UCLA Flails Amid Pro-Palestine Group's Planned Conference, While L.A.'s City Council Goes Full Stupid

from the inconveniently-free-speech dept

Those of you who geek out over trademark law like me may have seen the recent dust-up between UCLA and a group called National Students for Justice in Palestine this past week. I had intended on writing something up about the whole thing because of how blatantly stupid it was. The pro-Palestinian group has a chapter at UCLA and it is hosting a conference in the future, for which it put out some promotional materials that feature a bear flying a kite with the colors of the Palestinian flag and dared to mention that the conference was being held at UCLA. For this, UCLA lawyers sent a cease and desist to SJP, claiming that the way the promo material displayed the UCLA name and its use of bear imagery created confusion in the public suggesting that the school was affiliated with the conference.

UCLA argues that SJP’s “use of the ‘UCLA’ name” and use of “the UCLA mascot of the Bruin Bear in a logo/digital poster” effectively claims, suggests, or implies an “affiliation with” UCLA. The university says the group may state where the conference will be held (“at UCLA”) if the font size for the word “UCLA” is “no larger than the font used for the remainder of the communication.” Failing compliance, UCLA expressly threatens to cancel the event.

Not for the first time, a California university is wielding a pretty clearly unconstitutional law, one designed to give California universities sweeping powers to keep the public from mentioning school names, even if in an entirely accurate manner. No room is made for fair us, while schools have the authority under this state law to put in all kinds of silly restrictions, such as the font size restriction mentioned above.

What kept me from writing this up initially is that the school quickly signaled it would reversed course after SJP made minor changes to the promotional material. Oh, and after the ACLU got involved.

Tod M. Tamberg, a spokesman for UCLA told NBC News in an email on Wednesday “it was never about the bear all by itself” and that it appreciated the groups [sic] alteration to remove the UCLA name. The university, which threatened to cancel the conference, also said that the event would go on as scheduled.

“As you may have heard, some members of the Jewish community have been sharply critical of upcoming conference, demanding that UCLA move to cancel it,” the school said in statement provided by Tamberg. “As a public university, UCLA is legally bound to comply with the First Amendment, which protects everyone’s right to express their views, even those that are offensive and hateful or that the university opposes.”

Yes, it certainly does. Now, many have levied claims of hate speech against SJP. These claims, however you might agree or disagree with them, tend to be fairly laughable. If the best you can trot out is the following to claim a whole group is a hate group, you're not going to meet any kind of First Amendment bar.

In an Oct. 11 letter to UCLA chancellor Gene Block, [State] Rep. Sherman argued that speech on the National SJP website “may very well constitute anti-Semitism” as defined by the State Department — a definition Sherman says was “recently adopted” by the Department of Education “for enforcement purposes.” Sherman’s letter highlights three particular examples contained in that definition, including “claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor,” applying “double standards” to Israel by “requiring of it a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation,” and “[d]rawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis.”

None of that is hate speech, no matter what some silly State Department missive might suggest. Words matter, after all, and we can no more accept that the kind of political speech above, even if you disagree with it, is hate speech any more than we can condone the government crying terrorism anytime it's convenient. It also seems obvious to me that if you replaced this pro-Palestinian group with a pro-Israel group, we never would have heard this story at all. Argue with that if you like, but you're wrong.

And, yet, the L.A. City Council is now getting involved in the stupidest way possible, passing a resolution that first acknowledges UCLA's need to adhere to free speech rights and then somehow calling for the cancellation of this conference entirely.

Add the City of Los Angeles to the government actors calling on UCLA to cancel the convention. While dubious California statutes and trademark concerns falter, the Los Angeles City Council has issued an internally incoherent resolution recognizing that the university has First Amendment obligations while demanding that the conference be canceled, First Amendment be damned.

The resolution, embedded below, was unanimously adopted with the “concurrence” of Mayor Eric Garcetti. The resolution cites UCLA’s “responsibility to allow freedom of speech,” but quickly skips past the pesky nuances of the First Amendment to demand that UCLA “cancel and ban” the conference because it would be “inappropriate” to host the conference “given the atmosphere in the country.” The resolution also concludes that there is “never a good time to have this type of event.”

Follow along with me in a resolution too dumb to make up: UCLA needs to protect free speech on campus, but it should cancel this conference given the current political climate and some tragedies that happened on the other side of the country, and, oh, also there will never, ever be a climate in which this conference should take place. The speed with which the city council and mayor got from "we acknowledge free speech rights" to "we can never allow these people those free speech rights" is breathtaking.

And fundamentally stupid, given that these are people in government we're talking about. Frankly, the flailing UCLA administration that once attempted to trademark bully SJP for no good reason comes out looking way better than the City Council for Los Angeles. It's also worth noting that for all the hand-wringing that takes place over the type of political speech allowed on campus by a certain segment of our population, it's been complete crickets when it comes to defending a pro-Palestinian group's rights.

One might nearly call that racist, were there not the worry that such a call would be labeled "hate speech."

