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December 2014

MediaLawLetter November 2014

PUBLICATION:
in this issue

MLRC 2014 Annual Meeting

MLRC’s annual meeting was held on November 12, 2014 at the Grand Hyatt. Chair of the Board of Directors Susan Weiner of NBCUniversal called the meeting to order. Board of Directors Elections The membership elected Jonathan Anschell of CBS Broadcasting, Inc. to a two-year term. The membership reelected four current board members, whose terms would…

Supreme Court of Argentina Rules Google Not Liable for Search Results

Valuable Precedent for Freedom of Expression on the Internet By Eduardo Bertoni In an important ruling, the Supreme Court of Argentina recently issued a decision on the liability of search engines for linking to defamatory and/or unlawful websites. María Belén Rodriguez c. Google s/daños y perjuicios, Case No. 99.613/06 (Oct. 28, 2015). The court rejected…

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New Australian Law May Have a Profound Impact on Newsgathering and Reporting

By Peter Bartlett and Sam White The Australian government has recently introduced a raft of new legislation aimed at strengthening national security in response to perceived threats of terrorism in our region. One of these laws – the National Security Amendment Bill (No 1) 2014 (Cth) (Bill) – is likely to have a negative effect…

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Judge Apologizes in Court, Admits He Had No Basis for Prior Restraint Ruling

News Report Revealed Threat Against Trial Witness By Cynthia Counts A Georgia Superior Court Judge apologized in open court three days after he issued a temporary restraining order enjoining the media, and one television station in particular, from publishing a story about threats against a witness in a public corruption trial under way in his…

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Writing On A ‘Clean Slate:’ Seventh Circuit Sketches Legal Framework Governing Trademark Claims Based On Fictional Products In Expressive Works

Lisa J. Kohn and Andrew J. Thomas What trademark claims, if any, arise when a make-believe product in a fictional work has the same name as a trademarked product in the real world? The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit recently helped to answer this question when it affirmed the dismissal of trademark…

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Rehearing En Banc in Controversial “Innocence of Muslims” Copyright Case

This month the Ninth Circuit granted Google’s petition to rehear en banc a controversial panel decision ordering Google to remove a YouTube video on the ground that an actress who appeared in the video had a copyright interest in her contribution to the work. Garcia v. Google Inc., No. 12-57302 (Nov. 12, 2014), ordering rehearing…

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Ninth Circuit to Decide Artist Royalty Case En Banc (and Possibly the Future of the Internet)

By Jeff Hermes On October 30, 2014, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ordered that Sam Francis Foundation v. Christie’s, Inc., No. 12-56067 and two other consolidated cases be reheard en banc. In deciding these cases, the Court is likely to resolve a split in its decisions that could have an important…

California Superior Court Dismisses Complaint Over Google Search Rankings

Antitrust and Unfair Business Claims Against Google Dismissed By Brachah Goykadosh Earlier this month, a California trial court dismissed antitrust and related claims against Google for its search engine rankings, finding the search results were constitutionally-protected activity under the state anti-SLAPP statute. Martin v. Google, Inc., No. CGC-14-539972 (Cal. Sup. Nov. 13, 2014) (Goldsmith, J.)….

MLRC Forum Panel Examines Right to Be Forgotten

This year MLRC’s pre-dinner Forum focused on the troublesome issue of the EU’s Right to Be Forgotten, which has taken center stage since the European Court of Justice’s landmark decision in Google Spain v. AEPD. That decision requires search engines to remove name-based search results where the information appears “to be inadequate, irrelevant or no…

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Albuquerque Journal Wins Summary Judgment on Libel and False Light Claims

Plaintiff Failed to Show Actual Malice By Gregory P. Williams A New Mexico state district judge granted summary judgment to Journal Publishing Co., publisher of the Albuquerque Journal, on defamation and false light claims brought by an Albuquerque Police Department employee, David Young. Young v. Wilham and Journal Publishing Co. (N.M. Dist. Nov. 17, 2014)….

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Successful Anti-SLAPP Defense Prompts Voluntary Libel Dismissal

Judge Rules Whistleblower’s Emails Protected By Cynthia Counts Successful use of an anti-SLAPP defense in a libel case involving a whistleblower’s emails led plaintiffs to voluntarily dismiss their defamation claim. The ruling may have application to media defendants as it focused on the misuse of public funds as a matter of public concern. A Fulton…

New York Court of Appeals Reinstates Libel Claim Against Coach Jim Boeheim

Statements About Sex Abuse Allegations Not Pure Opinion as a Matter of Law The New York Court of Appeals, the state’s highest court, last month reinstated a libel suit against famed college basketball coach Jim Boeheim and Syracuse University over statements Boeheim made defending a long-time assistant coach accused of sexual abuse by plaintiffs. Davis…

California Court Finds Use of Likeness of Manuel Noriega in Video Game Transformative

Court Applies Prior California Case Law and Rejects Keller as Inconsistent By Kathryn J. Fritz and Ciara N. Mittan In recent years, federal and state courts have wrestled with how to assess right of publicity claims in the video game context— when a real person’s likeness is used in a game without their consent, to…

Directed Verdict for Television Station and Reporter on Libel and False Light Claims

News Investigation Into Child Pornography on Teacher’s Computer By Stephen J. Rosenfeld WOIO, LLC broadcast a news report on two of its television stations in the Cleveland metropolitan area concerning an on-going investigation into a high school photography teacher who was accused of giving his students access to a personal laptop that contained adult and…

NTSB Rules for FAA in Huerta v. Pirker: What’s Next for News Drones?

By Charles D. Tobin and Christine N. Walz The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has overturned an administrative ruling in favor of an aerial photographer, upholding the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) determination that unmanned aerial systems (UAS), commonly referred to as drones, are “aircraft” subject to federal regulation. Huerta v. Pirker, NTSB Docket CP-217 (November…

From the Executive Director’s Desk

By George Freeman Our Annual Dinner was quite a success. Hugh Grant and Katie Couric were delightful, certainly the most attractive duo we’ve had on the stage, and remarkably substantive on the rather provocative issue of privacy and the press, particularly in the tabloid culture of the UK. But this column is not about this…

MLRC Annual Dinner 2014

Privacy and the Press: Hugh Grant and Katie Couric On Wednesday, November 12, 2014, over 650 MLRC members and friends gathered for MLRC’s Annual Dinner at the Grand Hyatt in New York where Katie Couric interviewed famed English actor Hugh Grant about his recent campaign to regulate the UK tabloid press. Hugh Grant achieved international…

MediaLawLetter November 2014

 Download Publication MLRC MLRC Annual Dinner 2014Privacy and the Press: Hugh Grant and Katie Couric From the Executive Director’s DeskMLRC Dinners in Years Past (and a response to last month’s column) MLRC 2014 Annual Meeting NEWSGATHERING NTSB Rules for FAA in Huerta v. PirkerWhat’s Next for News Drones? LIBEL & PRIVACY Ohio Comm. Pleas: Directed…