Legal Info

Group Legal documents

News Orgs vs. AI

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Article in UPI by Stephen Feller, 7/9/26

Headline:  “News organizations call for legal sanctions against OpenAI”

“More than a dozen news organizations asked a court to sanction OpenAI for withholding evidence in lawsuits filed against the company for copyright infringement.

“The New York Times, New York Daily News, The Intercept and 14 other news organizations asked a federal court on Thursday for sanctions against the artificial intelligence company for lying about its ability to provide data showing how it has used copyrighted material to train its models.

The companies had sued OpenAI for violating copyright law by using their content to create a secondary product — its AI models — without paying for it, The New York Times and Variety reported. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2026/07/09/news-organizations-file-sanctions-openai-copyright-infringement/5221783621572/

FCC Decides What is “News”?

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Article in Poynter by Tom Jones, 7/8/26

Headline:   “Opinion | ABC reminds the FCC it already ruled ‘The View’ is news”

Subhead:  “ABC argues that if the FCC can decide what qualifies as news, it can also dictate which political candidates programs may interview”

“ABC is stepping up its fight against the Federal Communications Commission.

“In what is shaping up to be an intense battle that could have long-lasting ramifications, Disney’s ABC and the FCC continue to trade blows. It all goes back to ABC’s ‘The View’ and whether it violated what is known as the ‘equal-time rule.’ That’s the rule that says if a TV or radio program talks to someone running for political office, it must offer their opponent the same amount of time. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.poynter.org/commentary/2026/abc-the-view-fcc-fight/

Media Monopoly Struggle Continues

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Article in Reuters by Dawn Chmielewski and Jody Godoy 7/8/26

Headline:  “US states could sue next week to block Paramount-Warner Bros deal, sources say”

“U.S. states concerned that Paramount’s  $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery will hurt competition could sue to block the deal as soon as next week, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta ​has taken the lead in investigating whether the deal violates U.S. laws against mergers that would unlawfully harm ​competition. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.reuters.com/world/us-states-could-sue-next-week-block-paramount-warner-bros-deal-sources-say-2026-07-08/

Courting Defamation?

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Article in Washington Post by Scott Nover, 7/7/26

Headline:  “Judge rules for The Washington Post in $3.8B defamation suit brought by Trump Media”

Subhead:  “The social media company failed to identify convincing evidence that The Post acted with actual malice, a federal judge in Tampa ruled.”

“. . .U.S. District Judge Thomas Barber, who is based in Tampa, wrote in a summary docket entry — known as a minute order — that Trump Media “failed to present evidence that would allow a jury to find by clear and convincing evidence” that The Post “published the allegedly defamatory statements with actual malice.” Barber granted The Post’s motion for summary judgment and denied one from Trump Media. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2026/07/07/judge-rules-washington-post-38b-defamation-suit-brought-by-trump-media/

Rt. Wing Media has Pregnant Pause

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Article in Media Matters by Reed McMaster & Torri Lonergan 7/2/26

Headline:  “Right-wing media target pregnant and female travelers following SCOTUS birthright citizenship ruling”

Subhead:  “Pundits suggested refusing pregnant travelers visas, deporting “birthing-aged” women, and even sterilizing travelers entering the United States”

“After the Supreme Court upheld birthright citizenship, right-wing media proposed draconian policies to prevent travelers potentially giving birth in the United States. The policies demanded by right-wing media — which almost exclusively target female migrants — were often proposed under the guise of combating birth tourism, which the U.S. already has enforcement tools in place to prevent. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.mediamatters.org/supreme-court/right-wing-media-target-pregnant-and-female-travelers-following-scotus-birthright

Court Protects Journalists

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Article in USA Today by Maureen Groppe, 6/29/26

Headline:  “Supreme Court lets landmark journalist protection stand”

“. . .The Supreme Court on June 29 declined to revisit a landmark decision about press freedom that limited when a public figure can sue for libel or defamation. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2026/06/29/supreme-court-press-freedom-dershowitz-cnn/90298532007/

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Article in CBS News by Melissa Quin, 6/29/26

Headline:  “Supreme Court turns away Alan Dershowitz’s defamation case against CNN”

“The Supreme Court on Monday declined to take up former Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz’s case alleging CNN defamed him with its coverage of remarks made during President Trump’s 2020 impeachment trial.

