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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

Max Planck Institute Missteps

Posted on December 09, 2008
The Independent reports that the Max Planck Institute, looking for a Chinese poem to reproduce on a cover for a recent issue of a journal it publishes worldwide, got hold of something it thought fit the bill. But the "poem"...

Madonna Wins Privacy Lawsuit Against Mail on Sunday

Posted on December 08, 2008
A judge has found for singer Madonna in her breach of privacy and copyright lawsuit against the Mail on Sunday. The paper published photos of her 2000 wedding to Guy Ritchie; the pair is now divorced. The pop star is...

Tribune Company Files For Bankruptcy Protection

Posted on December 08, 2008
MSNBC.com reports that the Tribune Company, so recently taken private by Sam Zell, is filing for bankruptcy protection. The Company owns the Chicago Cubs, many newspapers, and a slew of tv stations. Read more here and here (in a Bloomberg.com...

Examining Media Concentration in the U.S. and Latin America

Posted on December 08, 2008
Thomas J. Pate, Harvard Law School & University of Miami Law School, has published "Media Concentration: Different Solutions to a Growing Problem in the Contexts of the United States and Latin America." Here is the abstract. An analysis of the...

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Hilden on a New Louisiana State Bar Advertising Rule

Posted on December 08, 2008
FindLaw's Julie Hilden writes about a Louisiana law firm's challenges to the state bar's new rules concerning attorney advertising. Hilden suggests that the new rule has serious First Amendment problems. Read more here.

Associated Press Loses FOIA Request For John Walker Lindh Commutation Request

Posted on December 08, 2008
The Second Circuit has affirmed the dismissal of an Associated Press FOIA request for John Walker Lindh's request for commutation. The appellate court found that "Here, AP has failed to demonstrate that disclosure of Lindh?s petition would serve a cognizable...

Pictures Worth a Thousand Words

Posted on December 08, 2008
CNN has this interesting story about the lure of mugshots, both celebrity and non-celebrity types, for the average American, and why the media publish so many. Says one editor, "It's just another way of getting readers online." And maybe helping...

New South Wales Judge Finds That, Under Statute, Cartoon Characters May Depict "Real" Human Beings

Posted on December 08, 2008
In ruling that a cartoon character, in this case the "Simpson" characters, could be interpreted as depictions of real human beings, New South Wales appellate court judge Michael Adams has dismissed the appeal of a NSW man convicted under a...

A New Film About a Fictional Journalist Offers Parallels To Real Life

Posted on December 07, 2008
Adam Liptak discusses the new film Nothing But the Truth, which evokes parallels to the Judith Miller case, here. The movie, which stars Kate Beckinsale, Matt Dillon, and Alan Alda, opens in mid-December in New York and Los Angeles.

News From the Programme in Comparative Media Law & Policy, University of Oxford

Posted on December 05, 2008
From the Programme in Comparative Media Law and Policy New Co-ordinator of PCMLP appointed The Programme in Comparative Media Law and Policy, at the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies, University of Oxford, is pleased to announce that Dr. Nicole Stremlau has...

RDR Books To Release Revised Version Of Harry Potter Lexicon Early Next Year

Posted on December 05, 2008
RDR Books is releasing a revised Harry Potter encyclopedia that complies with a federal judge's ruling after the publisher's courtroom loss earlier this year. The Lexicon: An Unauthorized Guide to Harry Potter Fiction and Related Materials will make its bookstore...

Ofcom Sanctions Digital Channel For Misleading Ads

Posted on December 05, 2008
Ofcom has pounced again, this time on Venus TV, a digital channel popular with the British Asian community. The situation was referred to Ofcom by the Advertising Standards Authority, which was concerned by Venus TV's ads regarding Golden Bull Kastoori...

Technology in the Courts

Posted on December 04, 2008
Karen Eltis, University of Ottawa, Faculty of Law, has published "The Impact of Technology on Courts and Judicial Ethics: An Overview," in Judicial Independence in Canada and the World (University of Toronto Press, 2009). Here is the abstract. Technology plays...

Advertising Standards Authority Finds Belfast Church's Anti-Gay Ad In Breach Of Code

Posted on December 04, 2008
The Advertising Standards Authority has banned a Belfast church's ad with a headline reading "The word of God against Sodomy," and addressing homosexuality as "God's judgment upon a sin" and condemning it in other ways. The ASA indicated that it...

