Communications Law Commons^™

The Impact Of Judicial Review On The Federal Communications Commission, Fredrick W. Ford

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Eavesdroppers, By Samuel Dash, Alfred Alvins

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

A Study Of Frequency Allocations Between Federal Government Users And Non-Federal Government Users, Terrill Ann Rose

Student Scholarship

The 1960 research project examines the complex administrative and technical challenges of allocating radio frequencies between federal and non-federal users in the United States. At the time of the study, the radio spectrum was managed through a dual-authority system: the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) oversaw non-government allocations, while the President, advised by the Interdepartment Radio Advisory Committee (IRAC), managed government use. This divided responsibility created significant friction, as a growing scarcity of usable frequencies struggled to meet increasing demands from both commercial broadcasting and national defense. 

The document highlights several organizational deficiencies, noting that while the FCC utilized a public, …

Corporate Law Department Communications--Privilege And Discovery, Thomas R. Hunt

Vanderbilt Law Review

With the growth in number and size of corporate law departments, there is increased interest in determining the conditions and areas in which their communications' may be called for, and used, in litigation. As business becomes more complex, requiring adherence to legislation and regulation which allows small tolerance between the licit and illicit, or demanding close attention to administrative detail, the role of the lawyer is amplified. Concurrently, corporate counsel is engaged in areas where the distinction between business and legal considerations becomes decreasingly apparent.

Regulation Of Business - Antitrust Laws - Effect Upon A Subsequent Antitrust Suit Of Fcc Approval Of An Exchange Of Television Stations, John F. Powell S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

United States v. Radio Corporation of America-Creation of independent regulatory agencies presented the courts with the problem of allocating jurisdiction whenever the determination of proper judicial action was found to require the resolution of issues which an administrative agency was competent to resolve. To meet this problem the doctrine of "primary jurisdiction" was developed whereby administrative issues are to be decided by the agency prior to the court's determination of issues not within the realm of the agency. Application of the doctrine is based on the need for efficient and uniform agency regulation and the desirability of utilizing agency …

Censorship Of Defamatory Political Broadcasts: The Port Huron Doctrine, Harvey L. Zuckman

Scholarly Articles

No abstract provided.

Civil Procedure - Jurisdiction - Service Of Process On Foreign Television Corporation, Arnold Henson S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Defendant, a West Virginia corporation, operated a television station in Huntington, West Virginia. Its telecasts regularly reached into Boyd County, Kentucky, where part of its customary viewing audience was located. During a twelve-month period in 1954-1955 the corporation derived $71,310.30 in advertising revenue from Kentucky firms, although the contracts for this advertising were made outside Kentucky. In the course of a newscast defendant published an alleged libel against plaintiff, and suit was brought in Boyd County Court. Substituted service of process was made on the Secretary of State in accordance with the Kentucky "doing business" statute, and defendant then removed …

Criminal Law - Evidence - Wiretapping, James A. Park

Michigan Law Review

Suspecting that petitioner and others were violating state narcotics laws, New York police tapped petitioner's telephone pursuant to a warrant obtained in accordance with New York law. Acting upon information thus gained the police apprehended petitioner's brother. In his possession was found, not the narcotics as suspected, but alcohol without the tax stamps required by federal law. This evidence was turned over to federal authorities. Prosecution for possessing and transporting distilled spirits without tax stamps thereon followed, during which petitioner's motion to suppress the evidence obtained through the wiretap was denied. The Second Circuit affirmed the conviction, holding that although …

Growing Pains In Broadcast Regulation, Robert R. Huntley

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Say It Safely, Legal Limits In Journalism And Broadcasting, By Paul P. Ashley (1956), Thomas J. Brennan

Washington Law Review

Mr. Ashley's book is a revision of his earlier volume, Essentials of Libel, published in 1948. It is a small book in which the author, a member of the Seattle Bar experienced in newspaper law, has attempted to provide the journalist and broadcaster with a handy check-list of the danger spots confronting them through the law of the press. It is, in the words of the author, a "Stop, Look and Listen handbook." Mr. Ashley has accomplished his purpose quite successfully.

