Communications Law Commons^™

Board Of Trustees Of The State University Of New York V. Fox -The Dawn Of A New Age Of Commercial Speech Regulation Of Tobacco And Alcohol, Mark A. Conrad

Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Metro Broadcasting, Inc. V. Fcc: Requiem For A Heavyweight, Neal Devins

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Supreme Court In Politics., Terrance Sandalow

Reviews

Despite all that has been written about the bitter struggle initiated by President Reagan's nomination of Robert Bork to a seat on the Supreme Court, its most remarkable feature, that it was waged over a judicial appointment, has drawn relatively little comment. Two hundred years after the Philadelphia Convention, Hamilton's "least dangerous" branch - least dangerous because it would have "no influence over either the sword or the purse, no direction either of the strength or the wealth of the society, and can take no active resolution whatever"'-had come to occupy so important a place in the nation's political life …

Intellectual And Informational Property Rights: Panel Iv - Introduction: Property In Mass Media Law, Lee C. Bollinger

Faculty Scholarship

This is the panel on intellectual and informational property rights. As you can see, there are three panelists other than myself: Ed Kitch, Stephen Carter, and Frank Easterbrook.

I want to begin with just a few thoughts on an area that I know something about: press and media law. I would like to say two things about the notion of property and how it arises in the context of a few problems in the area of mass media law.

Cable Television And The Compulsory Copyright License, Fred H. Cate

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Independent Motion Picture Financing: Unregistered Limited Partnership Offerings, James L. Thompson

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Contingent Fees Without Contingencies: Hamlet Without The Prince Of Demark?, Lester Brickman

Articles

According to conventional wisdom virtually all contingent fee percentages exceeding fifty percent are illegal and excessive, but most lower percentages are valid. This Article challenges the conventional wisdom, an amalgam of the unassailability of the standard one-third rate, notions of fairness versus price gouging, lawyer effort versus lawyer' reward, and the right of a lawyer to contract freely for a fee. It advances instead two propositions for determining the legitimacy of contingent fees. The first is that for a contingent fee to be valid, there must be an actual contingency, which means a realistic risk of nonrecovery. Though this proposition …

The Evolution Of Distress Sales: A Direct Benefit To Non-Minorities, J. Clay Smith Jr.

Selected Speeches

No abstract provided.

The Evolution Of Distress Sales: A Direct Benefit To Non-Minorities, J. Clay Smith Jr.

Selected Speeches

No abstract provided.

Supplemental Comments, J. Clay Smith Jr.

Selected Speeches

No abstract provided.

The Evolution Of Distress Sales: A Direct Benefit To Non-Minorities, J. Clay Smith Jr.

Selected Speeches

No abstract provided.

The Evolution Of Distress Sales: A Direct Benefit To Non-Minorities, J. Clay Smith Jr.

Selected Speeches

No abstract provided.

The Electronic Commonwealth: The Impact Of New Media Technologies On Democratic Politics, Gregory T. Everts

Michigan Law Review

A Review of The Electronic Commonwealth: The Impact of New Media Technologies on Democratic Politics by Jeffrey B. Abramson, F. Christopher Arterton, and Gary R. Orren

American Broadcasting And The First Amendment, René L. Todd

Michigan Law Review

A Review of American Broadcasting and the First Amendment by Lucas A. Powe, Jr.

Opening Doors In Foreign Market Trade Through The Telecommunications Trade Bill, Colette E. Neuner

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Fcc's Regulation Of Broadcast Indecency: A Broadened Approach For Removing Immorality From The Airwaves, Jay A. Gayoso

University of Miami Law Review

No abstract provided.

I. Communications Law

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Shnitzer V. Chief Military Censor, Aharon Barak, Yaakov Melitz, Shulamit Wallenstein

Translated Opinions

[This abstract is not part of the Court's opinion and is provided for the reader's convenience. It has been translated from a Hebrew version prepared by Nevo Press Ltd. and is used with its kind permission.] 

This petition concerns the decision by the First Respondent to prohibit, under its authority according to Regulation 87(1) of the Defense Regulations (State of Emergency) 1945, the publication of a newspaper article criticizing the functioning of the Director of the Institute for Intelligence and Special Operations (the “Mossad”,) while noting the upcoming change in Mossad directors. After submitting to the First Respondent different versions …

Vads, Vars, And Authorized Dealers - Do The Franchise Laws Apply To The Computer Industry, Kennedy A. Brooks

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

VAD/VAR distribution programs may be "franchises" within the technical definitions in applicable federal and state laws. Computer products manufacturers should exercise care in the design of their dealer channels to avoid the impact of these laws. This Article reviews the basic features of these distribution channels, analyzes the components of the various definitions of a franchise, and discusses how these laws might affect the characteristics of a computer dealer channel.

