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June 2016

MediaLawLetter May 2016

PUBLICATION:

in this issue

Media Law Conference: September 21-23 Reston, VA

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2016 9:00 Registration Opens Noon-2:15 Optional Meeting Time for Breakout Chairs and Facilitators 2:15-3:30 Program Rodney King, 25 Years Later; Fair Use and Police/Press Issues An analysis of the copyright case brought by the plumber who shot the beating video footage against the networks and others. Was a taking of the video…

Company States Claim Against Google for De-Indexing Its Websites

Court Rejects Section 230 andFirst Amendment Defenses In May, a Florida federal district court allowed a company’s unfair competition and tortious interference claims to go forward against Google for de-indexing the company’s websites. E-Ventures Worldwide LLC v. Google, No. 2:14-cv-00646 (M.D. Fla. May 12, 2016) (Steele, J.). The court rejected Google’s Section 230 and First…

Legal Frontiers in Digital Media 2016: Beyond the Crypto Conversation

This year’s Legal Frontiers in Digital Media conference returned to the Computer History Museum this past May 19th & 20th, once again endeavoring to tackle emerging legal and business issues at the intersection of media and technology. Now in its ninth year, the conference is jointly produced by the Media Law Resource Center and the…

Drone Privacy Best Practices Include Protections for Journalists

By Charles D. Tobin, Joel E. Roberson, and Christine N. Walz The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has announced privacy “best practices” for drone use that explicitly recognize that the First Amendment protects the use of drones—or unmanned aircraft systems (UAS)—for newsgathering. The document resulted from nine months of multistakeholder meetings of representatives of…

D.C. Circuit Rejects FIOA Suit to Obtain Full Senate “Torture Report”

Congress Never Relinquished Control of Full Report By Raymond Baldino The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals held this May that the CIA and other agencies are not required to disclose the complete Senate “Torture Report” authored by the United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, which detailed at length and criticized the CIA’s post 9/11…

Judge Denies Defense Motion to Seal Court Records

Motion Included Psych Professor’s Testimony on Juror Bias By Karen Williams Kammer In late 2015 a Broward County grand jury indicted Fidel Lopez on first degree murder and sexual battery in connection with the death of his girlfriend. The circumstances of her death — including Lopez’s detailed description to investigators of the sex acts and…

Court Utilizes Copyright-Like Standard of Substantial Similarity in Affirming Dismissal of Idea Submission Claim

By David Aronoff On Friday, April 22, 2016, the California Court of Appeal, following a request for publication submitted by the Motion Picture Association of America, Inc., agreed to publication of its March 25, 2016 opinion affirming summary judgment for defendants in Ryder v. Lightstorm Entertainment, Inc., 2016 WL 1615574 (Cal. Ct. App. April 22,…

Documentary Interviewee Hit With Sanctions for Making False Allegations Against Center for Investigative Reporting

By Thomas R. Burke and Alison Schary In May, Judge Rakoff of the Southern District of New York issued a blistering, 65-opinion tossing a plaintiff’s suit against the Center for Investigative Reporting and labeling it a “fraud upon the court.” Almeciga v. Center for Investigative Reporting et al., Case No. 1:15-cv-4319-JSR, 2016 WL 2621131 (S.D.N.Y….

D.C. Circuit Decides Long-Running Action In Favor Of Non-Profit

Rejects Libel Claim By Serbian Billionaire By Thomas Curley The D.C. Circuit has affirmed the grant of summary judgment in a long-running defamation action which pitted a Serbian billionaire against a non-profit group devoted to promoting international peace and stability. Milan Jankovic a.k.a. Philip Zepter v. International Crisis Group, 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 8552 (D.C….

Apple and U.S. Attorneys Square Off at MLRC Digital Conference

And Bloomberg and Koch Weigh In On Student Speech: From the Executive Director’s Desk As I wrote in my last column, we were very happy to have quickly pivoted and put together a very timely program on the Apple/FBI San Bernardino encryption confrontation at our Digital Law Conference held last week in Mountain View, Ca….

MediaLawLetter May 2016

 Download Publication MLRC From the Executive Director’s DeskApple and U.S. Attorneys Square Off at MLRC Digital Conference MLRC Media Law Conference Program LIBEL & PRIVACY D.C. Circuit Decides Long-Running Action In Favor Of Non-ProfitRejects Libel Claim By Serbian Billionaire Milan Jankovic v. International Crisis Group S.D.N.Y.: Documentary Interviewee Hit With Sanctions for Making False Allegations…