Media Law Prof Blog: Media & Entertainment Law

Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Media & Entertainment Law Blogs

OR PHONE (866) 635-1838 for Bankruptcy Help, (866) 635-6190 for Divorce,
(866) 635-2689 for Personal Injury or (866) 635-9402 for Criminal Defense

Find a Local Lawyer

Bankruptcy (866) 635-1838
Divorce (866) 635-6190
Personal Injury (866) 635-2689
Criminal Defense (866) 635-9402

Media & Entertainment Law

Media Law Prof Blog

Media law resources, information, and news for the academic community.

Post Frequency: 34.8/day

Last Entry: April 01, 2011 at 12:48:00

TMZ.com Publishes Photo Of Woman It Says Is Chris Brown's Victim

Posted on February 20, 2009
The website TMZ.com has published what it says is a photo of the singer Rihanna after singer Chris Brown allegedly assaulted her. Presumably the photo was leaked by law enforcement. Other media have also published the photo. CNN, however, has...

Some Criticize BBC Policy of Reading Phone Numbers, Other Material

Posted on February 20, 2009
Some have criticized the BBC's policy of reading phone numbers aloud for the visually impaired, saying it is "political correctness gone mad." Peter Horrocks, head of the BBC's newsroom, defended the policy, explaining, "I asked them [BBC news presenters] if...

More On the Politkovskaya Trial

Posted on February 20, 2009
The Guardian's Luke Harding discusses mysteries of the Anna Politkovskaya trial here.

New York Post Publishes Apology For Delonas Cartoon

Posted on February 20, 2009
The New York Post has issued an apology over that Sean Delonas cartoon picturing two officers shooting, then discussing, a dead chimpanzee. Some critics say the apology is half-hearted, or not an apology at all. Read more here in a...

To access this complete feed in the blog feed reader login or register for free.

Anna Politkovskaya Murder Investigation Reopens After Acquittal of All Defendants

Posted on February 20, 2009
After three men were acquitted in the Anna Politkovskaya murder case, law enforcement has begun a new investigation. One man believed to be involved, Rustam Makhmudov has still not been brought to trial. Read more here.

Charges Against James Tobin Dismissed

Posted on February 20, 2009
James Tobin will not face further prosecution in a "phone jamming" case. Mr. Tobin, who was a regional GOP official, had been convicted of interfering with New Hampshire residents' rights to vote by jamming a Democratic phone bank in 2005,...

Marci Hamilton on Geert Wilders' Attempt To Visit Britain

Posted on February 20, 2009
Marci Hamilton of FindLaw and the Cardozo School of Law discusses the British government's refusal to grant entry to Dutch MP Geert Wilders because of his views on Islam. "There is no question that Wilders's views are disgraceful and offensive,...

FCC Reports Increase In Calls To Help Line Earlier This Week

Posted on February 19, 2009
The FCC reports a spike in consumer calls to its phone center Monday and Tuesday, which seems linked to the switchover of some television stations from analog to digital signals. On Friday the 13th the center got some 11,000 calls,...

Oxford Study Suggests British Newspapers Effectively Unable To Defend Against Libel Suits

Posted on February 19, 2009
The Guardian reports on a new study that says the high cost of libel suits is "shackling" the media. "Conditional fee agreements are making defamation cases in England and Wales 140 times more costly than in the rest of Europe...

Psst---Who's That Guy In the White Coat?

Posted on February 18, 2009
NPR has this short piece on the Chinese government's recent move to prohibit actors and other non-physicians from posing as real doctors in ads--apparently to prevent consumers from being confused, or worse. The prohibition actually extends to the portrayal of...

The Rushdie Fatwa After Twenty Years

Posted on February 18, 2009
Cearta, the interesting Irish rights blog, updates us on the Rushdie fatwa twenty years on.

Press Complaints Commission Will Look Into Checkbook Journalism Charges In Teenage Dad Story

Posted on February 18, 2009
The Press Complaints Commission is investigating claims that two media outlets paid for stories about the 13-year-old who appears to have fathered a baby with a 15-year-old girl. Paying for stories is a violation of the PCC's code of ethics...

TV Broadcaster Arrested For Murder of Wife

Posted on February 17, 2009
Muzzamil Hassan, the head of a Buffalo, New York, television station who wanted to "counteract negative stereotypes" about Muslims went to a local police station and told law enforcement that his wife was dead. Officers found her decapitated at the...

Liberty Media Buys a Stake In Sirius XM

Posted on February 17, 2009
Sirius XM Satellite Radio has struck a deal with Liberty Media to avoid a bankruptcy filing and, apparently, to block a takeover by the Dish Network. Liberty Media will invest $530 million in the struggling business and get 12.5 million...

