Blogging

Forbes Blog: Responding to Defamation Online

New Media Rights’ latest blog post for Forbes is all about defamation and what you should know before you decide to pursue a claim. Whether you own a business or have an active online presence, a hurtful statement can have disastrous and far-reaching effects. But just because someone said something mean doesn’t mean it’s illegal.

“Yes, it is true that our society places a significant value in freedom of speech, but there is a point, however, where statements normally protected under free speech cross into the realm of defamation. So the first step is recognizing what defamation looks like.”

Forbes Blog: Responsible Enforcement of Copyrights and Trademarks

New Media Rights latest multi-part series for Forbes is all about enforcing your intellectual property rights responsibly. There are many types of legal disputes that you might encounter when you own intellectual property. While there is no definitive formula to solving every type of legal dispute, there are things you can keep in mind the next time you find yourself in a bind.

The first part of the series addresses copyright disputes, and breaks down some of the do’s and don’ts of handling infringement effectively. Often copyright owners don’t know what to do when they believe that someone is infringing on their work.

Generous Sponsors are Matching Donations to NMR Up to Seven Dollars for Every Dollar Donated This Month

We are excited to announce that New Media Rights has been invited to participate in the DuckDuckGo Privacy Challenge. Generous sponsors are matching any donations to New Media Rights up to $7 for every $1 today. That's not a typo! Your $20 donation would, during some weeks, give us the equivalent of $140. Click here to donate here in any amount. Being invited shines a spotlight on our goals in the privacy realm...

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Forbes Blog: How A Name Can Make Or Break Your Business

New Media Rights latest Forbes post is all about how to choose and protect a name for your business. Special thanks to our co-author, Jordan Kohler, who is a New Media Rights alum and founder of Kohler Legal!

While it is exciting to choose a name for a new business or product, you should take a moment before you get those business cards printed up to properly establish your name. Taking the extra time at the beginning of a new business can help you reduce the likelihood of disputes with other companies, avoid confusing your customers, and help protect your overall brand.

Check Out Our New Forbes Blog!

Art Neill, Founder and Executive Director here at New Media Rights, began writing as a guest contributor for Forbes this past May, covering a variety of legal issues for creative professionals and small businesses. His articles have been chosen as Editor’s Pick three times since then!

This week’s post is all about Errors & Omissions insurance. Errors & Omissions (E&O) insurance is one safety net (among others) that a small business should consider to protect its assets. “Essentially, an E&O insurance policy will back you up when you make a mistake or an error.” Sometimes, even small mistakes can be costly, so it is important to understand the unique protections of Errors and Omissions insurance - especially if you have a business in the technology or media fields.

Nanome launches educational virtual reality chemistry and mathematics tool Nano-One on Steam Greenlight!

New Media Rights stays on the forefront of providing legal services to those who create new ways to communicate and learn. Of course, "new media" is literally in our name. So we jumped at the chance to work with local VR company Nanome to make their VR molecular modeling app a reality.  We want to congratulate Nanome on their release of Nano-One, the first of Nanome’s suite of nano-engineering and mathematics visualization tools. Nano-One was recently launched on Steam Greenlight as Nanome moves forward to a full release.

Film screening: Refugees and cultural stereotyping of Muslims - American Baghdad & Valentino's Ghost - March 29, 2017

New Media Rights invites you to a free screening of two excellent films that we've had the pleasure to work on over the past two years-The short film " American Baghdad" and the feature " Valentino's Ghost: Why We Hate Arabs". We will have a Q&A with Ron Najor, director of American Baghdad, and Michael Singh, director of Valentino's Ghost following the screenings. Please RSVP at our Facebook invite, seating is first come, first serve. 

Big Changes with the DMCA Registration Process!

So, you want to be protected by the DMCA section 512 safe harbors? Some changes at the Copyright Office mean that you’ll need to now electronically register any services you want covered by the DMCA through the Copyright Office (including re-registering for all current service providers covered by the DMCA). You'll then need to re-register every three years to keep the DMCA safe harbor protections active.

NMR Testimonial - Penn Road Productions and Company Town, a David and Goliath Environmental Justice Story

New Media Rights is thrilled to highlight some of the success that our client, Penn Road Productions, has had with their latest documentary, Company Town. The film, which offers an intense look into the health and environmental impact that one paper mill has had on the nearby town of Crosset, Arkansas, just finished a successful screening at the L.A. Film Festival and the Sheffield Doc’s Marker Player in the UK, and will be showing at the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival in October.

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)

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