Marc Randazza

Marc J. Randazza
Born Marc John Randazza
(1969-11-26) November 26, 1969
Gloucester, Massachusetts, USA
Nationality American
Alma mater University of Massachusetts Amherst (Journalism, 1994)
Georgetown University Law Center (J.D., 2000)
University of Florida (M.A., Mass Communication, 2003)
Università di torino Facoltà di Giurisprudenza (L.L.M. International IP Law, 2014)[1]
Occupation First Amendment Attorney
Website https://randazza.wordpress.com

Marc J. Randazza is a First Amendment attorney, a commentator on CNN and Fox News on legal matters, and the editor of the law blog The Legal Satyricon.[2]

Early life and education

Randazza was born in Gloucester, Massachusetts, on November 26, 1969. He graduated from Gloucester High School in 1987. Randazza attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where he majored in journalism.[3] Randazza worked as a journalist and in advertising in Washington, D.C., Palermo, Rome, New York City, and Miami.[4] In 1996, Randazza was inspired to attend law school by the film The People vs. Larry Flynt. He attended Georgetown University Law Center and graduated in 2000. During law school, he interned for Denise Johnson of the Vermont Supreme Court.[5] He continued his First Amendment education by attending the University of Florida, where he earned a master's degree in communications,[6] writing his thesis on vote pairing, which was cited by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.[7]

Career

Randazza is licensed to practice law in Massachusetts (2002), Florida (2003), California (2010), Arizona (2010), and Nevada (2012).[8] Randazza's first case was representing a fraternity at Boston University when the brothers of that fraternity were accused of destroying their house and other misconduct. He then began practicing in Florida as a real estate attorney. He quickly returned to the First Amendment and media field, taking on representation of an adult bookstore in Fort Myers, Florida. Soon thereafter, he moved to Orlando, Florida where his practice in First Amendment and media law expanded. He started representing defendants in SLAPP suits,[9] pornography businesses, protestors, in often unpopular constitutional law matters.

In 2004, his University of Florida thesis gained attention as vote pairing became a minor issue during the 2004 election. Randazza was asked to debate the issue on Fox News, and thereafter has been a frequent legal commentator on television and in print. Randazza served as a professor of law at Barry University School of Law, located in Orlando, Florida.[10][11] where he taught First Amendment law, copyright law, trademark law, and entertainment law.

Randazza has a practice that primarily focuses on the areas of First Amendment litigation, adult entertainment, trademark and copyright litigation, and domain name arbitration disputes.[12] He has represented a number of well-known adult entertainment companies including Kink.com, Bang Bus, and Milf Hunter. He also represents media businesses such as BME and bloggers in SLAPP suits.[13][14]

Randazza has gained notoriety for handling high profile First Amendment cases and for his defense of the adult entertainment field.[15] He represented Anthony Ciolli, one of the administrators of AutoAdmit in the high-profile case regarding that website, securing his dismissal from that case. He has represented the defendant in Beck v. Eiland-Hall, a case before the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) filed by political commentator Glenn Beck, concerning a satire website parodying Beck.[16][17] The WIPO arbitrator ruled against Beck in the case, and in favor of Randazza's client.[18] Citizen Media Law Project assistant director Sam Bayard said of the WIPO arbitrator's decision, "It's good to see that this WIPO arbitrator had no interest in allowing Beck to circumvent the guarantees of the U.S. Constitution".[18] He went on to congratulate Randazza, "Congratulations to Marc for this big victory and for his innovative brief that not only won the case, but also brought 'Mr. Spock Ate My Balls' into the legal lexicon."[18]

Randazza has been criticized by feminists for supporting Rush Limbaugh and the rights of the adult film industry as well as his representation of adult film companies in copyright infringement cases. However, despite representing copyright plaintiffs, in late 2011, Randazza and his firm effectively killed Righthaven, a "copyright troll" company briefly infamous for buying limited rights to copyrighted works for the sole purpose of bringing lawsuits against alleged infringers.[19][20] On May 9, 2013, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed the lower court's decision dismissing the case for lack of standing.[21] Righthaven complained of what it called Randazza's "scorched earth judgment enforcement efforts" in its legal filings.[22] This is consistent with Randazza's use of the Latin term murum aries attigit when he defends defamation cases. In addition, in October 2012, Randazza launched a crowdsourced investigation of the "revenge porn" site IsAnybodyDown?, run by Craig Brittain and Chance Trahan, which posted women's nude photos and personal contact information while advertising the services of the non-existent "takedown lawyer David Blade III", who promised to have the photos removed for a fee. Randazza described his approach, "When it comes to porn, here are my rules: Rule #1: The subjects must be adults. Rule #2: The subjects must be consenting adults. If you don’t break either of those rules, I am on your side. I will defend your right to make, watch, display, and sell that content. Break either rule, and I want to hurt you for the damage you do to others".[23]

