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Full-Text Articles in Law
Cancelling Dr. Seuss, Cathay Y.N. Smith
Cancelling Dr. Seuss, Cathay Y.N. Smith
Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law
Dr. Seuss Enterprises announced in March 2021 that it would no longer license or publish six of its children’s books because those books portrayed people in racist or culturally stereotypical ways. Since then, the public has learned through news reports and social media that other publishers have similarly reviewed and altered their catalogues of classic children’s works, including withdrawing them from the public, editing them to remove problematic content, or adding disclaimers to warn the public about racially insensitive or outdated content. The public reaction to Dr. Seuss’s decision and these other actions has been largely divided. Some criticized these …
The Institutional Progress Clause, Jake Linford
The Institutional Progress Clause, Jake Linford
Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law
There is a curious anomaly at the intersection of copyright and free speech. In cases like Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, the United States Supreme Court has exhibited a profound distaste for tailoring free speech rights and restrictions based on the identity of the speaker. The Copyright Act, however, is full of such tailoring, extending special rights to some classes of copyright owners and special defenses to some classes of users. A Supreme Court serious about maintaining speaker neutrality would be appalled.
A set of compromises at the heart of the Copyright Act reflects interest-group lobbying rather than a …
The Anti-Bootlegging Provisions: Congressional Power And Constitutional Limitations, Craig W. Dallon
The Anti-Bootlegging Provisions: Congressional Power And Constitutional Limitations, Craig W. Dallon
Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law
Courts and scholars have considered the constitutional validity of 17 U.S.C. § 1101 (civil), and 18 U.S.C. § 2319A (criminal), known together as "the anti-bootlegging provisions." These provisions prohibit unauthorized recording, copying, and distribution of live musical performances. The provisions have been challenged in three cases, resulting in five published opinions. Two district court opinions held the provisions unconstitutional, but subsequent opinions vacated those decisions. Notwithstanding a sharp division among copyright scholars, the courts have upheld these provisions. The discussion surrounding them is part of a continuing struggle to ascertain limits on congressional power to regulate copying and distribution of …
Equal Protection In The World Of Art And Obscenity: The Art Photographer's Latent Struggle With Obscenity Standards In Contemporary America, Elaine Wang
Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law
Part I of this article describes the initial hurdles that all visual art forms, including photography, face with respect to First Amendment protection given the power of visual imagery and the three-pronged test for obscenity set forth in Miller v. California. Of particular relevance is the "serious artistic value" prong of the Miller test and the problems inherent in determining who is to judge as well as how one might judge whether a work, particularly a photograph that may be construed to have a non-artistic function, possesses "serious artistic value."
Part II addresses the overall approach to photography in three …
Copyright And The First Amendment: After The Wind Done Gone, Joseph M. Beck
Copyright And The First Amendment: After The Wind Done Gone, Joseph M. Beck
Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law
On March 16, 2001, plaintiff SunTrust Bank filed a complaint in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia against defendant Houghton Mifflin Company, alleging copyright and trademark infringement based on defendant's yet-to-be published novel The Wind Done Gone. On March 23, plaintiff filed a motion for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction barring the book's imminent publication. The district court held a hearing on the motion for a temporary restraining order on March 29,2001, and then set down a second hearing for April 18, 2001. On April 20,2001, the district court filed a fifty-one page …