A Study Of The License Renewal Policy Of The Federal Communications Commission, Sue Potter

Student Scholarship

This study examines the license renewal policy of the Federal Communications Commission as it existed in 1957, focusing on the historical development of broadcasting regulations and the practical application of the public interest standard. The history of radio regulation in the United States began with the Wireless Ship Act of 1910 and evolved through the Radio Act of 1912. Following a period of chaos and interference in the mid-1920s known as bedlam, Congress established the Federal Radio Commission via the Radio Act of 1927. This authority was later centralized under the Federal Communications Commission through the Communications Act of 1934, …

The Progress Of The Law: Hemisphere Trial Link / Antiquity And The Law / New Court Rules / Easing Of Adoptions / Blackout Motorists / Ad Lib Tv Defamation Constitutes Libel-Not Slander / Foreign Aid Program / Law Of The Sea / Mediators Ask Confidential Role

NYLS Law Review

No abstract provided.

Negligence - Breach Of Duty - Liability Of Telephone Company For Failure To Relay Fire Alarm, Cyril Moscow S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Upon discovering a fire within his business building, plaintiff immediately went to the telephone and dialed the operator. After telling her his address and requesting that she call the fire department, he left the telephone to fight the fire. The message was not transmitted. When the fire department finally arrived in response to an alarm by a neighbor, the fire was out of control and the entire building was destroyed. Plaintiff sought damages, alleging that the telephone company held itself out to the public as willing to convey messages in case of emergency, and that failure to transmit his message …

Torts - Nuisance - Personal Annoyance As Sole Injury, Michael Scott

Michigan Law Review

Several thousand sales slips, mistakenly printed to bear plaintiff's telephone number, were supplied to the defendant store and were circulated widely by the latter's employees incident to normal sales transactions. Calls from defendant's customers soon burdened plaintiff's telephone, and despite numerous complaints by plaintiff over a two-year period, defendant refused or neglected to terminate use of the incorrect slips. On appeal from judgment for plaintiff in a suit for damages, held, affirmed. Defendant's acts resulted in an actual invasion of plaintiff's right to enjoy her property without unreasonable interference. Damages for personal annoyance and inconvenience alone are allowable in …

A Study Of The Allocation Of Television Channels Wish Special Emphasis On Chanel 3, Madison, Wisconsin And Chanel 12, Flint, Michigan, Mary Lillian Cook

Student Scholarship

This research paper examines the historical and regulatory framework governing the allocation of television channels in the United States, with a specific focus on the comparative hearing process used by the Federal Communications Commission. The study begins by outlining the evolution of television technology from the late nineteenth century through the post-World War II era, highlighting the administrative hurdles and the expansion freeze that led to the current regulatory environment. Central to the discussion is the role of the Federal Communications Commission as the custodian of the nation's airwaves, tasked with ensuring that licenses are distributed in a manner that …

Radio And Television Station Transfers: Adequacy Of Supervision Under The Federal Communications Act

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Evidence - Admissibility In Federal Courts Of Record Of Telephone Conversation-Meaning Of "Interception", Robert C. Fox S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

In a prosecution for perjury committed before a subcommittee of Congress, defendant filed a motion to suppress the record of a telephone conversation which had been made by the other party to the conversation without defendant's knowledge or consent.

Held , motion granted. To record a telephone conversation in this manner is to intercept it within the meaning of section 605 of the Communications Act; under the Supreme Court's ruling in Nardone v. United States, divulgence in court of a conversation so intercepted would be a violation of the Communications Act. United States v. Stephenson, (D.C. D.C. 1954) …

Lectures On Communications Media Legal And Policy Problems, University Of Michigan Law School

Summer Institute on International and Comparative Law

Published under the auspices of the University of Michigan Law School (which, however, assumes no responsibility for the views expressed) with the aid of funds derived from gifts to the University of Michigan by William W. Cook

A Report Concerning The Policy Of The Federal Communications Commission In Determining The Qualifications Of Applicants For Broadcast Facilities, Betsy Severson