Randazza was named one of the Top 50 newsmakers of the adult entertainment industry by XBIZ World Magazine for the year 2011,[24] and in January 2012, he discussed being admitted to the Nevada Bar, his plans to reform nationwide anti-SLAPP legislation, and changes to copyright protections as a result of Righthaven.[25] In July 2012, VegasInc and Avvo.com named Randazza one of Las Vegas' Top Lawyers.

Randazza has handled a number of "cameras in the courtroom" cases, defending the rights of the news media to attend and televise courtroom proceedings. Most notably, Randazza successfully argued this issue against Alan Dershowitz. In that case, Randazza represented Courtroom View Network in its quest to televise a highly publicized trial in Las Vegas involving the Las Vegas Sands.[26]

In 2013, Randazza was instrumental in lobbying the Nevada legislature to update Nevada's Anti-SLAPP statute.[27][28] This brought Nevada's Anti-SLAPP statute up to date, and in line with California, Oregon, and Washington, thus protecting free speech in Nevada to the same extent it is protected in the West Coast states.

On Oct. 1, 2014, Randazza was named by Desert Companion Magazine to its top lawyers in Southern Nevada list.[29]

On June 3, 2015, there was an interim arbitration award against Randazza involving Liberty Media Holdings LLC, for whom Randazza had been General Counsel from 2009 to 2012.[30] The Ars Technica article on that case referenced a statement from Randazza's arbitration attorney to the Law Society of Upper Canada calling the arbitrator's neutrality in to question. The arbitration dispute arose following Randazza’s departure from Liberty and his filing of employment claims against them. Liberty’s counterclaims against Randazza in the arbitration focused on allegations Randazza had negotiated bribes from opposing parties in copyright litigation, engaged in conflicts of interest, destroyed evidence, unjustly enriched himself, and committed other breaches of fiduciary duty. Following two and a half years of arbitration proceedings, the arbitrator issued an interim award in favor of Liberty and against Randazza on all claims.[31] Following his arbitration loss, Randazza filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.[30]

On June 8, 2015, Governor Sandoval signed Nevada Senate bill 444,[32] which in its initial form, stood to largely repeal the Nevada Anti-SLAPP law.[33] The initial form of the law was backed by casino mogul, Steve Wynn. Randazza lobbied to keep the statute in its speech-protective form.[34]

On September 30, 2015 Randazza prevailed in his defense of Dr. Steven Novella in a SLAPP case in Florida, filed against him by Edward Tobinick.[35] Edward Tobinick filed a civil action in Florida Southern District Court naming Novella, Yale University, Society for Science-Based Medicine, Inc. and SGU Productions, LLC as defendants.[36] The main allegations of the action were that "in violation of the Lanham Act, Novella has and continues to publish a false advertisement disparaging Plaintiffs entitled 'Enbrel for Stroke and Alzheimer's', ('the 'Advertisement') and implying that the INR plaintiffs' use of entanercept is ineffective and useless;" and "The Advertisement is extremely inflammatory and defamatory in nature as it contains multiple false and misleading statements of fact regarding Plaintiffs." "The Advertisement" referred to in the action is an entry for the Science-Based Medicine blog that Novella wrote and posted on May 8, 2013.[37]

Randazza filed an Anti-SLAPP motion in the under the California Anti-SLAPP law, despite the case being in Florida.[38] The motion was granted, since one of the plaintiffs was from California.[38] It was successful, and the federal court awarded Novella a victory in the case.[39] "As a prevailing defendant, Novella is entitled to recover his attorney's fees and costs under the anti-SLAPP statute. Cal. Civ. Proc. Code § 425.16(c)(1). He may seek to recover his fees and costs by separate motion." [38]

Thereafter, Tobinick's strategy was focused the "false advertising" claims under the United States' Lanham Act. Tobinick was unable to show that Novella had profited from his blog post or that it was in anyway an advertisement. " [40]

