News & Media
Gimme back my copyright, beyotch!
A recent addition to what could be the next tsunami of copyright suits, Jim Peterik of 1982 Survivor fame is contemplating getting the rights back for the gloriously awesome song “Eye of the Tiger”. Source. Termination rights are covered in Title 17. Long story short, if you licensed or assigned your copyright to someone after Jan. 1, 1978, you (or your heirs) can terminate that license or assignment after 35 years (provided you gave proper notice). Do not pass go, do not collect $200. The basis for termination has been around for awhile, but no one really cared about it because…well….there seemed to be a tendency to go all Scarlet O’Hara and say “Well, I won’t think about it now.
Welcome a New Satyriconista
We got together in the lab and decided to cook up a new Satyriconista. A few grave-robbed parts here, a brain from a mental patient, stole a little swagger from Chuck Norris, applied a little radiation and 1.21 Gigawatts of power, and BAM! Please welcome Beth Hutchens. Beth Hutchens is a Phoenix-based Intellectual Property attorney with a penchant for good Scrabble® words. She is licensed to practice in Arizona and before the United States Patent and Trademark Office and would have touted her g33k status, but Fisher had seniority. She eats, sleeps, and breathes all things IP with a special place in her heart for antitrust suits. Beth frequently consults her Magic 8 Ball for guidance. Don’t be an asshat.
The Company We Keep
Bahrain is one of our “allies.” (source) How they dealt with pro-democracy protesters was no better than how China dealt with theirs in Tiananmen Square. Now, they are prosecuting doctors for treating injured protesters – including sentencing one woman to 15 years. (source) Bahrain, ruled by the Sunni Muslim Al-Khalifa family, is pretty damn insecure, as it well should be. Despite its oil wealth, it has a hell of a deep divide between the haves and the have-nots. Naturally, it whores itself out to the U.S. Fifth Fleet, which seems to be a good move for the filthy Al-Khalifa trash, because the U.S. aid and arms sale deals keep on flowing.
Invasion of the Body Searchers
The New Zealand Herald discusses the TSA’s aggressive search of Amy Alkon at Los Angeles International Airport (“LAX”). Alkon publicly described her searcher’s extreme examination of her body, including pushing her hand into Alkon’s genitals, as “rape.” The TSA agent sent Alkon a threatening letter through counsel, warning of a defamation suit and offering to settle the dispute for $500,000. Alkon retained Marc Randazza to respond to the threat. In his response letter, Randazza wrote: “Your client aggressively pushed her fingers into my client’s vulva,” […] “I am certain that she did not expect to find a bomb there. She did this to humiliate my client, to punish her for exercising her rights … It was absolutely a sexual assault, perpetrated
Too Sexy for Crisp Skin?
By Tatiana von Tauber People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) thinks this chicken is just too sexy for anyone to see, “downright offensive” in fact. “When I saw it I just couldn’t believe that an editor of The New York Times would find it acceptable,” PETA’s founder and president Ingrid Newkirk told The Atlantic Wire. “It’s downright offensive, not just to people who care about animals but almost to everyone. It’s a plucked, beheaded, young chicken in a young pose,” she said. (source) Newkirk went on to call it “necrophilia.” I think PETA needs a sense of humor. This is brilliant from every angle!
Toilet Law School Files Feces Defamation Suit
By Marc J. Randazza I’m not much of a prestige whore, but I’m not blind to the reality that Thomas M. Cooley Law School is a standalone punchline within the legal profession. I’m familiar with its absurdly large class sizes, its questionable practice of culling the bottom few percent of its students each year to ensure high enough bar passage rates to maintain its tenuous grasp on ABA accreditation, and its bizarre self-ranking system that places an inordinate emphasis on library seating capacity. After all, “[t]o study, a student needs a place to sit”! (source at xiv.) Also, if the NFL based its draft selections on US News-style rankings – if they applied to football programs – only 30% of
5th Circuit Rules in Favor of Student Speech Rights
The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that students who handed out christian-centric materials to other students had a First Amendment right to do so. School principals who prohibited this student-to-student speech violated the students’ First Amendment rights, the Court held. “We hold that the First Amendment protects all students from viewpoint discrimination against private, non-disruptive, student-to-student speech,” Judge Jennifer Walker Elrod wrote in a part of her opinion, joined by nine of the 16 participating judges. “Therefore, the principals’ alleged conduct—discriminating against student speech solely on the basis of religious viewpoint—is unconstitutional under the First Amendment.” (source) I guess I have to say “yay Jesus!”
