News & Media
Web Site Barred From Quick Release of New Ratings
Explaining the “hot news” exception to First Amendment law and its application to the investment banking sector. Although the exact wording and presentation of news content is copyrightable, facts are not, and can be freely used by all. There is an exception to this rule for hot news, which is news that is obtained because of a superior news-gathering source or mechanism, that does not extend the general First Amendment protection of facts to all other news sources. Read more…
Documents Unsealed in Vicaom v. Youtube — Youtube Shady; Viacom Scorned & Seeks Vast Shift in 512(c) Immunity
Today, a New York District Court unsealed documents in Viacom v. Youtube and my-oh-my there are some doozies inside. Both Viacom and Youtube come out looking like shady characters; Viacom looks like a scorned lover smashing up Youtube’s car up after their failed Youtube buyout and Youtube looks like an prick purposely trying to induce copyright infringement in brazen Napster/Grokster fashion. Although these are juicy gossip nuggets, the real meat here lies in how Viacom is defining service provider immunity under 512(c). Viacom’s argument is that Youtube is not eligible for immunity under 512(c) because they are not engaged in
Alex Chilton . . . Rest in Slack
Alex Chilton died yesterday of an apparent heart attack in New Orleans. (source) You kids who think you may not know who he is … you probably do, you just don’t know it.
YKW? WYB. YWIA.
Some blogs and websites use the acronym NSFW – not safe for work – to describe their content. We don’t. We don’t believe in it, and here is why. Nevertheless, we understand that some of you work in environments where the MacKinnonites have ruined everything for everyone. Some lazy ass who is looking for a handout and a pay day could use the fact that you clicked on Adult Video News as a way to get her cha-ching and her vacation from the career that she didn’t want anyhow. So what to do? We’ll label stuff that might get you
NOT an Enforceable Trademark
How many times do I have to remind everyone — trademarks are not “word patents.” The adult movie studio, X-Play, has published a series of porno parodies where it throws the word “NOT” before the name of an otherwise well-known title. For example, X-Play published titles like “Not the Bradys XXX,” “Not Bewitched XXX,” “Not the Cosbys XXX,” “Not Married with Children XXX,” “Not Airplane XXX: Flight Attendants.” After a two year struggle to get a registration for the word “NOT,” X-Play finally wore down its examining attorney, and procured a registration. Now it thinks, all giddy like, that it
Did Perez Hilton fail to comply with § 2257 guidelines?
By J. DeVoy At True/Slant, there’s speculation that noted celebrity blogger Perez Hilton may have violated Federal obscenity laws. The upshot: According to AVN.com [WYB], the online home of Adult Video News, the adult movie industry’s trade publication, Hilton’s March 15 post, “Chuy Is an Official Porn Star!” [WYB], does not follow 18 U.S.C. § 2257 guidelines. The code requires websites that post explicit sexual content to comply to various regulations and rules, including a link to a “2257 compliance statement containing the name and address of the custodian of records, who is required to keep records relating to the age and identity of the performers
Ninth Circuit denies 1st Amendment protections to brothel advertisements
By J. DeVoy Last week, the Ninth Circuit ruled in Coyote Publishing Inc. v. Nevada that Nevada’s restrictions on brothel advertising are lawful, holding that the state has an interest in regulating commoditized sex. This decision overturned the U.S. District Court of Nevada’s decision, which held that such regulations were unconstitutionally overreached pure commercial speech, and that the state had no compelling interest to support the regulations. The opinion, available here, found that Nevada’s regulations addressed only pure commercial speech. Consequently, the court applied the intermediate scrutiny test enunciated in Central Hudson Gas & Electric Corporation v. Public Service Commission,
Best puppy name?
By J. DeVoy Fenrir, or Cerberus? If you’re getting several female puppies, or a succession of them, make sure to work Gorgon into their names. Easily the most prestigious sisterhood in all antiquity. Have any national sororities tried to lay claim on the Gorgon name and legacy?
