MediaLawLetter May 2010
Download Publication MLRC MLRC Digital Conference A Success!Third Annual Legal Frontiers in Digital Media Conference LIBEL & PRIVACY N.H.: Supreme Court Enhances Newsgathering Privilege and Establishes Standard for Disclosure of Anonymous SpeakerCourt Also Rejects Prior RestraintThe Mortgage Specialists, Inc. v. Implode Explode Heavy Industries, Inc. Kan.: Kansas Supreme Court Reverses Jury Award in BTK CaseTruth…
Ethics Corner: How A Properly Drafted Engagement Letter Can Save You
Would you tell a client that a handshake is sufficient to memorialize an agreement? Probably not. Lawyers recognize the importance of defining a legal relationship in writing because even the best-intentioned people can have misunderstandings and failures to communicate. Yet, it is not uncommon for a busy practitioner to forget the necessity of documenting the…
Florida Statute Prohibiting Disclosure of Police Officer Information Unconstitutional
A federal court in Florida struck down as facially unconstitutional a state statute making it a misdemeanor to publish with wrongful intent the address and phone number of a law enforcement officer. Brayshaw v. City of Tallahassee, 2010 WL 1740832 (N.D. Fla. Apr. 30, 2010). The court held that the statute was both under and…
Fifth Circuit Affirms Defense Verdict in Keyword Advertising Trial
The Fifth Circuit this month affirmed a jury verdict in favor of the defendant in a keyword advertising case. College Network, Inc. v. Moore Educ. Publishers, Inc., No. 09-50596, 2010 WL 1923763 (5th Cir. May 12, 2010) (King, Wiener, Dennis, JJ.) (per curiam). In what appears to be the first case to have gone to…
Second Circuit Alters Copyright Injunction Standard: Circuit Finds ‘Catcher in the Rye’ Sequel to be ‘A Phoney’
The Second Circuit in its recent decision in the Salinger case vacated and remanded the District Court’s (J. Batts) decision to grant the plaintiffs a preliminary injunction based on alleged copyright infringement. Salinger v. Colting, No. 09-2878-cv (April 30, 2010). The Second Circuit found that the District Court failed to comply with the equitable standard…
Case-by-Case Privilege for Confidential Sources, Supreme Court of Canada Rules
The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled against an appeal brought by the National Post newspaper and journalist Andrew McIntosh to set aside a search warrant and assistance order on the ground that a confidential source could be revealed. R v. National Post, 2010 SCC 16. This was the first time the Court has had…
Gizmodo Seach Warrant Affidavit Unsealed
By Roger Meyers and Katherine Keating The court clerk had just started handing out copies of the previously sealed affidavit in support of the warrant to search the home and seize the computers of journalist Jason Chen. After thumbing through a page or two, my colleague, Katherine Keating, suddenly exclaimed “Steven Jobs!” Then she paused…
Georgia Passes Law to Prevent Release of Graphic Crime Scene Photos
Driven by unsubstantiated fears that graphic crime scene photos would be published in Hustler and sweep across the internet, the Georgia General Assembly hurriedly passed legislation in April to curtail public access to crime scene images contained in law enforcement files. One version of the legislation would have struck a painful blow to mainstream crime…
A Tale of Two Issues: ‘Public Figure’and ‘Public Concern’ Decided in Bifurcated Massachusetts Trial
Under Massachusetts law, the question of whether a plaintiff in a defamation case is a public figure is for the court “in the first instance.” If there are facts in dispute, however, the question is for the finder of fact. Whether the speech at issue is of “public concern” has always been treated as a…
California Supreme Court Narrowly Construes ‘Commercial Speech’ Exemption to Anti-SLAPP Statute
The California Supreme Court issued its decision in Simpson Strong-Tie Co. v. Gore on May 17, 2010, narrowly construing the so-called “commercial speech” exemption to California’s anti-SLAPP statute, Code of Civil Procedure Section 425.17(c). In a unanimous opinion, the Court affirmed the decisions of the trial court and court of appeal, holding that the exemption…
Illinois Supreme Court Significantly Reduces Punitive Damages In Defamation Per Se Judgment, Rejecting Evidence Of Defendant’s Malicious Intent
In a non-media case involving private individuals, the Illinois Supreme Court affirmed remittitur of a $2 million punitive damages award down to $81,600, holding that plaintiff had not shown that defendant had acted with sufficient malice to justify any punitive damages. Slovinski v. Elliot, No. 107146 (April 15, 2010). The ruling is significant in that…
Comedian’s Schtick About In-laws Not Defamatory
“In-laws” have been subjected to a long-running tradition of comedic abuse. So ubiquitous are these jokes, that in-laws rarely bother protesting their publication, discounting them as ultimately harmless or simply not worth fussing over. However the in-laws of a stand-up comic apparently felt differently when they filed a defamation lawsuit against their daughter-in-law in 2009….
Publisher Loses Misappropriation Case Over Book Cover
A New York trial court recently held a publisher liable for misappropriation for using a women’s photograph to illustrate the cover of a novel. Yasin v. Q-Boro Holdings, LLC and Urban Books, LLC, No. 13259/09, 2010 NY Slip Op 50742U, 2010 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 890 (N.Y. Sup. April 23, 2010) (Rothenberg, J.). The court found…
Website That Publishes “Unfiltered Truth” Not Liable For User Comments
A Texas Court of Appeals panel unanimously affirmed summary judgment for the operators of a local news and politics website, holding they were protected by Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act for defamation claims based on third-party comments. Milo v. Martin, No. 09-09-00145 (Tex. App. April 29, 2010) (Gaultney, Kreger, and Horton, JJ.). This…
New Jersey Supreme Court Issues Sweeping Decision Bolstering Fair Report
The New Jersey Supreme Court has ended more than a year of suspense about whether it will allow an initial pleadings exception to the fair report privilege to stand, and ended almost 100 years of confusion about whether the fair report privilege is absolute, conditional or a hybrid by issuing a sweeping decision clarifying and…
Kansas Supreme Court Reverses Jury Award in BTK Case
In its recent opinion in Valadez v. Emmis Communications, et al., the Kansas Supreme Court set aside what was originally a $1.1 million jury verdict for a plaintiff who had brought claims for invasion of privacy, outrage, and defamation against a television station that had identified him as a suspected serial killer. 2010 WL 1728531,…
New Hampshire Supreme Court Enhances Newsgathering Privilege and Establishes Standard for Disclosure of Anonymous Speaker
On May 6, 2010, the New Hampshire Supreme Court issued its opinion in The Mortgage Specialists, Inc. v. Implode Explode Heavy Industries, Inc. The case, which raised a range of First Amendment, media and speech issues, involved the first-time application of the New Hampshire newsgathering privilege to the internet context, and established a number of…
MLRC Digital Conference A Success!
The third annual Legal Frontiers in Digital Media conference was held at Stanford on May 6 and 7, 2010. The conference was organized by MLRC in conjunction with Stanford University Law School’s Center for Internet and Society, as well as the John S. Knight Journalism Fellowships at Stanford University. Steve Tapia (Microsoft) and James Chadwick…