Month: January 2017

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Opening Arguments - OA34: The “Fallout” Over Copyright

Today's episode is a mini-masterclass on Copyright.  We begin by answering a question from listener Sue Barnum who asks if a simple list can be copyrighted. After that, we move to the main discussion over the Copyright Act and the "fair use" defense, using as an illustration the recent story where CNN appropriated the graphic from the hit videogame Fallout 4 to illustrate a story about Russian hacking.  Did this violate copyright law?  Or was CNN's activity "fair use" of the game screen? Next, we answer a fun listener question from Damian Kumor about the portrayal of law in media.  What's Andrew's favorite obscure legal TV show?  Listen and find out! Finally, we end with Thomas Takes the Bar Exam question #6 about prenuptial agreements.  Remember that TTTBE issues a new question every Friday, followed by the answer on next Tuesday's show.  Don't forget to play along by following our Twitter feed (@Openargs) and quoting the tweet that announces this episode along with your guess and reason(s)! Show Notes & Links
  1. Here's the text of Feist Publications v. Rural Telephone Service Co., Inc., 499 U.S. 340 (1991).
  2. This article from cnet explained CNN's use of the Fallout 4 graphic.
  3. The Copyright Act of 1976 is codified at 17 U.S.C. § 101 et seq.
  4. Learn about the incredibly low-rated cancelled TV show "Justice" at its IMDB page.
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The Gist - How Should We Talk About Whiteness?

This week, race was front and center at the confirmation hearing for Trump’s attorney general nominee, Jeff Sessions. Cory Booker and the head of the NAACP testified that Sessions’ history of alleged racist comments and his voting record suggested he could not fairly uphold the rights of all Americans. The Alabama senator fired back that he was not a racist and had fought to honor historical figures like Rosa Parks. The whole affair raised questions about how to discuss race, “whiteness,” and issues of identity politics in the Trump era. Marc Lamont Hill is a professor at Morehouse College, a frequent commentator on CNN, and a host for BET News. His new book is Nobody: Casualties of America’s War on the Vulnerable, From Ferguson to Flint and Beyond.

In the Spiel, Kellyanne Conway’s war on the media.

Today’s sponsor:

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Bay Curious - Why Aren’t There Any Strip Clubs in the East Bay?

In the 1960s, San Francisco was in the midst of a sexual revolution. Officials across the Bay in Oakland wanted none of it.


Reported by Adizah Eghan. Produced and edited by Olivia Allen-Price, Vinnee Tong, Paul Lancour, Suzie Racho and Julia McEvoy. Theme music by Pat Mesiti-Miller.


Ask us a question at BayCurious.org.


Follow Olivia Allen-Price on Twitter @oallenprice.

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Pod Save America - “We had plenty of ethical fun.”

Jon and Dan talk about Obama's farewell and Trump's press conference. Then, former Obama ethics czar Norm Eisen joins to talk about Trump's decision to retain ownership of his business empire.


For a closed-captioned version of this episode, please visit crooked.com/podsaveamerica. 

For a transcript of this episode, please email transcripts@crooked.com and include the name of the podcast.


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The Gist - Twenty-Four Grueling Hours in Trumpland

Between the shady unverified intelligence dossier, Trump’s strange press conference, and the Rex Tillerson hearings, this has been a head-spinning 24 hours. We called up Slate’s War Stories correspondent Fred Kaplan to make sense of it all. Kaplan is most recently the author of Dark Territory: The Secret History of Cyber War. 

In the Spiel, an analysis of President Obama’s farewell and the meaning of activism. 

Today’s sponsor:

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SCOTUScast - Czyzewski v. Jevic Holding Corporation – Post-Argument SCOTUScast

On December 7, 2016, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in Czyzewski v. Jevic Holding Corporation. Jevic Transportation, Inc., a trucking company headquartered in New Jersey, was purchased by a subsidiary of Sun Capital Partners in 2006. In 2008 Jevic filed for bankruptcy under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code, at which that point it owed about $73 million to various creditors. Jevic’s former truck drivers then sued it for violating federal and state Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Acts, by failing to provide the requisite 60 days’ notice before a layoff. Separately, unsecured creditors filed a fraudulent conveyance action. In March 2012, representatives of all the major parties met to negotiate a settlement of the fraudulent conveyance suit. The representatives--except for the drivers’ representative--agreed to a settlement that would provide for payment of legal and administrative fees, a schedule for the payment of various creditors (though not the drivers), and ultimately a “structured dismissal” of the Chapter 11 bankruptcy. -- The drivers and US Trustee objected, arguing that the settlement would improperly distribute estate property to creditors with lower priority than the drivers, in violation of the Bankruptcy Code. The Bankruptcy Court rejected these objections and approved the proposed settlement. The U.S. District Court and then the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit affirmed, holding that the Bankruptcy Court had not abused its discretion in approving a structured dismissal that did not adhere strictly to the Bankruptcy Code’s priority scheme. -- The question now before the U.S. Supreme Court is whether a bankruptcy court may authorize the distribution of settlement proceeds in a manner that violates the statutory priority scheme. -- To discuss the case, we have Thomas Plank, who is the Joel A. Katz Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of Tennessee College of Law.
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The Gist - How the Onion Remade Joe Biden

If you’ve been reading the Onion the past eight years, you know that Vice President Joe Biden is a hair metal–loving party machine. He’s set up a fog machine at the State of the Union address. He’s regaled crowds with stories from his historic summer of ’87. And he’s been busted many, many times for his shady side hustles. Chad Nackers, head writer at the Onion, talks about how his site created a whole new character to satirize Obama’s tee-totaling vice-president, and the delicate balancing act of finding jokes that don’t normalize the next president.  For the Spiel, don’t worry, the Amazon Echo won’t turn on you, Space Odyssey–style. It’ll just order stuff you don’t want. 

Today’s sponsors:

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