Week of September 12, 2008 [1]
Welcome to the Citizen Media Law Brief, a weekly newsletter highlighting recent blog posts, media law news, legal 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 blog...
David Ardia announces that the CMLP will be assisting a new nonprofit focused on free speech and fair use issues.
Citizen Media Law Project Joins the Right to Write Fund In Protecting Creative Artists From Legal Threats [2]
David Ardia highlights a court decision holding that an online book printing service is not a publisher for purposes of defamation liability.
Print-on-Demand Service BookSurge Deemed Not To Be a "Publisher" [3]
Sam Bayard comments on the Boston City Council's views on the Massachusetts open meetings laws.
Boston City Council: What Are They Hiding? [4]
David Ardia discusses the court's fair use analysis in the recent Harry Potter Lexicon case.
Judge Rejects Fair Use Defense in Harry Potter Lexicon Case, J.K. Rowling Recovers Her Plums [5]
CMLP Staff looks at the risks associated with publishing personal and private information.
Publishing Personal and Private Information: Understanding Your Legal Risks [6]
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Recent threats added to the CMLP database...
Posted September 11, 2008
MacDonald v. Paton [8]
Posted September 11, 2008
Bidbay.com v. Bruce Spry Jr. [9]
Posted September 10, 2008
Obi v. Netcetera [10]
Posted September 10, 2008
Posted September 8, 2008
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Other citizen media law news...
Does Communications Decency Act Immunize Bloomberg in United Airlines Bungle?
Wired/Threat Level [12] - Thurs. 09/11/08
Man gets probation for filming court hearing on his cell phone
Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press [13] - Thurs. 09/11/08
Courts and the New Media
The Blog of LegalTimes [14] - Wed. 09/10/08
FOI Advocate [15] - Tues. 09/09/08
YouTube to Provide $10,000 Citizen Journalism Prize
Public Journalism Network [16] - Tues. 09/08/08
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The full(er) Brief...
"Earlier this week, we announced that the CMLP will work closely with the Right to Write Fund, a newly launched nonprofit which will act as an educational repository and clearinghouse for free speech and copyright fair use issues that writers, filmmakers, professors, recording artists, and publishers encounter when moving among the worlds of print, Internet, film, the fine arts, and new media. Right to Write will also help arrange pro bono legal counsel for artists and educators facing legal threats and help raise money for litigation support for things like expert witnesses, travel, and copying costs. The launch of Right to Write follows on the heels of the recent decision by a federal judge in New York that author Steve Vander Ark's Harry Potter Lexicon infringed the copyright in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series of books. . . ."
David Ardia, Citizen Media Law Project Joins the Right to Write Fund In Protecting Creative Artists From Legal Threats [2]
"Back in July, a federal court in Maine ruled that BookSurge,
a print-on-demand service owned by Amazon.com, was not liable for
defamatory statements contained in a book it 'published' on behalf of
one of its clients. Sandler v. Calcagni, 2008 WL 2761892 (D. Me. July 16, 2008). . . . Although the court's decision to dismiss BookSurge didn't turn on the application of section 230 of the Communications Decency Act
(BookSurge raised the issue, but the court ignored it), the decision
did address the important distinction between publisher and distributor
liability for defamation. . . . [T]he question facing the court in Sandler v. Calcagni was
whether BookSurge bore the characteristics of a 'publisher' or 'distributor.' Fortunately for BookSurge, the court concluded that it
was akin to an online copy machine, noting that it had 'negligible
involvement' with the authors of the book and never fact-checked or
reviewed the manuscript. . . ."
David Ardia, Print-on-Demand Service BookSurge Deemed Not To Be a "Publisher" [3]
"Journalism professor Dan Kennedy has a great post today at Media Nation about the Boston City Council's review of an 80-page report that it commissioned urging the state legislature to exempt it from the Massachusetts open meetings laws.
He takes issue with statements made by councilors complaining that the
law is 'confusing' and creates a 'chilling effect.' Remarkably, the
report contends that the open meetings laws violate the councilors'
free speech rights, according to the Boston Herald. I'd like to see the councilors make that claim to a judge with a straight face. . . . One has to wonder why the Council is so frightened of government
transparency. I hope the Mayor, whose approval is required in order
for the Council to seek an exemption from the state legislature, will
see through this baseless effort to weasel out of the straightforward
requirements of the law. . . ."
Sam Bayard, Boston City Council: What Are They Hiding? [4]
"In a long-awaited decision in the case of Rowling v. RDR Books,
a federal judge in New York has ruled in favor of J.K. Rowling and
Warner Bros. in the copyright infringement lawsuit they filed against
RDR Books, the publisher of the Harry Potter Lexicon, an unofficial encyclopedic companion to the popular Harry Potter series of books. In his 68-page decision,
Judge Robert Patterson held that RDR Books 'had failed to establish an
affirmative defense of fair use,' granted a permanent injunction
barring publication of the Lexicon, and awarded the plaintiffs
$6,750 in statutory damages. Although the decision is a disappointing
setback for RDR Books and many Harry Potter fans, there is some good
news in Judge Patterson's opinion for fair use advocates, which I
discuss below. . . ."
David Ardia, Judge Rejects Fair Use Defense in Harry Potter Lexicon Case, J.K. Rowling Recovers Her Plums [5]
"When you publish information about someone without permission,
especially personal or private information, you
potentially expose yourself to legal liability even if your portrayal
is factually accurate. While you should keep this potential liability
in mind, the law generally gives online publishers quite a bit of
breathing space to report and comment on matters of legitimate public
concern, even when the person being discussed objects to the coverage.
This post looks at our Citizen Media Legal Guide's section on Publishing Personal and Private Information. . . ."
CMLP Staff, Publishing Personal and Private Information: Understanding Your Legal Risks [6]
