News & Media
Grady Judd, at it again, in America's Wang
By Marc Randazza Following a three-month-long investigation of Theresa and Warren Taylor – Theresa being better known as “Kimberly Kupps” – the Polk County sheriff arrested them both on charges of promotion and distribution of obscene material. The crime? Creating pornography in their own home, then selling it both on their paysite and the popular distribution site clips4sale.com. (Source.) Sadly, this is par for the course in Polk County. The same Polk County where Philip Greaves, then living in Colorado, was indicted on obscenity charges for writing a book concerning pedophilia. Let’s not forget the 15-year-old who was suspended from using the bus for three days after he passed gas on it. And then there was the antique store owner
Bloggers Mull Legal Action Against Righthaven
“This is a situation that I have to admit I’ve never before confronted in my career, where a party so clearly did not have standing to bring a case, yet it had settled with so many people,” Marc Randazza, a Miami attorney who represented about a dozen litigants who settled, said in a telephone interview.Read More…
Corbin Fisher Awarded Porn BitTorrent Judgment
Dispels the commonly held misconception that bittorrent copyright infringers can expect to pay minimum statutory damages of $750 if caught pirating adult video content.Read more…
Righthaven PWNED — District of Nevada finds Righthaven lacked standing to sue
By Marc J. Randazza Today, in Righthaven v. Democratic Underground, Case No. 2:10-cv-01356 (D. Nev.), the court held that Righthaven does not have standing to sue Democratic Underground – and hundreds of others – based on the Strategic Alliance Agreement (“SAA”) Righthaven entered into with Stephens Media LLC – previously reported here. As we predicted, Righthaven has no right to bring copyright infringement suits on behalf of the Las Vegas Review Journal. It’s “assignment” of rights, executed before the suits were brought, clearly shows that it had none of the rights of a copyright holder. The Court held that the clarification of the agreement – executed after litigation commenced – is ineffective because it attempts to change the facts of the
Protected Expression or Privacy Violation — Discuss…
(Source) Acceptable third alternative: Crazy-ass zombie cannibal worshiper needs something better to do with his time.
"kill a cop cop, kill a cop"
By J. DeVoy [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqILx78oNww&w=560&h=349] I would not believe this if I didn’t hear it myself. Apparently genres have ceased to exist and death metal, long the province of epic tributes to satan and the abyss’ total darkness, now espouses murdering law enforcement officers – normally the subject matter of aggressive rap, Irish tavern songs (Whiskey in the Jar) and Bobby Fuller (“I fought the law and the law won”). To say this is a disappointment from Morbid Angel is letting them off too easily. Notorious historical figures share my outrage. [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8ZpJ4lvEs8&w=425&h=349]
Democrat shaming strategy beginning already
By J. DeVoy In addition to last month’s anemic job growth, other numbers are mounting up against Barack Obama. In particular, the youth who handed him his 2008 victory, are slowly deserting him. With 85% of the class of 2011 moving back into their parents’ basements, it’s easy to understand why. Yes, the president doesn’t control the economy, but he surely hasn’t made it better, or taken actions that would improve the situation – cutting spending, using whatever tools he has to end the Federal Reserve’s quantitative easing program (the most potent of which being to tell people what it is), and not getting into a land war in Libya would be good starting points. Out of political ammunition and
Reps. Lee and Weiner: The case against pay dating sites
By J. DeVoy While normally totally useless, Congress has taught us quite a bit about online dating. Namely, paying for it is a fool’s game. Chris Lee trolled for women and transsexuals on Craigslist. Weiner, now infamously, used twitter and facebook to set up his fwb’s. I have no judgment about what these men did or liked, other than believing Weiner is a dumbass for crafting an elaborate web of lies that later collapsed under its own weight, and deserves to lose his office for that alone. What do all of these services have in common? Craigslist: FREE. Facebook: FREE. Twitter: FREE AND UNPROFITABLE. ALL OF THEM ARE FREE. Why are you paying $12-20/mo for Match.com when dudes obviously are
Wingsuit Flying
By J. DeVoy [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bJmVJZbmIk&w=560&h=349] via Ferdinand Bardamu at his new NSFW project, Ephemeral Notebook, a collection of short rants, cool links and naked ladies.
Google Creates DMCA Time Machine
by Jason A. Fischer Until now, Google has managed to keep its development of a working flux capacitor under wraps, quietly rolling out the ability to send DMCA notices from as early as January 1, 1900. In other news, archeologists today announced the discovery of new cave drawings that include a text ad for Viagra.
Don't listen to other people
By J. DeVoy If I had listened to the advice of other people over the last five or so years, I’d have levered up and bought a house, gone to the local law school, started running marathons and stopped eating meat. In short, my life would have been ruined — actually and definitively ruined, stuck in an underwater house within a dying rust belt hellhole, as opposed to teetering on the brink of insanity and ruin as it is now. Individuals give terrible advice. Facts and hard data, where available, are superior; where they fail, experts suffice. All of the conventional wisdom you have been told your whole life, from buying a house to investing in the stock market to
Well wrap me up in semen and diamonds and lick me
by Tatiana von Tauber Supermodel Naomi Campbell is insulted at being compared to Cadbury’s Dairy Milk Bliss chocolate as in this ad. She’s considering legal action at its racist tone. If Cadbury’s Dairy Milk Bliss were white chocolate and compared to a white supermodel, I wonder if racism would come into the interpretation zone. Sexism might as who doesn’t love to lick chocolate and we could interpret that white chocolate subtly refers to creamy semen giving a whole new meaning to “milk bliss”. Interpretations are something interesting aren’t they?