D.C. leads nation in cyber-criminals
By J. DeVoy According to the Internet Crime Complaint Center’s 2009 report on internet crime, the District of Columbia is home to more cyber-criminals per capita than any other state or district. With 116 cyber-criminals per 100,000 residents, D.C.’s concentration of such perpetrators is higher than neighboring Maryland (29.72 per 100k) and Virginia (24.12 per 100k). More information is available in the full report. Some other facts from the Internet Crime Complaint Center: Cyber-crimes are so common victims often neglect to report them. But the number of complaints to IC3 jumped more than 22 percent last year to 336,655. The amount
Court sentences Erin Andrews's stalker to 30 months
By J. DeVoy Yesterday, Judge Manuel Real of the Central District of California sentenced Michael Barrett, a 48-year-old insurance executive from Chicago, to 30 months in prison for his infamous peephole video of ESPN sportscaster Erin Andrews. Barrett had agreed to a 27-month term, but Real imposed the harshest possible sentence under the Federal guidelines. Barrett offered a teary apology to his victim. Andrews wasn’t having it. “You violated me and you violated all women,” Andrews told Barrett. “You are a sexual predator, a sexual deviant and they should lock you up.” After the sentencing, she said, “Thirty months isn’t
Memo to the Left: The Right now has your playbook
Ken at Popehat critiques the Texas State Board of Education’s decision to soviet-style remove Thomas Jefferson from the state’s history curriculum. You see Jefferson was a deist, and that fucks with right wing dipshits’ fairy tale that we are a “christian nation.” But… Ken stabs right through the Right wing, and hooks around to skewer the left too: What happened before the Texas State Board of Education is appalling. But to the lefties of academia who are particularly incensed, I must paraphrase the pothead kid from the anti-drug advertisements: they learned it by watching you, okay? They learned it by
Judicial Hi-Five of the Day
by Christopher Harbin In an order granting defendant Sony’s motion for summary judgment on a copyright infringement suit, Judge Marilyn Hall Patel drops this choice nugget: Notably, some of the characters that plaintiffs allege to be similar across the stories are Greek gods like Ares, Zeus and Athena. These are stock figures not only of many contemporary stories, movies and video games, but also of the Western collective unconscious. In such a case, it is particularly important for the court to use its own “Blades of Chaos” to slice or filter out the unprotectable elements. Greek gods, dialogues among them
What does law school really cost?
By J. DeVoy This weekend, my facebook and e-mail discussions focused on a New York Times piece about for-profit trade schools and their questionable value to students. Many likened the trade schools at issue to law schools, which require a substantial investment for returns that, even in the best of times, are uncertain for all but the most elite law students. While much is made of the financial cost of law school, that information is readily accessible. With income-based repayment and the mounting reality that Something Must Be Done (TM) about ballooning student loan burdens, the financial slavery that would normally
James Brown as the second coming and other weekend updates
By J. DeVoy He is risen? James Brown’s body is missing, and his daughter claims it’s to prevent an autopsy. LaRhonda Petit, the 48-year-old progeny of the singer, said “My daddy’s body has disappeared. I have no clue where it was taken, but I need to know where…I’m convinced his death was suspicious and I want the people responsible brought to justice.” A strange story indeed, given Brown’s high profile in life. Still, he looks downright christly in this photo: +++ USAspending.gov has been failing lately, reports the L.A. Times. A review by the GAO stretching from June 2009 to
At least your kids aren't playing with this
By J. DeVoy From Tim & Eric Awesome Show, Great Job. “I don’t need your dinner, I have Oh-Hungee!”
How to take a profile picture
One of the many reasons that I am glad that Jennifer took me off the market: [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcbZ0v8Mpvk]
The French can't handle their buzz
On August 16, 1951, the inhabitants [of a quiet French Village] were suddenly racked with frightful hallucinations of terrifying beasts and fire. One man tried to drown himself, screaming that his belly was being eaten by snakes. An 11-year-old tried to strangle his grandmother. Another man shouted: “I am a plane”, before jumping out of a second-floor window, breaking his legs. He then got up and carried on for 50 yards. Another saw his heart escaping through his feet and begged a doctor to put it back. Many were taken to the local asylum in strait jackets. So the CIA
9th Circuit Reverses its Position on "Under God"
Apparently, acknowledging the existence of someone else’s imaginary friend is a “patriotic exercise.” I find few things that make me feel less patriotic than the sight of a group of kids lined up into rows fetishizing a piece of cloth while acknowledging the existence of a fairy tale. The opinion is an abomination, but not something that surprises me when it is authored by a double-Bush nominee. Clearly, Judge Bea put his hand on the Bible when he took his oath of office, and considers his religious beliefs to be more important than his duty to the Constitution. Let us
Biglaw Bignews
One of my most famous misquotes was in an otherwise awesome interview with Bitter Lawyer. I was quoted as saying: I’d rather drive a stake through my balls than work in BigLaw, where it’s all about being a billing machine and ethics aren’t important. What I actually said was I’d rather drive a stake through my balls than work in some big firm where it’s all about being a billing machine and ethics aren’t important. The difference is subtle, but significant. The printed quote seems to suggest that I think that way about all of Biglaw. I don’t. I feel