Welcome to the Citizen Media Law Brief, a weekly newsletter highlighting recent blog posts, media law news, threat entries, and other new content on the Citizen Media Law Project's website. You are receiving this email because you have expressed interest in the CMLP or registered on our site, www.citmedialaw.org. If you do not wish to receive this newsletter, you can unsubscribe by following the link at the bottom of this email or by going to http://www.citmedialaw.org/newsletter/subscriptions.
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The latest from the Citizen Media Law Project...
David Ardia on the use of press licensing laws in Pakistan.
Musharraf Uses Press Licensing Laws to Clampdown on News Media in Pakistan
CMLP announces the launch of the database of legal threats.
Citizen Media Law Project Launches Legal Threats Database
Sam Bayard looks at Prince's legal pursuit of fansite.
Prince Threatens Fansites with Legal Action
David Ardia highlights government documents online.
Leveraging FOIA: Websites Shine a Bright Light on Government Records
Anthony Ciolli, Former AutoAdmit Site Administrator, Dropped From Lawsuit
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Other citizen media law news...
Media Law - Fri. 11/9/2007
Fraud, Trademark, and Rights
Likelihood of Confusion - Fri. 11/9/2007
Perspective: When Virtual Legal Chickens Come Home to Roost
CNet News - Wed. 11/7/2007
Smaller Stakes, Bigger Outcry as FCC Again Mulls Media Ownership
First Amendment Center Press News - Wed. 11/7/2007
Miami TV Reporter Charged with Trespassing at School
Reporters Committee News - Tue. 11/6/2007
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Recent threats added to the CMLP database...
Posted November 4th, 2007
Internet Solutions v. Marshall
Posted November 3rd, 2007
Khalaji v. Derakhshan
Posted October 31st, 2007
Texas v. Schreiber
Posted October 29th, 2007
Video Professor v. Justin Leonard
Posted October 29th, 2007
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The full Brief...
"Reports are emerging from Pakistan that President Pervez Musharraf has
shutdown independent news media within Pakistan and limited access to
the Internet. Musharraf appears to be using, at least in part,
Pakistan's press licensing laws to effectuate this clampdown."
David Ardia, Musharraf Uses Press Licensing Laws to Clampdown on News Media in Pakistan
"We've finally finished building the interface for our Legal Threats Database, and I am excited to announce its public launch. If you would like to read our news release, you can find it here.
The database, which is funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation,
contains legal threats from 35 states and 9 countries, and it is
growing daily. These threats range from copyright infringement lawsuits
filed against bloggers to cease and desist letters claiming defamation
sent to MySpace users."
David Ardia, Citizen Media Law Project Launches Legal Threats Database
"Waning pop genius Prince has initiated a campaign to force fan websites
dedicated to his work to stop 'all use of photographs, images, lyrics,
album covers, and anything linked to [his] likeness.' (The quote is
from the Prince Fans United press release, discussed below.) According to reports (here, here, and here),
Prince's lawyers have sent cease-and-desist letters and at least one
DMCA takedown notice to the three largest Prince fansites, Prince.org, Princefans.com, and Housequake.com,
demanding that they remove the above materials and requesting that the
sites provide them with 'substantive details of the means by which you
propose to compensate our clients [Paisley Park Enterprises, NPG
Records and Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG)] for damages.'"
Sam Bayard, Prince Threatens Fansites with Legal Action
"
Two new websites recently launched that give the public unprecedented access to government documents acquired
through the federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and other public disclosure, or "sunshine,"
laws: GovernmentDocs.org and GovernmentAttic.org."
David Ardia, Leveraging FOIA: Websites Shine a Bright Light on Government Records
"
Yesterday, lawyers for two female Yale Law School students, captioned as Does I & II, filed an amended complaint dropping
Anthony Ciolli as a defendant from the lawsuit they filed against a host of pseudonymous users of the popular law school
admissions forum, AutoAdmit. The suit, which has engendered a great deal of publicity (see, e.g., The Washington Post and Wall Street Journal Law Blog), charges that users of the site made defamatory, vulgar, sexually
explicit, and threatening comments about the Yale students on AutoAdmit's forum."
David Ardia, Anthony Ciolli, Former AutoAdmit Site Administrator, Dropped From Lawsuit
