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Lohan sues for rap song she claims hurt her reputation

donal brown August 23, 2011

Lindsay Lohan is suing the rapper Pitbull and associates for mentioning her arrest record in his hit, “Give Me Everything.” The song goes “he’s got it locked up, like Lindsay Lohan.” Given her rap sheet, that seems like an innocuous reference, but Lohan claims the song released March 18 has injured her career and caused her grievous emotional distress. You would think Lohan damaged any claims to privacy by repeatedly drawing attention to herself with

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Mandated graphic images on cigarette packs raise free speech issues

donal brown August 18, 2011

A number of tobacco firms are suing the Food and Drug Administration for forcing them to put images and warnings on cigarette packs warning consumers of the dangers of smoking. Writing for the First Amendment Center, Ken Paulson highlights the importance of the lawsuit, “Courts have long upheld mandated warnings in narrow areas of consumer protection and safety, but the new FDA warnings require unprecedented levels of scope and visibility. In the end, this case

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Parody not funny to conglomerate Koch Industries

donal brown February 15, 2011

The conglomerate Koch Industries is suing Youth for Climate Truth for publishing a fake press release in their name which stated that the company was supporting climate change advocacy. Koch enterprises are minerals, oil and fertilizers. Koch is seeking damages including the cost of correcting the record created by the fake release. Public Citizen, which is defending Youth for Climate Change, said the parody qualified as political speech and protected under the First Amendment. -db

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Supreme Court to hear two cases on scope of First Amendment

donal brown January 11, 2011

The Supreme Court has consented to hear two cases on the reach of the First Amendment, one on whether a vote cast by a public official is protected and another on whether information on physicians’ prescriptions is protected. -db First Amendment Center January 11, 2011 By Tony Mauro WASHINGTON — As well-developed as First Amendment law is, a threshold question still sometimes arises in cases that make their way to the Supreme Court: What does

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Through inaction U.S. Supreme Court allows gimmicky marketing of lawyers

donal brown December 14, 2010

The Supreme Court let stand a lower court ruling overturning a portion of a New York law prohibiting the use of nicknames, trade names and other marketing slogans and gimmicks that might imply a lawyer’s unverifiable invincibility. -db The Christian Science Monitor December 13, 2010 By Warren Richey The US Supreme Court on Monday declined to take up the thorny issue of how far lawyers may go when seeking to attract clients through whimsical and

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