Best Lawyers in America

A federal appeals court has revived a portion of Representative Devin Nunes’s defamation lawsuit that was dismissed last year finding that the defendant’s tweeting a link to the allegedly defamatory article after the lawsuit was filed could satisfy the actual malice requirement.

In September 2018, Esquire magazine published an article about Representative Nunes and a dairy farm in Iowa owned by Nunes’s family. Political journalist, Ryan Lizza, authored the article titled “Devin Nunes’s Family Farm Is Hiding a Politically Explosive Secret” (online version) and “Milking the System” (print version). The print version included a caption with two questions about Nunes: “So why did his parents and brother cover their tracks after quietly moving the farm to Iowa? Are they hiding something politically explosive?”

Nunes took issue with a number of claims in the article. In his defamation complaint filed in 2019, Nunes identified 11 statements in the article that he alleged were defamatory. Additionally, Nunes alleged that the article falsely implied that he “conspired or colluded with his family and with others to hide or cover-up” that the farm “employs undocumented labor.”

In August 2020, a federal judge in northern Iowa dismissed the case finding that none of the statements identified by Nunes were defamatory as a matter of law and that Nunes, as a public figure, had not met the high bar of showing that the magazine or Lizza had published the article with actual malice.

Nunes appealed the dismissal to the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals. On appeal the Court ruled that the district court correctly sided with the defendants in deciding that the allegedly defamatory statements failed as a matter of law. However, the Court sided with Nunes on his argument that the district court improperly dismissed his claims for defamation by implication. Defamation by implication occurs when the defendant either juxtaposes a series of facts to imply a defamatory connection between them or omits certain facts to create a defamatory implication. Continue reading ›

At the request of Congress, the Copyright Office recently agreed to undertake a public study to evaluate the effectiveness of current copyright protections for publishers in the United States, with a particular focus on press publishers. The Copyright Office issued a Notice of Inquiry seeking public comment on a variety of issues that could extend new protections to press publishers and other content creators beyond those afforded under existing copyright law.

In its letter requesting the study, Congress cited a recent directive by the European Union establishing “ancillary copyright” protections for press publishers. The Copyright Office has stated that its study will consider whether or not similar protections are warranted within the United States, as well as the potential scope, source, and appropriate beneficiaries of any such additional protections. Responsive comments from the public are due November 26, 2021. The Copyright Office will also hold a virtual public roundtable to discuss these and other related topics on December 9, 2021. A participation request form will be posted on the Copyright Office website by October 25, 2021.

The study could impact both traditional media outlets producing content and on digital media sharing of that content. It was specifically the impact of digital media on traditional content publishers that served as the impetus for the new study. The Copyright Office’s notice began with the observation that the internet has ushered in an era of disruption and transformation for the press-publishing ecosystem. It recites the financial impact that the internet has had on newspapers and other publishers. Specifically, the notice notes that newspaper advertising revenues enjoyed a steady increase for more than three decades during the years from 1970 to 2006, but have since suffered a precipitous 62% decline during the years from 2008 to 2018. From 2008 to 2019, the number of newspaper newsroom employees dropped by more than 40% and one in five (20%) newspapers closed. Continue reading ›

Articles Tagged with Best Lawyers in America

Federal Appeals Court Revives Nunes’s Defamation Lawsuit Finding Reporter’s Retweet of Article Could Constitute Actual Malice

Copyright Office to Study Whether New Copyright Protections for Press Content Publishers are Needed