J385 Final Exam - Winter 2002

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Deadline: 12:00 noon., Tuesday, March 19th. No late exams will be accepted. If your exam is not in by the deadline and you have not received an extension, you will receive a failing grade of "0" for the final exam.

GRADING: We expect complete, concise, organized answers (ONE page should be adequate). You should be able to answer the questions using the book, the J385 Web site, and lecture notes; however, you are welcomed to use other authorities should you think it worthwhile.

A premium will be placed on accuracy, precision and the application of the appropriate legal standards and concepts to the questions presented. Answers that are "sort of" right will receive few points.

The questions are intended to be ambiguous. In some instances it may be quite possible to reach different conclusions concerning the outcome of a given fact situation. We are most interested in the reasoning you use to reach a conclusion. Put maximum effort into clearing explaining the law and logic you use to reach your conclusion.

The Rules:

You are free to discuss the questions with other members of the class. Friends (especially law students), parents, lawyers and others shall not be consulted.

Once you are ready to write your answers, please do it alone without any help from others.

Krystal and I will be available to discuss general questions about the class material. We will not answer any question directly related to a specific fact situation in the exam, except to clarify the facts. If you have questions, please ask, but we reserve the right to decline to answer.

1. Molly Maven is a ninety-seven-year-old woman from Anytown, Ore, a small ranching community on Eastern Oregon. Molly, the operator of a coffee shop in Anytown for more than 50 years, has become a well-recognized figure in her community and something of a local legend. In 1982, she was featured in The Oregonian and appeared on The Today Show after being elected mayor of Anytown at age 77. In the same year, the National World, a supermarket tabloid, published a story about Maven with several photos purchased from local newspapers.

One of the photos used in the National World's 1982 feature on Maven appeared again on the cover page of the October 2, 2000, edition of the National World with the headline "Granny's Wild Parties the Talk of the Town." Customers at supermarket checkout lines in Anytown who scanned the cover page of the National World saw only a picture of Molly Maven next to a headline about a "granny" who throws wild parties. Purchasers of the tabloid who turned to the story on page eleven also would have seen a second photograph of Maven next to a fictitious story about a woman named "Andrea Speaks," living in New Mexico, who is well known for hosting large, loud parties that frequently result in the police being called by neighbors. The National World made no effort to contact Maven prior to the publication of the photographs.

Molly Maven files a false light invasion of privacy suit against the National World. Will her suit be successful? YES or NO? Explain your answer.

2. Singer Larry Large had several hit songs in the 1960s. Last year, SellMore Advertising, a San Francisco ad agency created an ad campaign for Bay Beer. As part of the campaign, SellMore wanted to use Large's version of his hit song, "Down by the Bay." Large refused saying that he didn't want to be associated with a beer commercial. Since SellMore had purchased the rights to use the song (Large did not own the copyright), the agency decided to use the song in the ad campaign and find a singer who sounded like Large. The agency was successful and the ad campaign includes a version of "Down by the Bay" that sounds just like Large's original recording.

Large saw the ads and heard his song when the Bay Beer ad campaign started to air on television in San Francisco. He files an appropriation suit against SellMore Advertising and Bay Beer in a San Francisco federal district court. Will his suit be successful? YES or NO? Explain your answer.

3. Because Internet content is delivered via cable and telephone lines, which are regulated by the government, the Internet should be regulated using a broadcast model. True or False? Explain your answer.

4. Author Bill Book has written more than 20 mystery novels set in Portland, Ore. In his most recent book he developed a character named Fiona Bridget Kelly. Fiona is a criminal attorney, age 40, who defends drug dealers. She becomes involved in some questionable activities and at the end of the book loses her license to practice law. In the book, Kelly had been adopted at birth and as a minor had been convicted of shoplifting.

Shortly after the book was published, Fiona Samantha Kelly (her friends call her Sam), a 39 year-old corporate attorney in Portland who dated Book for several years in the mid-90s, filed a suit against Book. She claims that Book published private facts about her in order to embarrass her and appropriated her identity in order to sell books. Kelly acknowledges that she is adopted and admits that she was charged with stealing a car when she was 16 years old. The charges were later dropped.

Book denies any intent to embarrass. He is a fiction writer and all writers draw on their own experiences. Any resemblance between the characters in his books and real people is incidental.

Will Kelly's appropriation and private facts claims be successful? Yes or No? Explain your answer.

5. Under the test developed in Central Hudson Gas and Electric v. Public Service Commission, the First Amendment places a significant burden on the government to demonstrate that regulation of commercial speech directly advances a legitimate state interest. True or False? Explain your answer.

6. Sam Shooter is a freelance photographer. Last year he accepted an assignment from Wild Rivers Magazine to photograph a rafting trip on the Rogue River. Ten of his photos appeared in the August 2001 issue of the magazine. In September 2001, Sam received and cashed a $2,000 check for the assignment.

In January 2002, Wild Rivers published a special "collector's edition" book of the "best photos from the last 10 years" of the magazine. The book includes three of Sam's photos from the Rogue River trip. When Sam sees the book he contacts the magazine and demands payment for the use of his photos in the book. He claims that Wild Rivers purchased only "one time use" of the photographs. The magazine claims that the photographs are "work for hire" and that Sam lost control of them when he cashed the $2000 check.

Shooter sues Wild Rivers for copyright infringement. Will his suit be successful? Yes or No? Explain your answer.

7. A new advertising campaign for "Golden Glow" shampoo claims that "Golden Glow is good for the environment. It is biodegradeable."

Save Our Water (SOW), an environmental watchdog group files a complaint with the FTC claiming that the ad campaign is deceptive because Golden Glow shampoo is make with "manufactured chemicals" rather than "natural products." Golden Glow has competent and reliable scientific evidence demonstrating that the product, which is customarily disposed of in sewage systems, will break down and decompose into elements found in nature in a short period of time. SOW claims that the evidence is irrelevant.

Will the FTC find the Golden Glow campaign to be deceptive? Yes or No? Explain your answer.

8. Vicky Votegetter is the campaign manager for the Republican candidate for the U.S. Congress in the 1st Congressional District. Two weeks before the election Pete Promise, the Democratic candidate, appeared on a daily call-in talk show on KWAK-FM. During his appearance, Promise said that Votegetter is a "dishonest political operator, who always runs dishonest smear campaigns."

When Vicky Votegetter learns of Promise's appearance from one of her friends who heard the show, she demands that KWAK-FM give her equal time and the opportunity to respond to Promise's attack on her character. KWAK denies the request. Votegetter decides to file a complaint with the FCC claiming violations of the equal opportunity and personal attack provisions of the Communications Act.

Is KWAK-FM in violation of either the equal time or the personal attack rules? Yes or No? Explain your answer.