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

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

Submitted by Erika Lee last modified Wed, 10/27/2021 - 5:33pm

Event: Intersections Art and Law at the Border

Executive Director Art Neill will be speaking at Intersections: Art and Law at the Border on Saturday, April 6 at 10am! He will be discussing intellectual property for artists in the digital age, including copyright, fair use, licensing, and some of the key issues that artists face on a global spectrum. 

Submitted by New Media Rights last modified Mon, 04/08/2019 - 3:58pm

See you at SXSW 2016!

Thanks to your votes, New Media Rights is heading to SXSW interactive in Austin, Texas. On Tuesday March 17th at 2:00PM in room 5ABC of the Austin Convention Center we’ll be presenting our panel “Can We Just Play? The Legality of Let's Play Video”.

Let's play videos are more popular than ever, however, for many creators what's legally okay and what isn't is more unclear than ever. Come learn the basics of copyright and trademark law that you need to know to keep your videos and streams up. Also get a chance to hear from legal experts and video creators about hot topics like Easter Egg Videos, Esports and using in-game music.

Joining Art and Teri will be Wikimedia Legal Counsel and lifelong gamer Jacob Rogers, as well as Angelo Alcid attorney and writer of the Journal of Geek Law.

So if you'll be at SXSW come check it out! Don't have a badge? No worries! SXSW gaming is open to the public so if you happen to be in Austin and are willing to brave the SXSW crowds come on by! If you can’t make it, you can follow our panel on twitter using #NMR.

Submitted by New Media Rights last modified Fri, 03/04/2016 - 11:29am

USPTO/NTIA offer up practical steps to sow the seeds of copyright reform

Over two years ago when we submitted comments in the United States Department of Commerce, United States Patent and Trademark Office and National Telecommunications and Information Administration copyright reform proceedings and again in our roundtable testimony, we advised a cautious approach that avoided the collateral damage that can come with hasty reforms. The final report takes a cautious balanced approach and shows support for many of the points we emphasized including:

  • The importance of developing a flexible criterion to help judges and juries determine the amount of statutory damages awarded. Particularly criteria that: consider whether the defendant use was non-commercial, had reasonable fair use argument and the financial means of the infringer. With flexible standards Copyright Trolls are much less likely to be able to exploit small-scale defendants’ lack of sophistication and resources to extract inappropriate settlements from them. (see pg 75 of the report for some of our thoughts)
  • The need for more public education on matters of copyright law, including fair use, to promote creativity.
  • The creation of easy to read fair use best practices developed within specific creative communities by creators, lawyers and other practitioners working in that specific area to help creators make informed decisions about fair use.
  • Recognizing the importance of having a small claims copyright court to help independent creators resolve disputes that doesn’t sacrifice important copyright safeguards, like fair use, in the process.(see pg 78 of the report for some of our thoughts)
Submitted by Teri Karobonik last modified Sat, 06/04/2016 - 12:43pm

NMR launches law school IP and entrepreneurship clinics list!

As we've written about before there's a major justice gap when it comes to creators and entrepreneurs having access to critical legal services. While we do our best to provide free and low cost legal services, we’re only one organization. That's why we’ve created a national list of law school legal clinics as a resource to creators, entrepreneurs and even other lawyers to help find other legal clinics fighting to fill the justice gap. The clinics on the list typically provide completely free or low cost services depending on if you qualify and they have the capacity to take on new issues. Check out the complete list here.

 

Submitted by New Media Rights last modified Wed, 11/11/2015 - 2:58pm

New Media Rights joins Nameless Coalition asking Facebook to fix its authentic name policy

This week New Media Rights joined with the Nameless Coalition as part of a broad global alliance of over 60 human rights, digital rights, LGBTQ, and women’s rights advocates to send an open letter (full text below) to Facebook asking them to rethink their authentic names policy.

Submitted by Teri Karobonik last modified Wed, 10/07/2015 - 12:36pm

September Newsletter:NMR students are front page news!

NMR students are front page news!

You may have heard about our fair use app…we hear its kind of a thing now. This summer California Western School of Law did a featured front page story all about our app and our amazing student interns who helped us create it.  You can check it out over on the CWSL site here.

Are you a student at California Western School of Law passionate about helping artists, entrepreneurs and internet users with legal issues brought about by the digital age? This spring we will once again be offering an opportunity to be a part of our clinic class, check out our intern page for more details on how to apply. Applications open September 9th and close October 9th.

Submitted by New Media Rights last modified Wed, 09/09/2015 - 9:57am

May newsletter: The legal issues today’s journalists, creators, and entrepreneurs share

The legal issues today’s Journalists, Creators, and Entrepreneurs share
In our 9 year history providing legal services on over 1400 individual matters, we’ve tracked a significant convergence in the legal needs of journalists, creators and entrepreneurs. This convergence is the result of the rise in the importance of nonprofit and independent projects and the common use of the internet as the means of distribution. As a result, a common set of core legal issues has emerged among journalists, creators, and early stage tech entrepreneurs.  Click here to check out the top 10 legal issues these groups share, and to learn about ways you can help us meet the growing demand for legal services.
Become a Organizational Supporter!
If you or your organization are already a Supporter, you know the benefits it brings, and and the tremendous impact you make.  If you aren't a Supporter already, what are you waiting for?  Check out the benefits of being a Supporter here.
 
Year Round Clinic for CWSL students!
We're proud to announce that our Internet & Media Law Clinic will now be offered year round at California Western School of Law!  The clinic provides students with experience working one-on-one with Internet & Media law clients in the field, as well as knowledge and skills regarding regulatory and policy work, scholarship, and public education and outreach. This year, clinic students will help us reach a milestone of providing services on our 1400th matter. We remain an independently funded program, so we also want to thank our individual supporters and foundations that allow us to assist clients and train students.
Applications are now open for fall, and close on June 9th!
 

 

Submitted by New Media Rights last modified Fri, 05/22/2015 - 3:46pm

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