Copyright

New Media Rights Speaks About Fair Use on the Pop Culture Detective Audio Files Podcast

New Media Rights Executive Director Art Neill and Assistant Director Erika Lee were guests on the Pop Culture Dective: Audio Files Podcast!

We joined host Jonathan McIntosh to discuss the importance of fair use and how it interacts with YouTube's Content ID system. Fair use is a critical tool for the media criticism field, but also for many other creative ventures. You can find the podcast on the Pop Culture Detective: Audio Files website, YouTube, and wherever you normally get your podcasts!

Submitted by New Media Rights last modified Wed, 02/01/2023 - 11:27am

Event: Legal Considerations for Startups at the REC Innovation Lab

New Media Rights will be at the REC Innovation Lab at San Diego Miramar College this week! Assistant Director Erika Lee and Student Fellow Jackie Taitano-Johnson will be speaking about copyright, contracts and other legal considerations that startups should be thinking about. We'll be focusing on common areas where it can be easy to make mistakes, and talk about ways that you can prevent some of these common missteps early on. We'll also talk about moments where it's probably time to reach out to a lawyer along the way. 

This presentation is made possible with support from the City of San Diego Economic Development Department. READ MORE

Submitted by New Media Rights last modified Tue, 10/04/2022 - 1:54pm

Copyright Office issues final small claims rules for Copyright Claims Board, cites New Media Rights’ comments

The United States Copyright Office recently published its final rule for implementation of the procedures that are to govern the initial stages of a Copyright Claims Board (CCB) proceeding. The CCB will be a new forum where copyright small claims disputes can be heard.

It will have a significant impact on creators and technology businesses. Disputes previously too costly to bring to federal court can now be brought to the CCB, which allows claims up to $30,000 (no more than $15,000 per work). Many creators will either face disputes brought against them as respondents, or consider using the process as an enforcement mechanism. 

The final rule establishes a process for bringing claims at the CCB, and directly cites New Media Rights’ comments, written by California Western School of Law 2L Mariana Perez, Executive Director Art Neill, and Assistant Director Erika Lee, multiple times. Our comments discussed law school clinic participation, concerns regarding how respondents receive adequate awareness of the claims against them, the need to collect data on CCB proceedings and revisit and improve CCB processes, and various grammar and typographical errors in the proposed rules. READ MORE

Submitted by New Media Rights last modified Wed, 11/09/2022 - 4:41pm

New Media Rights Receives Grant to Support Web Monetization Innovators!

New Media Rights recently received a $20,000 grant from Grant for the Web to support Grant for the Web recipients and others on the boundaries of web monetization with legal services. This grant is a continuation of our work with web monetization innovators last year, and we are thrilled to be continuing our work with the Grant for the Web community! The grant is a partnership with Grant for the Web, a program supported by the Mozilla Foundation, Creative Commons, and Coil. Grant for the Web believes that a healthy internet needs openness and opportunity, and that it cannot be built on the backs of individuals’ security and privacy. The funds are intended to support an ecosystem that will challenge the web’s most urgent issues: loss of privacy, centralization of power, and inequalities in online participation. READ MORE

Submitted by New Media Rights last modified Wed, 11/09/2022 - 4:28pm

NMR supports wins for filmmakers, video creators, and consumers in the 2021 DMCA Anti-Circumvention Rulemaking

Every three years the Copyright Office meets to reconsider exemptions to the DMCA Anti-Circumvention provisions. These exemptions are critical to ensuring creators and consumers’ ability to bypass technological protection measures on copyrighted works, allowing them to make fair use of works in a variety of circumstances.  Continuing our participation every since 2009, NMR staff and California Western law students submitted worked on behalf of creators and consumers to maintain three key exemptions. These exemptions help ensure that documentary filmmakers and noncommercial video creators can access materials in fair use for their work, and that consumers can install the apps and software of their choice on their smartphones.

On October 27, 2021 the Copyright Office revealed the results of their 2021 Anti-Circumvention Rulemaking. All three of the exemptions NMR petitioned to renew have been renewed, and we are cited 8 times in the new recommendation.

