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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

Rob Knox, Who Appears In "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince", Dies in Knife Fight

Posted on May 25, 2008
The AP reports that a young actor who appears in the new Harry Potter film was killed in a knife fight in London yesterday. Read more here.

Censorship and YouTube

Posted on May 25, 2008
Today's New York Times editorial page discusses the specter of Internet censorship. Read more here.

Daughter of Jazz Musician Sues Over Use of Her Father's Work

Posted on May 25, 2008
Kathleen Firrantello, the daughter of jazz musician Joe Farrell, is suing rapper Kanye West and other musicians for copyright infringement for using a bit of her father's song Upon This Rock in their works. In her suit, Ms. Firrantello requests...

Canada and Net Neutrality

Posted on May 25, 2008
Craig McTaggart, TELUS Communication Company, has published "Net Neutrality and Canada's Telecommunications Act." Here is the abstract. The ongoing policy debate under the banner of "net neutrality" engages fundamental questions regarding the form of governance that best protects the interests...

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British Film Board Getting Tough On Violence

Posted on May 24, 2008
The British board that rates films is cracking down on violence. The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) is rating some films that get a US PG-13 much more strictly, meaning that only older teens are allowed to see them...

Time Warner, Time Warner Cable Separating

Posted on May 24, 2008
Time Warner and Time Warner Cable are splitting up. Here's a press release. Time Warner President and Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bewkes said: "This is the right step for Time Warner and Time Warner Cable stockholders. After the transaction, each...

FCC Considering Caps, Pro-Rating On Cell Phone Fees

Posted on May 24, 2008
Cell phone users may see a silver lining under a new plan being floated by some cell phone companies and being considered by the FCC. Under it, consumers might be allowed to cancel their new contracts within 30 days, and...

The Uses of Legal History

Posted on May 24, 2008
Samuel J. Levine, Pepperdine University School of Law, has published "Lost in Translation: The Strange Journey of an Anti-Semitic Fabrication, from a Late Nineteenth Century American Russian Newspaper to an Irish Legal Journal to a Leading Twentieth Century American Criminal...

ICTY Releases Journalist Pending Trial

Posted on May 24, 2008
The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia has ruled that Baton Haxhiu, a journalist being tried for alleged criminal contempt of court, may be released pending that trial. He is alleged to have released the name of a protected...

Judge Grants Do-Over In DMX Defamation Case

Posted on May 23, 2008
Judge Thomas Smith has vacated a million and a half dollar defamation judgment against rapper DMX (Earl Simmons) because he was not properly served. The judge was persuaded that Mr. Simmons failed to appear at the January hearing at which...

French Court Unfreezes Russian News Agency's Bank Account

Posted on May 21, 2008
A French court has restored a Russian news agency's access to its bank account and ordered a Swiss company to pay 15,000 euros in compensation. Ruling that the news agency RIA Novosti is not responsible for the Russian government's debts,...

Domain Name Disputes and the Right of Publicity

Posted on May 19, 2008
Jacqueline Lipton, Case Western Reserve Law School, has published "Celebrity in Cyberspace: A Personality Rights Paradigm for Personal Domain Name Disputes," forthcoming in the Washington & Lee Law Review. Here is the abstract. When the Oscar-winning actress, Julia Roberts, fought...

Utah Supreme Court Rules That Newspaper May Have Access to Investigative Report Under Public Records Law

Posted on May 19, 2008
The Utah Supreme Court has ruled in Deseret News v. Salt Lake County that the newspaper had the right of access to a report which investigated allegations of sexual harassment by the county clerk office's chief deputy. The county attempted...

The Police and the Press

Posted on May 19, 2008
Journalist Nigel Green discusses why police and reporters are so often at odds over getting the information about crime out to the public.

Missouri Legislature Passes New Law Making Cyber Harassment a Crime

Posted on May 18, 2008
The Missouri Legislature has passed a law making cyber harassment illegal. The legislation now goes to the governor for his approval. The measure is a response to the case of Megan Meier, the thirteen year old who committed suicide over...

Unintended Consequences, Fallout May Result From MySpace Prosecution

Posted on May 18, 2008
Reactions to the indictment of Lori Drew in the MySpace suicide case suggest that such a theory of the case may have unintended consequences. Some commentators say that signing up with a false name for services like those that MySpace...

