News & Media
Belly Laugh for the Day
Rick Santorum got a little more than the coffee he was expecting from his mobile phone app. n00b reveal update: Turns out this is satire (see comment below from Aaron W below). Still funny as hell, though.
Lying is Constitutionally Protected (Sort of).
I just hate to see First Amendment cases lost in the shuffle. And since the opinion for his case was released only hours before the Healthcare Decision, poor Xavier Alvarez is in a room full of crickets. But it’s an important case that should not be ignored. Alvarez, or more commonly known as the Stolen Valor case (U.S. v. Alvarez, 567 U.S.____, (2012)), answers the question of whether it is acceptable to lie about receiving military decorations- in this case the Medal of Honor. The Stolen Valor Act (18 U.S.C. §§704) was passed in 2005 and makes it a criminal offense to lie about being the recipient of military decorations. It provides an enhanced penalty for making false claims about
Theocracy in a Florida Jail
Of course this happened in Flori-duh. A woman, identified only as “R.W.” went to a rape crisis center in Tampa. She got a pair of morning-after pills, you know, so she wouldn’t have to suffer through a rape AND 9 months of carrying the rapist’s child. She then went to the police station to report the rape. Thereafter, a TPD officer accompanied Plaintiff back to the scene ofthe crime to investigate. (Dkt. 16, at 31). At some point, however, the officer discovered that Plaintiff was the subject of an arrestwarrant for failure to appearand failure to pay restitution. After making this discovery, the officer arrested Plaintiff and took her to the Hillsborough County Jail on OrientRoad in Tampa, Florida (hereinafter
Miami Heat Owner Now Threatening To Separately Sue The Lawyer Defending Blogger Who Linked To Unflattering Image
TechDirt writer Mike Masnick writes about the lawyers for Miami Heat owner Raanan Katz threatening to sue attorney Marc Randazza in order to obtain attorney-client communications. The post states: Randazza has responded, in court as part of the ongoing lawsuit, asking for a protective order against this “threatened litigation,” which Randazza suggests is really intended to get access to communications between him and his client, breaking lawyer-client confidentiality. Read More…
TSA Agent Dumps Grandpa's Ashes – Laughs
Amy Alkon, ever vigilant in the struggle against the TSA, brings us this horrifying story about a TSAsshole who decided to open a container of human remains, stir them with her finger, and then who dropped them all over the floor and laughed about it. She writes: Another commenter wrote: “Unfortunately, because there are people who want to commit terrorism, we have to put up with the TSA.” This sounds like thinking but it’s actually nonthink. The TSA has not caught a single terrorist in its $60 billion plus history. It hires unskilled workers who would otherwise be vying hard for a job in the fast food industry to violate other Americans’ constitutional rights for pay — while ignoring the
Bolshy great yarblockos to thee and thine!
I am representing a SLAPP defendant. The case has gone viral, since the plaintiff is a part-owner of the Miami Heat. The short version is that the Defendant writes about a rich guy. Rich guy sues, and not too many people pick up the story. Rich guy tries to get an injunction against speech. We opposed the case vigorously, including this opposition to the motion for a preliminary injunction. Plaintiff’s side then filed a copyright infringement suit against my client and Google. (Google!) Rich guy happens to be part owner of the Miami Heat. On the day the Heat celebrated their World Championship, the whole world points at Plaintiff and starts laughing. The Honorable Carlos Miller The Miami New Times
How Dare You Make Ranaan Katz Look Foolish! That's Ranaan Katz's Job!
PopeHat posts about a photo that is the subject of litigation between Miami heat owner Ranaan Katz and Google and blogger. Marc Randazza represents the blogger. Randazza says: Sit back and get your popcorn and watch how this one works out. I want to thank Mr. Katz for bringing in an 800 lb gorilla to help me in his unsupportable SLAPP suit. Read more…
Miami Heat Owner Suing Blogger and Google Over "Unflattering" Photo
Pixiq reports on Miami Heat owner Ranaan Katz suing Google and a blogger in Miami over a photo of him that was published online. Attorney Marc Randazza represents the blogger. In the article, Randazza says of the case: They actually asked the court to order her blog completely shut down. Failing at that, Katz hired a second law firm to file this silly copyright complaint as a collateral attack on her First Amendment rights. Read More…
Miami Heat Owner Sues Blogger & Google Over 'Unflattering' Photo
TechDirt writer Mike Masnick writes about Miami Heat Owner suing a blogger and Google for publishing a photo of him. Attorney Marc Randazza represents the blogger. Randazza says in the post: We have yet to speak to Google’s lawyers about this case, but we expect that they will be receptive to standing up for the First Amendment along with us. Read More…
Righthaven receiver moves to fire CEO Steven Gibson
Vegas Inc. reports on Righthaven receiver Lara Pearson’s move to terminate Righthaven CEO Steven Gibson. Attorney Marc Randazza represented some of the defendants in the Righthaven litigation. He stated in the article: “It is good to see Ms. Pearson doing that. This is why the court appointed her to run Righthaven’s affairs.” Read More…
Liberty Media Says File-Hosting Company Infringes Adult Films
Bloomberg reports on the latest copyright filings, including a suit filed by Liberty Media Holdings, which is represented by attorney Marc J. Randazza. The adult film company recently filed a complaint against Oron.com. The complaint states: The storage company “is cognizant of its role as the vehicle in which infringers act in concert with one another to copy and distribute huge amounts of infringing material.” Read More…
Quote for the day
“Would there be any freedom of press or speech if one must reduce his vocabulary to vapid innocuous euphemisms?” -Judge Clayton Horn in ruling that Allen Ginsburg’s poem, Howl, was not legally obscene.
