Tag Archives: intellectual property

May 2, 2018 · 10:15 am

The long copyright battle over a monkey’s selfie

The booklet Understanding Copyright and Related Rights (WIPO, 2016) is an excellent entry-point for learning about the basic copyright principles applying globally. Any monkey would understand it.

Monkey selfie taken by Indonesian macaque named Naruto on equipment set up by photographer David Slater. Sourced from Wikimedia Commons. © disputed.

It explains that ‘copyright’ translates into ‘author’s rights’ in many other languages because it is the creator of the work—the ‘author’ of written works—who holds the right to reproduce their outputs.

The word ‘copyright’ in English refers to that act itself—the ‘right’ to ‘copy’ something you have created. As the holder of that right, you have the legal power to license others to do so as well.

A fascinating international example of the principle that copyright rests with the creator of a work is the Monkey case (2018). In 2011 an Indonesian monkey named Naruto – a crested black macaque – took a ‘selfie’ with camera equipment set up by wildlife photographer David Slater. Monkey see, monkey do.

Slater complained to Wikimedia Commons after the images were posted there, but they refused his demand that he take them down, arguing he did not hold copyright in the images because he did not actually take them – the monkey did (Wikimedia Foundation, 2014).

The basic principle stood: copyright rests with the human creator of a work (Monkey case, 2018).

However, the monkey did not get to claim damages for the photographer’s use of the work. The US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals denied an application by an animal rights group to have the monkey’s copyright in the images formally acknowledged, stating that animals did not have standing. The photographer and the monkey (represented by animal rights group PETA) negotiated a settlement (Toliver, 2017).

Monkey case: Naruto Monkey PETA v Slater CA9 No. 16-15469 D.C. No. 3:15-cv-04324-WHO Opinion 04 23 18 < https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4444209-Naruto-Monkey-PETA-v-Slater-CA9-Opinion-04-23-18.html >

Toliver, Z. 2017. ‘Settlement Reached: ‘Monkey Selfie’ Case Broke New Ground for Animal Rights’, PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) website. [11 September.] < https://www.peta.org/blog/settlement-reached-monkey-selfie-case-broke-new-ground-animal-rights/ >.

Wikimedia Foundation (2014). ‘Monkey Selfie’, Wikimedia Foundation Transparency Report. https://transparency.wikimedia.org/stories.html

© Mark Pearson 2018

Disclaimer: While I write about media law and ethics, nothing here should be construed as legal advice. I am an academic, not a lawyer. My only advice is that you consult a lawyer before taking any legal risks.

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November 23, 2015 · 10:29 am

Drilling down on suppression orders – with a call for reform #mediaiplaw

By MARK PEARSON Follow @Journlaw

Suppression orders should be precise and address imminent publications likely to prejudice the case, not be futile and should only follow a request for removal, University of Melbourne senior lecturer Jason Bosland explained to the 2015 IP and Media Law Conference at the University of Melbourne Law School today (November 23).

Melbourne University’s Jason Bosland calls for reform of suppression orders

However, the courts continue to issue broad suppression orders that lack these qualities. Presenting a paper co-authored with Timothy Kyriakou, he explained that most suppression orders covered prior convictions and the vast majority were made against the “world at large” rather than at specific individuals or organisations.

“This indicates that orders are being made as a general precaution in a lot of cases rather than in response to an imminent publication,” he said.

He suggested reforms limiting magistrates’ court powers, giving all levels of the court system the same suppression order powers. Another anomaly was that the Supreme Court lacked power to issue a suppression order to ensure the safety of a person, a power held by the Magistrate’s Court.

His abstract explained:

In recent years, decisions in Victoria and New South Wales have considered the power of courts under the common law to restrain the publication of prejudicial material by the media, particularly in light of such material being published, or potentially published, on the internet.

This paper distills the principles established in those cases. It also considers whether and to what extent they continue to be relevant following the introduction of the Open Courts Act 2013 in Victoria and the Court Suppression and Non-publication Orders Act 2010 in New South Wales. It then examines the making of such orders in Victoria and assesses whether the courts have been complying with the relevant principles. Finally, some suggestions for reform are presented.

In his paper ‘The media’s standing to challenge departures from open justice’, Curtin Law School’s Michael Douglas argued the media was disadvantaged by suppression orders in ways most other parties were not.

Departures from open justice directly affect the legal rights and interests of media organisations. He argued that at common law, media organisations may intervene as of right, as a matter of natural justice, in any proceedings contemplating a departure from open justice.

