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The Good Fighters: Louise Nemschoff

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Lawyers too often get a bum rap. Even Shakespeare couldn’t help himself from dumping on lawyers with his imminently quotable quip, “The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers.” But that’s really not fair. A good many lawyers work selflessly and passionately to advance the greater good. Louise Nemschoff is most certainly among them.

A long-serving member of CBLDF’s Board of Directors, Louise retired from the board last summer. Throughout her tenure on the board, Nemschoff worked tirelessly to help creators whose rights came under threat. If you ever approached the CBLDF with a trademark, copyright, or entertainment law concern, Nemschoff was probably the person who helped you with the answers you needed.

After a few well deserved months off from CBLDF duty, we caught up with Louise to get her perspectives on the Fund, the First Amendment, and the challenges cartoonists will be facing in the new world of digital media for this installment of The Good Fighters.

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Please help support CBLDF’s important First Amendment work by making a donation or becoming a member of the CBLDF!

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CBLDF Member Appreciation Events In New Orleans This Weekend!

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Member Appreciation Party, Free Gifts For Members & Librarians, and Much More!

This weekend the CBLDF thanks the members supporting our First Amendment legal work at Wizard World New Orleans Comic Con! The festivities kick off at Crescent City Comics tonight, where we’ll have a Member Appreciation Welcome Party with free gifts for CBLDF members, a raffle, and more!

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CBLDF Announces 2012 Member Benefits!

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Fight Censorship! Celebrate Liberty! Join the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund today!

Today, the CBLDF unveiled its 2012 Membership Drive, featuring the best incentives and benefits in the free speech community, starting off with a stunning membership card by superstar creator Cliff Chiang! Channeling the classic depiction of Liberty through the influence of WPA art and comic book iconography, Chiang has created a powerful membership card that you’ll be proud to keep in your wallet. CBLDF offers membership plans for donors in every budget, each with its own premiums and benefits, and all of them are tax-deductible!

Joining the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund puts you on the front line of the fight against censorship! Your membership dollars provide the tools to fight back when comic book readers, retailers and artists are muzzled, censored, or attacked! When you become a CBLDF member, you are proclaiming that comics are important and that you are a protector of their First Amendment rights! Join now!

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Come Support CBLDF At Wizard World New Orleans Comic Con!

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This weekend come support the CBLDF’s First Amendment legal work at Wizard World New Orleans Comic Con! The festivities kick off at Crescent City Comics on Friday night, where we’ll have a Member Appreciation Welcome Party with free gifts for CBLDF members, a raffle, and more! Then, you can visit us all weekend at Wizard World New Orleans Comic Con booth #806, where we’ll be offering free gifts to members and librarians and a vast range of signed items for CBLDF supporters! Check out all the activities after the jump!

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Tunisian Trial Over Airing of Persepolis Movie Delayed Until April

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by Betsy Gomez

The trial of Nabil Karoui, the director of Tunisia’s Nessma television channel, has been delayed until April. Karoui is on trial because he approved the airing of Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi’s film adaptation of her critically acclaimed graphic novel. The movie has a scene that depicts God, a portrayal that is not permitted in many Islamic areas. Karoui is accused of “insulting sacred values, offending decent morals and causing public unrest.” The airing of Persepolis has divided people in Tunisia, with defenders arguing for the right to free expression and some extremists resorting to violence to try to shut down Nessma. For more on the trial, visit Al Arabiya News.

Please help support CBLDF’s important First Amendment work and reporting on issues such as this by making a donation or becoming a member of the CBLDF!

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First Amendment Center Analyzes Supreme Court Decision on Golan v. Holder

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by Betsy Gomez

Last year, the Supreme Court agreed to hear Golan v. Holder, a case that pitted copyright law against the First Amendment. This week, the Supreme Court passed down their decision on the case, a 6-2 vote that upheld the Uruguay Round Agreements Act that extended copyright protection to creative foreign works that had previously been in the public domain in the United States.

The decision is considered a blow to free speech because Golan and fellow petitioners argued that the removal of works from the public domain — works by Igor Stravinsky, Virginia Woolf, Alfred Hitchcock, and more — violates their First Amendment right to use the works to express themselves. Golan further argued that Congress overreached when they passed a law that removed the works from the public domain. Because the Supreme Court upheld the law, works that were once free to use now require payment to do so. As an example, an orchestra that plays a Stravinsky symphony may now have to pay for that right.

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Please help support CBLDF’s important First Amendment work and reporting on issues such as this by making a donation or becoming a member of the CBLDF!

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Washington DC Fox Affiliate Attacks Comics

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Yesterday, Bleeding Cool broke the story about a news report from a Washington DC Fox TV affiliate attacking comics. In the teaser for the report, a commentator called comics “fictionalized Playboy.” CBLDF took immediate action, releasing guidelines for how retailers can defend themselves from media attacks.

ICv2 followed up today with video of the full report and commentary. As expected, the reporter who made the news report, Sherri Ly, used the same faulty reasoning that has formed the basis of so many attacks against comics: The mistaken belief that comics are created primarily for children, and the specious argument that violent or sexual content in comic books promotes violent behavior in children.

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Retailer Advisory: How To Manage A Media Attack

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Today Bleeding Cool ran a piece linking to a local news promo promising a titillating exposé on modern comics that will offer tips on “HOW TO K.O. THESE COMICS BEFORE THEY CORRUPT YOUR KIDS!” These media scare stories are nothing new. They’ve been plaguing comics since the very beginning, whether it was massive public comic book burnings in the 1940s, Frederic Wertham’s attacks in the 1950s, or the retailer stings of the 1980s that led to the CBLDF being formed. While we’ve seen this type of story arise time and again, it should never be taken lightly. Below we offer some tips on how to deal with hostile cameras if they come to your store.

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Attempt to Ban Mohammad Cartoon Sparks Global Debate

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When the Atheist, Secularist and Humanist Society of University College London used an image of Jesus and Mohammad sharing a pint on a Facebook event page, the organization probably didn’t expect to start a global debate over free speech. However, when the student union at University College London protested the use of the image, the atheist society refused, gaining support from secularists such as Richard Dawkins.

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Please help support CBLDF’s important First Amendment work and reporting on issues such as this by making a donation or becoming a member of the CBLDF!

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