Newsletter

Our 2022 Accomplishments

 
In 2022, New Media Rights worked hard to provide important legal services to hundreds of artists, creators, and innovators throughout the world. We are happy to be back working in person and in our new office space on the California Western School of Law campus! 
 
This year we are particularly grateful for a $33,300 grant from the City of San Diego’s Economic Development Department to support our work with local San Diego small businesses and tech startups. A couple of years ago, the pandemic halted funding from this long-standing grant, so we are thrilled that the City of San Diego can now continue to support our work with the local community!
 
Please take a few moments to donate now to ensure that the essential legal services that we provide to hundreds of artists, creators and innovators throughout the world continue to exist. READ MORE.

 

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

Our 2021 Accomplishments

Giving Tuesday is here! Please take a moment now and make a donation

This year New Media Rights continued to meet the challenges of the global pandemic by providing our services and law clinic online. 2021 brought challenges, but we also had victories along the way. We are glad to now be working in a new space on the California Western School of Law campus, and continuing to serve our community. 

This year we are particularly grateful for a $25,000 grant from the Conrad Prebys Foundation to support our work with creatives and creative organizations in San Diego, as well as further support via a $20,000 Grant for the Web from Mozilla and Creative Commons.

Please take a few moments to donate now to ensure that the essential legal services that we provide to hundreds of artists, creators and innovators throughout the world continue to exist. Here's what we accomplished in 2021. READ MORE

New Resource! Advertising Law: A Plain Language Guide for Businesses and Nonprofits

We're proud to announce a new legal guide! Advertising Law: A Plain Language Guide for Businesses and Nonprofits discusses key advertising laws and regulations as they apply to a wide range of industries. Created with businesses looking to comply with federal and state advertising regulations in mind, we hope this guide can help jumpstart conversations on how a business runs ads or how a business can modify ads to better comply with advertising regulations. READ MORE

Why You Should Give to New Media Rights This Year: Our 2020 Accomplishments

 
This year New Media Rights met the challenges of the global pandemic by moving our services and law clinic online without delay. 2020 brought challenges, but we also had some victories along the way.
 
Due to the pandemic, we lost a long-standing grant that usually constitutes $40,000 of our budget. However, we did receive a $20,000 grant from the Grant for the Web, which is backed by Coil, Mozilla, and Creative Commons. 
 
So we now have some ground to make up. Please take a few moments to donate now to ensure that the essential legal services that we provide to hundreds of artists, creators and innovators throughout the world continue to exist. Here's what we accomplished in 2020. READ MORE

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

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

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

April 2020 Newsletter: COVID-19 Relief Programs for Small Businesses and Creative Professionals

We understand that the current health crisis has exerted financial strains on a lot of businesses and nonprofits, including right here in San Diego. In an effort to help businesses that are scrambling to keep their doors open, we have gathered a list of San Diego, state, and national resources available to small business owners.

As we move into times of economic uncertainty, making sure that people like creatives, journalists, startups, and everyday consumers who can't afford legal services have somewhere like New Media Rights to turn to as important as ever.⁠ READ MORE

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