Fifth Circuit Affirms Lower Court in MySpace Case, Dismisses Doe Lawsuit

Posted on May 17, 2008
The Fifth Circuit has dismissed the Julie Doe lawsuit against MySpace, indicating that Section 230 protects third party networking sites. A lower court had also dismissed the suit last year. The plaintiff was assaulted by a sexual predator she met...

Senate Votes To Overturn New FCC Rule on Media Ownership

Posted on May 16, 2008
On a voice vote, the Senate has voted to reject the new FCC rule on media ownership. President Bush has indicated that he will veto a bill to overrule the FCC rule should it reach his desk. Meanwhile two FCC...

Anascape Awarded $21 Million in Patent Infringement Win

Posted on May 16, 2008
Tiny Anascape of Tyler, Texas, has won a patent infringement suit against giant Nintendo. The company sued over the controllers Nintendo uses in its popular Wii Classic, WaveBird and Gamecube products. The jury awarded Anascape $21 million. Nintendo plans to...

Celebs Win Damages in Invasion of Privacy Suit Against British Photog Agencies

Posted on May 16, 2008
Hugh Grant, his former girlfriend Elizabeth Hurley, and her new husband Arun Nayar have won 58,000 pounds in damages for invasion of privacy against Big Pictures (UK) Ltd and Eliot Press SARL, which also apologized for snapping photos of the...

British TV Show, Producer, Will Donate Libel Damages To Charity

Posted on May 16, 2008
The damages that Channel 4 and indie producer Hardcash receive from their successful libel action will go to a charity that aids reporters and their families if they are killed or injured overseas. The plaintiffs won in the High Court...

Thomson-Reuters Plans To Cut Staff

Posted on May 16, 2008
In an email sent to its employees, Thomson-Reuters has confirmed that it will cut jobs. Although it did not announce actual numbers, the National Union of Journalists fears that the numbers might go as high as 5,000 of the 50,000...

Woman Indicted in MySpace Suicide

Posted on May 16, 2008
A federal grand jury has indicted Lori Drew on charges of conspiracy and gaining access to "computers without authorization to get information used to inflict emotional distress" on Megan Meier in 2006. Ms. Drew and another woman sent Ms. Meier...

Judge Imposes Record Fine in Spamming Case

Posted on May 15, 2008
A district court judge fined two notorious spammers $230 million for flooding MySpace email accounts with unwanted advertisements for porn and other activities. Judge Audrey Collins imposed the record fine under the terms of the CAN-SPAM Act against Sanford Wallace...

Bezanson on Art and the First Amendment

Posted on May 14, 2008
Randall Bezanson, University of Iowa College of Law, has published "Art and the Constitution," forthcoming in the Iowa Law Review. Here is the abstract. Art and the Constitution addresses a longstanding problem in free speech theory: the status of art...

We're Sorry...So Sorry..., Says Boston Herald To Patriots

Posted on May 14, 2008
The Boston Herald has apologized for a story that it published back in February alleging that someone on the staff of the New England Patriots football team videotaped the St. Louis Rams' walkthrough the day before The Big Game in...

California Supreme Court Rules on Involvement of Prosecutors in High Profile Media Cases

Posted on May 13, 2008
The California Supreme Court has ruled that two prosecutors may remain involved with their high profile cases, even though each also became voluntarily involved with the media as a result of those cases. The Court found that Ron Zonen's turnover...

Thinking, Thinking, Thinking Hard....About the Pay TV Scheme In Britain

Posted on May 13, 2008
Ofcom is still contemplating Sky's proposed Pay TV service, to be called "Picnic", which would take the place of Sky News, Sky Sports News and Sky Three. Sky originally proposed replacing its current services last year. Sky is the dominant...

The Scoop on Online Piracy

Posted on May 13, 2008
In a private meeting and demo, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), explained how it determines when online piracy on campus seems to be going on, and how it then determines when to dispatch letters to the educational institutions....

It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's a Guy With a Press Pass Stuck in His Hat

Posted on May 12, 2008
Stephen Raban discusses why the image of journalists in popular culture has dipped over the years. For more about the journalist in popular culture, see the very interesting website, the Image of the Journalist in Popular Culture, maintained by the...

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