On October 21, 2015, Randazza prevailed in another high profile free speech case involving the website Pissed Consumer. Randazza represented the consumer review website when a diet company, Roca Labs, brought a defamation claim against them.[41] In that case, Roca Labs sued the company, but then accused Randazza of bribery.[42] Roca Labs then sued Randazza personally for defamation.[43] Roca Labs sought a prior restraint against Pissed Consumer, which Randazza defeated.[44] Ultimately, Randazza prevailed at summary judgment.[41]

Selected legal commentary in the mass media

Date* Topic Print/broadcast entity
September 30, 2006 Violent video games and the First Amendment Fox News[45]
January 16, 2007 Online gambling CNBC[46]
April 10, 2007 Don Imus's Rutgers women's basketball controversy Fox News Channel[47]
June 7, 2007 The f-bomb Orlando Weekly[15]
July 1, 2008 Bauer v. Wikimedia defamation case, and Section 230 WABC New York[48]
August 7, 2008 United States vs. Karen Fletcher (2006) PC World[49]
January 15, 2009 Natalie Dylan controversy Fox News[50]
March 3, 2009 The Auto Admit Case National Public Radio[48]
March 11, 2012 It's un-American to silence Rush Limbaugh CNN[51]
July 31, 2012 Chick-fil-A and free speech CNN[52]
August 30, 2013 "N.J. Texting Ruling is Not What You Think"   CNN
April 30, 2014 "What Happened to Sterling was Wrong"   CNN
May 15, 2014 "We Need a 'Right to be Forgotten'"   CNN
May 29, 2014 "Posting Elliot Rodger's Video is Legal, but is it Right?"   CNN
June 21, 2014 "Why Redskins Decision is Wrong"   CNN
August 4, 2014 "ESPN's Stephen Smith is Entitled to His Opinion"   CNN
December 7, 2014 "Should we always believe the victim?"   CNN
March 6, 2015 "Why Schools Should Observe 'Day of the Dude'"   CNN
March 20, 2015 "What We Risk When We Ban Racist Speech"   CNN
March 23, 2015 "What's Wrong with Saying the Pledge in Arabic?"   CNN
April 23, 2015 "Decision on Asian-American Band's Name is Wrong"   CNN
May 4, 2015 "We Don't Shoot People for Bigoted Views"   CNN
May 12, 2015 "Why You Should Speak Up for Slain Blogger"   CNN
January 21, 2016 "Passenger who beat his Uber driver should drop his countersuit"   CNN
January 27, 2016 "For Missouri professor, the law bites back"   CNN
* Nonexhaustive list[53]

Published works

Year Article Magazine / Journal
2001 "The Constitutionality of Online Vote Swapping"   34 Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review 1297
"Breaking Duverger's Law is not Illegal: Strategic Voting, the Internet and the 2000 Presidential Election" 2001 UCLA Journal of Law and Technology 6
2002 "Getting to Yes With Terrorists"   2002 Michigan State University Law Review 823
2003 "Cats Are Cats and Dogs Are Dogs But Neither is a Fish or a Bird (the Prisco Decision)"   25 Actionline 4
"Copyright and the Clubhouse"   November 2003 Condo Management
"Copyright Issues for Free Fall Photographers"   October 2003 Skydiving Magazine
"Character Counts: Defamation Law for Community Associations"   January 2003 Community Update
2004 "The Other Election Controversy of Y2K: Core First Amendment Values and High-Tech Political Coalitions"   82 Washington University Law Quarterly 143
2005 "Republicans Save US Jobs"   May 2005 XBIZ
"Foreign Content and Section 2257"   June 2005 XBIZ
"2257 Regs a Boon to Patriotic Porn Producers"   June 2005 Adult Video News
"Condo Casino! Gambling in Florida Community Associations"   79 Florida Bar Journal 8
2006 "The Florida Supreme Court Dulls the Edge of Rule 1.420(e)" 80 Florida Bar Journal 39
2007 "Gambling in America’s Senior Communities" (Daniel Russell, co-author) 8 Marquette Elder Law Advisor 343
2013 "The Need for a Unified and Cohesive National Anti-SLAPP Law" 91 Oregon Law Review 627
"Nevada's New Anti-SLAPP Law: The Silver State Sets the Gold Standard" 21 Nevada Lawyer Magazine 7
2015 "The Legal Status of Making Adult Films in Nevada" 23 Nevada Lawyer Magazine 20
2016 "Freedom of Expression and Morality Based Impediments to the Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights" 16 Nevada Law Journal 107

