Courtney French's blog

Restraints on speech prior to publication are almost never OK. It wasn't OK in the 1930s when Minnesota tried to enjoin the publication of an anti-Semitic newspaper. It wasn't even OK in the 1970s when the U.S. government tried to prevent The New York Times and The Washington Post from publishing the top-secret Pentagon Papers. But a Rhode Island Family Court judge recently thought it would be OK to stop a woman from commenting online about a child custody proceeding that she's not a party to. 

The Newsroom Law Blog reports that Judge Michael Forte of Kent County Family Court enjoined Michelle Langlois from posting on the Internet any information about her brother's ongoing custody dispute with his ex-wife. The gag order came after the ex-wife filed a "domestic abuse" petition against Langlois. The petition claimed that Langlois' posts on her Facebook page constituted harassment and might psychologically damage the children involved in the case.   read more »

The National Portrait Gallery in London has threatened to take legal action against a U.S. citizen who posted images of the gallery's paintings of rich, white, and dead British people onto Wikimedia Commons. The NPG sent a detailed letter to Wikimedia contributor Derrick Coetzee claiming that his actions constitute copyright infringement, database infringement, and breach of contract under U.K. law. The NPG said in its letter that it would not take legal action against Coetzee if he removes the images from the site, as well as deletes all other copies of the images he possesses, by July 20. Coetzee said on his Wikimedia Commons page that he is being represented pro bono by the Electronic Frontier Foundation's Fred von Lohmann.

Although Coetzee's posts would likely be considered fair use in the U.S., the concept of fair use (called "fair dealing" under the U.K. statute) is not as broad in the U.K. Across the pond, the fair dealing exception applies only to certain non-commercial uses, and differs depending upon the type of work at issue. Accordingly, it's debatable whether Coetzee's use fits within the fair dealing exception.    read more »

If you haven't checked out CMLP's newly launched forums, you're missing out on one of our site's most interactive resources. In the forums, you can post your own legal questions and receive unofficial feedback from CMLP staff and others. (For an example, see our response to a recent question about videotaping in New Jersey). The forums are also a great place for you to spark discussion by posting articles you think others will find interesting. We'll also post Q&As with CMLP staff members in the next few weeks so you can learn more about the work they do.

In order to post in the forums you will need to be registered on the site. If you haven't done that yet, visit the registration page, where you can create a username and password. You'll also have the option to add further information about yourself on your profile page, which can be viewed by other users. We've added some new interactive features to the forums, including the ability to click on another's user name to see all of their posts and comments, and a notification system that will automatically alert you when someone has commented on one of your posts. (You can easily turn this off by going to your user profile and selecting subscriptions.)

Once you're registered, you'll be able to post comments or start your own topic in any of our forum sections. Take a look at the FAQ page for more information about how to use the forums.   read more »

Although the Smiths' situation is unusual, it is not unprecedented, and it serves as a reminder of the vulnerability of content you choose to post online.  While it's difficult to stop a bad actor set on simply stealing your work, you can obtain a measure of control by licensing your online content. Licensing your work in a clear manner can help good-faith users know what's OK and what's not.   read more »

This week, PBS MediaShift's Mark Glaser laid out his ten commandments for local newspapers that want to survive in the digital age. Sixth on his list of ten tweets was "smart multimedia." "Don't do it just to do it," Glaser says. "Use the right medium to tell the right story." But what does "smart multimedia" look like, exactly? (If I had to guess, probably a lot like this.)

Most reporters today have been told in newsrooms and in journalism schools that they need to incorporate audio and video into their storytelling. And with the help of graphic and web designers they can put together some really amazing stuff. But reaching the "smart multimedia" point can be tough, especially since the line between too little multimedia and multimedia overkill is so subjective.    read more »