The Future Of Software Copyright Protection: Arbitration V. Litigation, Alisa E. Anderson

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

The legal profession and computer industry have expressed dissatisfaction with the existing copyright protection provided computer software and its traditional means of enforcement by litigation. These criticisms are exemplified in the protracted NEC Corp. v. Intel Corp. litigation. After examination of the current copyright laws and the recent NEC/Intel decision, the author analyzes the IBM/Fujitsu settlement, which created a new hybrid form of commercial arbitration. By relinquishing extensive control over their businesses to the arbitrators, IBM and Fujitsu established a sophisticated mechanism to resolve future conflicts and forestall future litigation. The author concludes that this hybrid method of arbitration is …

Digital Sampling: The Copyright Considerations Of A New Technological Use Of Musical Performance, Jeffrey S. Newton

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

The author explores the controversial topic of digital sampling, a process that allows one musician to use another musician's performance without knowledge or consent. He explores the acquisition and use of samples and argues that a musician's "sound" is a copyrightable work, satisfying both constitutional and statutory requirements. The author further examines the interplay between sample acquisition and the Copyright Act's "fixation" requirement and the question of whether digitized tone colors are uncopyrightable upon utilitarian grounds. The author concludes that a musician's "sound" is copyrightable as a derivative work, that the standard of "substantial similarity" can be used to prove …

Libel Reform: An Appraisal, C. Thomas Dienes

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Today, I am going to talk about the law of libel. A major part of my work at U.S. News is prepublication review of U.S. News and World Report and The Atlantic. I make difficult decisions such as assessing the risk that the Ayatollah Khomeini might sue the magazine for libel. I am not sure if you can libel the Ayatollah, but be careful if you do-he has very potent remedies. I will not focus on the law of libel as it is practiced in Michigan or in other states today. Instead, I want to examine proposals for the …

Diminishing Expectations Of Privacy In The Rehnquist Court, 22 J. Marshall L. Rev. 825 (1989), Laurence A. Benner

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Opening The International Television Market To Greater Program Diversity, Donna Coleman Gregg

Scholarly Articles

This Article examines various national regulatory systems that govern television programming, their impact on the vitality and diversity of the entertainment program market, and their ability to withstand forces for change.

Technological Poetry: The Interface Between Copyrights And Patents For Software, Willis E. Higgins

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

For historical reasons, there is an overlap between patent coverage for software as a technology and copyright coverage for software as a literary work. Each of these forms of protection for software has a proper role and should be allowed to coexist. Through common law evolution in case law and patent grants by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, patents have become the way to protect new and nonobvious functional concepts of software. Therefore, courts may be less willing to expand the scope of protected expression of copyrights to protect the functional aspects of software.

Carrying Copyright Too Far: The Inadequacy Of The Current System Of Protection For Computer Programs, Virginia R. Lyons

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

Currently available methods of legal protection are inappropriate for software. Because copyright law developed long before the advent of computer programs, it does not take into consideration the specialized needs of the new technology. This Note examines the way copyright law was manipulated to address early problems in software protection, and the problems which result when these rules are applied to recent, more complicated cases. The Note then proposes a new system of legal protection for computer programs.

Trade-Based Remedies For Copyright Infringement: Utilizing A Loss-Preventative Synthesis, Antionette M. Von Dem Hagen

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

Foreign infringement of U.S. intellectual property rights continues to affect U.S. business revenue, particularly for copyright-dependent industries. Trade-based remedies-such as sections 301 and 337 of the Trade Act of 1974, recently amended by the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988-may be used to combat this infringement successfully. Sections 301 and 337 have generally been used separately as distinct remedies for different problems. This Note suggests, however, that in view of U.S. industries' long-term goal of reducing revenue losses attributable to foreign intellectual property infringement, sections 301 and 337 are more effectively used in tandem, particularly against copyright infringement. This …

The Department Of Communications: A Plan And Policy For The Abolition Of The Federal Communications Commission, Michael F. Starr, David J. Atkin

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

Few areas of federal oversight have been as inconsistently addressed as that involving the regulation of broadcast and wire communication. Action in this realm has been all too often governed by political, rather than social or economic, imperatives. Many, no doubt, accept this situation as a necessary element of democratic decisionmaking. The deregulatory fervor of the 1980s could thus be seen as part of a long-term process of political redefinition. The consequences of regulatory neglect in this area will affect more than the traditional broadcast constituency of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). For, as traditional distinctions between communications technologies continue …

What Does The Fairness Doctrine Controversy Really Mean, Jerome A. Barron

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

In 1987, the FCC repealed broadcasting's Fairness Doctrine. This longestablished Doctrine required broadcasters to adequately cover issues of public importance and to provide a balanced presentation of controversial viewpoints. Opponents of the Fairness Doctrine would make broadcasting fungible, in a first amendment sense, with the print media. But what distinguishes broadcasting from the print media is not the Fairness Doctrine, but licensing in the public interest. This Commentary contends that there is an inherent bedrock fairness principle rooted in the public interest standard of the Federal Communications Act of 1934. The public interest standard is an independent source for the …

The Constitutional Administration Of The Beirut Agreement: Paradox Or Possibility, Alison E. Baur

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

The Beirut Agreement is a multilateral treaty that allows for the dutyfree exchange of audiovisual materials, if they are certified by the exporting country to be "cultural, educational or scientific." The certification criteria used by the United States to define these terms was struck down as unconstitutional in the case of Bullfrog Films v. Wick. This Note analyzes the Bullfrog case and its subsequent appeal, as well as the issues surrounding the continued efforts of the United States Information Agency to draft satisfactory criteria. The Note concludes with the author offering suggestions for a constitutionally acceptable set of certification criteria.