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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

Jury: Mattel Gets Forty Million

Posted on August 26, 2008
A jury has awarded Mattel $40 million in damages in its lawsuit against MGA over the Bratz dolls. Read more here.

FBI Explains Seizure of Journalist Phone Records--It Was a "Miscommunication"

Posted on August 26, 2008
Robert Mueller, the director of the FBI, has defended the seizure of reporters' phone records in 2004, saying it was the result of a "miscommunication" rather than abuse, and has apologized to the New York Times and the Washington Post....

What About Broadband Access?

Posted on August 26, 2008
Daniel F. Spulber, Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management, and Christopher S. Yoo, University of Pennsylvania Law School and Annennberg School for Communication, have published "Rethinking Broadband Internet Access," in volume 22 of the Harvard Journal of Law and Technology...

The Legality of "Rolling Contracts"

Posted on August 26, 2008
Florencia Marotta-Wurgler, New York University School of Law, has published "Are 'Pay Now, Terms Later' Contracts Worse for Buyers? Evidence from Software License Agreements," in volume 38 of the Journal of Legal Studies (2009). Here is the abstract. The rise...

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Legislating Broadband in West Virginia

Posted on August 26, 2008
Dan Casto, West Virginia University College of Law, has published "West Virginia's Broadband Woes: The State's Failed Efforts to Enter the Twenty-First Century." Here is the abstract. West Virginia needs to improve its broadband infrastructure if it is to move...

The Purposes of IP Law

Posted on August 26, 2008
Roberta Rosenthall Kwall, DePaul University School of Law, Tulane University School of Law, has published "The Soul of Creativity: Should Intellectual Property Law Protect the Integrity of a Creator's Work - International Norms," part of her book, The Soul of...

New York Appellate Court Upholds Limiting of Subpoena Under Shield Law

Posted on August 26, 2008
A New York appellate court has upheld the limiting of a subpoena issued to a non-party author requiring her to answer questions concerning information already published in a book in which she discussed the petitioner, a defendant in a criminal...

Computer Sold On eBay Contained Personal Files

Posted on August 26, 2008
The Royal Bank of Scotland and one of its subsidiaries have launched an investigation into how a computer CPU that contained private customer information could have been sold on eBay to a third party. An IT manager who purchased the...

Copyright Theory in a Digital World

Posted on August 25, 2008
Michael Nwogugu has published "Pricing Digital Content: The Marginal-Cost and Open-Access Controversies." Here is the abstract. The Marginal Cost and Open-Access controversies have had substantial effects on the debate about the pricing of digital content...

The Law and Anime

Posted on August 25, 2008
Joshua M. Daniels has published "`Lost in Translation': Anime, Moral Rights, and Market Failure," volume 88 of the Boston University Law Review (2008). Here is the abstract. This Note examines the process by which Japanese anime series are translated, dubbed,...

French Networks Can't Program Shows For Under Threes

Posted on August 24, 2008
France's High Audiovisual Council has nixed tv shows intended for viewing by children under three, citing concerns that such programming might harm the tykes' intellectual development, slow their language acquisition, and make them over-excited (or passive)...

No More Access To iTunes For PRC Users; Tibet Album May Be To Blame

Posted on August 22, 2008
Chinese listeners can't get access to iTunes, and although it's not clear why, the speculation is that it's because a new album, Songs For Tibet, is now available via the service. Read more here.

Former TV Anchor Appears In Court Today

Posted on August 22, 2008
Larry Mendte, who lost his job as a television anchor after he admitted hacking into a co-worker's emails, will appear in a Philadelphia courtroom today to plead guilty. He could get five years in prison but probably will receive a...

John Dean on "Obama Nation"

Posted on August 22, 2008
John Dean indicts both John Corsi and U.S. defamation law in this post about Mr. Corsi's book about Presidential candidate Barack Obama, Obama Nation. Says Mr. Dean in part, "[N]otwithstanding Jerome Corsi's stack of conspicuous false statements about Barack Obama,...

The Right of Publicity and Free Speech

Posted on August 22, 2008
Mark A. Conrad, Fordham University School of Business, has published "The Right of Publicity in the Digital Age: Doctrinal Tensions, Common Law Theories and Proposals for Solutions, in volume 24 of The Computer Law and Security Report (2008). Here is...

