January Newsletter: Protecting journalists, record breaking fundraising, and a film screening

We're off to a fast start in 2017. Our clients include a nonprofit dedicated to financial transparency in our elections, documentary films on the transgender community and media representation of muslims, and a nonprofit that introduces kids to writing and recording music, to name a few.  We also participated in advocating for balanced copyright reform during the recent Copyright Week.

Our book Don't Panic is a hit! It has already been adopted in 9 college and graduate classes to teach legal concepts to creators. Help us celebrate by picking one up from Amazon or get $4 off at this link when you use the code ""EHCBPZHD".  If you find it useful please take the time to write us a review!  If you're a teacher or professor and want an evaluation copy and assistance incorporating the book into your teaching let us know by sending an email to support@newmediarights.org.

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'Painted Nails': A Nail Salon Owner Shares Her Story of Safe Cosmetics Advocacy in New Documentary

New Media Rights is proud to provide legal services to social impact films, including Dianne Griffin and Erica Jordan's new documentary film Painted Nails from DigAll Media.  Painted Nails tells the story of a San Francisco nail salon owner's efforts to address public health challenges in the nail salon industry.  

Big Changes with the DMCA Registration Process!

So, you want to be protected by the DMCA section 512 safe harbors? Some changes at the Copyright Office mean that you’ll need to now electronically register any services you want covered by the DMCA through the Copyright Office (including re-registering for all current service providers covered by the DMCA). You'll then need to re-register every three years to keep the DMCA safe harbor protections active.

NMR Testimonial - Penn Road Productions and Company Town, a David and Goliath Environmental Justice Story

New Media Rights is thrilled to highlight some of the success that our client, Penn Road Productions, has had with their latest documentary, Company Town. The film, which offers an intense look into the health and environmental impact that one paper mill has had on the nearby town of Crosset, Arkansas, just finished a successful screening at the L.A. Film Festival and the Sheffield Doc’s Marker Player in the UK, and will be showing at the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival in October.

Our new book: Don't Panic :) A Legal Guide (in plain english) for Small Businesses and Creative Professionals

Ever wonder what sorts of issues you may encounter as a creator or entrepreneur, and when you might want to reach out to a real life lawyer? That’s what our book "Don't Panic: A Legal Guide (in plain english) for Small Businesses and Creative Professionals" is all about. This book is designed to help you through the legal issues you may run into as a creator, entrepreneur, or innovator. We focus on issues you may encounter from the inception of your business to the moment (that hopefully doesn’t happen) you get a nasty lawyer letter for the first time. While this book is not a substitute for legal advice, it can serve as a helpful guide to preventing and resolving legal issues.

NMR Testimonial: Brave New Films Releases Documentary on Gun Violence in America

Our client, the non-profit Brave New Films, has created a powerful, eye-opening documentary about gun violence in America entitled Making a Killing.  The New Media Rights team, including law students Erin P. Murphy-Girard and Joshua Pedersen and Executive Director Art Neill, worked closely with Brave New Films providing key legal services necessary to complete the film.

 

Event: Copyright for Media Makers 2016

A great creative project or business starts with a solid legal foundation. Come join us this Thursday May 12 at 5:30pm for a free legal workshop and Q&A at San Diego City College hosted by SD City RTVF - Open to all and will be held in room C211. Brought to you in partnership with the City of San Diego's Office of Economic Development.

AALS Clinical Conference panel on developing technology-enhanced community education resources in law clinics

On May 2, 2016, Executive Director Art Neill moderated a panel at the 2016 American Association of Law Schools clinical conference entitled "Community and Pedagogical Benefits of Developing Public Education Resources and Engaging in Technology Enhanced Representation."

Here's a detailed description of the panel:

In serving both our communities and students, as clinicians we oftentimes need to be creative about our methods of community engagement and litigation focus/case acceptance practices.  Traditionally clinics revolve around a live-client model of individual client centered representation.  But what happens when we as clinics need to make an impact for more than one individual at a time? Are there non-case related ways that we can create useful legal pathways for our current and future clients, and our community? 

Part 1 of this session will discuss the pedagogical benefits and successful approaches when working with students on creating public education resources.  Focusing on non-traditional resources including apps and video, we’ll discuss how this work advances pedagogical goals of doctrinal learning and client counseling. Specifically, panelists will explain how student work developing public education resources supports not only doctrinal learning by reinforcing concepts learned in the classroom, but also fundamental client counseling skills, such as being able to explain legal concepts to non-lawyers. Through open moderation and audience participation, panelists will discuss a variety of public education projects they have undertaken in their clinics, including the Fair Use Best Practices for Documentary Filmmakers and Online Video Creators, as well as the Fair Use App, and a variety of educational video series and written resources.

Part II of the session will introduce attendees to A2J, a software system with an authoring tool that creates graphical Guided Interviews, which walk self-represented litigants through a legal process.  Presenters will discuss the pedagogical model as implemented within clinics; present specific clinic project guided interviews; direct attendees to various teaching materials created by clinics using this software; and expose attendees to new pedagogical perspectives and tools generated by the professors who have taught in the Project.  Syllabi and sample interviews will be made available.  

Panelists included
 

Art Neill, New Media Rights & California Western School of Law 

Jack I. Lerner, University of California, Irvine School of Law 

Victoria F. Phillips, American University, Washington College of Law 

Carrie Hagan, Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law 

Alexander Rabanal, CALI 

 

New Media Rights asks for legislative reform in comments to Copyright Office's DMCA Section 512 study

The DMCA Section 512 is a critical protection for internet-based services large and small against copyright claims based on user infringement. However, Section 512 creates an easy, out of court process to remove speech from the internet through its notice and takedown provisions. This process is frequently abused to remove otherwise legal content from the internet. We recently proposed legislative reforms that would address key problems with section 512, and shared our firsthand experiences with clients dealing with section 512.

New Media Rights joins filmmaker groups asking for copyright reform of Section 1201 of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act

Following up on our recent comments requesting reform of section 1201 of the Copyright Act, last Friday April 1 NMR filed a reply comment with the International Documentary Association, Film Independent, Kartemquin Educational Films, and Indie Caucus. 

Section 1201 unecessarily restricts all kinds of otherwise legal reuses of content, including by filmmakers, consumers, and remix creators.  

This reply comment asks the Copyright Office to fix the ineffective section 1201 process, which does little to prevent actual copyright infringement. Our initial comment asks for a complete reform to section 1201 through legislative action. This is more focused on advising the Copyright Office of procedural changes it can make to section 1201’s rulemaking proceedings while we await legislative change.

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