MediaLawLetter October 2018
MLRC From the Executive Director’s Desk: MLRC Dinner to Address Tumultuous Events of 1968 MLRC Insurance Committee Update: Panel Addresses What You Need to Know about Media Insurance 10 Questions to a Media Lawyer: Elizabeth McNamara INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY Sweeping Music Modernization Act Transforms Music Licensing for the Digital Age COMMERCIAL SPEECH False Advertising of EntertainmentSerova…
10 Questions to a Media Lawyer: Elizabeth McNamara
Elizabeth McNamara is a partner at Davis Wright Tremaine in New York. 1. How’d you get into media law? What was your first job? When I was an associate at Paul Weiss, I was asked to work on a series of claims against Peter Davis’ acclaimed anti-war documentary Hearts and Minds. Peter was a passionate…
Court Rejects Request for Reality Show Video Outtakes
Plaintiffs Sought Outtakes in Pay Dispute By Cameron Stracher On October 4, 2018 the Eastern District of New York (Pollack, M.J), denied plaintiffs’ efforts to compel the production of video outtakes filmed at a Wahlburger’s restaurant in Coney Island from the unscripted television program Wahlburgers, broadcast on A+E. Burnett, et al. v. Wahlburgers Franchising LLC,…
Maryland Court Tosses State Senator’s Defamation Claims For Lack Of Personal Jurisdiction
By Alexander Ziccardi Citing the absence of personal jurisdiction, a state court has dismissed a Maryland state senator’s defamation claims arising from an online video about a “sexting” incident that a California-based media company posted to its website. Zirkin v. Shandy Media, Inc., Case No. 03-C-17-010285 (Md. Cir. Ct. Balt. Cnty. Oct. 4, 2018). The…
Defrocked Priest Loses Libel Suit Against Detroit Free Press
By Herschel P. Fink A defrocked Michigan Catholic priest lost a two-year libel battle against the Detroit Free Press and two other media entities on October 4, 2018 when a Wayne County (Detroit) Circuit Court judge granted summary judgment in favor of all defendants. Kaucheck v. Detroit Free Press. The Court held that a 2016…
Florida Newspapers Gets Defamation Suit Dismissed Under New Anti-SLAPP Law
Judge to Award Fees to Newspapers By Sanford Bohrer and Brian Toth On October 19, 2018, a Florida judge entered an order ending a libel lawsuit brought by two former state correctional officers against a reporter and two newspapers arising out of a series of articles exposing officer-on-inmate abuse at an all-female state prison. The…
MLRC Insurance Committee Update: Panel Addresses What You Need to Know about Media Insurance
By Edward Copeland With the recent attention-getting verdicts and reported settlements in cases against media defendants, insurance for the media was front and center at the “Media Insurance 101” session presented in conjunction with the 31st Annual Media & the Law Seminar in Kansas City, Mo. on May 3 & 4, 2018. The program addressed…
New Push for Defamation Law Reform in Australia
If you’ve been following news from Australia in the MediaLawDaily, you will have noticed a recent series of high profile defamation cases Down Under: from Rebel Wilson’s lawsuit (a $4.5 million judgment since reduced significantly on appeal) to the current trial considering Geoffrey Rush’s claim that he was defamed by news reports of #MeToo claims…
False Advertising of Entertainment
By Rick Kurnit Advertising and promotion of entertainment is increasingly being challenged under false adverting laws. This is not just class action lawyers pursuing false advertising claims against all marketing, but also individuals who would like to pressure producers and authors to change content or obtain compensation by bringing a false advertising claim based on…
Sweeping Music Modernization Act Transforms Music Licensing for the Digital Age
By Steve Englund, Alison Stein, and Ava McAlpin On October 11, 2018, the President signed into law the Orrin G. Hatch-Bob Goodlatte Music Modernization Act (“MMA”).[1] This major piece of bipartisan legislation touches on nearly every aspect of U.S. copyright law that relates to licensing of either musical compositions (the musical notes and lyrics of…
From the Executive Director’s Desk: MLRC Dinner to Address Tumultuous Events of 1968
By George Freeman The MLRC Annual Dinner is really the Crown Jewel of our year. Since I’ve been here, they all have been great, the only problem being that each year, already at that night’s after-party, folks come up to me and say, “The dinner was great, but how are you going to equal or…