Communications Law in the Digital Age 2008

Overview

Why You Should Attend

This unique program, one of PLI's most popular and long recognized as the most comprehensive in its field, will update you on the hottest issues in media, First Amendment and communications law.  Now in its 36th edition, this year's seminar will emphasize the degree to which developments in the digital realm affect this field.  Hear what the country's leading practitioners and in-house First Amendment and media law counsel have to say about the changes looming on the horizon and how you can keep apace in this rapidly evolving environment.

What You Will Learn

• Will the FCC ever deregulate media ownership?
• Why hasn't federal and state legislation been successful in curbing spam?  
• What are the states up to on the privacy front?
• What practical remedies do businesses have to respond to falsehoods about their goods and services?
• Do the Wen Ho Lee and Hatfill cases foreshadow a new wave of subpoenas to reporters?
• What will happen in the "fleeting expletive" indecency case in the Supreme Court?
• Are the basic constitutional protections for the press, recognized since New York Times v. Sullivan, safe in the current environment?
• How will the fantasy baseball case affect the commercial speech doctrine and the tension between publicity rights and the First Amendment?
• Is electronic access to court files reducing the information available to the public by spawning a new protected zone of informational privacy?

Special Bonus to all Registrants

All attendees will receive a complimentary copy of PLI's comprehensive Course Handbook. This softcover, bound volume was written to augment the program and to stand alone as a permanent reference. PLI's Course Handbooks represent the definitive thinking of the nation's finest legal minds, and are often the standard reference in the field.

Please Note: Webcast attendees will receive a downloadable version of the Handbook one business day prior to the program.

PLI Group Discounts

Groups of 4-14 from the same organization, all registering at the same time, for a PLI program scheduled for presentation at the same site, are entitled to receive a group discount.  For further discount information, please contact membership@pli.edu or call (800) 260-4PLI.

Cancellations

All cancellations received 3 business days prior to the program will be refunded 100%. If you do not cancel within the allotted time period, payment is due in full. You may substitute another individual to attend the program at any time.

Schedule

Day One:  8:45 a.m. - 5: 15 p.m.

Morning Session: 8:45 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.

8:45  Electronic Media Regulation

• What will the changes in communications policy and personalities be in the new Administration?
• Will the FCC ever deregulate media ownership?
• Can and will the FCC require broadcasters to carry more locally-oriented programming?
• Where are we in the transition to digital television and what will really happen on February 17, 2009, the scheduled analog cut-off date?
• Net Neutrality:  Will the Commission impose rules on the traffic management of broadband networks?
• Sirius-XM:  Is it the new standard for media acquisitions?

Speaker: H. Walker
Moderator: J. Cunard
Panel: R. Joffe, M. MacBride, R. Mayer, G. Sohn

10:15  Break

10:30  Developments in First Amendment Jurisprudence 

• What will happen in the "fleeting expletive" indecency case in the Supreme Court?
• Will the broadcast/cable distinction from Pacifica survive?
• Has the Court all but overruled the facial overbreadth doctrine?
• Will the courts ultimately broaden the obscenity exception to the First Amendment to include violent expression?
• Where is the Supreme Court on the constitutionality of limits on campaign contributions and expenditures?
• Are the basic constitutional protections for the press recognized since New York Times v. Sullivan safe in the current environment?

Speaker: P. Smith
Moderator: L. Levine
Panel: F. Abrams, R. A. Jones, K. Sullivan, J. Weiss

12:00  Lunch

Afternoon Session: 2:00 p.m. - 5:15 p.m.

2:00  Advertising, Commercial Speech, and Corporate Expression  

• How will the Fantasy Baseball case at the Supreme Court affect the commercial speech doctrine and the tension between publicity rights and the First Amendment?
• Are lawyers who blog about the law and include links to their website engaging in commercial self-promotion?  If attorneys advertise to solicit business are they protected by anti-SLAPP laws? 
• What disclosure requirements govern "giveaway" emails that lure consumers to commercial websites?
• If a brothel is legal, can it be banned from advertising? 
• Can liability for packaging pop-up advertising with free software be avoided by hyperlinking to a license agreement? 
• Are online retailers strictly liable for pricing misinformation bait-and-switch claims when they correct erroneous prices on their websites? 
• How much disclosure is required when commercial websites share data that users "opt-in" to share? 
• What practical remedies do businesses have to respond to falsehoods about their goods and services?