A New Article on Student Publications and Government Speech

Posted on December 03, 2008
Nicole C�sarez, Professor of Media Law and Journalism, University of St. Thomas (Houston), has published "The Student Press, the Public Workplace, and Expanding Notions of Government Speech," in volume 35 of the Journal of College and University Law.

Roman Polanski's Lawyers Ask D.A.'s Office To Dismiss Charges

Posted on December 03, 2008
Attorneys for film director Roman Polanski (Chinatown, The Pianist) have asked the Los Angeles District Attorney's office to dismiss charges against him. Such a move would allow the director to return to the United States from France, where he has...

Reorganizing and Rethinking Public Media

Posted on December 03, 2008
Ellen Goodman, Rutgers University Law School, has published "Public Media 2.0." Here is the abstract. This paper argues for continuing public support for public media, but a dramatic transformation of the way that public media is conceived and structured...

British FM Station May Lose License

Posted on December 03, 2008
A small radio station in Liverpool may be the first to lose its license for failing to provide enough "local content." After warning the station, Ofcom is beginning official proceedings to strip KCR-FM of its right to broadcast. Read more...

Age Discrimination in Network Programming, Hollywood Style

Posted on December 03, 2008
This week's episode of Boston Legal (the next to last--next week's episode is the series finale) had a weird little media law subplot. In "Juiced," Catherine Piper (Betty White) convinces Carl Sack (John Laroquette) to bring an age discrimination case...

Recent Developments In Copyright Law

Posted on December 02, 2008
Jane C. Ginsburg, Columbia Law School, has published "Recent Developments in US Copyright Law - Part II, Caselaw: Exclusive Rights on the Ebb?" in For Revue Internationale du Droit d'Auteur, Oct. 2008 (forthcoming January 2009). Here is the abstract. The...

Against the Fairness Doctrine

Posted on December 02, 2008
Ellen P. Goodman, Rutgers University Law School, has published "No Time for Equal Time: A Comment on Professor Magarian's Substantive Media Regulation in Three Dimensions," in volume 76 of the George Washington Law Review (2008). Here is the abstract...

Former UCLA Employee Pleads Guilty To Selling Medical Records To National Enquirer

Posted on December 02, 2008
The BBC reports that a former employee of the UCLA Medical Center has admitted to selling medical records to the media. Among the private records sold were those of pop star Britney Spears and actress Farrah Fawcett. Lawanda Jackson, who...

Suspect Arrested in Hudson Family Tragedy

Posted on December 01, 2008
William Balfour, the brother-in-law of actress Jennifer Hudson, has been arrested for the shooting deaths of her mother, brother, and young nephew. MSNBC.com reports that Mr. Balfour, who was already detained on a parole violation, will be arraigned soon on...

Smack Apparel Smackdown

Posted on December 01, 2008
The Fifth Circuit has ruled in favor of four universities and against a manufacturer of sports apparel, finding that the defendant's use of colors that recalled the universities' school colors and designs infringed their trademarks and constituted unfair competition and...

SRM Global Sues Wall Street Journal Over Disclosure

Posted on December 01, 2008
SRM Global, the hedge fund, is going to court over the Wall Street Journal's publication of information about its financial performance, alleging that the data revealed was confidential. SRM held major positions in both Northern Rock, the bank nationalized by...

Arrests Made In Kidnapping of Western Journalists

Posted on December 01, 2008
The Guardian reports arrests in the case of two Western journalists kidnapped in Somalia as they were making their way to an airport near Bosasso. Other Western journalists are still being held. Read more here.

Man Arrested In Little Rock Anchor Murder

Posted on December 01, 2008
Police have a suspect in custody in the slaying of Little Rock anchor Anne Pressly, who was found beaten and near death in her home on October 20. She died five days later. Curtis Vance was arrested last week and...

News Stations Cut Back On Familiar Faces

Posted on December 01, 2008
The New York Times' Brian Stelter writes about the end of an era in this piece about the laying off of local anchors. Economic times are tough, so television stations are replacing highly paid and knowledgeable newspeople with cheaper folks....

Somebody's Tracking Simon Cowell?

Posted on December 01, 2008
Simon Cowell's attorneys are warning the press off his trail after someone, allegedly a journalist, attacked a tracking device to Mr. Cowell's vehicle. The noted law firm Carter-Ruck has sent out letters to leading British newspapers telling reporters not to...

Press Complaints Commission Upholds Diana's Former Butler's Complaint Against News of the World

Posted on December 01, 2008
The Guardian reports that the Press Complaints Commission has upheld Paul Burrell, former butler to the late Princess Diana, in his complaint that News of the World did not include his denial of its report that he claimed to have...

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