News & Media
Gallagher v. Gallagher
In a derivative soft-rock battle of epic proportions, Liam Gallagher has sued his brother, Noel Gallagher – both of the band Oasis – for libel. (Source.) Liam’s basis for suing Noel relates to statements Noel made to the press in 2009, when Oasis was forced to cancel its appearance at the V Festival. Noel told journalists that the performance was cancelled. The official story, which Liam insists is true today, is that he was hungover. Offhand, I am unsure if the U.K. recognizes the standard for defamation of a public figure (actual malice – knowing the falsity of a statement – or reckless disregard for the truth). More to the point, though, anyone who vaguely paid attention to music in
Do you know who Ruth Orkin is?
By Tatiana von Tauber Recognize this photo? Ruth Orkin photographed it in the early 50’s after meeting another young woman, Ninalee Craig (the model) in Italy while traveling solo. Together they attempted to capture the experience of traveling alone in Italy. Some have claimed this photo is a symbol of harassment. While Craig claims it’s a symbol of having a “wonderful time” (source), I think it’s more a symbol of the kind of power feminine beauty has in Italy – and not much has changed in 60 years. In Germany guys don’t make gestures, in America construction worker comments have killed the romantic potential but in Italy and in France, there still exists a “romance-worship” to the female. With that comes a level of sexualization, sure,
Righthaven Defendant Wins Second Attorney's Fee Award
Vegas Inc., August 15, 2011 Discussing District of Nevada order directing Righthaven to pay defendant Wayne Hoehn’s attorney’s fees of $34,045 in Righthaven LLC v. Hoehn. Hoehn’s award was the second any defendant obtained against Righthaven, the first being $3,815 obtained by Michael Leon. Read more…
Has Chief Justice John Roberts been reading this blog?
By J. DeVoy “Pick up a copy of any law review that you see, and the first article is likely to be, you know, the influence of Immanuel Kant on evidentiary approaches in 18th Century Bulgaria, or something, which I’m sure was of great interest to the academic that wrote it, but isn’t of much help to the bar.” –Chief Justice John Roberts “Most [law professors] are incapable of working as my copy boy / copy girl, let alone as real attorneys. What would they do if all of a sudden, the fourth tier was shut down (as it should be) and then the competition for all lawprof jobs got a lot more stiff? You can bet your ass that
Righthaven — with BABIES!
By J. DeVoy No cute pictures of infants here — just a bizarre story from San Diego Attorney Theresa Erickson pled guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud for her role in what federal prosecutors described as a “baby-selling ring.” (source.) Technologically, the scheme was pretty simple: Women would travel to the Ukraine to get pregnant with the eggs and sperm of donors. This was done overseas because, at least in California, nobody would perform such an IVF using both donated eggs and sperm without a pre-existing surrogacy contract. [I learned just enough family law to pass the bar. Bear with me. – Ed.] The conspirators apparently misrepresented to the San Diego Superior Court that such surrogacy contracts existed, though –
Cooley, New York Law School hit with lawsuits from former students
By J. DeVoy Two lawsuits were filed today in New York and Michigan against New York Law School (not to be confused with New York University School of Law) and Thomas M. Cooley Law School, respectively. The plaintiffs, former students of the two schools – which have been in at least the bottom half of U.S. News & World Report’s rankings for as long as I can recall – claim that the schools “knowingly inflated employment and salary statistics to recruit and retain students.” (source.) Moreover, the article is unclear which of Cooley’s four campuses were sued, but presumably all of them were, including its nascent Tampa outpost. At the heart of the lawsuit is a question of classification. The plaintiffs
Are You Guilty If Pirates Use Your Internet? Lawyer Says YES
Torrent Freak, August 6, 2011 Marc Randazza discusses the legal bases for a negligence tort arising from pirates using a third party’s unsecured wireless internet network. As in other situations where a careless owner may be liable for third parties’ harmful acts, wireless internet connections may be a source of liability for owners if they are not secured. Read more…
A Message About Texas Governor's "Religious Revival"
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=6rsVcdLltPQ]
Negligence and Open Wifi in Torrent Cases Debate
In the wake of this recent legal development, Torrent Freak has published an open debate over the issue of negligence claims in copyright infringement cases involving open wifi networks. I provided the pro side of the debate here. Nick Ranallo provides the con side of the debate here.
Fair Use is Awesome
A number of weeks ago, the RLG scored a major fair use victory in Righthaven v. Hoehn. In that case, we argued that even using an entire editorial could be fair use as long as the fair user made a transformative use of the original. The Court agreed. The issue of whether an entire work can be taken as fair use raised some controversy. The almost-always-awesome Ken Paulson doesn’t seem to get it, reading too much into the opinion’s dissection of the editorial in that case. But, it really is rather simple. The bargain we make with copyright owners is this: Creators of content get a monopoly over the commercial exploitation of their works. In exchange, we all get to
Lake County, FL instituting inartfully drafted student dress code
By J. DeVoy In a wise response to budget cuts and other crises facing Florida’s public schools, Lake County’s School Board has set the stage to impose a dress code that bans “unnatural” hair colors, “extreme” hair cuts, and the use of makeup that is “disruptive or does not allow direct eye contact.” I don’t see how makeup precludes eye contact, either, though it maybe disruptive – it would make more sense if that provision applied to hair; maybe Lake County was banning the devilock a few decades too late. The proposed code also sets rules for dress hemlines, skorts, skirts and shorts, none of which can be more than 2 inches above the knee. Since students and/or parents are
Lets Hear it for Officer Matthew J. Lyons, Oceanside, CA Police Dep't
You know that whole “serve and protect” thing? That “uphold and defend the Constitution” thing? It seems that most police officers forget all about it. Not Matthew Lyons of the Oceanside PD. Professional. Courteous. Respectful. And right on all counts. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMMPV4D6cs0] H/T: Techdirt
Good Question….