References

  1. ↑ Randazza, Marc. "The Editor". The Legal Satyricon. Retrieved 2009-10-17.
  2. ↑ American Bar Association (2009). "The Legal Satyricon". ABA Journal. Retrieved 2009-10-17.
  3. ↑ "Marc Randazza". University of Massachusetts Department of Journalism Alumni Spotlight (umass.edu). January 2012. Retrieved 2012-03-15.
  4. ↑ Randazza, Marc (2002). "Getting to yes with terrorists" (2002 L. Rev. M.S.U.-D.C.L. 823). Michigan State University Law Review. Retrieved 2009-10-19.
  5. ↑ Randazza, Marc (March 2009). "Marc John Randazza (CV)" (PDF). The Legal Satyricon. randazza.files.wordpress.com. Retrieved 2009-10-19.
  6. ↑ "Marc Randazza". Bitter Lawyer (bitterlawyer.com). December 7, 2009. Retrieved 2010-11-02.
  7. ↑ Porter v. Bowen, 496 F.3d 1009 (9th Cir. 2007)
  8. ↑ "Lawyer Marc Randazza - Las Vegas, NV Attorney". avvo.com. Retrieved 4 January 2016.
  9. ↑ Billmann, Jeffrey C. (August 9, 2007). "SLAPP Happy: One man's free speech is another's slander". Orlando Weekly. Retrieved 2009-10-17.
  10. ↑ Robbins, Mary Alice (August 18, 2008). "Yale Defamation Lawsuit Becomes a Case of Mistaken Identity for Texas Attorney". Texas Lawyer. Law.com. Retrieved 2009-10-17.
  11. ↑ Hudson Jr., David L. (August 1, 2008). "3rd Circuit won't create new category of unprotected speech". First Amendment Center. www.firstamendmentcenter.org. Retrieved 2009-10-17.
  12. ↑ Randazza, Marc (October 2009). "Randazza Attorney CV" Check |url= value (help) (PDF). randazza.files.wordpress.com. Retrieved 2009-10-17.
  13. ↑ "Veranda Partners v. Giles (Lawsuit)". Citizen Media Law Project. www.citmedialaw.org. September 10, 2007. Retrieved 2009-10-17.
  14. ↑ "Internet Solutions v. Marshall". Citizen Media Law Project. www.citmedialaw.org. November 3, 2007. Retrieved 2009-10-17.
  15. 1 2 Billman, Jeffrey C. (June 7, 2007). "The F Bomb: A local lawyer teams up with a California porn king to fight for your right to trademark dirty words". Orlando Weekly. Retrieved 2009-10-17.
  16. ↑ Citizen Media Law Project staff (2009-09-28). "Beck v. Eiland-Hall". Citizen Media Law Project. Retrieved 2009-10-17.
  17. ↑ Sawyer, Rick (October 1, 2009). "Today in Randazza's Zings: Glenn Beck, Why Do You Hate America?". Bostonist. Gothamist. Retrieved 2009-10-17.
  18. 1 2 3 Bayard, Sam (November 6, 2009). "Glenn Beck's UDRP Complaint Gets The Smack Down". Citizen Media Law Project (www.citmedialaw.org). Retrieved 2009-11-07.
  19. ↑ Green, Steve (December 13, 2011). "Can Righthaven survive latest legal blow?". Las Vegas Sun (www.lasvegassun.com). Retrieved 2011-12-13.
  20. ↑ Bright, Arthur (March 15, 2012). "Righthaven is no more! It has ceased to be! It's expired and gone to meet its maker!". Citizen Media Law Project (www.citmedialaw.org). Retrieved 2012-03-16.
  21. ↑ "Righthaven v. Hoehn" (PDF).
  22. ↑ "Righthaven complains about 'scorched-earth' efforts to enforce judgments". VegasInc.com. Retrieved 2015-11-30.
  23. ↑ "Take Down "David Blade, Attorney at Law" and Isanybodydown.com — Who’s with me?". The Legal Satyricon. Retrieved November 11, 2012.
  24. ↑ "XBIZ World Magazine Names Top 50 Industry Newsmakers of 2011". xbiz.com. Retrieved 4 January 2016.
  25. ↑
  26. ↑ Johnson, Bob (4 Apr 2013). "Adult Industry Attorney Marc Randazza Bests Dershowitz, Wins Right to Broadcast Trial". XBiz NewsWire. Retrieved 16 May 2013.