The PROTECT IP act – a new name for COICA with the same uselessness for adult entertainment
By J. DeVoy I’ve previously written about the futility of federal proposals to further regulate the internet for copyright infringement. Fellow blogger and colleague Ron Coleman – who participated in a really awesome brief with Marc and I – took note of my prior musings about this topic, focused on the failed Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act, or COICA. I’ve been following the PROTECT IP Act since it was first announced, but write about it now because it has made it out of committee in the Senate. There’s not much new that I can add to the zeitgeist of discussion and analysis available from numerous sources, such as the EFF and Citizen Media Law Project. For those interested, the
Osama Bin Laden is Dead — but He Won the War
So says Rogier Van Bakel (and he’s dead right). Look, I trust that Osama Bin Laden’s death was horrible and bloody and painful (albeit not nearly drawn-out enough), and I hope that I will never eat a fish or a crustacean that contains even one molecule of that vile, mass-murdering thug — my stomach might not be able to take it. But the maddening truth is, yes, he won. He turned my America — our America, surely — into a nation of mewling pussies who insist that Big Brother must keep us all safe no matter what the cost to our liberties and to our wallets. I’d call that an unqualified victory. Bin Laden and his nineteen 9/11 henchmen even
Copyright suit over Mike Tyson's facial tattoo
Interesting copyright issue reported in the New York Times: In “The Hangover Part II,” the sequel to the very successful what-happened-last-night comedy, the character played by Ed Helms wakes up with a permanent tattoo bracketing his left eye. The Maori-inspired design is instantly recognizable as the one sported by the boxer Mike Tyson, which is part of the joke. (Mr. Tyson makes an appearance in both films, playing himself.) But S. Victor Whitmill, a tattoo artist formerly of Las Vegas and currently from rural Missouri, doesn’t quite see the humor. Mr. Whitmill designed the tattoo for Mr. Tyson, called it “tribal tattoo,” and claims it as a copyrighted work. (source) The tattoo artist claims that he owns the copyright in
The Magic Underwear State vs. Sexytime
Utah, apparently a hotbed of prostitution, appears to have had some trouble enforcing its anti-solictitation laws. Under Utah law, “solicitation” is defined as follows: 76-10-1313. Sexual solicitation (1) A person is guilty of sexual solicitation when: (a) he offers or agrees to commit any sexual activity with another person for a fee; or (b) he pays or offers or agrees to pay another person to commit any sexual activity for a fee. (source) That wasn’t good enough for the Utah legislature. A new law that went into effect this month broadened the definition to include any person who indicates through lewd acts, such as exposing or touching themselves, that they intend to exchange sex for money. (source) Think about that.
Peter Murphy should have stayed in retirement
I owned every Bauhaus album on vinyl back in the 1980s. I am the target demographic for his new album. However, this interview guarantees that I wouldn’t buy his warmed over dreck. “I’m not ashamed to claim that I’m the last and only star,” says Murphy, now 53, speaking by phone from his adopted home of Istanbul, Turkey. “I totally believe that. That’s how I live my life. People should witness it while I’m still gorgeous enough.” (source) Jesus, what an asshat. If that doesn’t turn you off, the sample from the album ought to make you barf.
D.C. Cir. – No Flashmobs in the Jefferson Memorial
By J. DeVoy Public lands are not necessarily public forums, or so the D.C. Circuit tells us in yesterday’s Oberwetter v. Hilliard, et al. decision. Case No. 10-5078, available here. Oberwetter and 17 friends conducted a silent dance in tribute to President Jefferson shortly before midnight on an April evening back in 2008. (Query whether the participants were University of Virginia alumni – the appellate record is silent on this point.) When asked to leave, Oberwetter asked for a lawful reason compelling her to do so. Oberwetter was then detained – allegedly with excessive force – and subsequently served with citations for interfering with an agency function and, more troublingly, public demonstration without a permit. The district court dismissed Oberwetter’s
The die has been cast
By J. DeVoy [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Az_7U0-cK0&w=425&h=349] Indeed.
Devaluing your competitor's brand
By J. DeVoy Trademark law provides brand holders protection from competitors or third parties infringing upon, diluting or tarnishing their business marks, but what happens when the damage comes from the actual market for the brand and the people who consume it? Every brand has negative connotations; Chevrolet is associated with poor quality and a dysfunctional company that couldn’t exist but for massive government bailouts, Brooks Brothers is perceived to be for old, boring white people, and Ed Hardy is accused to cater to obnoxious douchebags. Using market forces, these associations can be used to attack and devalue a competitor’s brand without necessarily running afoul of trademark law. Legally, there is a concept of “tarnishment” within trademark law, which makes