Media Ownership Regulation and the First Amendment

Posted on August 22, 2008
Adam Candeub, Michigan State University Law School, has published "Media Ownership Regulation, the First Amendment, and Democracy's Future," 41 U. Cal. Davis 1547 (2008). I just received my copy of the reprint and look forward to reading it.

Job Opportunity At the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies

Posted on August 22, 2008
Research Fellow and Co-ordinator of the Programme in Comparative Media Law and Policy �27,466 - �33,780 The Centre for Socio-Legal Studies wishes to appoint a Research Fellow who will conduct research into issues of media law and policy, and lead...

Barbie v. Bratz, Round Two

Posted on August 21, 2008
So now the fight in Barbie's Dream House is over exactly how much MGA's Bratz dolls have cost Mattel in sales. Mattel's lawyers say as much as two billion, MGA's attorneys say thirty million. Mattel's John Quinn argued substantial similarity,...

Media Coverage of the Constitutional Crisis in Pakistan, 2005-2007

Posted on August 21, 2008
Shoaib A. Ghias, University of California, Berkeley, School of Law, has published "Miscarriage of Chief Justice: Lawyers, Media, and the Struggle for Judicial Power in Pakistan, 2005-07." Here is the abstract. Pakistan is going through a historic constitutional moment and...

The Pandora Problem

Posted on August 20, 2008
What seems like an impasse over internet royalty fees might close down an increasingly popular web service, Pandora, which allows listeners to order up streaming music that suits their tastes. Like show tunes? You can configure your own "radio station"...

Press Complaints Commission Upholds Complaint Against Sun Newspaper Regarding Secret Footage on Website

Posted on August 20, 2008
The Press Complaints Commission has criticized the Sun newspaper for posting footage of a supermarket employee on its website; the employee is on the Sex Offenders Registry and the Sun had secretly filmed him at his workplace. The PCC ruled...

In Review...Exhibit A: A Person, Exhibit B, A Computer...

Posted on August 20, 2008
U. S. District Judge George O'Toole is allowing three MIT students, who want to discuss the vulnerabilities in the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority's subway card system, to do so, and he has allowed the TRO imposed 10 days ago to...

Julie Hilden on the Plea Entered in the Fletcher Obscenity case

Posted on August 19, 2008
FindLaw's Julie Hilden discusses the plea entered in the Fletcher case here.

Judge Denies WB Motion to Dismiss in Watchmen Rights Squabble

Posted on August 19, 2008
Fox's infringement suit against Warner Brothers over the rights to the film The Watchmen will continue, since a judge has refused to grant WB's motion to dismiss. Rather than share in the profits, Fox is taking the position that it...

Bunny Parmigiana

Posted on August 19, 2008
The Olive Garden is running from Kendra Wilkinson's endorsement of its food, even though the Playboy model says her sentiments are genuine. The family friendly restaurant chain's image doesn't quite mesh with what the self-appointed spokesbunny represents...

New Poll Suggests BBC Programming Has Lost Some of Its Luster; Argument For Continued License Fee Will Be More Difficult

Posted on August 19, 2008
A new poll carried out for the MediaGuardian suggests that many people do not support the present BBC licensing fee, finding it not "good value" for the money. While 41% agree that it is an "appropriate" way to pay for...

ITV Faces Another Fine For Deceptive Practices Over BritCom Awards Show

Posted on August 19, 2008
Ofcom will probably fine ITV over yet another deception, the Guardian has learned. This time, the watchdog agency has been told by its investigator, the law firm Olswang, that the network allowed viewers to continue voting for candidates for the...

Producer Sues "High School Musical" Star

Posted on August 18, 2008
Music producer Johnny Vieira is suing "High School Musical" star Vanessa Hudgens for fraud and breach of contract, claiming she has not paid him the percentage of earnings due him under a contract agreed to in 2005. He says he...

Legal Flap Over Political Film

Posted on August 18, 2008
Bradley Blakeman has filed a lawsuit over the new political comedy "Swing Vote", starring Kevin Costner, which he thinks is based on a screenplay which he showed to actor Kelsey Grammer back in 2006. He sees similarities between the movie,...

UN Committee Expresses Concern Over State of British Libel Law

Posted on August 18, 2008
The Guardian reports that a United Nations committee has released a report expressing concerns about the state of libel law in the UK, saying that they promote "libel tourism." The committee pointed specifically to the case of Rachel Ehrenfeld, who...

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