  27. ↑ Hermes, Jeff (June 28, 2013). "Congratulations to Nevada on its New and Improved Anti-SLAPP Law!". Digital Media Law. Retrieved July 7, 2013.
  28. ↑ Totten, Kristy (July 3, 2013). "Free speech just got freer in Nevada". Las Vegas Citylife. Retrieved July 7, 2013.
  29. ↑ "Top Lawyers 2014: Government - Workers Compensation". Nevada Public Radio. Retrieved 4 January 2016.
  30. 1 2 Mullin, Joe (November 5, 2015). ""Bribes," gay porn, and copyright trolls: The rise and fall of lawyer Marc Randazza!". Ars Technica. Retrieved November 6, 2015.
  31. ↑ Pardon, Rhett (July 14, 2015). "Corbin Fisher Awarded 600K". XBIZ. Retrieved November 6, 2015.
  32. ↑ "SB444". state.nv.us. Retrieved 4 January 2016.
  33. ↑ "Why Is Steve Wynn Trying to Gut Nevada's Anti-SLAPP Law?". Reason.com. Retrieved 4 January 2016.
  34. ↑ SEAN WHALEY LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL CAPITAL BUREAU. "Free speech advocates oppose bill to weaken Nevada’s SLAPP law". Las Vegas Review-Journal. Retrieved 4 January 2016.
  35. ↑ "Court Hands Loss To Doctor Who Sued Over Blog Posts Criticizing His Questionable Alzheimer's Treatments | Techdirt". Techdirt. Retrieved 2015-11-30.
  36. ↑ "Edward Lewis Tobinick, MD et al v. Novella et al". Justia. Retrieved 25 July 2014.
  37. ↑ "Enbrel for Stroke and Alzheimer’s". Science-Based Medicine. Retrieved 24 July 2014.
  38. 1 2 3 ROBIN L. ROSENBERG, District Judge. "TOBINICK v. NOVELLA". leagle.com. Retrieved 4 January 2016.
  39. ↑ http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/USCOURTS-flsd-9_14-cv-80781/pdf/USCOURTS-flsd-9_14-cv-80781-4.pdf
  40. ↑ Cushing, Tim. "Court Hands Loss To Doctor Who Sued Over Blog Posts Criticizing His Questionable Alzheimer's Treatments". Tech Dirt. Retrieved 6 October 2015.
  41. 1 2 "Roca Labs Loses Its Lawsuit Against Pissed Consumer (Badly)". Techdirt. Retrieved 4 January 2016.
  42. ↑ "Roca Labs Story Gets More Bizarre: Senator Threatens Bogus Defamation Lawsuit, While Nevada Quickly Rejects Bogus Bribery Charge". Techdirt. Retrieved 4 January 2016.
  43. ↑ "Roca Labs Sues Opposing Lawyer, Marc Randazza, Because Of What We Wrote On Techdirt". Techdirt. Retrieved 4 January 2016.
  44. ↑ "Magistrate Judge Not Impressed By Roca Labs' Legal Arguments: Recommends Against An Injunction". Techdirt. Retrieved 4 January 2016.
  45. ↑ Randazza, Marc (November 1, 2006). "Violent Video Games". The Legal Satyricon. Retrieved 2009-10-17.
  46. ↑ Rovell, Darren (April 14, 2007). "Nail in the Coffin". On the Money (CNBC).
  47. ↑ "Imus under fire for making racially charged remarks". Fox Friends (Fox News Channel). April 11, 2007.
  48. 1 2 Ashbrook, Tom (March 3, 2009). "Cyber Harassment and the Law". On Point Radio. WBUR. Retrieved 2009-10-17.
  49. ↑ Gross, Grant (August 7, 2008). "Woman Sentenced for Web Site with 'Obscene' Stories". PC World (PC World Communications, Inc.). Retrieved 2009-10-17.
  50. ↑ Abrams, Joseph (January 15, 2009). "22-Year-Old Sells Virginity Online -- and Feds Can't do a Thing to Stop Her". Fox News Channel (Fox News Network, LLC.). Retrieved 2009-10-17.
  51. ↑ Randazza, Marc. "It's un-American to silence Rush Limbaugh". CNN. Retrieved 16 August 2012.
  52. ↑ Randazza, Marc. "Chick-fil-A and free speech". CNN. Retrieved 16 August 2012.
  53. ↑ Randazza, Marc. "Selected Prior Media Appearances (non exhaustive)". The Legal Satyricon. Retrieved 2009-10-18.

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