 
Submitted by New Media Rights last modified Thu, 10/28/2021 - 2:23pm

New Publication in the Texas IP Law Journal!

In a scholarly article, recently published in the University of Texas Intellectual Property Law Journal (Vol. 28, No. 1, p. 87-98, 2019), New Media Rights' Executive Director Art Neill and Staff Attorney Erika Lee consider some options for modernizing copyright registration. The Texas Intellectual Property law Journal is a top 15 ranked Intellectual Property Journal according to Washington & Lee's rankings. 

The article, Fixing Copyright Registration For Online Video Creators: The Case for Group Registration of Published Videos, considers the history of published group registration since the Copyright Act of 1976 and argues that future modernization efforts should include group registration of video. The article also posits that current options for registering videos are ineffective and cost-prohibitive for online video creators, and proposes opening a rulemaking with the Copyright Office to establish group registration of published videos (which is currently not permitted). READ MORE

Submitted by New Media Rights last modified Tue, 02/25/2020 - 1:39pm

From Here: A story about an international generation's fight to redefine what it means to belong

New Media Right is proud to have worked on FROM HERE, a documentary film by Christina Antonakos-Wallace that follows four young people who represent the future of global citizenry. Filmed over the better part of a decade in two of the world’s largest immigration countries–the U.S. and Germany–FROM HERE captures an international generation’s fight for belonging in an era of rising nationalism. 

Set in Berlin and New York, FROM HERE interweaves the stories of Tania, Miman, Sonny and Akim – artists and activists raised in the Global North to parents from the Global South. The film accompanies them as they move from their 20’s into their 30’s, facing major turning points: fighting for citizenship, creating a family, surviving violence, and finding creative expression. Beautifully shot over the course of ten years, the film captures their struggle to define belonging for themselves in societies increasingly hostile to their existence.

Submitted by New Media Rights last modified Mon, 11/14/2022 - 4:59pm

New Partnership Highlights NMR’s Work with Early-Stage Startups

“Our partnership with REC allows us to reach a new generation of technology entrepreneurs here in San Diego.”

So said Art Neill, California Western's New Media Rights' (NMR) Founder and Executive Director, as he commented on NMR's latest partnership following the first in a series of REC online Advice Days held at the end of March.

“California Western law students will see firsthand the challenges these entrepreneurs face getting their businesses off the ground,” continued Neill. “Our law students will then advise on early-stage intellectual property, privacy, and other legal issues that could become critical to the viability of these businesses.”

The San Diego Miramar College REC Innovation Lab provides resources to anyone in the region who is interested in starting or scaling a business. READ MORE

Submitted by New Media Rights last modified Thu, 11/10/2022 - 12:20pm

Nevertheless: shining a light on sexual harassment and how we can shift our culture

Nevertheless Trailer from Sarah Moshman on Vimeo.

New Media Rights was proud to work on Sarah Moshman's recent documentary film, Nevertheless.

Taking a look behind the headlines of #MeToo and Time’s Up, Nevertheless follows the intimate stories of 7 individuals who have experienced sexual harassment in the workplace or school context. From a writer's assistant on a top TV show to a Tech CEO and 911 dispatcher, the film shines a light on the ways in which we can shift our culture and rebuild.

Submitted by New Media Rights last modified Thu, 05/28/2020 - 2:07pm

Adios Amor - New Media Rights helps bring the story of farm worker's advocate Maria Moreno to PBS

New Media Rights attorneys and law students recently worked on Adios Amor, a powerful documentary by Jane Greenberg and Laurie Coyle.

In Adios Amor, the discovery of lost photographs sparks the search for a hero that history forgot—Maria Moreno, a migrant mother driven to speak out by her twelve children’s hunger. Years before Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta launched the United Farm Workers, Maria picked up the only weapon she had—her voice—and became an outspoken leader in an era when women were relegated to the background. The first farm worker woman in America to be hired as a union organizer, Maria’s story was silenced and her legacy buried—until now.

Submitted by New Media Rights last modified Thu, 05/28/2020 - 2:06pm

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