“Open justice is essential to the integrity of our justice system. When a court departs from open justice, it is appropriate that media organisations are able to question whether the circumstances warrant the departure,” his paper stated. The paper addressed the issue of non-party media organisations’ standing to challenge departures from open justice.

In several jurisdictions, the issue is resolved by statute, but the position is not uniform around Australia.

The paper explained the position under the differing statutes and at common law. It focused on the common law position which remained in some jurisdictions, where the standing of media organisations was controversial.

“The orthodox view, expressed in older NSW authorities, is that media organisations have no absolute right to be heard at common law,” he stated, challenging that orthodoxy, following a contrary, Western Australian line of authority. The paper explored the link between principles of standing and the principles of natural justice drawn from High Court decisions.

The full conference program is here. Our paper (Pearson, Bennett and Morton) is titled ‘Mental health and the media: a case study in open justice’ (see earlier blog here).

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Tagged as ABC, communication and media law centre, communication ethics, copyright, disruption, ethics, intellectual property, journalism ethics, law, media, media law, Tom Morton, university of melbourne

November 23, 2015 · 9:24 am

How startups focus on the execution of business plans, with less intent on controlling IP

By MARK PEARSON Follow @Journlaw

Entrepreneurs might undertake strategies that abandon formal IP protection in favour of being quicker to market and investing in capabilities – that is, focussing on an idea’s execution – University of Toronto Professor Joshua Gans told the 2015 IP and Media Law Conference, in his keynote address at the University of Melbourne Law School today (November 23).

Professor Joshua Gans delivering the keynote to the Media and IP Law Conference at the University of Melbourne.

He unveiled an economic model developed with colleagues Scott Stern and Kenny Ching featuring two key propositions.

“Execution allows you to maintain market leadership so control buys you only delay,” he said.

“Control only is cost in that regard. It only delays you without giving you additional benefit.

“Even aside from resource constraint issues, control and execution are substitute strategies. The whole is not greater than the sum of the parts. You want to advise firms to pursue control or execution but not both.”

He explained execution-oriented firms will hit key milestones more quickly and will be less dependent on significant venture capital investment.

He argued against what he said was the common assumption of IP analysis that the strength and use of IP is exogenous.

“Here I argue that is is endogenous and depends on the choices of entrepreneurs/innovators in their business strategy,” he promised in his abstract.

“I demonstrate that entrepreneurs can undertake strategies that abandon formal IP protection in favour of being quicker to market and investing in capabilities — that is, focussing on execution.”

Joshua Gans is a Professor of Strategic Management and holder of the Jeffrey S. Skoll Chair of Technical Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto (with a cross appointment in the Department of Economics). Since 2013, he has also been Area Coordinator of Strategic Management. He is also Chief Economist of the University of Toronto’s Creative Destruction Lab. In 2012, Joshua was appointed as a Research Associate of the NBER in the Productivity, Innovation and Entrepreneurship Program.

He has also co-authored (with Stephen King and Robin Stonecash) the Australasian edition of Greg Mankiw’s Principles of Economics (published by Cengage), Core Economics for Managers (Cengage), Finishing the Job (MUP) and Parentonomics (New South/MIT Press). Most recently, he has written an eBook, Information Wants to be Shared (Harvard Business Review Press).

The full conference program is here. Our paper (Pearson, Bennett and Morton) is titled ‘Mental health and the media: a case study in open justice’ (see earlier blog here).

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February 4, 2015 · 1:56 pm

New course helps manage social media risk

By MARK PEARSON Follow @Journlaw

Griffith University has issued the following release on our fully online global social media law course which I will be teaching from March 2015.

New course helps manage social media risk

Managing your social media risk and protecting your brand is the focus of a fully online global social media law course to be offered at Griffith University from March 2015.

Social Media Law and Risk Management is aimed at professional communicators internationally who want an introduction to the laws impacting on social media use and other strategies for strategic social media management.

“It addresses one of the key organisational and crisis communication phenomena of the modern era – engaging effectively and internationally with a range of stakeholders using social media while being cognisant of laws, risks and policies,’’ says course convenor Professor Mark Pearson.

“The course examines the dynamic role of social media law and risk management in a range of social and political contexts internationally, particularly in averting communication crises.

“It provides advanced knowledge and skills in the use of social media by government, non-governmental organisations, business and the general public.”

