Quiz Preview 2, Communication & Mass Media - Journalism

1

Courts that have addressed the issue of whether Internet service providers can be forced under subpoena in civil lawsuits to reveal the identity of people who post anonymous messages on the internet

2

Which of the following was not true of new journalism?

3

For a search to have occurred, government agents must make physical entry into someone’s property.

4

The Supreme Court first ruled that the First Amendment provided some protection from government regulation of commercial speech in a case involving ______.

5

FTC opinion letters are ______.

6

In Sorrell v. IMS Health Inc., the Supreme Court established that government regulation of advertising ______.

7

When courts apply the post-Sorrell Central Hudson test, they ______.

8

Which of the following is not an FTC measure that may be used to control false advertising?

9

Which of the following is not part of the Central Hudson test?

10

In 1975, the U.S. Supreme Court in Bigelow v. Virginia held that commercial speech ______.

11

The U.S. Supreme Court has listed a number of factors for courts to consider in determining whether a person acted as an employee so that the works were made for hire. List at least three of the six factors.

12

In deciding the false advertising suit brought by POM Wonderful against Coca-Cola, the Supreme Court held that ______.

13

Answer the following statements true (T) or false (F)

in Communication & Mass Media

1. The length of time a copyright lasts is the only important legal difference between an individual and a corporation holding a copyright.
2. A news story reporting an automobile accident can receive copyright protection. But the underlying facts—the accident itself—cannot be copyrighted.
3. The law does not give copyright protection to words and phrases, including advertising slogans and titles of books, movies, and television programs. These lack sufficient originality to qualify for copyright protection. However, a trademark can protect these creations.
4. Plagiarism commonly means using others’ ideas without attribution. But when someone’s work is sufficiently similar to another’s creation—copying a novel’s plot, using similar fictional characters, or replicating another’s interpretation of historical facts, for example—plagiarism becomes a copyright law violation.
5. Generic words are eligible for trademark protection.

14

Answer the following statements true (T) or false (F)

15

At the federal level, consumers are protected from false and misleading advertising by ______.

16

Which word or phrase applies to the requirement that advertisers must verify or prove their claims?

17

What is trademark tacking?

18

The Supreme Court’s commercial speech decisions in 2014 make clear that the application of the commercial speech doctrine to corporate speech is ______.

19

Answer the following statements true (T) or false (F)

20

In thanks for all her work on his current research, Prof. Jones gives his graduate student Leslie the notes he wrote about his last research project. Jones said to Leslie, “These notes are yours to keep.” Needing money to complete her education, Leslie decides to arrange with a book publisher to publish Jones’s notes. Jones is a very famous scientist. A book reprinting Jones’s notes likely would sell well. Do Leslie and the book publisher have the right to publish Jones’s notes?

21

Which of the following was Congress’s attempt to integrate the internet and other digital media more squarely into U.S. copyright law?

22

Answer the following statements true (T) or false (F)

23

Define the Transmit Clause.

24

Answer the following statements true (T) or false (F)

25

Many of the court decisions in the area of commercial speech involve advertising and labeling of ______.

26

Which of the following is not true about the CAN-SPAM Act?

27

The FTC defines puffery as ______.

28

Which of the following is the backbone of U.S. copyright law?

29

State the two categories of measures available to the Federal Trade Commission to oversee advertising, and provide one example of each.

30

Which word or phrase applies to the agreement between the FTC and an advertiser in which specific terms of future conduct are stipulated?

31

The current obscenity test requires that to be found obscene, material must ______.

32

The federal Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act ______.

33

The FTC distinguishes between false and misleading advertising and puffery. Define the two categories.

False and misleading advertising: A Federal Trade Commission policy statement establishes the three-part federal definition of false and misleading advertising: (1) First, there must be a representation, omission, or practice that is likely to mislead the consumer. (2) Second, we examine the practice from the perspective of a consumer acting reasonably in the circumstances. If the representation or practice affects or is directed primarily to a particular group, the commission examines reasonableness from the perspective of that group. (3) Third, the representation, omission, or practice must be a “material” one. The basic question is whether the act or practice is likely to affect the consumer’s product choice or purchase. Puffery: advertising that exaggerates the merits of products or services in such a way that no reasonable person would take the claim seriously.

34

Courts define commercial speech as ______.

35

The most distinctive category of trademarks is ______.

36

The current test used in the United States to determine if material is obscene ______.

37

Under what condition does the commercial speech doctrine permit government regulation of truthful, nonmisleading advertising for legal goods and services?

38

When false or misleading advertising may lead to immediate harm, the Federal Trade Commission has ______.

39

According to the Supreme Court’s decision in Paroline v. United States, which of the following is true (related to victims of child pornography)?

40

Under the Hicklin v. Regina definition, material was obscene if it ______.

41

In Sorrell v. IMS Health Inc., the Supreme Court reviewed a state law prohibiting the sale of doctors’ prescription records (tracking consumer trends) to marketing and data-mining firms. The Court agreed that the regulation targeted economic activity and infringed on commercial speech. The majority applied strict scrutiny to strike down the regulation as an unconstitutional content-based and viewpoint-based regulation. Discuss the reasoning of the dissent to explain why this ruling is significant and how it changes the commercial speech doctrine.

