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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

Eighth Circuit Affirms Lower Court Dismissal of "True Threat" Student Creative Writing Case

Posted on August 16, 2008
The Eighth Circuit has affirmed a lower court dismissal of a case brought against school officials and a Minnesota county by high school student David Riehm and his mother Colleen. The student had turned in several creative writing assignments which....

Running on Empty

Posted on August 15, 2008
Don't run with or on Jackson Browne is the message Mr. Browne has for Presidential candidate John McCain. The singer has sued Senator McCain, the Republican National Committee, and the Ohio Republican Committee over their use of his song "Running...

The Effectiveness of Media Ratings Systems

Posted on August 15, 2008
Patrick Garry and Candice Spurlin, University of South Dakota Law School, have published "The Effectiveness of Media Rating Systems in Preventing Children's Exposure to Violent and Sexually Explicit Media Content: An Empirical Study," in volume 32 of the Oklahoma City...

Second Circuit Reverses Ruling On Steinbeck Copyright: Restores Rights To Publisher and Heirs of Steinbeck's Widow

Posted on August 14, 2008
The Second Circuit has reversed a lower court ruling that awarded the copyright in a number of John Steinbeck's works to his surviving son and granddaughter, and restored them to the original holders, publisher Penguin and a number of other...

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Second Circuit Reverses Lower Court On Injunction Against Cablevision's Remote Storage DVR System

Posted on August 14, 2008
The Second Circuit has reversed a lower court holding awarding a summary judgment to the plaintiffs, vacated an injunction to the defendants, and remanded the case to the lower court in Cartoon Network v. CSC Holdings. In March 2006, Cablevision,...

Media Company Sues Paris Hilton Over Lack of Publicity (You Read That Correctly)

Posted on August 14, 2008
Worldwide Entertainment Group is suing the hot Paris Hilton for failing to provide publicity support for the film "National Lampoon's Pledge This!", a movie that was not so hot. WEG paid the stylish Ms. H one million dollars to star...

The Hays Code

Posted on August 13, 2008
Here's a piece from NPR on the Hays Code, forty years after a series of judicial decisions, resistance from movie studios, and changing viewer tastes dismantled it. Here's more discussion from NPR on comic books and censorship, on censorship in...

ITV Cameraman Detained in Scuffle in Beijing

Posted on August 13, 2008
Beijing police detained John Ray, an ITV cameraman, briefly while he filmed a pro-Tibet demonstration during the Olympics today. The police arrested eight activists, including seven Americans. Read more here in an International Herald Tribune story.

Miramax Sues Writer Over Failure To Produce Manuscript

Posted on August 13, 2008
Miramax is suing Daily Mail writer Allison Pearson over her failure to deliver her novel "I Think I Love You", for which it had paid her an advance of $700,000 on the rights. She had signed a deal with Chatto...

Director Peter Berg Sued Over 2006 Death of Propmaster

Posted on August 12, 2008
Director Peter Berg ("Hancock," "Friday Night Lights") is being sued by the family of an assistant propmaster who died in an accident during the filming of "The Kingdom," in 2006. Mr. Berg was in an SUV that hit a smaller...

Long Live the Queen

Posted on August 12, 2008
Coopers, the Australian brewer, is asking for Her Majesty's pardon after objections surfaced to its new advertisement that runs "Forget the Monarchy, Support the Publicans." Unfunny, say monarchists. So down have come the ads, and Coopers is apologizing for this...

Third Circuit Refuses To Create New Category Of Unprotected Speech; Vacates First-Ever Conviction Under 18 USC 48

Posted on August 12, 2008
In United States v. Stevens, the Third Circuit has declined to created a new category of unprotected speech and has vacated the first conviction ever obtained of a defendant under 18 U.S.C. [Sec.] 48. Robert Stevens was convicted of "knowingly...

New York Court Orders Newspaper To Provide Plaintiffs With Information "In Its Control" On Anonymous Posters

Posted on August 12, 2008
A New York court has ordered a non-party newspaper to provide plaintiffs in a defamation suit with "such information, if any, in its possession or control that could reasonably lead to the identification of anonymous posters" so that the plaintiffs...

Radio Free Asia Journalist Still Waiting For Credentials For Beijing Games

Posted on August 12, 2008
Paul Kelso reports that a Radio Free Asia journalist is still awaiting credentials to report on the Beijing Games. The journalist, Dhondup Gonsar, is of Tibetan parentage and broadcasts in Tibetan. The agency responsible for issuing credentials, Bocog, said Mr...

Is New Ben Stiller Movie Insensitive To Disabled?