Texas Abortion Runs Afoul of the First Amendment
A Texas law designed to deter abortion will remain enjoined. U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks, of Austin, blocked enforcement of significant portions of the sonogram law on Aug. 30, until the case is resolved. Sparks found the law violates the First Amendment, ruling that requiring doctors to show a woman seeking an abortion the sonogram images, describe those images to her or play the sound of the fetal heart, even against her wishes, is unconstitutional. (source)
Sarah Palin Threatens a SLAPP Suit. Stupid? You Betcha!
By Marc Randazza Sarah Palin always seems to be talking about families. Despite bashing that door open, she takes such umbrage when anyone mentions her own. So, When writer Joe McGinniss starts digging for facts and sources to complete his book “The Rogue: Searching for the Real Sarah Palin,” what does Sarah do? She lawyers up and threatens to sue… you betcha! If this strikes you as unseemly – a former governor and vice presidential candidate who clings to whatever relevance she has left by making noise about seeking the presidency and touting her unfortunately named family, threatening to sue for investigative journalism about her background – then congratulations: You’re not a mendacious piece of shit. The United States Constitution
Righthaven on the small screen
By J. DeVoy I recently caught up with a college friend who does not work in law, who asked me about Righthaven since he had read several articles linked on this blog and on my facebook account. I explained the status of the approximately 18-month litigation campaign. After a few moments of confused silence, he told me it would be much easier to understand as a documentary or made-for-television movie. So what format would make the Righthaven story comprehensible? Documentary Pros: Designed to present information, and people engage one with a longer attention span. Documentaries have been used to tackle complicated factual and legal issues, such the Enron scandal and more recent economic collapse. If a former (or “recovering”) lawyer
Brazil denies reality, considers banning racy lingerie ad
By J. DeVoy It has not been a good week at Tom Brady’s house. First the Patriots lost to the Buffalo Bills, perennial failures and four-time consecutive Super Bowl losers, and now Brady’s better half, Gisele Bundchen, might have her ad for an intimate apparel company banned in Brazil. Sure, she probably got paid already, but it doesn’t auger well for repeat business. Naturally, feminists are to blame. Brazil’s Ministry for Women called Wednesday for the suspension of a television ad featuring lingerie-clad supermodel Gisele Bundchen, saying it reinforces the stereotype of women as sex objects. (source.) On one hand, the Latin world is very machismo and I can see why this would be a concern in some areas. To the extent
Give it a rest already – Myths and Facts about mass copyright litigation
by Vaughn Greenwalt The latest criticism of mass-copyright litigation follows the same mantra of previously-pissed patrons: “I know I stole your porn but I’ll be embarrassed if anyone finds out so you can’t sue me!” Cut the crap already, “shame” is not a legal defense. Lets play fact or fiction with the latest misleading article which was, oddly enough, endorsed by the EFF: 1. FACT: “The lawsuits name ‘Doe’ defendants until they can unearth the true identities of those accused of downloading porn through their Internet providers.” Naming Doe defendants is the only way to bring suit against thieves who steal Copyright protected works over the Internet. The identities of those thieves is only ascertainable once the personally identifiable information
Righthaven loses in Colorado
By J. DeVoy Yesterday, the District of Colorado dismissed Righthaven LLC’s copyright infringement lawsuit against Leland Wolf and the It Makes Sense Blog in Righthaven LLC v. Wolf et al., Case Number 1:11-cv-00830. The Wolf case was the only active matter in Righthaven’s 57 cases filed in the District of Colorado, as the more than 35 cases that were ongoing when Wolf moved to dismiss Righthaven’s lawsuit were stayed pending the outcome in Wolf. (The approximately 25 other suits presumably settled.) Leland Wolf and the It Makes Sense Blog were represented by Randazza Legal Group and Contiguglia / Fazzone P.C. The Court’s Order, authored by Judge Kane, is available here. Judge Kane summarizes his Opinion and Order in this opening paragraph:
The best parodies / derivative uses always involve muppets
By J. DeVoy This is the trailer for The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. It was a popular book, so naturally I neither read nor cared about it. Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails fame scored the movie, which includes a cover of Led Zepplin’s Immigrant Song, performed with Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVLvMg62RPA&w=560&h=315] Never to be outdone, Disney promoted its Thanksgiving offering, The Muppets, with an advertisement spoofing The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo’s, titling it “The Pig With The Froggy Tattoo.” [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHqLcEtt368&w=560&h=315] Perhaps internet memes and user-generated content have come full circle to influence the muppets’ formal marketing. Still, it’s not quite as good as this classic: [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgZ2GJOeQKA&w=420&h=315]
Two chicks making out…
…is apparently not allowed on Southwest Airlines. (Source) It is allowed, and encouraged, on The Legal Satyricon. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6bpOd0Qn_0]
S.C. Public School Invites Christian Rapper to Perform
I understand why people want the government and the public schools to back up their religion. Here you have a bastardization of a 2000 years old cult. It is based upon lies, fairy tales, and superstition. How else are you going to perpetuate this set of beliefs without brainwashing impressionable young kids with it, or getting the government to stamp its seal of approval on it? If christianity is such a good idea, it ought to sell itself without this blatantly unconstitutional foolishness. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVaMjeTaNDM] H/T Death and Taxes
University Pig Decides She Will Not Tolerate a Challenge to her Authoritah
A professor at University of Wiconsin – Stout, put up a poster from the sci fi series, Firefly. The poster had some macho shit on it about where and when the character would kill one of his enemies. Some worthless fuckhead in the school’s administration (Lisa Walter, the chief of police) lost her shit, and hadthe cops come tear down the poster. Miller was contacted by Lisa Walter, the chief of police/director of parking services, and informed that “it is unacceptable to have postings such as this that refer to killing.” She also warned the astounded professor that any future such posts would be removed and would cause him to be charged with disorderly conduct. (source) So the professor put
Student Suspended for Saying Homosexuality is Wrong
A Texas teenager expressed his opinion that, since he is a “christian,” he believes that homosexuality is wrong. Makes sense. This magic space zombie jew created heaven and earth, but the thing that really makes him mad is if two guys’ dicks touch. His teacher wrote him up for expressing his opinion, and the school suspended him. I’m all for giving the kid a smackdown, but like his speech or not, it was his First Amendment right to express his opinion. As long as he wasn’t being disruptive in class (and nothing in the story indicates that he was), then it seems pretty clear that the school stepped over the line. There is a report that the kid often brings
The Saudis broke my irony meter
The Canadians have a TV ad that touts Canada’s “ethical oil.” This is in contrast to Middle Eastern oil, which comes from dirty piece of shit regimes run by lowlives who hang out with the Bush family. The Saudis are apparently threatening legal action, because they don’t want the Canadians reminding people of what Saudi Arabia really stands for. (source) In other news, my irony meter just exploded.
That's why we can't have nice things….
The City of Escondido, California, had to pay $20,000 to settle a First Amendment claim. The Center for Social Advocacy (CSA) used to have a contract with the city worth about $26,000 a year to provide fair housing services to Escondido. The organization published an opinion piece in its newsletter criticizing the city, so the city cancelled the contract. The op-ed piece, written by Bill Flores, the then director of administration for El Grupo, a consortium of Latino rights groups, begins: “The City of Escondido has earned the dubious reputation of being one of the most bigoted and racist cities in the United States.” (source) David Blair-Loy, legal director of the ACLU’s San Diego chapter, reported that city officials admitted