Filed Under: 1st amendment, conference, free speech, los angeles, national students for justice in palestine, palestine, trademark
Companies: ucla

RSA Tried To Get TrustyCon Booted

from the petty-in-the-extreme dept

Last week was the massive RSA conference, with an estimated 30,000 attendees at San Francisco's Moscone Center (the big local conference venue). As we had mentioned, to protest the news that the NSA had paid $10 million to RSA to promote a compromised crypto standard, a bunch of security experts canceled their appearance, with many then going on to set up Trustycon, a much smaller conference on technology and security, to be held right across the street from Moscone at the Metreon movie theater. Trustycon announced that it quickly sold out of the 400 tickets available, but apparently RSA decided to try to get them kicked out of their venue.

A report in the NYTimes notes that RSA officials called the Metreon to claim that Trustycon attendees would be involved in protests and that it shouldn't allow the event to go on:

The organizers of a rival conference, called TrustyCon, which was organized following revelations that RSA had been paid by the N.S.A., said they had spent much of the past weekend persuading executives from the Metreon — another big, downtown center next to the Moscone — not to kick them out of their conference space. The Metreon was set to house the TrustyCon conference on Thursday but Metreon’s management began to grow concerned after they received calls from RSA’s conference organizers.

The RSA organizers warned the Metreon that TrustyCon attendees were arranging a huge boycott on their premises. In the end, the TrustyCon conference was able to proceed Thursday without a hitch.

Talk about extreme pettiness. RSA is the giant in this situation, and despite pretending to address the controversy, it actually did little to deal with the reported claims at all. The least it could have done is been gracious to those who set up TrustyCon. Instead, it apparently chose to be vindictive and petty. It says a lot about the way in which RSA views the world.

Filed Under: conference, rsa, security, trustycon

A Conference All About Art On The Web

from the ruckus dept

Kevin Clark, a musician who has done some neat things that we've written about in the past, has been working on a cool series of events in NYC recently, called RUCKUS NYC, trying to bring together a variety of artists who are using the web to their advantage. Of course, it's not just a gathering, but a concert as well. He's also running a Kickstarter campaign, seeking support for the event, which looks quite cool. That campaign ends soon if you'd like to help out and support it.

Art matters. And it’s hard. So we’re bringing a bunch of amazing people together to talk about how they make their art, get it online, and build a career.

We’re artists ourselves. And the changing digital tools, the power (or not) of the old system, and the pressures of the economy are all big, scary issues for us. We’re building RUCKUS NYC to help each other find a way forward.

We've been seeing more and more stories of artists looking forward, rather than backwards. Of looking at opportunities, rather than looking for a place to point the blame finger in a changing market place. It's nice to see positive events like this one springing up.

Filed Under: art, conference, kevin clark, ruckus

Intervention: The Conference Celebrating Internet Creativity

from the we-need-more-of-this dept

This is a guest post from James Harknell about an event he's putting on that we thought would be of interest to folks who like Techdirt

Anyone who is a reader of Techdirt knows that we are in a time of publishing disruption -- one that has the potential to cause a huge repressive backlash to this wonderful thing we now call the Internet. Everyone from governments, legacy publishing companies, and large IP and patent warehouses are trying to figure out a way to clamp down on the ability for new business models, and even regular people, to compete using this new egalitarian international distribution system. It simply caught them entirely by surprise, and now they want to kill it or regulate it to their sole advantage.

So how do you fight back against this looming threat? Like Techdirt and many other rallying websites, you bring people together to talk and build a strong community of informed creators and fans. Mike and the other contributors to this site are doing an excellent job of doing this online, but there is also a benefit to physically bringing people together to discuss these issues and work directly as a community.

This is part of why we created the yearly event Intervention. Onezumi and I started Intervention (a combo of the words "Internet" + "Convention") in 2010 as an outgrowth of our own online work in webcomics -- an area of internet creativity that has led to multi-million dollar business entities and phenomenal crowdsourced kickstarter campaigns, and has made many fully self-employed independent artists a living in its short history. While many other types of events have online artists as guests, and also some related programming, none were specifically designed around the needs of the DIY and indie online artist crowd.

Besides the combo of words that created the name Intervention, we chose the name for exactly what it represents -- an Intervention to both the business world and the creative world; a notice to those who refuse to acknowledge that things have changed and business adaption is needed for survival, and a call to action to artists who feel that they aren't good enough or capable enough to succeed on their own. This is your Intervention, a yearly place for you to learn and teach, to build a community of like minded artists, and to pass along your knowledge to the world and be a spotlight on the possibilities that the internet offers -- and to show what can be easily lost if we choose not to fight to keep it.

Our next event is scheduled this September 21-23rd in Rockville, Maryland. We hope that you can attend and help us grow this important conversation and be a part of "Your Online Life, In-Person."

Filed Under: conference, intervention, publishing

Cool Ideas: The World's First Flattrable Conference

from the forget-feedback-forms... dept

We've been using Flattr on the site for a little over a year now, and I'm planning to do a writeup about our experiences with the service shortly. If you weren't aware of it, Flattr is a very neat, extremely simple, way of monetarily supporting content that you like. As I noted in my initial writeup of the service, Flattr is very clever in how it gets rid of the traditional "transaction costs" problem of most micropayments system, in that each month you just have a set amount that you've already agreed to spend, and each Flattr merely divides up that pie by one more slice.

