The Washington Journal of Law, Technology & Arts (LTA Journal) has published its Winter 2014 Issue. The LTA Journal publishes concise legal analysis aimed at practicing attorneys on a quarterly basis.

In the issue’s first article, “The Internet and the Constitution: A Selective Perspective,” the Honorable M. Margaret McKeown of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit offers her retrospective thoughts on the ways courts have handled constitutional issues in Internet cases. She also discusses some of the challenges currently facing courts and legislators alike as the U.S. legal system incorporates and accommodates Internet-based technologies and the societal, commercial, governmental, and relational changes they spawn.

The issue’s second article was written by John Morgan and Veronica Sandoval and is titled “Pacific Northwest Perspective: The Impact of the America Invents Act on Nonprofit Global Health Organizations.” The article explores the effects of the AIA on nonprofit research organizations dedicated to global health and life sciences, and reports the perspectives of counsel representing such organizations throughout the Pacific Northwest.

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“We’re Number One!”

By Chris Young

On Thursday, March 20, 2014, the Turkish government, through a court-order, announced that it would block local access to Twitter’s website.. The move came amidst a corruption scandal and nine days before local elections. The initial ban operated at the Domain Name System (“DNS”) level (A domain name may serve as a proxy for a given website’s Internet Protocol (“IP”) resource). Here, the Turkish government has decided that its citizens are not entitled to access a website that provides a communicative network for 200 million folks across the globe.

The following Saturday, March 22, the government acknowledged that regaining control of political expression may have been a possible motive, stating that Twitter has allowed “systematic character assassinations.” Worse yet in the government’s estimation, Twitter has allegedly failed to remove offensive content that the Turkish court order characterized as defamation. But some commentators have suggested that this is actually a clever move meant to signal to Twitter that if it means to do business in Turkey, it must establish a presence in-country, becoming more economically and legally accountable for misuse. The problem with this strategy is that the ban doesn’t seem to be effective.

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By Annie Allison

Getty Images recently announced that it will stop charging (and in some cases suing) for non-commercial uses of its copyrighted imagery and will start allowing bloggers and social-media users embed stock pictures in a controllable way. Getty’s new strategy will allow anyone to select an image and copy a code to use that image on their own website. While proponents cheer Getty for adapting to the rapidly evolving online marketplace, others question what the costs of these free images may be on privacy.

Craig Peters, senior vice president of business development, content and marketing at Getty Images explained the reasoning for the company’s shift in approach: “It’s incredibly easy to find content online and simply right-click to utilize it. … The vast majority of infringement in this space happen[s] with self-publishers who typically don’t know anything about copyright.”

Under its new strategy, Getty Images will serve the image much like YouTube currently does with its videos and will include the full copyright information and a link back to the image’s dedicated licensing page. “There’s a value for Getty Images and the content owners,” says Peters. “We’ll have access to the information on who and how that image is being used and viewed, and we’ll… utilize that data to the benefit of our business.”

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