Here’s yet more proof that libel is not only the concern of the journalist.
The Hartford Courant featured an interesting case in which a Connecticut mother was fined $88,000 for an e-mail campaign in which she likened her daughter’s swim coach to a pedophile. The judge reportedly said that the mother admitted to having no evidence of this.
Let’s just hope for her daughter’s sake that she does not take after mom.
The Media Law Case of the Week is the rock band Van Halen’s copyright infringement suit against Nike.
No, the suit does not involve the use of a Van Halen song. This case is about sneakers. Really.
The band alleges that a new Nike shoe pattern infringes on a copyright it owns on a pattern/design used on guitars and licensed for a Van Halen line of sneakers. (Nike denies this.)
Somehow I don’t think Nike will be ready to “jump” at settling this case.
Posted in Media Law, Media Law Case of the Week
The federal jury ruled today in the case I featured Monday in the Media Law Case of the Week.
Unfortunately for the Minnesota woman accused of illegally sharing copyrighted music, the outcome was worse than the first trial. Instead of owing the record industry $220,000, she now owes $1.92 million. Here’s what Jammie Thomas-Rasset told the Associated Press about the verdict:
“There’s no way they’re ever going to get that. I’m a mom, limited means, so I’m not going to worry about it now.”
Click here for the AP story on the verdict.
Imagine being found guilty of copyright infringement for using a file sharing service like Kazaa and having a federal jury set damages that you must pay at $220,000.
That’s exactly what happened to Jammie Thomas, a Minnesota woman who is getting a second chance in court to fight the judgment after the judge threw out the earlier decision because he said he made a mistake when instructing the jury.
Her story and what the new trial could mean are described in a wonderful piece by Alex Ebert that ran in the Minneapolis Star Tribune and Boston Herald.
Thomas now has two Harvard-trained lawyers who are taking on her case for free, according to the article.
The 30,000 lawsuits filed by the recording industry since 2003 have prompted copyright lawyers to start taking cases pro bono to fight what some call “extortion,” said Harvard law Prof. Charles Nesson.
The new lawyers are arguing the record industry does not own the copyrights, the artists do. Details of their argument are in the article. It’s an interesting piece about a case with national implications.
Before I get into the Media Law Case of the Week, I want to tip my hat to the Columbus Dispatch for its excellent stories outlining the (mis)uses of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, better known as FERPA.
They called their six-month investigation into FERPA Secrecy 101. The stories are definitely worth a read.
And now to the Media Law Case of the Week …
I try to stay away from huge cases and focus on smaller gems you may have missed. However, I cannot ignore the plight of American journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee, who have been sentenced to 12 years in a labor camp in North Korea.
The International Women’s Media Foundation and Reporters Without Borders have a joint petition calling for the reporters’ release.
If you want to sign the petition, click here.
Posted in Media Law, Media Law Case of the Week
Tagged Euna Lee, FERPA, freedom of information, Laura Ling
For three years, student journalists at Michigan State University have been fighting a legal battle to get access to police records of a campus incident that allegedly included a student covering a victim in gasoline and threatening to set the victim on fire in a dorm room.
Now an Ingham County Circuit Court judge has said the university must turn over some of the information in those police records to the student newspaper.
The Student Press Law Center has the story of how this legal battle unfolded, why it is important to student journalists who weren’t even on the newspaper staff at the time, and why it might not be over here.
Three years to get basic police records.
Keep up the good fight, student journalists.
If a radio host sends e-mails that say a politician is gay, is that libel?
You and I might say no, but Tom Fetzer, who is running to be head of the state of North Carolina’s Republican party, says it is.
He has informed his supporters that he intends to sue radio station WLTT and corporate owner Sea-Comm Media over e-mails sent by radio host Curtis Wright that said Fetzer is gay. Fetzer says he is not.
The News & Observer has the e-mail Fetzer, former mayor of Raleigh, sent to his supporters about the legal action here.
Mr. Fetzer, be prepared to be hit with outrage.
Oy vey!
Woody Allen is getting $5 million from American Apparel because it used his image — or a parody of him dressed as a rabbi — in its ads without Allen’s 
permission.
The NY Post reported the settlement today — along with this image of the ad.
The Post, by the way, is dealing with its own legal troubles. A New York State Supreme Court justice is suing the newspaper for libel after a story alleged he paid to get his seat on the bench. The latest step in the case is a series of subpoenas to the judge’s family and at least eight other judges, according to the New York Times.
Posted in Media Law, Media Law Case of the Week
Tagged appropriation, libel, Woody Allen
New York state’s Open Meetings Law will get a boost if Gov. David Paterson signs an amendment to strengthen it.
The Buffalo News editorial board has urged him to do. The News writes:
The legislation includes three components. One closes an escape hatch that some public bodies have used to avoid discussing the public’s business in public. The other gives judges greater leeway in responding to violations of the Open Meetings Law, allowing them to address those transgressions without unduly harming the interests of innocent parties. Both are important revisions to what already is, by and large, a strong state law.
Most journalists are familiar with the “escape hatch” the News mentions. Some government bodies think they can circumvent the Open Meetings Law by having debates on issues behind closed doors but voting in public. This allows the public to know how their representatives have voted, but they have no sense of the debate and information provided behind closed doors. That’s not exactly the Open Meetings Law’s purpose.
With the amendment, judges would be able to punish government bodies who do this with a fine and/or other measures.
Read the amendment for yourself — and see who voted to support it — here.
Posted in Media Law, Media Law Case of the Week
Tagged freedom of information, open meetings
Any guesses which state has had more than one thousand complaints about public officials refusing requests for information since 2005?
If you guessed Illinois, you are correct.
This week’s Media Law Case of the Week focuses on an excellent Chicago Tribune story citing many cases
magnifying glass
in which citizens were denied information from school and government officials — information that the citizens sought through public records laws.
Reporter David Kidwell writes:
A review of those complaints, along with dozens of interviews, reveals a culture of secrecy shrouding the machinery of your government. Public meetings are often theater, where votes are pro forma endorsements of decisions forged in e-mails and memos you will never be allowed to see.
Government records routinely turned over at the front counters in many other states are routinely denied here — the result of a notoriously weak open records law, an unsympathetic political culture and an attitude of disdain among many public servants who consider documents their own.
If you think those words are harsh, read the story. Kidwell offers ample evidence to support the claims.
And the Tribune is offering an “Open Records Help Desk,” a web page devoted to giving readers tips for requesting information and a database of complaints.
This is exactly the kind of watchdog reporting we need in this country. My only hope is that Kidwell is not among the Tribune staffers let go, and that news organizations still have enough journalists to do this work.
journajunkie 