Answers should include the following points: (1) Since Central Hudson, the Court generally has applied a form of intermediate scrutiny to give commercial speech lesser First Amendment protection than core political speech. (2) Precedent since Central Hudson recognizes that corporations do not have First Amendment rights equal to those of people. (3) Precedent since Central Hudson recognizes that government has greater latitude to regulate this noncore speech to protect important consumer safety, health, and welfare. (4) Justice Kennedy’s opinion for the majority applies reasoning and the Court’s most rigorous test—strict scrutiny, which has been used in cases of threats to government interests of the highest order. Some would argue that prior rulings do not indicate that the interest here (the interest of corporations in obtaining government-held records on consumer practices) does not meet that standard. (5) The majority opinion applies reasoning similar to that employed in Citizens United, which seemed to elevate the First Amendment protection of corporate speech to the level of political speech. (6) However, the majority continues to say that the Central Hudson test applies to commercial speech regulation. The result, therefore, is increased uncertainty about the protection of commercial speech and (likely) the continued enhancement of First Amendment protection for corporations and commercial speech.

42

The First Amendment protection for commercial speech is ______.

43

You are chosen to edit the university yearbook. One of your staff members has chosen a 500-word excerpt to use on the yearbook’s first page. The excerpt is from a short novel (125 pages) that was published last summer and won every prestigious award given to books in Fall 2013. The excerpt seems to sum up the whole point of the novel, but would be perfect as the introduction to the yearbook. You question your staff member about the excerpt, and she says, “No, I didn’t bother to get permission to reprint it. I remember in media law class something was said about not needing permission to use just a little of something.” If the novel’s author (or publisher) sues the yearbook for copyright infringement, what would your best defense be? Would your defense be successful? Why or why

Your staff member likely is referring to the “fair use” defense, which allows the use of copyrighted material without permission under some circumstances. Fair use existed as a defense to a copyright infringement suit under the 1909 Act, but it was a defense developed by courts rather than being written into the Act. The 1976 Act included the fair use defense and incorporated the test that courts have used. First, what is the purpose of the use? Fair use is for “such purposes as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship or research.” It is not for ordinary commercial uses. Does a yearbook fall into one of the fair use categories? [Argue yes or no.] Second, what is the nature of the copyrighted work? Here, it is a novel, from which the author apparently intends to make money. Third, what is the amount of the copyrighted work used in relation to the whole? Here, 500 words out of 125 pages. Most novels are several hundred pages. But 125 pages still contain several thousand words. [Argue how significant the quoted portion is to the whole.] There also is the question as to the importance of the quoted portion. Is it such a crucial part of the book that it is unnecessary to read the rest of the book? If it sums up the point of the book, it may be unnecessary to read any more of the book. The Harper & Row v. The Nation case is pertinent for both these questions. Fourth, what is the effect of the unauthorized use on the potential market for, or value of, the copyrighted work? Could it be argued that publication in a college yearbook—which is not very widely distributed—would not have much impact on sales of the novel? Or is there an argument that someone who reads the excerpt might want to buy the book?

44

Explain the must-carry and retransmission consent rules.

From the Cable Television Consumer Protection and Competition Act of 1992, it applies to the carriage of broadcast stations on cable, DBS, and all MVPD systems. The 1992 law prohibits cable, DBS, and MVPDs from retransmitting a broadcast station without the broadcaster’s explicit permission. Instead, broadcasters have the ability to negotiate with the MVPD for carriage. The 1992 law allows broadcasters to negotiate with cable systems to permit retransmission of their content generally for a fee and did not give the FCC authority to force broadcasters to consent to carriage. This is retransmission consent.
Because not all broadcast channels were popular enough to be sought after by an MVPD, the law also granted broadcasters the option to require MVPDs to carry their programming rather than negotiating for retransmission. Must carry, also called the cable carriage requirement, means that if a broadcast station chooses must-carry status it will not be dropped from an MVPD’s channel lineup. By asserting its must-carry rights, the broadcaster cannot demand payment for its content from the system operator.

45

In deciding to allow POM Wonderful to pursue a false advertising lawsuit against Coca-Cola, the Supreme Court discussed the Lanham Act, Food and Drug Administration rules, and Federal Trade Commission rules. What does this indicate about the current state of federal oversight of false advertising.

46

The Federal Communications Commission’s rules on broadcast advertising apply ______.

47

The Supreme Court ruled that the First Amendment imposed no limits to government regulation of purely commercial speech ______.

48

Members of Congress have received numerous complaints about an off-road vehicle called “Liferisk.” It has three balloon-tire wheels and a 200 horsepower engine. It is designed to drive over any surface at speeds up to 80 miles per hour. Several people have been killed when their Liferisks overturned, and a number of others have been injured. Congress debated forbidding the manufacture of Liferisk, but it is made by an American company and is exported quite successfully overseas, thereby helping America’s balance of payments. Instead, Congress made it illegal to advertise Liferisk in the United States. (No one argues Liferisk’s ads are misleading or deceptive.) Liferisk’s manufacturer asks a federal court to declare the law a violation of the manufacturer’s First Amendment

The court should apply the Central Hudson Gas & Electric v. Public Service Commission test as modified by the SUNY v. Fox case: (a) Does the advertisement have any First Amendment protection? Here, the product being advertised is not an illegal one. Congress specifically chose not to outlaw its manufacture. Assuming the ads are not deceptive or misleading, the ads have some level of First Amendment protection. (b) Is the interest the government is trying to protect a substantial one? The interest is an important one—preventing further deaths and injuries. (c) Does the regulation directly advance the government’s interest? It is arguable that eliminating advertising of the product in America will reduce the demand for the product. The Supreme Court accepted this type of argument in Posadas de Puerto Rico v. Tourism Co. (d) Is there a reasonable fit between the regulation and the government’s interest? As to this prong of the test, although there is a fit between banning the ads and trying to prevent death and injury, there may be other methods with a less sweeping impact on the First Amendment. Congress could ban the making of the vehicles. Or it could require that warnings be given to prospective buyers. Or it could prohibit the manufacturer from selling the vehicles until they are made safer. However, after Posadas and Fox, it may be that the Supreme Court would not find a ban on advertising as being too broad. In that case, the ban would stand.

49

In recent years, the FTC has ______.