A litany of rule changes have been made and ethics opinions issued by bar associations across the country in order to catch up with the pace of social media. A South by Southwest panel covered changes regarding competence, unintentionally transmitted communications, and disappearing data.… Continue Reading
This SXSW panel began with an exercise. Shutoff your phones, plant your feet flat on the floor, loosen up your shoulders, and keep your hands down at your sides, panelist Emily Doskow, a mediator from the San Francisco Bay Area, told the audience. We were about to meditate. For two minutes, the entire room was … Continue Reading
As demand for augmented reality and virtual reality continues to rapidly expand, inevitable legal issues abound. For example, are companies in the clear for using in a VR short Ryan Gosling’s voice, taken from content from the movie First Man? The panelists of “Virtually Legal: Insights on AR, VR, and the Law”—Mary Innis, managing partner … Continue Reading
The Music Modernization Act, signed into law on October 11, 2018, was designed to update U.S. copyright law to make sure artists and publishers were getting proper credit for their music running on streaming services. Publishing experts during the SXSW panel “The MMA Passed: Now What? Navigating the New Licensing Landscape” said the law comes … Continue Reading
The SXSW workshop Privacy by Design and by Directive tested audience members’ knowledge of the California Consumer Privacy Act, or CCPA, and the General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR. Both measures are designed to protect people’s personal data that is collected by businesses. The panel aimed to show attendees how, as business owners, they can … Continue Reading
A recent panel at South by Southwest examined some prominent copyright cases from the last year and delved into the changes in effect and coming into effect from the Music Modernization Act, or MMA. The panel started with a focus on the 2019 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court in the 4th Estate Public Benefit … Continue Reading
For filmmakers and creatives living in the Live Music Capital of the World, it may seem attractive to make a documentary about a band or a singer amid the music struggle. But experts on a recent South by Southwest panel warned that while music documentaries are surging in popularity and profitability, they are laden with … Continue Reading
A panel of attorneys discussed the ever-evolving galaxy of space law, including disabusing the notion that space law is “unregulated,” during a panel session at South By Southwest. Franceska Schroeder, a principal in Fish Richardson, provided an overview of the laws governing space and space exploration including the Commercial Space Launch Act, or CSLA; the … Continue Reading
Myth No. 1 of music licensing: Just because you are not making money on a project, does not mean you can use music for free. Austin lawyer Amy E. Mitchell, of Amy E. Mitchell PLLC, and Roanna Gillespie, a music supervisor at WOW Sounds, educated the South By Southwest audience during a panel titled “Music … Continue Reading
Researchers and legal scholars at a SXSW panel warned that machine-learning technologies are exploding the scope of media manipulation, prompting society wide concerns. Experts on a panel titled “AI-Powered Media Manipulation and its Consequences” highlighted various manipulation techniques powered by artificial intelligence, such as “Deepfake,” a term used for a technique that synthesizes images of … Continue Reading
What are the general policies businesses should follow when interacting through virtual assistants and chatbots? A recent panel at South by Southwest in Austin discussed best practices, current laws, and upcoming legislation that will affect how companies do business. “The law is the tortoise and technology is the hare,” said Hannah Taylor, counsel to Frankfurt … Continue Reading
A private attorney, a federal prosecutor, and a legal scholar tackled the challenges of combatting invasive online crimes such as sextortion, doxxing, and cyberstalking during a South by Southwest panel titled “When the Internet Turns Violent and Abusive.” Mona Sedky, a federal prosecutor with the U.S. Department of Justice’s Computer Crime & Intellectual Property Section, … Continue Reading
The harvesting of data via artificial intelligence, biometrics technology, and digital data collection is currently outpacing laws regulating its use according to a recent panel at the South by Southwest Conference & Festivals taking place in Austin this week. Myriad information is created through many means, such as posting to or having profiles on social … Continue Reading
Check out the May issue of the Texas Bar Journal for a recap of SXSW legal panels, the First Amendment and social media, cyberspace estate planning, and lawyers’ role in the future of cryptocurrencies. Don’t forget to catch up on Movers and Shakers, Memorials, and Disciplinary Actions.… Continue Reading
When it comes to actors, musicians, and other notable people, much information—from major events in their lives and careers to the personal fodder for tabloids—is made public and can generally be used for fiction films and documentaries. But the intimate, sometimes sordid details of the subject may not always be readily available on your average … Continue Reading
Panelists Tracy Gardner, senior vice president of digital strategy and global business development for Warner Music Group, Bobby Rosenbloum, vice-chairman of global entertainment and media practice at Greenberg Traurig, and Ted Suh, vice president of digital music at musical.ly, discussed some of the hot-button issues in social media music licensing at SXSW session this month. … Continue Reading
In 2007, Stefanie Lenz uploaded to YouTube a 29-second clip of her 13-month-old son dancing to Prince’s “Let’s Go Crazy.” Universal Music Corp., the owner of the copyright of the song, filed a takedown notice in accordance with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, or DMCA, to YouTube. In response, YouTube removed the post. What followed … Continue Reading
When artificial intelligence creates something; who gets the credit? Is it the programmer, the designer, the artist, or the AI itself? What about when AI destroys? Who or what takes the blame? Panelists Jessica Fjeld, a clinical instructor at Harvard Law School Cyberlaw Clinic, Sarah Newman, a creative researcher at metaLAB at Harvard, Alexander Reben, … Continue Reading
Sally Helppie, a film producer and entertainment attorney with Vincent Serafino Geary Waddell Jenevein in Dallas, and Amy E. Mitchell, an Austin-based entertainment attorney focused on music and television, discussed morals clauses during a panel last week at SXSW in Austin. “A morals clause is a contractual condition that gives one contracting party, usually a … Continue Reading
Depending on whom you talk to, the footprint you leave online, whether it is the websites you visit or the emails you send, is essentially private and shouldn’t get in the hands of advertisers or anyone else. But to others, that history is merely business—data that can be used by companies to tailor ads to … Continue Reading
Face recognition has its benefits in securing iPhones or, in the case of artificial intelligence company Kairos, its use in helping people with Alzheimer’s identify family members without feeling embarrassed or helping law enforcement identify criminals as founder and CEO Brian Brackeen said of his business’ work at a panel discussion at the Fairmont during … Continue Reading
Changes in patent law over the past five years have created some relief in the number of cases filed but big problems remain. Colleen Chien, a law professor at Santa Clara University School of Law; Evan Engstrom, executive director of Engine; U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa, a member of the House Judiciary Committee and chairman of … Continue Reading
The amount of initial coin offerings, or ICOs, has increased with the success of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies over the past two years. A lack of a government regulatory structure has created a playing field ripe for scammers.… Continue Reading
It seems everyday there is a new report about bitcoin and the amount of value it continues to generate on the market. The tremendous amount of wealth being driven into initial coin offerings, or ICOs, is creating a new generation of barons similar to the financial influence exerted by John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, and … Continue Reading