Speaker: S. Brody
Moderator: J. Cunard
Panel: J. Constantine, B. Johnson, T. Julin, E. Reiss

3:30  Break

3:45  Privacy Protection, Safety and Security

• What are the states up to on the privacy front?  Can we expect more multi-state AG enforcement initiatives?  Are more state data breach statutes in the pipeline?  What are the prospects of a preemptive federal statute governing data breaches?
• Why hasn't federal and state legislation been successful in curbing unwanted email? 
• How much do search engines know about user preferences and what is the future of targeted behavioral advertising?  Will the FTC or the states take the lead?
• What are the standards by which businesses can be held liable for failing to protect against identify theft? 
• Are files in your laptop protected from random searches by federal border agents? 
• Just what is protected by an expectation of privacy?  Social Security numbers?  IP addresses?  Log-in histories?
• How are multinationals and law firms complying with the European Union's data protection directive?
• When does unauthorized use of a website become a federal crime under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act?

Speaker: M. Coakley
Moderator: J. Cunard
Panel: J. Rich, S. Smith

5:15  Adjourn

Day Two:  9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Morning Session: 9:00 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.

9:00  Reporters Privilege and Anonymous Speech

• What happened to the federal Shield Law in Congress? Does the bill offer adequate protections to journalists?
• Is a book about Donald Trump "entertainment" not covered by a state Shield Law?
• Do shield laws really protect against the identification of sources in a libel case?
• Do the Wen Ho Lee and Hatfill cases foreshadow a new wave of subpoenas to reporters? Do media lawyers need to rethink their strategies for dealing with subpoenas?
• Can a contempt order for refusing to disclose confidential sources be enforced personally and may it restrict reimbursement by an employer or others?
• Does simply posting on a blog establish minimum contacts allowing anonymous bloggers to be unmasked?
• Do internet posters and subscribers have a right to anonmity?
• Will the Global Online Freedom Act (GOFA) force ISPs to resist revealing their users' identities to "internet restricting countries?" 

Speaker: G. Freeman
Moderator: L. Levine
Panel: K. Baine, E. Burton, J. Kirtley

10:30  Break

10:45  Access and Newsgathering Liability

• Has judicial reaction to reality television programming lowered the protection for newsgathering? 
• Will the Judiciary accept the Executive's claim of a unilateral right to seal court records by "classifying" them as secret?
• What can be done about secret courts and secret dockets, and how concerned should we be?
• Has the war on terror fundamentally changed the way courts consider access rights?
• Is electronic access to court files reducing the information available to the public by spawning a new protected zone of informational privacy?
• Has the "state-secrets" doctrine outgrown the rationale for its existence?
• Will the "right of access" be restricted to court proceedings?
• Does a reporter face tort liability simply for reviewing a confidential police or court file voluntarily made available by a source?  

Speaker: D. Schulz
Moderator: L. Levine
Panel: S. Abrutyn, L. Dalglish, S. Metcalf, J. Zucker

12:15  Lunch

Afternoon Session: 1:45 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.

1:45  Intellectual Property

• Fair use-is it expanding or contracting?
• How will Google Book Search and digital coursepack litigation affect publishers and libraries?
• What's new in secondary copyright?
• It is time to rethink the DMCA safe harbors?
• What is a "distribution" of copies in the electronic world?
• Has the Supreme Court made it harder for copyright and trademark owners to obtain preliminary injunctive relief?
• Has the parody defense been reinvigorated by the Wal-Mart case?
• Where will the courts end up on whether keyword advertising is a use of a trademark in commerce?  Is it infringing or diluting?

Speaker: M. Snapp
Moderator: J. Cunard
Panel: A. Bridges, J. Cunard, J. Palfrey, J. Pariser

3:15  Break

3:30  Defamation, Invasion of Privacy & Related Claims

• When do claims for libel, privacy, and misappropriation survive in fiction and docudramas?
• What are the parameters of Section 230 in defamation cases after Roommates.com, Craigslist and Jane Doe v. Friendfinder?
• Is the right of publicity an intellectual property right that is carved out of Section 230 immunity?
• Will the Florida Supreme Court reject the false light tort?
• Does a cause of action for invasion of privacy still exist in an on-line world? 
• Does the single publication rule apply to online articles or in misappropriation cases?  
• Will the Fourth Circuit remake the constitutional law of defamation?
• Have SLAPP statutes killed libel claims?

Speaker: K. Sager
Moderator: L. Levine
Panel: S. Baron, R. Bierstedt, Hon. R. Sack, B. Wall

5:00  Adjourn

Faculty

Chairperson(s)

Co-Chair(s)

Speaker(s)

Program Attorney(s)

CLE Credit

Travel Information

New York City Seminar Location and Accommodations

Due to high demand and limited inventory in NYC, we recommend reserving hotel rooms as early as possible.

Crowne Plaza Manhattan, 1605 Broadway (at 48th Street), New York, New York 10019. (212) 977-4000. Please contact the hotel directly at the number listed. Rooms will be held until October 10, 2008. In order to receive the preferred rate, mention PLI and state the name of the program you are attending. All reservations require a credit card at the time of booking.