|
The Internet needs a good lawyer. To protect the independent creators that make the internet an engine of ideas and innovation, New Media Rights just launched a one-time Indiegogo crowdfunding fundraiser today! We have only 31 days to meet our goal of $16,000, so we need your help today.
In the last 6 months alone we've helped over 250 individuals directly, offered over 10 workshops on digital rights issues, been part of 6 policy proceedings, and created over 13 hours of educational videos. We've worked to protect creators and internet users and now we need your help.  .Between now and December 21st, we'll be trying to raise a minimum of $16,000 on Indiegogo to support our direct legal services work and our new educational videos. Our newest videos have gotten tremendous attention on Reddit in the last week, and we've had over 1200 subscribes and 60,000 views in one week alone! Your donation within the first week of the campaign is critical because if the campaign gets lots of support and discussion in the first few days, it will be given a lots of free advertising from Indiegogo. As an important member of our community, we're asking you to 1. Donate to the campaign, and then 2. Share it with your friends If you already know the value of this work, you can use this link to donate or share our campaign with your friends and networks. This year we're offering great rewards for your donations, from video games, to a groundbreaking independent film from a San Diego filmmaker, to a Creative Commons mixtape that includes original recordings from NMR staff. We've got options to pick a topic or sponsor a video, and there's even rewards that involve an engraved 300 baud modem and "God Mode" so you'll have to check the rewards out for yourself! As a core supporter of New Media Rights, and since we have no PR budget, we are relying on you to please share the campaign through your networks on Twitter, Facebook, This holiday season, we're asking you renew your support of New Media Rights by helping us exceed our crowdfunding goal. If you'd still rather support us with a traditional donation through our secure donation form, you can still do that here, and we'd certainly appreciate it. Introducing our new video series for independent game developers: LAGD  LAGD (short for Legal Assistance for Game Developers), is about 13+ hours of video content focused on giving independent game developers tips on how to help themselves when they can't afford lawyers, and how to react to legal threats like content takedowns. It features hour-long interviews with people like Gabe Newell from Valve, Edmund McMillen of Super Meat Boy and Gish, and Chris Avellone from Obsidian. These interviews supplement our original educational segments on subjects like Trademarks and Branding, and hiring Independent Contractors and Employees for your game company. This release follows our recent launch of three video series - Copyright FAQ, Smartphone privacy, and Mobile App Developer's Legal Guide. This is just the beginning! To know when new videos are released you can subscribe to our channel and follow LAGD on Twitter: @LAGDvideos NMR gives an amazingly huge thanks to the host, Lauren Brady for all her hard work in helping put this project together. Also, thank you for clerks and volunteers who assisted in the past including Aley Santana and Ashley Gray. New Media Rights files follow-up comments in Copyright Office's review of a small copyright claims system The Copyright Office has begun a process of considering creating a small claims court or system for small-scale copyright disputes. This would affect the internet users and independent creators NMR assists significantly. In our October 19, 2012 comments, we argue any small claims system will need to address misuse of copyright law, abuse of the DMCAii
takedown process, and the general discrepancy in how attorney’s fees and costs are awarded to prevailing defendants. We've been invited by the Copyright Office to participate in hearings on November 26 & 27 in Los Angeles on the topic and we've been talking to folks across the country about the impact this may have. Abuses of copyright law are rampant in the current system. Creators and internet users regularly face baseless content removals and settlement demands. Right now, much of this misuse and abuse takes place outside of the formal court system. A small claims system for copyright would naturally lower the bar for copyright bullies to bring formal actions against defendants. Many of the defendants in the new system will be these same vulnerable independent creators and internet users already facing abuse in our informal system. When considering such a significant change to the current copyright system, the Copyright Office must ensure that the new playing field that is created allows defendants an adequate opportunity to defend themselves and pursue those who abuse and misuse copyright law. Read our full comments on this most recent round of questions Read our earlier comments in this proceeding Thanks to legal interns Alex Johnson and Kyle Welch assistance in drafting these comments. Again this is just one example of the many policy fights NMR has been involved in this year, and just another reason we need your help this holiday season. Please support this work by participating in our Indiegogo fundraiser today! |
Our website is:
We offer a newsletter every 6-8 weeks
www.newmediarights.org/newsletters
This newsletter is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License.
Icons created by Missrivs under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike No Derviatives 2.0 License
If you would no longer like to receive our newsletters you have the option to opt out by clicking the below link:
