The Games Remain Afoot – Court Finds Restrictions on Location-Based Augmented Reality Games to Likely be Unconstitutional
By Brian D. Wassom A July 20, 2017 ruling from the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin has added augmented reality to the list of expressive media deserving of full First Amendment protection. The court granted a preliminary injunction against the enforcement of an Ordinance the County adopted in February 2017 requiring…
Ninth Circuit Rejects Facial Challenge to NSL Gag Orders
Implications for Recent Twitter Win on Transparency Reporting Unclear By Jeff Hermes On July 17, 2017, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued its opinion in In re National Security Letter (Under Seal v. Sessions), Nos. 16-16067, 16-16081 and 16-16082, a facial First Amendment challenge to the provisions of 18 U.S.C. §…
When Is Speaking to the Media About a Pending Lawsuit ‘Frivolous Conduct’ Under Ohio Law?
By Erin E. Rhinehart In an emotionally charged case involving child sexual abuse allegations and claims of wrongful termination, an unlikely decision emerged with the potential to curtail lawyers’ First Amendment rights in Ohio. The Cleveland-based trial court found that the plaintiffs’ lawyer, Peter Pattakos, violated Ohio’s frivolous conduct statute – R.C. §2323.51 – by…
New Jersey Supreme Court Issues Landmark Police Records Decision
Use of Force Reports and Names of Officers Who Shoot Suspects Subject to Open Public Records Act By CJ Griffin The New Jersey Supreme Court recently ruled that police use of force reports (“UFRs”) and the names of officers who shoot suspects are subject to the state’s Open Public Records Act (“OPRA”). The Court also…
Federal Court Strikes Down Utah’s Ag-Gag Statute as Unconstitutional
Abridgement of the First Amendment By Jeffrey J. Hunt and Bryan S. Johansen On July 7, 2017 the United States District Court for the District of Utah struck down Utah’s “ag-gag” statute as an unconstitutional abridgement of the First Amendment. Animal League Defense Fund v. Herbert. The Statute While ag-gag statutes come in a variety…
No Qualified Immunity for Louisiana Sheriff Over Search and Seizure of Blogger
First and Fourth Amendment Claims Survive Motion to Dismiss By Mary Ellen Roy and Dan Zimmerman “Some qualified immunity cases are hard. This case is not one of them.” So begins the federal district court’s ruling in Anderson v. Larpenter, No. 16-13733 (E.D. La. July 18, 2017), making it pretty clear that things are not going to…
Speech to Closed Group of Subscribers About Website Content a Matter of Public Concern Under Cal. Anti-SLAPP Law
FilmOn v. DoubleVerify By Lincoln D. Bandlow and Rom Bar-Nissim Background FilmOn.com is a website that provides the public access to hundreds of television, premium movie and pay-per-view channels, including 45,000 video-on-demand titles. DoubleVerify is an online service that provides advertisers individualized and confidential reports that provide data on the advertisers’ digital ad placement. Part…
Tenth Circuit Affirms Dismissal of Defamation Claim After Reviewing Undercover Video
Broadcast About Questionable Annuity Sales Tactics Was Substantially True By Matthew E. Kelley Hidden-camera footage of a sales seminar for insurance agents showed that an NBC News report about the seminar was not materially false and therefore not defamatory, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals held. Broker’s Choice of America, Inc. v. NBC NEWS Universal,…
Second Circuit Affirms Dismissal of “Bomb” Defamation Claim, Deciding Substantial Truth on Motion to Dismiss
By Andrew Jacobs On July 25, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed a district court’s dismissal of a defamation claim brought against NBC News by Tannerite, a manufacturer of exploding binary rifle targets (EBRTs). Tannerite Sports, LLC v. NBCUniversal News Group, 2017 WL 3137462 (2d Cir. July 25, 2017). The Second…
New York’s Appellate Court Reaffirms Broad Scope of Shield Law
Protects Niche Publication From Forced Disclosure of Confidential Sources By Joanna Summerscales, Laura Handman and Jim Rosenfeld In a victory for newsgathering, a New York appellate court struck down an order compelling Reorg Research, Inc., a niche publication covering the distressed debt and leveraged finance markets, to disclose the names of confidential sources who had…
Ten Questions to a Media Lawyer – Lynn Oberlander
How’d you get into media law? What was your first job? I can trace my career in media law directly to a Media Law seminar led by John Zucker during my senior year of college. I was already a journalist at the finest college newspaper in the country – The Yale Daily News – but…
How Trump Shapes Public Opinion of the Media (and How We Can Fight Back)
From the Executive Director’s Desk Last week marked the halfway point in Donald Trump’s first year as President. The bad news is obvious. Even putting totally aside the substantive issues such as the Wall, immigration, health care, the budget, etc., it has been a terrible Administration: scores of statements a day which are, at best,…
MediaLawLetter July 2017
Download Publication MLRC From the Executive Director’s DeskHow Trump Shapes Public Opinion of the Media (and How We Can Fight Back) 10 Questions for a Media Lawyer: Lynn Oberlander REPORTER’S PRIVILEGE N.Y. App.: Court Reaffirms Broad Scope of Shield LawNiche Publication Protected From Forced Disclosure of Confidential SourcesMurray Energy Corporation v. Reorg Research, Inc. LIBEL…