Policy Advocacy

Ever wonder what sorts of issues you may encounter as a creator or entrepreneur, and when you might want to reach out to a real life lawyer? That’s what our book "Don't Panic: A Legal Guide (in plain english) for Small Businesses and Creative Professionals" is all about. This book is designed to help you through the legal issues you may run into as a creator, entrepreneur, or innovator. We focus on issues you may encounter from the inception of your business to the moment (that hopefully doesn’t happen) you get a nasty lawyer letter for the first time. While this book is not a substitute for legal advice, it can serve as a helpful guide to preventing and resolving legal issues.

Executive Director Art Neill & Advisory Board Member Kyle Welch,  a technology transfer attorney for San Diego State University (and a former NMR legal intern!) will discuss the basics of Intellectual Property at Fablab Wednesday June 29 at FabLab San Diego.  Come join us!

How does copyright protect your work, how does it protect the work of others? When do you need permission, and when can you reuse a photo, video, or audio clip without permission? We’ll answer these questions and also leave plenty of time for Q&A.

We'll be answering these questions and more in a workshop at UCSD Extension with the San Diego Final Cut Pro User Group June 6 at 7pm.

Our client, the non-profit Brave New Films, has created a powerful, eye-opening documentary about gun violence in America entitled Making a Killing.  The New Media Rights team, including law students Erin P. Murphy-Girard and Joshua Pedersen and Executive Director Art Neill, worked closely with Brave New Films providing key legal services necessary to complete the film.

A great creative project or business starts with a solid legal foundation. Come join us this Thursday May 12 at 5:30pm for a free legal workshop and Q&A at San Diego City College hosted by SD City RTVF - Open to all and will be held in room C211. Brought to you in partnership with the City of San Diego's Office of Economic Development.

On May 2, 2016, Executive Director Art Neill moderated a panel at the 2016 American Association of Law Schools clinical conference entitled "Community and Pedagogical Benefits of Developing Public Education Resources and Engaging in Technology Enhanced Representation."

Here's a detailed description of the panel:

In serving both our communities and students, as clinicians we oftentimes need to be creative about our methods of community engagement and litigation focus/case acceptance practices.  Traditionally clinics revolve around a live-client model of individual client centered representation.  But what happens when we as clinics need to make an impact for more than one individual at a time? Are there non-case related ways that we can create useful legal pathways for our current and future clients, and our community? 

Part 1 of this session will discuss the pedagogical benefits and successful approaches when working with students on creating public education resources.  Focusing on non-traditional resources including apps and video, we’ll discuss how this work advances pedagogical goals of doctrinal learning and client counseling. Specifically, panelists will explain how student work developing public education resources supports not only doctrinal learning by reinforcing concepts learned in the classroom, but also fundamental client counseling skills, such as being able to explain legal concepts to non-lawyers. Through open moderation and audience participation, panelists will discuss a variety of public education projects they have undertaken in their clinics, including the Fair Use Best Practices for Documentary Filmmakers and Online Video Creators, as well as the Fair Use App, and a variety of educational video series and written resources.

Part II of the session will introduce attendees to A2J, a software system with an authoring tool that creates graphical Guided Interviews, which walk self-represented litigants through a legal process.  Presenters will discuss the pedagogical model as implemented within clinics; present specific clinic project guided interviews; direct attendees to various teaching materials created by clinics using this software; and expose attendees to new pedagogical perspectives and tools generated by the professors who have taught in the Project.  Syllabi and sample interviews will be made available.  

The DMCA Section 512 is a critical protection for internet-based services large and small against copyright claims based on user infringement. However, Section 512 creates an easy, out of court process to remove speech from the internet through its notice and takedown provisions. This process is frequently abused to remove otherwise legal content from the internet. We recently proposed legislative reforms that would address key problems with section 512, and shared our firsthand experiences with clients dealing with section 512.