Oron's Assets Ordered Frozen in U.S., Hong Kong
XBiz reports that Oron.com’s assets were frozen in Hong Kong after Corbin Fisher asked for a temporary restraining order against it, alleging copyright infringement. Attorney Marc Randazza serves as general counsel for Corbin Fisher. The article states: Corbin Fisher on Wednesday filed a $34.8 million copyright infringement against Oron and its operators, claiming they had knowledge and induced the trading of pirated porn on its site. Read More…
Corbin Fisher Hits Oron With $34.8M Infringement Suit
XBiz reports that Corbin Fisher, for whom attorney Marc Randazza serves as general counsel, filed an infringement lawsuit against Oron.com. The complaint states: If the Copyright Act is to mean anything, it should mean that such schemes do not provide a source of profit for the cyber criminals who engage in them. Read More…
Corbin Fisher Sues Oron.com Cloud Storage Service
AVN reports on Corbin Fisher’s lawsuit against Oron.com. Attorney Marc Randazza serves as general counsel for Corbin Fisher. The complaint filed by Corbin Fisher states: Oron.com’s business model fosters and promotes the infringing of Plaintiff’s exclusive rights through copying, storing, distributing, displaying, and profiting from the unauthorized use of Plaintiff’s copyright protected works. Oron also fosters and induces others to act in concert in order to infringe upon Plaintiff’s copyrighted works. Read More….
Piping hot Oatmeal: Update on Charles Carreon’s lawsuit
Robot 6 weighs in on The Oatmeal v. FunnyJunk dispute, quoting what various bloggers have said on the issue. In the post, attorney Marc Randazza says of attorney Charles Carreon: I’ve always known him to be a reasonable, intelligent, and speech-protective type of guy. So, I really can’t tell what is going on in his mind. Read More…
Metabolic Research v. Ferrell – Nevada Needs a Revised Anti-SLAPP Statute, but the 9th Circuit Gives us some Daylight
As a lawyer licensed in five states (MA, FL, CA, AZ, and NV) and who practices free speech law nationwide, I am in a position to comment on the relative merits of various states’ views on First Amendment principles. Among the many states where I have worked on cases, Flori-duh is the worst. Hands down. It has no anti-SLAPP law to speak of. Its state legislation intended to deter frivolous litigation, Fla. Stat. 57.105, looks great on the books but is a “paper tiger.” While the statute was amended in 2002 to give it some real teeth, the state judiciary generally does not apply it. As a result, Flori-duh is a hotbed of frivolous SLAPP litigation. Why not? No downside
Charles Carreon Has a Point Here
It seems that Carreon is now on a campaign to unmask the person who created a fake twitter account using his name. See Ars Technica. The person set up a twitter account with the handle “@Charles_Carreon” and then began tweeting “abrasively.” Now it seems that he is on a campaign to unmask that person, and presumably add them in to his lawsuit. The lawsuit itself is still rotten to the core. His theory that the person was “incited by Inman” is absurd. But, if you’re going to satirize someone, you don’t have the right to do it while impersonating them or infringing on their trademark. Carreon’s name functions as a trademark, and he even has it registered. It isn’t trademark
Bleg: Undergroundzero Festival Needs Your Support
The undergroundzero cooperative and festival needs your support! The undergroundzero cooperative (www.undergroundzeronyc.org) is a group of independent artists that produce and present an annual festival of contemporary theater, dance and performance in repertory. Created originally as an annual guest artist festival, it has now evolved into a resident coalition of established independent theater companies producing in New York City. They recruit artists to join the festival on an invitation only basis. The festival does not curate or select individual productions – the decision on what to make is the artist’s alone. In addition to the work of the resident artists, the festival presents the work of several local and international companies each year to encourage an ongoing exchange with the
