texas Cases Test Constitutional Limits on Post-Trial Defamation Injunctions
By Amaris Elliott-Engel One of the traditional rules of First Amendment law is that equity will not enjoin a libel. Two cases pending before the Texas Supreme Court highlight challenges to the traditional rules governing injunctions in defamation cases. Are post-trial injunctions against false and defamatory statements illegal prior restraints? Can injunctions ever be sufficiently…
Former Drug Dealer Loses Right of Publicity Suit Against Same Name Rapper
The California Court of Appeal has rejected an ex-cocaine trafficker’s right of publicity claim against a rapper who uses the same name and whose lyrics portray a drug-dealing lifestyle. The intermediate appellate court concluded that the First Amendment is a complete defense to all of the plaintiff’s claims. Ross v. Roberts, B242531 (Cal. App. Dec….
Media Defendants Not Liable for Filming Police Raid
Appeals Court Affirms Summary Judgment in Ride-Along Lawsuit By Patrick Kabat Rejecting a state-law variation on conventional “ride-along” claims, a New York appellate court put an end to a personal injury plaintiff’s long-running campaign to hold a documentary production company and its development partner responsible for gunshot injuries she sustained during the execution of a…
Reality TV Show Was Not Campaign Donation in Brooklyn D.A. Race
Court Dismisses Novel Claim to Stop Broadcast A CBS reality show about Brooklyn prosecutors was not an unlawful campaign donation to the then incumbent District Attorney and the challenger was not entitled to a preliminary injunction stopping the broadcast of the show. George v. Hynes, No. 100730/13 (N.Y. Sup. Dec. 19, 2013). In May, the…
Don’t Like That Bad Yelp! Review? Virginia Court Provides Some Solace
By Judith Endejan A common modern headache many businesses face is a negative, vitriolic (and perhaps untruthful) review that torpedoes the room, the food, or the room service etc. written by an anonymous poster on Yelp! Unmasking that poster is the first, and can be, the toughest, hurdle for a business to overcome to rectify…
The Michigan Court of Appeals Inches Closer To Dendrite
They Like It, But Won’t Quite Adopt It By James E. Stewart and J. Michael Huget Following the April 2013 decision of the Michigan Court of Appeals in Thomas M. Cooley Law School v John Doe I, No. 307426 (Mich. Ct. App. 2013), the bar had been awaiting the Court’s next anonymous speech decision in…
Ninth Circuit Holds Blogger Entitled to Protection Under Gertz
Reverses $2.5 Million Verdict and Remands for New Trial By Michael K. Cantwell In a case involving critical comments on a blog that had previously attracted widespread attention for having been adjudicated on a strict liability basis, the Ninth Circuit has explicitly held that the constitutional limitations on defamation claims applicable under Gertz v. Robert…
Florida Appeals Court Lifts Prior Restraint In Hulk Hogan Sex Tape Case
By Paul J. Safier On January 17, 2014, Florida’s Second District Court of Appeals reversed an order directing Gawker Media, LLC (“Gawker”), the owner and operator of the website Gawker.com, to remove a post about a sex tape featuring Hulk Hogan, a post that included both commentary about, and brief excerpts from, the sex tape….
DC Circuit Strikes Down FCC’s Open Internet Rules
But the FCC Will Live to Fight Another Day By Judith Endejan On January 14, and to much attention, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals struck down the FCC’s so-called Net Neutrality rules. Verizon v. FCC, (D.C. Cir. Jan. 14, 2014) (Tatel, Rogers, Silberman, JJ.). The brouhaha over the decision striking down the FCC’s open…
2014 MLRC/Southwestern Law School 11th Annual Media and Entertainment Law Conference
On January 16, 2014, MLRC members and friends gathered in Los Angeles, California at the Los Angeles Times Building for the eleventh annual MLRC/Southwestern Law School Biederman Institute Conference on Media and Entertainment Law Issues. The Conference included sessions on Fair Use, Right of Publicity, and legal issues surrounding Apps. Additional materials from conference panels…
MediaLawLetter January 2014
Download Publication MLRC 2014 MLRC/Southwestern Law School 11th Annual Media and Entertainment Law Conference BROADCAST D.C. Circuit Strikes Down FCC’s Open Internet RulesBut the FCC Will Live to Fight Another DayVerizon v. FCC PRIOR RESTRAINT Florida Appeals Court Lifts Prior Restraint In Hulk Hogan Sex Tape CaseVideo and Commentary Addressed Matters of Public ConcernGawker Media,…