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New Media Rights Sponsors Startup Weekend San Diego MEGA: Web / Mobile / Maker

New Media Rights, proudly announces our sponsorship of Startup Weekend San Diego MEGA: Web / Mobile / Maker, beginning November 14th at San Diego’s new downtown library. The event is a weekend-long, hands-on experience where innovators and aspiring technology entrepreneurs can hear from industry experts whether their startup ideas are viable.  New Media Rights' sponsorship of the event includes an offer of free legal services for the winning team.

Startup Weekend San Diego is just one of the ways New Media Rights supports the next generation of innovators creating jobs for the San Diego region, and developing technologies to help improve the world.  New Media Rights works directly with technology startups, creators, and internet users every day in San Diego, offering free and reduced fee legal services on internet, media, and technology law matters.

Submitted by New Media Rights last modified Tue, 11/11/2014 - 9:47am

PRESS RELEASE: President Obama urges the FCC to adopt real net neutrality

New Media Rights is pleased to announce that this morning President Barack Obama urged the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to reclassify the Internet under Title II. In plain language, the President came out in support of real net neutrality, the principle that says Internet service providers (ISPs) should treat all internet traffic equally. New Media Rights has been advocating for reclassification in our recent Open Internet comments  to the FCC (and our reply comments) as well as in our letter to the President and his Office of Science and Technology Policy. We thank the President for his support of Title II reclassification and encourage the FCC to adopt the President's position. Here's the President's statement.

Submitted by New Media Rights last modified Mon, 11/10/2014 - 12:04pm

Put a mugshot on it? Things to think about before using mugshots on commercial products.

At New Media Rights we’ve received a surprising amount of contact forms related to using mugshots on commercially sold items. Although we cover whether mugshots are in the public domain here, this blog post tailors that information a bit more specifically for people who may want to put a mug shot on something and sell it.

A word of caution upfront, putting a mugshot on any commercially sold items raises some serious legal questions. If you’re serious about starting a business like this you should consult with an attorney since this blog only raises some of the issues you may need to look out for and is NOT legal advice.
 

Submitted by Teri Karobonik last modified Mon, 10/26/2015 - 3:42pm

FCC Consumer Advisory Committee ends year with consumer privacy and disabled access recommendations

The Federal Communication Commission's Consumer Advisory Committee held its final meeting of the year October 20.  New Media Rights is a member of the Consumer Advisory Committee, and we are part of the Consumer Empowerment, IP Transition, and Broadband (as co-chair) Working Groups.

In our final meeting, the group passed two important recommendations,

1) Recommendation Regarding Mobile Device Security

The Recommendation Regarding Mobile Device Security provides the FCC with guidance on how it can provide leadership to ensure consumers have the information they need to make meaningful choices about their privacy, to encourage innovation in mobile device security, and to make sure companies adhere to best practices in protecting consumer's privacy, safety, and security when they are online using a mobile device.
 

2) Recommendation Regarding Access for Eligible Individuals with Disabilities to Lifeline Service

This recommendation encourages the FCC to take direct steps to make sure that the expansion of Lifeline to mobile devices includes accessible devices for the disabled.

Read more about these recommendations and New Media Rights work at the FCC Consumer Advisory Committee

 

Submitted by New Media Rights last modified Tue, 11/04/2014 - 10:44am

September Newsletter: Standing up for the Open Internet at the FCC!

We want to thank all of our supporters who made our #Oneof1000 celebration a success this summer.  It was nice to celebrate all we’ve accomplished as a community in person and online, and we hope to enjoy your company for some delicious tacos again soon!

 

Despite taking a moment to celebrate with clients and supporters like the San Diego based nonprofit Green Neuroscience Lab (pictured above left with their newest scientist!), our team has been standing up for the Open Internet at the FCC; writing to the President about the importance of copyright reform and an Open Internet to 21st Century innovation; appearing on This Week in Law; releasing new educational guides (here, here, and here); delivering educational workshops, and answering your legal questions.  Here’s are the highlights of what we’ve been up to!

Submitted by New Media Rights last modified Wed, 10/01/2014 - 2:28pm

Letter to the President's Office of Science of Technology: Net Neutrality and Copyright reform are key to 21st Century innovation

New Media Rights sent this letter to the President of the United States' Office of Science and Technology Policy in response to the White House's recent call for comments regarding updating the Strategy for American Innovation. We focus our comment on the importance of 1) protecting an open Internet through reclassification of broadband under Title II, and 2) copyright law reform for the 21st Century.

 
Submitted by New Media Rights last modified Tue, 09/23/2014 - 5:40pm

New Media Rights joins Sunlight Foundation in calling for openness of state legislature data

This week is Global Legislative Openness Week (GLOW), and New Media Rights has joined the Sunlight Foundation and many other public interest groups in calling on state legislatures in the United States to improve the availability and accessibility of state legislative data.

Here's the full text of the letter.  You can learn more about the letter and GLOW on the Sunlight Foundation's website.

 

Submitted by New Media Rights last modified Tue, 09/23/2014 - 4:04pm

Guide to 3D printing and the law

Remember that scene from “The Fifth Element” when Leeloo is reconstituted using her DNA as a blueprint? Did you ever want your own Replicator from Star Trek? Within the last few years, hype about 3D printing has steadily grown and the stuff of Sci-Fi dreams is closer to becoming a reality. 3D printing has already allowed surgeons to partially reconstruct a person’s face and even print food! We’re not quite all the way to having our own personal Replicator, but rapid advances in 3D printing are bringing us closer every day.

These rapid advances in technology also raise interesting new legal questions.For example:

  • Does the creator of a 3D-printable file always own the file?
  • What can or can’t be done with a 3D-printable file that is owned by someone else?
  • When an object is printed, who owns it?

The goal of this guide is to answer these types of questions as well as introduce you to 3D printing. In the spirit of keeping our answers short and straightforward, we have separated general intellectual property concepts and definitions into their own sections at the end of this guide so readers that want to learn more about any of the legal concepts in this guide can. If you are less familiar with copyright, trademark and patent law you might want to start by reading the sections specifically on these laws first before jumping into the rest of the guide.

Disclaimer: This guide is NOT a substitute for legal advice. A guide like this only serves to provide basic orientation and introduction to the topics discussed.

Contents

If you have any other questions regarding 3D printing and the law please don’t hesitate to contact New Media Rights via our contact form.

****Special thanks to New Media Rights Intern Christine Brekke who helped write this guide****

Submitted by New Media Rights last modified Mon, 03/30/2015 - 2:33pm

Our reply to large cable and wireless companies in FCC's Open Internet proceeding; we won't just take your word for it

Today we filed our reply comments in the FCC's Open Internet proceeding.  We focused on a series of claims by broadband providers that are simply not supported in the record, and amount to a "take our word for it" approach.  As with our initial comments, our goal is meaningful, defensible protections for the Open Internet under Title II of the Communications Act.

Submitted by New Media Rights last modified Fri, 09/12/2014 - 10:05am

New Media Rights joins the Internet Slowdown: a protest to protect the Open Internet

Today New Media Rights joins the Internet slowdown, a large coalition of organizations and individuals that want to protect and preserve the Open Internet. If you don't want your favorite websites to look like the loading icon below, join the Internet Slowdown.

 

Submitted by New Media Rights last modified Wed, 09/10/2014 - 11:11am

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