Updates from Organizations - Government agencies - Advertise Various Artists

Romney sets Feb. 15 for U.S. Senate annoucement

By Bryan Schott, Managing Editor

After months of speculation, Mitt Romney says he will finally make an announcement about the upcoming US Senate race in Utah on February 15.

Romney posted the date of his announcement on Twitter and pointed to his mittromney.com website. 

Read more...

Lawmakers considering 'SB54-ing' medical marijuana ballot initiative

By Bryan Schott, Managing Editor

Utah lawmakers may attempt to head off the proposed ballot initiative to legalize medical marijuana by using the same tactics they employed when "Count My Vote" was threatening to head to the ballot in 2014.

UtahPolicy.com has learned that some legislators are considering a move that has been dubbed "SB54-ing" the medical cannabis proposal.

Read more...

Interview Resource: What BMG v Cox Decision Today Means for ISPs and Copyright Owners

As you may know, today the 4th Circuit issued an important ruling regarding liability of internet service providers (ISPs) for copyright infringement committed at the hands of their customers. J. Michael Keyes is a partner at the international law firm Dorsey & Whitney. Keyes is an intellectual property attorney with extensive trial and litigation experience in cases involving trademarks, copyrights, unfair competition and false advertising. He has tried several cases in federal courts across the United States. Recently, Mike and his team obtained a final judgment and permanent injunction in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida on behalf of Rovio Entertainment, Ltd., the creator of Angry Birds®.  Of the decision today he says, "First, the Court reaffirmed that in order for ISPs to be immune from money damages for copyright infringement committed by their subscribers, the ISPs must have a reasonably effective policy to terminate internet access of “repeat infringers.” The Court upheld the decision that Cox’s policy was deficient and, therefore, it was not immune from potential liability for the alleged copyright sins of its subscribers," Keyes says. 

"Second, the Court overturned the $25 million dollar verdict in favor of BMG due to a defective jury instruction.  The trial court instructed the jury that Cox could be held liable for the infringement of its subscribers if it “knew or should have known about the infringement.”  The Court held that standard was a bit too lax and that copyright holders need to show that either the ISP knew of the infringement or was “willfully blind” regarding same," Keyes says. 

Keyes says there are a couple of takeaways from this case and its impact: 

"ISPs need to be mindful that they must have a reasonably effective policy in place for terminating internet access to those customers that are “repeat infringers.”   “Repeat infringers” are not defined as those individuals that have been adjudicated as serial offenders of our copyright laws by a judge or other tribunal.  Instead, it more likely means that if there is credible evidence that a particular user has repeatedly infringed copyrights owned by a third party, the ISP will need to have a policy in place to ensure such customers are denied internet access," Keyes says. 

"Under this decision, copyright owners are no longer able to pin liability on ISPs by relying on evidence that ISPs “should have known” that their customers were engaged in copyright infringement.  In order for contributory liability to attach, copyright owners will arguably need to meet a higher threshold.  They will have to establish that the ISP knew about the infringement or was willfully blind to it.  That could make contributory liability claims against ISPs a bit more difficult to establish as a factual matter," Keyes says. 

===========================