“The dispute presented the high court with the chance to revisit its landmark 1964 decision in New York Times v. Sullivan, which set a high bar for public figures to win defamation lawsuits against media companies. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/supreme-court-alan-dershowitz-cnn-defamation-case/

What’s Hiding in FCC’s Safe?

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Article in Ars Technica by Jon Brodkin, 6/28/26

Headline:  “FCC accused of hiding Chairman Carr’s messages with DOGE and Musk”

Subhead:  “FCC refuses to provide messages, has ‘wasted a year’ of court’s time, filing says.”

“. . .’The evidence clearly demonstrates that the FCC has acted in bad faith by withholding documents responsive to Plaintiffs’ FOIA [Freedom of Information Act] request,’ journalist Nina Burleigh and advocacy group Frequency Forward said in a filing yesterday in US District Court for the District of Columbia. ‘The FCC acted in bad faith when it redefined the search criteria without notice to Plaintiffs or this Court. Further, the FCC acted in bad faith by concealing the fact that the Chairman Carr has a Signal account on a phone he uses to conduct government business.’. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/06/fcc-accused-of-hiding-chairman-carrs-messages-with-doge-and-musk/

Transporting Zines = Jail?

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Article in The Intercept by Seth Stern and Jeremy Busby, 6/26/26

Headline:  “30-Year Sentence for Transporting Zines Is a Five-Alarm Fire for Free Speech”

Subhead: “The harsh sentence for a defendant who wasn’t even at the Prairieland protest is likely only the start of the Trump administration’s efforts to outlaw free speech.”

“The Trump administration attacking the right to publish or report information is a given at this point. The president has threatened journalists for everything from questioning the wisdom of his failed war with Iran to touching the peeled lining of his renovated reflecting pool.

“Tantrums like those may now feel routine, but this week marked a new front in Trump’s war on information: Daniel ‘Des’ Sanchez Estrada was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison for transporting a box of zines he didn’t even write. He’s one of eight defendants sentenced on Tuesday to a combined 450 years — the first prison sentences against so-called “antifa” handed down under the framework of NSPM-7, President Donald Trump’s sweeping ‘counterterrorism’ memorandum to clamp down on dissent from the left. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://theintercept.com/2026/06/26/daniel-sanchez-estrada-zines-prairieland-free-speech/

No Source Reveal – Get Fined

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Article in The Guardian by Jeremy Barr, 6/26/26

Headline: “US reporter urges supreme court to halt ruling forcing her to reveal sources or pay $800-a-day fine”

Subhead:  “Catherine Herrridge makes final bid to stave off penalty related to series of stories she wrote in 2017 for Fox News“

“More than two years ago, a US district court judge took the extraordinary step of holding the veteran investigative journalist Catherine Herridge in civil contempt, ordering her to pay a steep daily fine of $800 per day unless she reveals her sources for a series of stories she wrote in 2017 for Fox News.

“Since then, the case has slowly moved through the appeals process, with Herridge dealt a series of defeats. On Tuesday, the US court of appeals for the District of Columbia circuit issued a one-sentence ruling denying Herridge’s plea to stay the February 2024 ruling holding her in contempt, an order made by district court judge Christopher R Cooper. . . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2026/jun/26/us-reporter-supreme-court-sources-fine

A Win or Free Speech

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Article in Daily Beast by Owen Mason-Hill 6/5/26

Headline: “John Oliver Defeats Defamation Suit After Damning Takedown”

“John Oliver’s brutal takedown of a U.S. healthcare manager who made the Last Week Tonight host want to ‘punch a hole in the wall’ has been protected by law.

U.S. District Judge Ronnie Abrams, who was appointed by President Barack Obama, dismissed a defamation suit brought against Oliver, 49, by the subject of one of his HBO show’s ‘scathing critiques’ on Tuesday.

The win maintains Last Week Tonight’s perfect record against defamation lawsuits intact. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.thedailybeast.com/obsessed/john-oliver-wins-defamation-suit-after-damning-takedown/