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Our 2023 Accomplishments

Giving Tuesday is here! Please take a moment now and make a donation. In 2023, New Media Rights worked hard to provide important legal services to hundreds of artists, creators, and innovators throughout the world.

This year, we submitted extensive comments to the Copyright Office about generative artificial intelligence. We argued that the use of copyrighted material as training inputs for text generative artificial intelligence is likely a fair use under current law. We are particularly excited to continue our work related to artificial intelligence in the coming year.

We are also 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.

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

A CRISPR Bite: New Podcast Breaks Down Gene-editing Technology and Agricultural Production

New Media Rights recently worked on the podcast A CRISPR Bite, produced by Corinne Ruff and the GEAP3 Network (Genome Editing and Agricultural Policy, Practice, and Public Perceptions).

CRISPR gene-editing technology came out as a massive biotech breakthrough in the last decade, but most people have still never heard of it. In a new five-part podcast series, called A CRISPR Bite, food anthropologist Dr. Lauren Crossland-Marr takes listeners into the labs where researchers are tinkering with food genes, to help break down the problems they’re hoping to solve – and what’s at stake. READ MORE.

New Media Rights Submits Comments to the Copyright Office in Study of Artificial Intelligence and Copyright

The Copyright Office is currently conducting a study on Artificial Intelligence and Copyright, focusing on the copyright law and policy issues raised by artificial intelligence technology. On October 30th, New Media Rights submitted comments to the Copyright Office about legal issues surrounding the use of copyrightable inputs in training datasets for artificial intelligence, primarily whether or not such training uses are fair use.

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Event: Algorithmic Justice: The New Frontier

Please join us for a free panel on Artificial Intelligence called "Algorithmic Justice: The New Frontier" on October 12th at 5pm at California Western School of Law. This event will help kick off the school's Law, Justice, and Technology Initiative as well as the IP, Privacy, and Media Law concentration. You can register at the Eventbrite page for the event. Come join us!

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New Media Rights Presented at the KPBS Explore Program Orientation Workshops 2023

Assistant Director Erika Lee and Student Fellow Cristina Meisterling recently presented at the KPBS Explore Local Content Program orientation workshops!

KPBS Explore is a program established to help provide more local programming for San Diego audiences. Most of the programs that have been part of the Explore program are created by local San Diego producers who then have their programs broadcast or distributed via KPBS.  You can read more about the program in general here:  https://www.kpbs.org/tv/kpbs-explore

Erika and Cristina spoke about legal issues filmmakers, podcasters and other content creators need to be aware of throughout all stages of production, as well as how copyright and music licensing affects production. READ MORE

Legal Considerations for Startups with San Diego College of Continuing Education

New Media Rights Assistant Director Erika Lee and Student Fellow Cristina Meisterling recently spoke with students in the Small Business Planning class at the San Diego College of Continuing Education. 

We joined their final class session over Zoom to talk about common legal issues that startups and new businesses should be thinking about in the early stages. The focus was on moments where it's easy to make a misstep, focusing on copyright and contracts that businesses might want to enter into. In addition, we talked about different moments where it might be a good time to reach out to an attorney for assistance. 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 on February 28th! 

Assistant Director Erika Lee and Student Fellow Emily Kirschenheuter 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. READ MORE

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!

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.

 

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

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