Professor Pearson is the author of Blogging and Tweeting Without Getting Sued – A Global guide to the Law for Anyone Writing Online, co-author (with Mark Polden) of The Journalist’s Guide to Media Law and the Australian correspondent for Reporters Without Borders. His Twitter handle is @journlaw.

Social Media Law and Risk Management is offered online as a stand-alone course or as part of a suite of four courses in the Graduate Certificate in Crisis Communication for students who can visit Griffith University’s Gold Coast or Nathan campuses for their other three courses.

Media Contact: Deborah Marshall, 0409 613 992, d.marshall@griffith.edu.au

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Please drop me a line at m.pearson@griffith.edu.au if you would like further information after reading the course brochure available here.

© Mark Pearson 2014

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January 19, 2015 · 2:20 pm

Course outline for global social media law course starting in March

By MARK PEARSON Follow @Journlaw

WE have now posted the course profile for our fully online global social media law course which I will be teaching from Griffith University, starting in March 2015.

Titled ‘Social Media Law and Risk Management’, the course is targeted at professional communicators internationally who want an introduction to the laws impacting on social media use and other strategies for strategic social media management including social media policies and risk analysis.

The course can be undertaken as a fully online, stand-alone unit if you just want these skills and may not be able to attend in person, or as part of a suite of four courses in the Graduate Certificate in Crisis Management for students who can visit Griffith University’s Gold Coast or Nathan campuses for their other three courses.

You can read more about the entry requirements, application procedures and fees for the social media law course here.

The course outline, including the learning activities and assessment, can be viewed here.

The course examines the dynamic role of social media law and risk management in a range of social and political contexts internationally, particularly in the averting of communication crises. It provides advanced knowledge and skills in the use of social media by government, non-governmental organisations, business, and the general public. Its special focus is on law and risk management in social media in a global context.

After explaining the basic legal concepts required for effective analysis and understanding, and the elements of stakeholder theory underpinning the course, we then proceed to examine key areas of the law arising internationally when professional communicators use social media. These include defamation, contempt of court, privacy, confidentiality, discrimination, copyright, consumer law and censorship. This feeds into a critical examination of the terms of use of social media providers, effective social media policy formulation and social media risk management – all key skills and understandings for crisis communication.

The course can be completed online with no requirement for on-campus attendance. For on-campus students two meetings per semester will be held on the Nathan and Gold Coast campuses for students to meet colleagues and workshop material with instructors. Learning activities will include video lectures, readings, online discussion board activity, social media interaction, multiple choice quizzes and problem-based learning. Each module is focused upon a social media law or risk scenario where students are challenged to draw upon their readings, case studies and professional experience to map out an appropriate diagnosis and strategic course of action.

‘Social Media Law and Risk Management’ addresses one of the key organisational and crisis communication phenomena of the modern era – engaging effectively and internationally with a range of stakeholders using social media while being cognisant of laws, risks and policies.

The course integrates theory and practice by introducing both stakeholder theory and jurisprudential theory of legal systems in the first module and then applying both in the balance of the course throughout learning activities and assessment tasks. The readings, learning problems and portfolio are designed to allow students to find recent cases from within their own jurisdictions internationally to make their learning most relevant to their particular nation, state or territory of professional practice.

Of course, social media is an international medium and therefore all students need to be broadly aware of the laws and risks applying globally. The course bears a direct relationship to students’ professional needs as crisis communicators in a variety of career roles – public relations, journalism, government communications, corporate communications, social media moderation, marketing, human resources and law.

Assessment includes a reflective learning journal, online multiple choice quizzes, and a written assignment involving the critical appraisal of a social media policy.

Please drop me a line at m.pearson@griffith.edu.au if you would like further information after reading the course brochure available here.

© Mark Pearson 2015

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Tagged as blogging, communications law, copyright, Crisis Management, defamation, First Amendment, Griffith University, intellectual property, journalism, journalism law, law, marketing law, online courses, public interest, public relations, social media law, Social Media Law and Risk Management

December 18, 2014 · 3:10 pm

Griffith Uni to offer online global social media law course

By MARK PEARSON Follow @Journlaw

WE are now taking applications for a fully online global social media law course which I will be teaching from Griffith University, starting in March 2015.

You can read more about the entry requirements, application procedures and fees for the social media law course here.

Assessment includes a reflective learning journal, online multiple choice quizzes, and a written assignment involving the critical appraisal of a social media policy.

Please drop me a line at m.pearson@griffith.edu.au if you would like further information after reading the course brochure available here.

