Blogging

Event: SD Media Pros Meeting - Let's Talk Business

Staff Attorney Erika Lee and Assistant Director Shaun Spalding will be at the March SD Media Pros meeting to discuss copyright and creative contracts! 

Join us on Wednesday, March 27th as we cover some advanced copyright topics, including licensing and fair use, and a big picture discussion of contracts for creative professionals. What do you need to include in your freelance contracts? What do terms like "indemnification" and "representations and warranties" mean? How can I protect my interests when I enter into a contract with a distributor?  Join us to learn more about how you can use your creative content as leverage in your contracts.

New Media Rights Supports Copyright Registration Modernization in Copyright Office Study

While a person doesn’t need to register their work with the Copyright Office in order to receive copyright protection, registration provides significant benefits when copyright owners need to enforce their rights against infringers. But our current registration system is a two-tiered system. It benefits large copyright holders with deep pockets, but can be complicated, expensive, and time-consuming for individuals who produce a lot of works (like video creators, bloggers, podcasters and more).

On January 15, 2019, New Media Rights filed comments with the Copyright Office requesting modernization of the online copyright registration process to level the playing field.

 

Forbes Blog: Freelance Contributor Agreements

New Media Rights published a 6-article series all about Freelance Contributor Agreements! No matter what type of creative professional you are, it can be difficult to make a living as a freelancer.

"But don’t be too quick to jump at an opportunity to have your written work, photos, or video published. You want to make sure before you start working with the publisher that you have a written and signed contract that outlines each party’s rights and responsibilities." The series focuses on the importance of having an agreement in place if you're working freelance and producing content.

Forbes Blog: Navigating a Lawsuit Part 3 - What Happens After You Retain a Lawyer?

New Media Rights' latest blog post is all about navigating a lawsuit, and what happens after you hire an attorney. Special thanks to our co-author, Lauren Hanley-Brady, who is one of our advisory board members, and a former NMR intern!

A lawsuit can consume vast amounts of time and money, and unfortunately is not normally something that can be resolved quickly. But the judicial process can operate much more smoothly if you are aware of what happens in the first stages and the consequences of not meeting the various requirements in the first stages of a lawsuit. The more you know upfront, the easier the path to resolution will be.

Event: San Diego Press Club Meeting

Executive Director Art Neill will be speaking at the San Diego Press Club meeting on September 12th at 6pm. The panel is called "Nuts and Bolts: Intellectual Property – Protecting Yours and Using Others," and will include a discussion of using third party content online, protecting your own intellectual property, freelancers’ rights related to unauthorized republishing of their work, and journalists’ and media outlets’ responsibilities regarding work sourced from third parties.

The meeting is being held at the Procopio building in downtown San Diego, and the panel begins at 6pm.

Event: NLGJA 2018 National Convention

Assistant Director Shaun Spalding is speaking at the NLGJA 2018 National Convention in Palm Springs on September 8, 2018. Shaun will be speaking about freelance writer contracts, negotiating effective deal terms, and how you can protect your rights as a freelance writer.

The NLGJA Convention is being held at the Hotel Zoso in Palm Springs from Spetember 6-9th, and the panel is called "Get What You Deserve: The Journalist’s Rough Guide to Contracts and Negotiations." The panel is from 3:45-4:45pm on September 8.

Event: Vlog Summit 2018

Assistant Director Shaun Spalding is speaking at the Vlog Summit Social Media Convention on Saturday, August 25, 2018. He'll be speaking about copyright and licensing for online video creators and personalities.

The Vlog Summit is being held at the San Diego Convention Center from August 25-26th, and Shaun's panel is on August 25, from 10-11 am in room 32B.

Forbes Blog: What You Should Know About The New California Consumer Privacy Law

 

New Media Rights latest Forbes post is on the new California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018.

The California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 is a new privacy law that was quickly passed by the California legislature to avoid certain consequences of enacting a voter-approved state ballot initiative. While the law won’t go into effect for another 2 years, it is a significant shift in privacy law.

New Media Rights Joins the EFF and OTW in Latest Supplemental Filing on §1201 Anti-circumvention Exemptions

On June 11, 2018, New Media Rights joined the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Organization for Transformative Works in filing a response to questions that the Copyright Office posed after the §1201 Anti-Circumvention hearings in April.

The Copyright Office inquired as to whether screen capture is an alternative to circumvention for educational uses of short film clips outside of the context of film studies courses. Our joint response reinforces our position that screen capture is not a sufficient alternative to circumvention for fair use of short clips of video.

New Media Rights Testifies at the Copyright Office Hearings on § 1201 Anti-circumvention Exemptions

On April 24, New Media Rights joined the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Organization for Transformative Works to testify in support of a streamlined class 1 video exemption to the anti-circumvention provisions of the DMCA (17 USC § 1201).

Section 1201 outlines the DMCA’s anti-circumvention provisions that make it illegal to bypass technological protection measures (TPMs) (also known as Digital Rights Management (DRM)) that restrict access to copyrighted content. However, if the reason for breaking encryption on the content falls under an exemption to the statute, then the circumventor is relieved of liability for breaking the encryption.

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