Prosecutors Drop More Serious Charge In Pirate Bay Case

Posted on February 17, 2009
Prosecutors have dropped copyright infringement charges against The Pirate Bay founders, leaving a less serious charge of making copyrighted material available (via links to other servers). The defendants hailed the move as a win but affected parties view it as...

Obama Administration May Lift Ban On Photos of War Dead

Posted on February 17, 2009
The White House is rethinking the media ban on photographs of coffins of war dead returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, a ban put in place under the Bush administration. Most Americans favor lifting the ban. The prior administration prohibited the...

The Facebook Debate

Posted on February 17, 2009
The New York Times covers the current debate over Facebook's change in its terms of service. It recently changed those terms to indicate that users grant Facebook "an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, fully paid, worldwide license (with the right to...

Australia's Defamation Laws

Posted on February 16, 2009
David Rolph, University of Sydney Faculty of Law, has published "A Critique of the National, Uniform Defamation Laws," at 16 Torts Law Journal 207 (2008). The national, uniform defamation laws, which came into effect across Australia in 2006, represent the...

A Review of Damages

Posted on February 16, 2009
The Guardian's Sam Wollaston notes the return of the U.S. legal drama Damages.

Team Behind Internet Site Pirate Bay Stands Trial In Sweden

Posted on February 16, 2009
The founders of the Pirate Bay filesharing website have gone on trial for copyright violation. The Swedish prosecutor is seeking a sentence of up to two years in prison and nearly $150,000 in fines. Read more here. The Pirate Bay...

FTC Releases Report On Online Advertising

Posted on February 13, 2009
While the Federal Trade Commission isn't moving toward regulation, it is telling Internet companies that they are not informing consumers adequately about privacy policies. An FTC press release says in part,Over the last decade, the FTC has periodically examined the...

The History of Musical Copyright Law

Posted on February 13, 2009
Frederic M. Scherer, Harvard University Kennedy School of Government, has published "The Emergence of Musical Copyright in Europe from 1709 to 1850," at 5 Review of Economic Research on Copyright Issues 3 (2008). Here is the abstract.This paper, written for...

The Latest On Lott v. Levitt

Posted on February 12, 2009
The Seventh Circuit has affirmed a lower court ruling in Lott v. Levitt, the defamation case concerning the popular book Freakonomics.John Lott, an academic and economist, believes that his reputation was sullied by Freakonomics, the popular and off-beat book written...

Evaluating "United States v. Williams" and Protecting Children on the Internet

Posted on February 11, 2009
Audrey Rogers, Pace University School of Law, has published "Protecting Children on the Internet: Mission Impossible?" Here is the abstract. Congress's latest effort to protect children from on-line predators banned the pandering or soliciting of child pornography regardless of whether...

Some Stations Plan Complete Switch To Digital In Spite of Congressional Okay For Delay To June 12th

Posted on February 11, 2009
A number of tv stations plan to make the digital leap February 17th, even though Congress has put off the transition until June 12th. They include outlets in San Diego, Lubbock, Lincoln, Nebraska, and Mobile, Alabama. Read more here.

Missouri Court of Appeals Remands False Light Case To Allow Plaintiff To Amend Petition

Posted on February 10, 2009
The Missouri Court of Appeals is remanding a false light case and may allow it to proceed in Meyerkord v. Zipatoni. Plaintiff, Greg Meyerkord (? Meyerkord?), appeals from the judgment dismissing Meyerkord's action for false light invasion of privacy against...

New Report Says British Public Cynical About Press

Posted on February 10, 2009
The Media Standards Trust has published a report, A More Accountable Press, critical of the Press Complaints Commission and the current system under which the media as a whole operates, saying the media and the PCC are not sufficiently transparent...

Shepard Fairey Sues AP In Dispute Over Image

Posted on February 10, 2009
Shepard Fairey has now upped the ante in that dispute with the Associated Press. He's gone to court to ask for a ruling that he did not infringe any copyright the AP has in the original photo of President Obama...

Ofcom Gets Complaints About New Virgin Atlantic Ad

Posted on February 09, 2009
Ofcom has received complaints about Virgin Atlantic's new ad, which features attractive flight attendants (read "stewardesses") dressed in short red skirts and a male pilot and sexist comments from male passengers. The ad is intended to evoke the year the...

Trial Opens In Death of "Harry Potter" Actor

Posted on February 09, 2009
The court hearing evidence against the defendant in the death of Rob Knox, who had a role in the upcoming Harry Potter film, was told that Karl Bishop was "running amok" and had already threatened to kill someone the week...

Previous | Next

Related Law Bulletins

New Baptist Covenant Blog
Last week, I pointed to the New Baptist Convenant website, now onl...

The Mexico Trucker Blog
I've written before about the perceived problems with relaxed rest...