Policy Advocacy

Our latest work on media policy and intellectual property policy.

Explore the coalitions we've worked withExplore the coalitions we've worked with to defend your rights: to defend your rights:

Come join us February 11 from 12pm-2pm for a workshop on financing and distributing your films and video content! Here's a link to buy tickets.

The workshop is part of San Diego Film Week will be held at Studio Unseen, 4608 Park Blvd, San Diego, CA 92116.

Anyone creating independent TV, film, or online content has to wear many diverse hats these days. To be a professional filmmaker means not just knowing how to produce film, but how to handle financing and distribution. Come learn about the legal and business aspects of film financing and worldwide distribution.

The workshop will be in two parts. First Jeff Deverett of Deverett Media will give a thorough overview on financing & distribution. Then, we will have an open Q&A with a panel of experienced business and legal experts, including attorneys Valerie Nemeth of the San Diego Sports and Entertainment and Sports Lawyers, Inc and Art Neill of New Media Rights along with other special guests with particular expertise in financing and distribution.

Happy Copyright Week! We respond to over 500 requests for legal services every year, and over two thirds of these relate to copyright law.  Copyright law protects the work of creators, but it also controls how the culture around us can be reused and commented upon. This week a community of awesome organizations are offering our visions of a balanced copyright future.  

Each day there will be posts on a specific theme.  Since much of what we do day in and out is copyright law, we're going to link you to some of our best resources, new and old, on copyright law for the given topics.

Copyright Week image photo credit - EFF under a CC-BY 3.0 license

New Media Rights is proud to provide legal services to social impact films, including Dianne Griffin and Erica Jordan's new documentary film Painted Nails from DigAll Media.  Painted Nails tells the story of a San Francisco nail salon owner's efforts to address public health challenges in the nail salon industry.  

Here's our presentation to SD Filmmakers from December 13, 2016. Law 101 for Filmmakers.
In the last year, New Media Rights has seen a drastic influx of filmmakers and nonprofits seeking legal advice related to their social impact films and online videos. 
 
New Media Rights is working to ensure those making social impact films have the legal services they need to bring their stories to the public with confidence in the face of intimidation from powerful interests. We’ve helped with important social impact films that address gender and racial discriminationenvironmental degradationpublic health issues, gun violence, and human trafficking, to name a few.

 

A presentation to producers pitching programs for the new KPBS Explore program.

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.

Here are the slides for the New Media Rights presentation to the SDSU Social Media in the Digital Age class of Rebecca Coates Nee.