Student Scholarship

This paper analyzes the historical development and regulatory policies of the Federal Communications Commission regarding the qualification of applicants for broadcast facilities. Established by the Communications Act of 1934, the commission was created to bring order to the chaotic early years of radio, which were characterized by uncontrolled growth and severe frequency interference. The primary mandate of the agency is to ensure that broadcast licenses are granted in a manner that serves the public interest, convenience, and necessity. However, the report notes that this standard is not precisely defined by statute, requiring the commission to rely on a case-to-case method …

Ex Parte Deprivation Of Telephone Service To Alleged Gamblers - Police Power Vs. Constitution, Jules L. Kaufman

Cleveland State Law Review

The question is still much in a state of flux as to whether or not such regulations as Ohio Public Utilities Commission, Order No. 22,305,and actions taken thereunder, constitute an unconstitutional denial of due process. The large majority of cases, many of which have been decided by public utilities commissions, however, uphold the right of the telephone company to discontinue service summarily at the request of a law enforcement agency without the necessity of any further proof of illegal use of the equipment. With respect to the burden of proof as regards the legality or illegality of use and the …

Television Tort, Burt Derieux

Mercer Law Review

Our new medium of television has opened up entirely new vistas of entertainment, news coverage, and advertising. Though this medium is somewhat like radio and somewhat like that of the motion picture, the resulting combination of the two physical attributes of those two mediums, plus the factor of network-wide publication of events at the time those events are happening, has had unprecedented appeal to the public resulting in a stupendous increase in the number of television receivers in all parts of this country within range of television transmitters.

Privileged Communications--Some Recent Developments, Lloyd S. Adams Jr., Mary E. Polk

Vanderbilt Law Review

It is the purpose of this Note to collect and discuss some of the newer decisions construing and applying the rules of evidence as to certain privileged communications, with a view toward indicating possible trends and developments or limitations, if any, in this field of the law of evidence. It is limited primarily to communications between husband and wife, attorney and client, physician and patient, and priest and penitent, with a short discussion of the so-called "novel privileges." The assumption is made that the reader is familiar with generally accepted definitions of the various privileges, as well as traditional limitations.' …

Prejudice And The Press, By Frank Hughes, Robert L. Randall

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Protection Of The Content Of Radio And Television Programs By Common Law Copyright, Harry P. Warner

Vanderbilt Law Review

Common law copyright has reference to an individual's "right in his original, unpublished, intellectual productions," which are protected via the common law. Common law copyright antedates the copyright statutes and can furnish the creative artist adequate and complete protection within limits. The common law rights are protected independently of the statute until the creative artist has permitted the contents of his work to be communicated generally to the public. As a matter of fact, section 2 of the Copyright Code expressly provides that statutory copyright will not annul or limit the enforcement of common law rights at law or in …

Torts-Liability Of Radio Station For Defamation Broadcast By Lessee Of Its Facilities

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Labor Law-Applicability Of The Lea Act To Activities Of The American Federation Of Musicians, W. J. Schrenk, Jr.

Michigan Law Review

Defendant, acting as president of a local union of the American Federation of Musicians, requested a new contract with a broadcasting station licensed by the Federal Communications Commission, including a provision that the licensee hire three extra musicians, raising to six the total number of musicians employed. When negotiations regarding this provision failed, defendant withdrew from the licensee's services the three musicians (members of the A.F. of M.) already employed by it. An action was, then brought to prosecute defendant under the amendment to the Federal Communications Act, popularly known as the Lea Act, which prohibits the use of threats …

Contempt By Publication

Indiana Law Journal

Constitutional Law Note

Wittenberg: Dangerous Words, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

A Review of DANGEROUS WORDS. By Philip Wittenberg.

Chafee, Jr: Government And Mass Communications, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

A Review of GOVERNMENT AND MASS COMMUNICATIONS. Report from the Commission on Freedom of the Press. 2 vols. Zechariah Chafee, Jr.

Recent Books, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

This department undertakes to note or review briefly current books on law and matters closely related thereto.