Posted on August 12, 2008
Ben Stiller's new film Tropic Thunder is garnering some complaints from the differently abled who allege that the film "humiliates people with intellectual disabilities", according to this BBC story. Mr. Stiller's character uses the word "retard" several times during the...

Random House Cancels Publication of Novel About Prophet Muhammed's Wife

Posted on August 11, 2008
A controversy has emerged over a novel about one of the Prophet Muhammed's wives. Writer Sherry Jones had planned to publish her novel The Jewel of Medina with Random House. But comments from scholars, indicating that the novel might incite...

"And Will They Ever Return?..."

Posted on August 11, 2008
Slashdot reports that three MIT students have been enjoined from talking about a vulnerability they've discovered in the smartcards used on the Boston subway. The three had planned to present their research at the Defcon conference in Las Vegas but...

Company Sues Mary J. Blige Over Song

Posted on August 11, 2008
The Drama Family Entertainment Company is suing singer Mary J. Blige for copyright infringement over the use of the song "Work That" on her album "Growing Pains." The song is also used in an iPod commercial, although Apple is not...

Media Prevented From Taking Photos of Sports Star's Children at Man United Event

Posted on August 11, 2008
Media attending the recent Manchester United testimonial for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer were asked to sign a contract stating they would not take photographs of his children, even though the public attending were allowed to take such photos. The contract stated...

Times Receives Complaints Over Editor's Article; PCC May Review the Case

Posted on August 11, 2008
Times of London editor Giles Coren is in hot water over a piece he wrote about Poles and Polish immigration to the UK. The paper has received complaints, including one from the Polish Ambassador; apparently the piece is considered insufficiently...

More On the Apology To the Duke of Edinburgh

Posted on August 11, 2008
More coverage of the London Standard's apology to Prince Philip, this time in the Guardian. Apparently, the Press Complaints Commission had a role in arranging the apology, and says the agreement shows the advantages of an apology over legal action.

Dissent and Untruth

Posted on August 11, 2008
Ron Rosenbaum wonders when dissent "becomes untruth," and so no longer deserves coverage in the media, in an essay for Slate magazine. Is the news still what the media says it is?

London Evening Standard Apologizes To Royal Family Over Cancer Story

Posted on August 08, 2008
The London Evening Standard has apologized for its story that Prince Philip, husband of Queen Elizabeth II, has prostate cancer. Further, it said, "We unreservedly apologise both to him and to his family for making this distressing allegation and for...

Au Revoir, Les Enfants, Or, Bad Day At Black Hat

Posted on August 08, 2008
The AP reports that three French reporters were summarily tossed from the Black Hat conference, currently going on in Las Vegas, for intercepting some fellow journalists' personal info. They were apparently outed when they asked "Wall of Sheep" workers to...

Happy Feet

Posted on August 08, 2008
For a Friday, via the NYT: here's a video of Matt Harding on an invitational dance with the folks at Yahoo, who've had a rough 2008. Great tour of Yahoo's employment divisions, but where's legal? No Terpsichorean attorneys? I would...

Microsoft's Great Tibetan Wall

Posted on August 08, 2008
The New York Times's David Gallagher investigates why he can't have a hotmail account with the word "Tibet" in it--Microsoft explains. But readers question the non-political company explanation. Read more here.

Fourth Circuit Upholds Dimissal of Contractor Defamation Suit Against Talk Show Host, Air America

Posted on August 07, 2008
The Fourth Circuit has upheld the dismissal of a defamation action brought by CACI, a government contractor, against Randi Rhodes, a (former) Air America talk show host and Air America, over statements that Ms. Rhodes made on her show, concerning...

ASA Douses Daily Telegraph For Bottled Water Ad

Posted on August 07, 2008
The Advertising Standards Authority has told the Daily Telegraph and its parent company, the Telegraph Media Group, that an ad it ran for a giveaway bottle of water saying "Lower your blood pressure with our free spring water" was unacceptable...

It's Girl Talk, Girl Talk...Talkin' 'Bout You, Talking' Bout Me...Me and Mrs. Jones....

Posted on August 07, 2008
D. J. Girl Talk (warning: music) uses sampling to create new songs from existing ones, and says his creations are protected by the fair use doctrine. Read more in a New York Times article here.

Georgia Supreme Court Rejects Newspaper's Request For Police Records Under Open Records Law; Investigation, Begun in 1992, Is "Pending"

Posted on August 06, 2008
Because a 1992 police investigation is categorized as pending, the Georgia Supreme Court has reversed an appellate court and denied a newspaper's request for access to the records of the investigation under the Georgia Open Records Act. Said the Court,...

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