Filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit urging the court to overturn a district court decision in Fox Television Stations, Inc. v. Aereokiller, LLC, which would allow FilmOnX (Aereokiller) to qualify for a compulsory license under Section 111 of the Copyright Act. The brief noted that Congress [...]
Filed comments with the FCC in support of a Petition for Class Waiver of the Commission’s Sponsorship Identification Requirement sought by a coalition of radio broadcasters. The petition would allow broadcasters of music and sports programming to furnish information about promotional arrangements with record companies and others on the stations’ websites. The number of [...]
Filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court asking the Court to hear Kienitz v. Sconnie Nation LLC, involving an errant expansion of the fair use doctrine. The brief argues that the Court could thereby: (1) Reaffirm the fundamental distinction between parody and satire. (2) Maintain the Copyright Act’s protection of derivative works [...]
Filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court, in a case that could have disastrous consequences for the U.S. broadcasting industry. The Institute filed a brief in American Broadcasting Companies, Inc. v. Aereo, Inc., arguing that Aereo's model for distributing broadcast content to its subscribers violates broadcasters' rights under copyright law and is merely a blatant [...]
Filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court, asking the Court to grant a writ of certiorari from petitioners in American Broadcasting Companies, Inc. v. Aereo, Inc. The brief argues that Aereo's bizarre scheme of using thousands of tiny antennas to retransmit broadcast content to its subscribers amounts to "manipulative technological exploitation." The [...]
Filed an amicus brief, with The Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression and the Marion B. Brechner First Amendment Project, before the U.S. Supreme Court in Hunter v. Virginia State Bar. The brief supports a petition for a writ of certiorari. The case, involving an attorney's blog that may contain both [...]
Filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in Fox Television Stations, Inc. v. Aereokiller, LLC, urging the court to affirm injunctive relief for broadcasters. Aereokiller employs a technological scheme to retransmit protected broadcast content to its subscribers in an attempt to circumvent licensing fees. The brief, written [...]
Filed a friend-of-the-court brief, joining with The Thomas Jefferson Center, in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, arguing that a Virginia regulation forbidding college newspapers from running ads for alcoholic beverages is unconstitutional. The brief argues that the lower court should have applied strict scrutiny, rather than the less-stringent commercial speech [...]
Joined with 23 other leading media organizations in filing an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in United States v. Xavier Alvarez. The brief urged the Supreme Court to uphold a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit that the “Stolen Valor Act,” which makes it a crime to [...]
Filed a friend-of-the court brief, joining with The Thomas Jefferson Center, in the U.S. Supreme Court in FCC v. Fox Television Stations, Inc. The brief argued that the Supreme Court should invalidate its decision in FCC v. Pacifica (the “seven dirty words” case) because Pacifica impermissibly created a novel category of unprotected speech; Pacifica’s [...]