Policy Advocacy

New Media Rights recently filed a petition with the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Organization for Transformative Works to the Copyright Office requesting that the office provide better protection for the right of educators, libraries, filmmakers, remix artists, and others to use video excerpts under fair use through Section 1201 exemptions. Section 1201 outlines the DMCA’s anti-circumvention provisions that make it illegal to bypass technological protection measures (TPM) (also known as Digital Rights Management (DRM)) that restrict access to copyrighted content, unless specifically exempted through this rulemaking which takes place every three years. The strangest part about the anti-circumvention laws is that you may be making a fair use of material, but if you've circumvented, you could still be violating federal law. 1201 is broken, and we're working to fix it.

Congratulations to our client Gary Weimberg whose documentary My Love Affair with the Brain has enjoyed some recent success! The documentary tells the remarkable story of the renowned Dr. Marian Diamond, one of the founders of modern neuroscience.

Click through to read more about our work with this client.

Assistant Director Shaun Spalding and New Media Rights Fellow Erika Lee will discuss the basics of intellectual property at the KPBS Explore Local Content Project Orientation on Wednesday December 13 at 6pm!

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.

On December 7, 2017, New Media Rights joined more than 30 press freedom, civil liberties and open government groups in submitting a letter to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai urging him to cancel the scheduled Dec. 14 vote to undermine the open-internet protections put in place in 2015.

“You must not abandon Net Neutrality,” the letter to Pai reads. “The open internet is today our main conduit for expression and information. It is our library, our printing press, our delivery truck and our town square. Journalists, academics, governments and local communities depend on it to connect, communicate and collaborate every day. And as old models for news and information evolve or decline, the internet presents opportunities for new and independent media outlets to emerge.”

Whether you’ve joined us as a Student or Open Internet Defender, we’re stronger than ever thanks to support from individuals like you!

If you haven’t become a Supporter, we need your support more than ever this year. Please consider joining our community of supporters by making a donation and help us continue to fulfill our mission to:

• Provide free and dramatically reduced fee one-to-one legal services to underserved creators and innovators that need specialized help with Internet, intellectual property, media, and technology law
• Defend the Open Internet and push for badly needed copyright reform.
• Create high quality legal educational materials and to educate the next generation of lawyers.

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.

Fall 2017 presentation to Alexa Mokalis' Social Media in the Digital Age class at San Diego State University. Presentation by Art Neill and Erika Lee.