Across the Pond: Updates on UK and European Media Law Developments
Serious Harm, Trial by Jury, Right to Be Forgotten, IPSO and More By David Hooper The Serious Harm Threshold Cooke v MGN Limited [2014] EWHC 2831 Under section 1 Defamation Act 2013 which came into force on 1 January 2014 the threshold for libel claims was significantly raised in that in addition to the requirement…
Dutch Court Rejects Right to Be Forgotten
More Freedom of Speech for Search Engines, Less Right to Be Forgotten For Criminals By Joran Spauwen and Jens van den Brink This month, the Court of Amsterdam in preliminary relief proceedings got a chance to shed light on the consequences of the European Court of Justice’s much-discussed right to be forgotten decision. Case No….
Circuit Recognizes First Amendment Right to Certain Grand Jury Contempt Information
There is a First Amendment right to access information about people held in contempt of grand juries, the Ninth Circuit has ruled in an apparent case of first impression. United States v. Index Newspapers, No. 13-35243 (9th Cir. Sept. 5 2014). However, the appellate court held there is no First Amendment right to the portions…
Bankruptcy Court to Consider Unsealing Evidence in Asbestos Litigation
By Steven F. Pflaum & Andrew G. May In a ruling with major implications for the national controversy surrounding asbestos litigation, a district judge in North Carolina recently reversed orders entered by a bankruptcy judge closing portions of a key evidentiary hearing to the public and sealing testimony and documents bearing on allegations that the…
Texas Court Strikes “Improper Photography” Statute as Facially Unconstitutional
By Grayson McDaniel On September 17, 2014, in an 8-1 ruling, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals struck down as facially unconstitutional the state’s improper photography statute. Ex Parte Thompson. Background On July 6, 2011, Ronald Thompson was arrested after he was caught recording women in bikinis without their consent. Ex Parte Thompson, 414 S.W.3d…
Ninth Circuit Reinstates Rape Victim’s Negligence Claim Against Modeling Website
Allegation That Website Failed to Warn Not Barred By Section 230 A Ninth Circuit panel reinstated a negligence claim against a modeling industry website, holding that Section 230 was not applicable to plaintiff’s claim because she was not seeking to hold the website liable as a “publisher or speaker” of third party content. Doe No….
Judge Lifts Prior Restraint Baring Newspaper From Reporting On Pipeline Safety Report
Restraint Was Erroneously Entered Upon “Phantom” National Security Claims By Dennis R. Bailey On September 23, Alabama Circuit Court Judge Robert C. Vance lifted a temporary restraining order barring the Montgomery Advertiser and Gannett from publishing information contained in a gas pipeline safety report. Alabama Gas Corporation v. The Advertiser Company et al. The Judge…
Copyright and Trademark Claims Over Biographical Movie Dismissed
Recreation of Old Movie Scenes Was Fair Use A New York federal court dismissed copyright and trademark claims against the producers of the movie Lovelace, a biographical portrayal of the star of the infamous 1970’s porn movie Deep Throat. Arrow Productions v. The Weinstein Company, No. 13-cv-05488 (S.D.N.Y. Aug. 25, 2014) (Griesa, J.). The court…
Seventh Circuit Affirms Photo on T-Shirt Is Fair Use
Court Expresses Skepticism Over Transformative Use Test The Seventh Circuit this month affirmed that the use of a photograph on a satirical T-shirt was a fair use. Kienitz v. Sconnie Nation, No. 13-3004 (7th Cir. Sept. 15 2014) (Easterbrook, Bauer, Williams, JJ.). The panel found that defendant’s T-shirt incorporating plaintiff’s photograph was not a substitute…
No Personal Jurisdiction in Texas Over U.K.-Based Medical Journal and Reporter
Plaintiff Sued over Criticism of His Infamous 1998 Article Linking Vaccines to Autism By Marc Fuller Andrew Wakefield, the disgraced doctor who sparked a major public health controversy by suggesting that a common childhood vaccine causes autism, cannot bring libel claims in Texas against the British Medical Journal (“BMJ”), its editor, and an investigative reporter,…
Texas Court Limits Use of Pre-Suit Discovery to Unmask Anonymous Internet Posters
Potential Plaintiffs Must Show Texas Would Have Personal Jurisdiction Over Anonymous Potential Defendant By Marc Fuller In a case that many expected to set the constitutional standards in Texas for unmasking anonymous speakers in Internet defamation cases, the Texas Supreme Court instead imposed a new procedural requirement that will go a long way in protecting…
Florida Court Rejects Libel Action by Real Estate Attorney
Article Quoting Experts About Attorney’s Mortgage “Fraud” Is Protected By Robert L. Rogers, III A Circuit Court in Sarasota, Florida entered summary judgment, rejecting a libel action by a local real estate attorney against the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, several of its editorial staff and sources, and the Suncoast News Network, based on a report about her…
Texas Web Publishers Earn Novel Protection Against Stale Lawsuits
By Paul C. Watler In a case of first impression for Texas state appellate courts, the Fourteenth Court of Appeals found that the single-publication rule applies to media reports posted on the internet. Mayfield v. Fullhart, 14-13-00268-CV, 2014 WL 4100403 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] Aug. 21, 2014, no. pet. h.) (Frost, Donovan, Brown, JJ.). Background…
Models’ Right of Publicity Claims Assignable and Not Preempted by Copyright Act
Decision Will Likely Encourage Lawsuits and Increase Costs By Karen Henry and Ambika K. Doran The California Court of Appeal held this month that certain right of publicity claims are freely assignable, and that the Copyright Act does not preempt a right of publicity claim where the defendant has no legal right to publish the…
Camera-Shy Public-Figure Defamation Plaintiff Must Sit for His Video Deposition
No First Amendment Right to Keep Private Information Provided Through Discovery By Amy B. Ginensky, Kaitlin M. Gurney, and Eli Segal A prominent Philadelphia union leader and camera-shy defamation plaintiff must sit for his videotaped deposition, an en banc panel of the Pennsylvania Superior Court has held – even though the defendant is a newspaper…
Eighth Circuit to Sammy Hagar: “Finish What Ya Started”
Court Reverses Grant of Summary Judgment in Libel Case Over Autobiography By Leita Walker A libel case involving ex-Van Halen lead singer Sammy Hagar and a former lover is headed to trial after the Eighth Circuit reversed the district court’s dismissal on summary judgment. Doe v. Hagar, No. 13-2156 (8th Cir. Aug. 28, 2014) (Bright,…
Florida Appellate Court Reverses TRO Enjoining Political Website
Judge Sued Website and Opponent for Defamation and Invasion of Privacy By Robert L. Rogers, III In an opinion explaining its reversal two weeks earlier of a temporary injunction that prohibited constitutionally protected statements about a sitting judge on the eve of election day, a Florida appellate court explained that its “most important” reason for…
Sidebar – Presumed Damages in Texas: Now Nominal Only?
By Jim Hemphill A line of recent Texas Supreme Court defamation cases appears to have clarified state law on presumed damages, entitling a plaintiff who establishes defamation per se and carries its burden of proving actual malice, but lacks evidence of actual reputational damages, to nominal damages only. These cases have their genesis in Bentley…
Texas Court Says “No” to Post Libel Trial Injunctions, “Yes” to Post-Adjudication Removal
Post-Trial Injunction Would Be a Prior Restraint By Jim Hemphill Free-speech advocates in Texas breathed at least a half-sigh of relief on August 29, 2014, when the Texas Supreme Court rejected an argument that the state’s long-standing ban on prior restraint should be relaxed in light of modern communication technology. Kinney v. Barnes, 2014 WL…
Jury Awards $1 Million In False Light Damages to Women Falsely Identified as Porn Star
Radio Hosts Relied on Listener Texts and Quick Google Search On September 26, 2014, a federal jury in the District of Kansas awarded plaintiff, Ashley Patton, $250,000 in compensatory damages and $750,000 in punitive damages, after she had been mistakenly identified as a “porn star” by two radio personalities on a morning radio program airing…
MLRC Presents First Amendment Leadership Award to Sandy Baron
At this month’s Media Law Conference, MLRC presented its First Amendment Leadership Award to Sandy Baron, who retired from MLRC after almost 21 years as its executive director. The award honors attorneys who have made stellar contributions to the development of First Amendment law and to MLRC – and Sandy was a most worthy recipient….
From the Executive Director’s Desk
By George Freeman As I write this, I am in my third week at the MLRC, and I am very excited about leading this wonderful organization in the coming years. For starters, I thank the Board of Directors for selecting me and having the confidence that I will keep MLRC vibrant into the challenging future….
MediaLawLetter September 2014
Download Publication MLRC From the Executive Director’s Desk MLRC Presents First Amendment Leadership Award to Sandy Baron LIBEL & PRIVACY D. Kan.: Jury Awards $1 Million In False Light Damages to Women Falsely Identified as Porn StarRadio Hosts Relied on Listener Texts and Quick Google SearchPatton v. Entercom Kansas City LLC Tex.: Court Says “No”…