Joined with The Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression in an amicus brief to the U.S. Supreme Court, regarding a California law that would limit minors’ access to violent video games (Schwarzenegger and Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association and Entertainment Software Association). The brief argued that the California act is a [...]
FOR RELEASE: September 14, 2010 Contact: Richard T. Kaplar The Media Institute 703-243-5700 Arlington, Va., Sept. 14, 2010 – New York City Dept. of Education Chancellor and former Clinton Administration official Joel Klein will present The Media Institute’s American Horizon Award to Rupert Murdoch at the Institute’s annual Friends & Benefactors Awards Banquet Oct. [...]
Prof. Randal C. Picker, The University of Chicago Law School September 14, 2010 Last Friday, the Ninth Circuit decided an important case about the scope of the first-sale doctrine in copyright as applied to computer software. In Vernor v. Autodesk, the court concluded that the documents in question created a license rather than a sale [...]
Prof. Jim Gibson, University of Richmond School of Law September 8, 2010 A few months ago, I wrote an essay for this series that argued for reinstatement of formalities as a prerequisite to copyright protection. I left unaddressed one of the main objections to such a system: the fact that international law is unfriendly to [...]
Meredith Attwell Baker of FCC To Deliver Keynote Remarks at Oct. 6 Event FOR RELEASE: August 27, 2010 Contact: Richard T. Kaplar The Media Institute 703-243-5700 Arlington, Va., Aug. 27, 2010 - The Media Institute will bestow awards on Rupert Murdoch and Kyle McSlarrow at its annual Friends & Benefactors Awards Banquet Oct. 6 [...]
Prof. Jane C. Ginsburg, Columbia University School of Law August 18, 2010 When the United States ratified the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPs) in 1994, it undertook to implement Article 18 of the Berne Convention (a provision the United States had left unaddressed when the U.S. ratified the Berne Convention in [...]
Professor Peter S. Menell, Director, Berkeley Center for Law & Technology, University of California at Berkeley School of Law August 31, 2010 With nearly 12 years of experience, we are now in a better position to assess the effects of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) Section 512 safe harbors. At the time that Congress [...]
Prof. Doug Lichtman, UCLA School of Law August 9, 2010 Patent law intentionally and explicitly exaggerates damages. That is, when a court decides that a valid patent has been infringed, it typically imposes a remedy, the net value of which clearly exceeds the value of any deal the parties would have made had they negotiated [...]
Joined with 21 other media organizations in filing an amicus curiae brief before the U.S. Supreme Court in Snyder v. Phelps. The brief argued that media outlets cannot be silenced or held liable for reporting hateful or disturbing speech. Phelps and his Westboro Baptist Church had tried to harass Snyder and other military families [...]
Prof. Jim Gibson, University of Richmond School of Law July 13, 2010 In an earlier essay in this series, Randy Picker discussed the recent copyright decision in Viacom v. YouTube, and in particular the court’s ruling that the Digital Millennium Copyright Act’s “safe harbor” for remote storage applies to YouTube’s online video service. I agree [...]