It's been interesting to see the service evolve -- especially watching as it went from closed beta to open so that anyone can use it. If you haven't yet signed up, you should at least check it out. But one of the more interesting things in how it has evolved are the unexpected ways in which the service can be used. Take, for example, a fantastic looking conference taking place in Sweden later this month, put on by Media Evolution, called The Conference (which I had wanted to attend, but was unable to make). The conference organizers have set it up so that pretty much everything at the conference is "Flattrable." Like a speaker? Flattr him/her. Like an entire session? You can Flattr it through the app or directly via QR codes around the event. See someone ask a smart question? Ask to see their badge, and you can Flattr them directly.

As far as I know, this is the first time this has been done like this and, as with any experiment, you never know for sure how it will work out, but I think it's a pretty cool experiment and I hope that it goes well. I look forward to finding out from the organizers some of what they learn from the experiment.

Filed Under: conference, flattr, payment, rewards
Companies: flattr

Big Patent Holders & Big Patent Law Firms Bring Judges To Belgium For Boondoggle...

from the conflict-of-interest? dept

Capitalist Lion Tamer points us to the troubling news that an organization of patent holders has organized a conference and is flying in a bunch of judges who deal with patent issues from around the globe to hang out with them at a conference for a few days. As Kevin Outterson notes, this seems like a major conflict of interest:

Does anyone see a conflict of interest when the world’s richest patent owners fly judges from all over the world to a 3-day conference in Brussels?  Here's the lede:

Bringing nearly 100 judges from more than 30 countries to Europe.  Sharing experiences among patent-experienced judges from many countries and between the patent bench and bar.

This gathering won't hear from patent skeptics.  The Platinum sponsors are Akin Gump, Du Pont, ExxonMobil, Finnegan, P&G and Johnson & Johnson.  The program committee is unabashedly pro-IP.  No voice for the public domain; MSF, Oxfam, Jamie Love, Sean Flynn and other public interest voices aren't on the program

I'm fine with IP maximalists holding conferences; I'm worried when judges from around the planet are wined and dined while hearing only a pro-IP point of view.

I agree that this is quite troubling. The conference is being organized in part by perhaps the most powerful US patent judge, the chief judge of CAFC, Randall Rader. Rader's a very interesting guy, a fantastic speaker and extremely entertaining -- but he has a huge blind spot when it comes to understanding how patents are regularly used to stifle innovation. Perhaps that explains why the conference that he supposedly helped put together appears to feature none of the many top voices who are worried about where the patent system is today.

Perhaps even more troubling, as Outterson points out, is that this conference -- again, supposedly with Rader's support -- is being sold to patent lawyers (who have to pay $1475 plus travel and lodging to attend) as a way to get access to the very judges who will be handling their cases:

Conference attendees will have an opportunity to share experiences with nearly one hundred judges from around the world. Beginning with a welcome reception on Monday, judges will attend sessions and social events with intellectual property law attorneys and other interested parties.

As Outterson notes, this "sounds like buying social access to IP judges to me." It seems shameful that Rader would allow his name and reputation to be used for such things. It's equally shameful that USPTO boss David Kappos is appearing at the event. Again, it's fine to have events discussing IP issues, and even fine for patent system supporters to put together their own conferences. But it's troubling when the event is presented as a way to access judges, and all of the sponsors and organizers seem to have a particular view on the state of patent law today, which is seriously contrasted by actual evidence and research in the market.

Filed Under: conference, conflict of interest, judges, patents, randall rader

Discount Tickets Available To SF MusicTech

from the join-us dept

On December 7th in San Francisco, there will be the next SF MusicTech Summit, which is a great event that I've been to a few times before. It really does a great job covering technology and business models that are impacting the music industry in a very positive, productive way. I've had some of the best conversations about the industry with folks at that event. I'll be there again, taking part on a panel, and the organizers have agreed to let Techdirt readers have a 15% discount on tickets if ordered through our site. I hope to see you there.

Filed Under: conference, sf music tech

Old Music Conference Shuts Down, Blames 'Piracy'; New, Better Event Shows Up Instead

from the bottom-up dept

This is really great. Wolfgang Senges writes in to update us on how a group of passionate people who believe in a more bottom up approach to reinventing the music industry were able to put together a fantastic looking music conference in just weeks, called all2gethernow (disclosure: they asked me to come and present, but I was unable to make it). The story behind the event is that Popkomm, one of the bigger recording industry events, held in Germany each year, was canceled this year, with the guy behind it blaming "piracy" rather than, say, the economy and structural changes in the industry. A bunch of folks in Germany who knew better decided to show Popkomm's organizers how to organize a better event these days, and scrambled, pulling together a fun-looking event to be held at the exact same time as Popkomm had originally been scheduled. I'm sorry I couldn't attend, as it really looks like it should be an excellent event. Either way, it shows not only how events can work, but how the whole industry is shifting. The top-down model is changing, and the bottom up one, where more people are empowered, is taking over.

Filed Under: all2gethernow, conference, germany, music, popkomm