Blog

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.

 

Copyright Week 2019: Modernizing Copyright & Expanding the Public Domain

New Media Rights responds to over 500 requests for legal services every year, and over two thirds of these involve copyright law.  Copyright law protects the work of these creators, but it also controls how the existing culture around us can be reused and commented upon.  That’s why it’s our mission to make sure that copyright related legal services are available to all regardless of ability to pay. This way we can assist creators who are facing unfair copyright takedowns from people who want to troll or bully them, and we can also work with artists whose rights have been infringed to get justice responsibility and without overreaching in their claims. Read more

 

Donate to New Media Rights through December 31st to help us compete in the Crowdrise Holiday Challenge

New Media Rights is honored to be invited and competing for over $300,000 in the Crowdrise Holiday Challenge. 
 
Starting NOW, you can help us rise to the challenge by going to our Crowdrise fundraiser page and clicking “Join the Team.” No donation is required to become a team member and show your support, however, donating helps us compete for other bonuses. Once you’ve joined our team though, you can donate to our campaign through our Crowdrise fundraiser page, where we’re collecting all our donations this holiday season. 

Newsletter: Here's what we've accomplished this year with your support!

Here's the work we've accomplished with your support in 2018! Also, you'll have a chance to continue to protect fair use, net neutrality, and privacy through our upcoming Giving Tuesday (November 27) challenge with Crowdrise. We've worked hard this year to provide important legal services to hundreds of artists, creators, and innovators throughout the world. Here's a glance at some of the work we've done this year... READ MORE

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.

Paul Detwiler's Documentary "San Diego's Gay Bar History" illuminates San Diego's LGBTQ history

San Diego’s Gay Bar History is a documentary by Filmmaker Paul Detwiler that traces the development of the gay bar as a community institution in San Diego. The documentary examines the role gay bars have played in community gathering and organizing during four time periods: before the birth of the modern gay rights movement, during the 1970’s, during the AIDS epidemic (1981-1990’s), all the way through their role in the present day. 

Documentaries often need a variety of legal services, from hiring a crew, to copyright, fair use and licensing, to distribution agreements. New Media Rights works with a variety of documentary and fictional video creators to overcome the legal hurdles to making their productions a reality. Read on to see to see the story of how New Media Rights helped this filmmaker.

 

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.

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.

Nest Cowork Legal Consultation Night

New Media Rights will be offering free 30-minute legal consultation sessions at Nest Cowork! The sessions will take place on Thursday June 21, from 3-5pm.

Come talk to NMR about your copyright and trademark concerns, contracts, and other legal issues you might encounter as a startup or entrepreneur. You don’t have to be a member of Nest to receive a consultation.

Pages