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New Media Rights answers questions from the public and takes media inquiries regarding the law and technology. Please contact us if you have a question and we'll be glad to assist you. Our free legal and how-to resources, as well as our free public media studio and equipment, are supported by donations by individuals like you, so please consider donating today! Contact us with questions about your digital rights.

Stop the Stop Online Piracy Act

Dan Terzian's picture
Submitted by Dan Terzian on Wed, 11/23/2011 - 10:44

Congress is once again considering passing new laws regulating piracy on the Internet. The House of Representatives is currently considering passing the Stop Online Piracy Act. But many oppose the Act—and you should too. If it becomes law, as one Congresswoman exclaimed, it “would mean the end of the internet as we know it.” Similarly, Internet companies like Googlei and Facebooki also openly oppose it. The Act even prompted online protests by Tumblr, Reddit and Firefox. Why do so many oppose the Stop Online Piracy Act, and why should you be concerned? Read our coverage to find out.

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Are parents liable for children’s illegal filesharing?

Submitted by New Media Rights on Wed, 11/16/2011 - 12:02

If you’re reading this, you may be a parent who has received a notice that your Internet account has been flagged for alleged illegal filesharing, and your child has admitted to illegally uploading/downloading the music or movie in question. The extent that you as a parent are liable for the “copyright infringement” of your children is still up for legal debate. New Media Rights has created this guide for parents to along with the “Mass Copyright Lawsuit” guide to help you understand what you or your child may be accused of.

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Guide for defendants in mass copyright lawsuits (Bit Torrent Filesharing cases)

Submitted by New Media Rights on Mon, 10/10/2011 - 09:52

You may be a defendant, or may know a defendant involved in one of the “BitTorrent filesharing lawsuits.” These suits are also sometimes referred to as “Mass copyright lawsuits” because for the first time, hundreds and sometimes thousands of individuals like yourself have been implicated in lawsuits alleging “copyright infringement.” Indeed, as of September 2011, there are over 200,000 individuals involved in such lawsuits.

New Media Rights has drafted the guide below to provide you with basic, practical information regarding these lawsuits.
 

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Cloud Music Services Defend Their Right to Exist Against Record Labels

chrissie himes's picture
Submitted by chrissie himes on Wed, 09/14/2011 - 18:02

MP3tunes decision - Screenshot of MP3tunes.com homepage

In August, supporters of cloud music services had a victory when MP3Tunes.com prevailed over EMI Group Ltd. in a lawsuit. One of the biggest concerns of musicians today is how they can monetize their music. With MP3Tunes.com’s recent success in the courtroom, other sound cloud websites like Grooveshark and Spotify are now able to maintain the integrity of their business model without fear of litigation. Read more about the case and find the whole text of the 2011 decision on the New Media Rights blog...

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September Newsletter: Success stories, challenging AT&T, and Blogworld 2011

Submitted by New Media Rights on Thu, 09/08/2011 - 09:40

Our September newsletter brings news of success stories fighting DMCAi abuse, a grant awarded by the California Consumer Protection Foundation, and our continuing efforts to stop the AT&T-Tmobile merger. 

You can also catch us in person at Media Law in the Digital Age in October, a conference coproduced by Harvard Berkman Center's Digital Media Law Project and the Center for Sustainable Journalism at Kennesaw State University, as well as Blogworld 2011 in LA in November.

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New Media Rights protects another blogger from censorship and DMCA abuse

art neill's picture
Submitted by art neill on Tue, 08/16/2011 - 16:30

New Media Rights recently protected blogger Michael Petrelis' speech and commentary regarding another blogger who pretended to be a gay Syrian woman living in Damascus. 

Mr. Petrelis is just one example of the hundreds of individuals who rely on New Media Rights daily.  His story reminds us that we have the right to criticize and comment on the culture that surrounds us.

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Wolk v. Kodak reinforces DMCA safe harbors

Submitted by Guest Blogger on Wed, 04/27/2011 - 16:20

by Thomas Yohannan


Last month, a federal court in New York ruled on a case where an artist wanted to shift the burden of seeking out infringing works from herself to a website. Similar to the vein of a few hundred cases in the realm, the court decided in favor of protecting innovation.

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New Media Rights at the National Conference for Media Reform

Submitted by New Media Rights on Wed, 04/06/2011 - 12:41

Art and Mera are attending the National Media Reform Conference this weekend in Boston, MA. We look forward to sharing the work we have done offering free legal resources and fighting to improve and modernize media policy. Art will be on the panel Copyright, Copyleft, CopyCenter: Can Copyright and Remix Culture Co-exist? and Mera will be an online panelist for two of the main plenaries. Read more to see how you can be involved!

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Open Attribute, a simple way to attribute Creative Commons licensed works on the web

art neill's picture
Submitted by art neill on Mon, 02/07/2011 - 15:03

Open Attribute - Creative Commons

A big shoutout from New Media Rights to the entire team that has put together OpenAttribute. 

OpenAttribute simplifies the process of attributing an openly licensed piece of content, by providing a quick link where you can get an HTML or plain text attribution. Paste this code or plain text whereever you are reusing the Creative Commons licensed work, and you can have a properly formatted attribution.

I encourage you to go install this right away and start improving your attributions today!

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For Promotional Use Only: Promo CDs freed for resale

Submitted by Guest Blogger on Fri, 01/14/2011 - 11:56

"For Promotional Use Only – Not for Resale."  If you’ve ever listened to a promotional CD or LP (yes, they still do exist), then you’ve probably seen that phrase stamped on the front label.  By stamping the phrase on promotional records, record companies believed that the copyright laws were being preserved.  Copyrighti holders have battled in court to try and limit  the scope of the ‘first sale doctrine,’ which gives us the right to resell the physical copies of albums we own(and books and other copyrighted works), so that it wouldn't apply to promotional records.

 

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