The Carroll County Times asks: Carter raised the debt to a paltry $1 trillion in 1980. Reagan raised it to $3 trillion. George H. Bush raised it to $4 trillion. Clinton raised it to $5.5. trillion. George W. Bush doubled it to $10 trillion, and Obama has raised it to $14 trillion. Where was the outrage when Bush doubled the national debt during his administration, and whose policies have driven the country toward bankruptcy? (source) UPDATE: A commenter noted this: The number of Republican Senators who voted to raise the debt ceiling each time it came up for a vote since 1997: 1997: 55 2002: 31 2003: 50 2004: 50 2006: 51 2007: 26 2008: 34 2008: 33 Barack H.
It is a shame that we are not Norwegian
Despite the horrible tragedy in Norway, it seems that Norwegian politicians are not rushing out to pass new laws to restrict liberties in that country. In fact, instead of dick-waving and “oh goody, now we get to pass a Nordic Patriot Act,” this is what the Norwegian King had to say: “I remain convinced that the belief in freedom is stronger than fear. I remain convinced in the belief of an open Norwegian democracy and society. I remain convinced in the belief in our ability to live freely and safely in our own country.” (source) Pretty sad when a monarchy understands liberty better than our so-called republic.
Scott Randolph, Flori-duh Rep., needs a First Amendment refresher
State Rep. Scott Randolph (D-Orlando) wants to pass a bill that makes it a felony for jurors to try and sell their story within 9 months of a trial. (source) Apparently, Mr. Randolph, in his rush to score cheap points in a bill tagged with the Casey Anthony wand, forgot about Simon & Schuster v. Crime Victims Board, 502 U.S. 105 (1991). In that case, the Supreme Court held New York’s “son of sam” law unconstitutional. That law that made it illegal for a criminal to profit from selling his story. So, Mr. Randolph, how the hell are you going to justify making the same thing illegal for a juror, who has done nothing wrong AND who has given up
Wall Street Journal's Hypocrisy on News Gathering
Trevor Timm at “Legal As She Is Spoke” provides a thoughtful essay comparing the Wall Street Journal’s stance on the phone hacking scandal and its stance on Wikileaks. (source)
As if you needed more evidence that Herman Cain doesn't belong in office
Naturally, his candidacy is no more serious than Sarah Palin’s nomination for a Rhodes Scholarship, but this guy is a constitutional train wreck. He claims that any community has a right to ban a mosque in their community. Fuck the First Amendment, Boo Boo! [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZqyIM1jAMU] No, Herman, No. No you can’t. While I personally would like to see mosques, synagogues, and churches all banned from every community as a blight causing adverse secondary effects, I accept that the First Amendment stands in the way of that. Herman isn’t bright enough to know that.
Newark, NJ learns a little something about the First Amendment
The City of Newark, NJ, will be shelling out more than $50,000 for violating a journalist’s First Amendment rights: Roberto Lima, editor of Newark’s Brazilian Voice newspaper, was awarded $55,000 plus legal fees in response to a civil suit he filed for wrongful arrest in 2008. Lima claimed Samuel DeMaio asked Gerald Carlos, a photographer for the newspaper, if he had a “green card” after Carlos discovered a body in the East Ward in 2007. Lima also claimed DeMaio ordered officers at the scene to seize Carlos’ camera and later handcuff him at a police precinct to stop him from publishing photos of the body in the newspaper. (source) The offense is compounded by the fact that DeMaio is the
TER founder receives default judgment of $20,000
By J. DeVoy The intersection of adult entertainment and the measure of statutory damages under the Copyright Act – one of colleague Ron Coleman‘s favorite subjects – all in one article from XBIZ? How conveeenient. Ron is counsel of record with Marc and I in Righthaven LLC v. Hyatt, where, on behalf of amicus Media Bloggers Association, we made some arguments about the role of the Copyright Act’s statutory damages provisions in default judgment awards. This case, involving claims for intentional infliction of emotional distress and defamation against David Elms, founder of TheEroticReview.com (“TER,” as it’s commonly known), is a bit more complex than a simple claim for copyright infringement – though the court apparently declined to hear “most” of
The "attack elites with white solutions" meme
By J. DeVoy Today, Rupert Murdoch was viciously pied, in the face, in Britain. In 2004, George Soros was attacked with glue. Am I the only person who sees this trend? Do white materials just show up better on camera? Non-elites have shoes thrown at them. Though, say what unkind things about GWB you will (and many will be correct), he was pretty agile.