© Mark Pearson 2014

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May 26, 2014 · 9:57 am

ABC RN Law Report host @damien_carrick talks privacy with @journlaw

By MARK PEARSON Follow @Journlaw

The interviewer became the interviewee when I had the opportunity to chat with the host of the ABC Radio National Law Report (@LawReportRN), Damien Carrick (@damien_carrick), about the law of privacy and the media in Australia and the UK.

Damien was a visiting journalist fellow at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at Oxford University where he attended the Leveson Inquiry and interviewed journalists and media lawyers to prepare a report titled ‘Privacy, Regulation and the Public Interest’ which is available at https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox…. .

In this interview he discusses the interaction between the rights of free expression and privacy, the scope for coverage of celebrity news if there is a tort of privacy invasion, the difference between the UK and the Australian contexts, and the feasibility of the Australian Law Reform Commission’s proposal of a new statutory tort for the serious invasion of privacy.

[Recorded 19 May 2014, length 14 mins 54 secs]

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Tagged as advertising, Angus Macinnis, blogging, copyright, fair dealing, fair use, iiNet, intellectual property, IP, journalism, law, media law, PR law, public relations, social media law

May 17, 2014 · 10:53 am

The lowdown on IP from expert Angus Macinnis @AequoEtBono – 15 mins with @journlaw

By MARK PEARSON Follow @Journlaw

Intellectual property law – particularly copyright – can be one of the most complex areas of the law for journalists, bloggers and other professional communicators.

Thankfully, commercial lawyer Angus Macinnis from StevensVuaran Lawyers (@AequoEtBono) makes Australian IP law all a bit clearer in this short interview with me, @journlaw, covering everything from the basics of IP through to whether a simple Tweet might be actionable for breach of copyright.

[Recorded 5-5-14, 14 mins 50 secs]

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Tagged as advertising, Angus Macinnis, blogging, copyright, fair dealing, fair use, iiNet, intellectual property, IP, journalism, law, media law, PR law, public relations, social media law

December 18, 2012 · 10:48 am

I’m heading to Griffith U as Professor of Journalism and Social Media

By MARK PEARSON Follow @Journlaw

After 24 fulfilling years at Bond University I am leaving to take up a position as Professor of Journalism and Social Media at neighbouring Griffith University.

This Friday, December 21, will be my last day at Bond U and I will take a few device-free weeks of long service leave before starting at Griffith U on February 4, 2013.

You would appreciate my mixed emotions after almost a quarter of a century at the one institution.

I was lucky to be part of the foundation staff at Australia’s first private university in 1989 and have worked with a host of great people over those years to build a credible Journalism program, culminating in the wonderful ‘J-team’ of colleagues I’m leaving this week.

That said, I’m excited by the role I’ll be taking up at Griffith U and am looking forward to joining the faculty there. I’ve collaborated with at least four of my Griffith colleagues on research projects previously and am keen to resume old friendships and start new ones.

As a journalist I am hesitant to claim ‘firsts’, but I can’t find another “Professor of Journalism and Social Media” on a Google-search, although there are a few professors of social media internationally. Please let me know if you find one out there! Of course, I’ll be specialising in the social media law, ethics, risk and policy space in my social media research and teaching and make no claim to be expert in all things social media.

My teaching timetable has already been decided and I’m able to devote my first semester to lecturing and tutoring in my primary field of media law.

My new email address will be m.pearson@griffith.edu.au , but meanwhile you can contact me at journlaw@gmail.com.

I’ve packed 24 years worth of books and papers into boxes to move up the motorway to my new office at Griffith U’s Gold Coast campus, just a 30 minute drive away.

Then it’s Christmas festivities with the family and three weeks of R&R in our motorhome exploring the north coast of New South Wales over summer.

It’s a great life, and I wish you a peaceful and safe festive season.

My journlaw.com blog will resume in February and I’ll also return to the Twittersphere about then @journlaw from my new home at Griffith U.

Best wishes!

Mark (@journlaw)

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November 21, 2012 · 8:17 am

The @journlaw slide presentation to the World Public Relations Forum #wprf

By MARK PEARSON Follow @Journlaw

The World Public Relations Forum was held in Melbourne this week and I participated (with Claire O’Rourke from Essential Media) in a feature presentation on social media law and ethics for public relations practitioners. Here are my slides from my presentation on ‘Blogging and Tweeting Without Getting Sued’ for your use (with full attribution, of course). I hope you find them helpful.

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WorldPRForumMarkPearson(@journlaw)presentation19-11-12

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