MediaLawLetter October 2016
Download Publication MLRC From the Executive Director’s DeskMLRC Publishes Controversial Trump Litigation Analysis: ABA’s Censorship an Object Lesson in Need for Anti-SLAPP Legislation Donald J. Trump Is A Libel Bully, But Also A Libel Loser FIRST AMENDMENT D.N.H.: “Ballot Selfies:” Photo Ops in the Granite StateRideout v. Gardner ACCESS Third Circuit’s ‘Bridgegate’ Decision Undermines First…
Federal Trade Commission Poised to Hold Brands and Influencers Responsible for Improper Native Advertising
By Brian J. Goodrich Social media has brought about a paradigm shift in advertising. User-operated social media platforms have allowed control over brand messaging to shift from brands to consumers and other third-party social media users that influence the brand’s messaging (“influencers”). In this new landscape, “native advertising,” i.e. advertising content in untraditional forms, has…
CJEU: Magazine That Linked to Infringing Photo Can Be Liable
Hyperlinking at One’s Own Risk By Jens van den Brink and Joran Spauwen The GS Media decision of 8 September 2016 is the latest chapter in the case law from the Court of Justice of the European Union (“CJEU”) on hyperlinking and copyright. Some consider it a questionable outcome with drastic restrictions on the freedom…
Judge: Newspaper can be Liable for Printing Records Provided by Government
Driver’s Privacy Protection Act Applied to News Article A district court judge in the Northern District of Illinois recently applied the federal Driver’s Privacy Protection Act (DPPA) to an investigative news report to rule that a newspaper could be liable for printing an infographic that referenced physical characteristics of Chicago police officers used as lineup…
Single Publication Rule Applies to Edited Internet Articles
By Sarah Fehm Stewart A New Jersey appellate court recently ruled that minor edits to an internet article, in particular edits that lessen the defamatory “sting” of the article, do not retrigger the statute of limitations. In Petro-Lubricant Testing Labs. v. Adelman, No. A-5214-14T4 (Super. Ct. App. Div. Oct. 19, 2016), a three-judge panel affirmed…
N.Y. Court of Appeals Affirms Dismissal of Complaint By Strip Club “Managers” on “Of and Concerning” Grounds
Providing a solid restatement of “of and concerning” principles, New York’s highest court recently affirmed the dismissal of claims by three plaintiffs in a defamation case against CBS Broadcasting Inc., involving the Cheetah Club, an adult entertainment establishment in Manhattan. Three Amigos SJL Rest., Inc., et al. v. CBS News Inc., et al., No. 131…
N.C. Jury Hits News & Observer With $9M Verdict in Public Official Libel Case
Newspaper Stands By Accuracy of Investigative Articles After a three-week libel trial, a North Carolina jury awarded $9 million in compensatory and punitive damages to a state firearm’s investigator who was criticized in investigative articles published in the Raleigh News & Observer. Desmond v. News & Observer Pub. Co. (N.C. Super. Oct. 18, 19, 2016)….
New York Court Quashes Subpoenas for Newsgathering Materials
Request for Unaired Footage is not “Critical or Necessary” By Amy Wolf After a pair of unfavorable decisions compelling testimony and disclosure of various newsgathering materials at the request of prosecutors in New York state courts, last month a New York trial court quashed subpoenas issued to both News 12 and ABC seeking outtakes and…
Third Circuit’s ‘Bridgegate’ Decision Undermines First Amendment Right to Bill of Particulars
Court Refuses to Release List of Unindicted Co-Conspirators By Bruce S. Rosen and Zachary D. Wellbrock The following analysis is solely the work of the authors, and does not reflect the views of the 13 media entities they represented in access proceedings described below. The Third Circuit’s recent decision to reverse a trial court’s order…
“Ballot Selfies:” Photo Ops in the Granite State
By William L. Chapman Concerned about “dark forces” engaged in buying votes or coercing voters to prove how they votes, against a backdrop of no documented instances of such election misconduct in recent memory, the New Hampshire legislature in 2014 made it illegal for any voter to “tak[e] a digital image or photograph of his…
Donald J. Trump Is A Libel Bully, But Also A Libel Loser
By Susan E. Seager Donald J. Trump is a libel bully. Like most bullies, he’s also a loser, to borrow from Trump’s vocabulary. Trump and his companies have been involved in a mind-boggling 4,000 lawsuits over the last 30 years and sent countless threatening cease-and-desist letters to journalists and critics.[1] But the GOP presidential nominee…
MLRC Publishes Controversial Trump Litigation Analysis
ABA’s Censorship an Object Lesson in Need for Anti-SLAPP Legislation From the Executive Director’s Desk I am very pleased that in this edition of the LawLetter we are running a very interesting and thorough summary of Donald Trump’s speech-related litigations in an article by Susan Seager entitled “Donald J. Trump is a Libel Bully but…