
Tony Falzone is the Deputy General Counsel at Pinterest, Inc.
Prior to joining Pinterest, Tony co-founded CIS’s Fair Use Project, which he led as its Executive Director from 2006 to 2012. In the course of his work at CIS, Tony represented conductor Lawrence Golan in his challenge to Congress's constitutional power to remove works from the public domain, which he argued before the Supreme Court of the United States. He also represented visual artist Shepard Fairey in copyright litigation against The Associated Press over Fairey's "Obama Hope" posters, and represented RDR Books as trial counsel in its copyright and Lanham Act dispute with J.K. Rowling and Warner Brothers over the Harry Potter Lexicon. Those cases followed notable victories on behalf of the producers and distributors of the film Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed in litigation against Yoko Ono Lennon and EMI Records, on behalf of Professor Carol Shloss in her lawsuit against the Estate of James Joyce. Tony also represented a wide array of organizations as amicus curiae in federal appeals courts throughout the country, including The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Creative Commons, and the American Library Association. In addition to litigating, Tony advised dozens of documentary filmmakers, writers, artists and other content creators on fair use and other intellectual property issues.
As a Lecturer in Law, Tony has taught both lecture and clinical courses at Stanford Law School, including Fair Use in Film, Advanced Topics in Cyberlaw, and the Cyberlaw / Fair Use Clinic.
Prior to his work at Stanford, Tony was a litigation partner in the San Francisco office of Bingham McCutchen. He is a 1997 graduate of Harvard Law School, and was a law clerk to the Hon. Barry T. Moskowitz, U.S. District Judge, Southern District of California.
Viacom Misses The Joke; CIS And EFF Attorneys File Complaint
By Anthony Falzone • March 23, 2007 at 10:25 pm
While fair use can be murky in some respects, there is no doubt that parody lies at the center of its protections. Viacom had YouTube take down Robert Greenwald's clear parody of Stephen Colbert. While the parody is funny, silencing protected speech is not. So here is the complaint we filed along with the Electronic Frontier Foundation seeking a declaration that Greenwald's parody is protected by fair use, and compensation for wringful takedown under DMCA section 512(f).
View the video here Read more » about Viacom Misses The Joke; CIS And EFF Attorneys File Complaint
An Important Victory For Carol Shloss, Scholarship And Fair Use
By Anthony Falzone • March 22, 2007 at 6:27 pm
Last June we sued the Estate of James Joyce to establish the right of Stanford Professor Carol Shloss to use copyrighted materials in connection with her scholarly biography of Lucia Joyce. Shloss suffered more than ten years of threats and intimidation by Stephen James Joyce, who purported to prohibit her from quoting from anything that James or Lucia Joyce ever wrote for any purpose. As a result of these threats, significant portions of source material were deleted from Shloss's book, Lucia Joyce: To Dance In The Wake. Read more » about An Important Victory For Carol Shloss, Scholarship And Fair Use
The Future Of Political Media: An Example And A Metaphor
By Anthony Falzone • March 19, 2007 at 9:46 pm
This video may be our first glimpse of just how different, if not revolutionary, the 2008 presidential election may be. The ability of ordinary people to create and share video content worldwide threatens to obliterate the precisely orchestrated messaging that has marked the media strategy of successful candidates. Say goodbye to the top-down control of broadcast media. Say hello to user-generated politics, where you have the power to control the message and shape the debate.
Read more » about The Future Of Political Media: An Example And A Metaphor
Viacom v. YouTube: Uncertainty, Investment And Innovation
By Anthony Falzone • March 19, 2007 at 9:42 pm
A lot has been said about Viacom's billion dollar lawsuit against YouTube and Google. In his editorial in last Sunday's New York Times, Larry Lessig pointed out the chaos the Supreme Court has invited through its new-found fondness for the common law of copyright.
One victim of this chaos may be investment and innovation. If companies cannot rely predictably on clear statutory protections like those the DMCA provides for online service providers who create open platforms for people to share content, then many innovators and investors may simply steer clear of this business in favor of one that offers more security and predictability. Read more » about Viacom v. YouTube: Uncertainty, Investment And Innovation
Board Member Davis Guggenheim Wins Oscar For Inconvenient Truth
By Anthony Falzone • March 2, 2007 at 11:14 am
Our Documentary Film Program (announced here last week) is fortunate to be guided by an advisory board that includes some immensely talented filmmakers, including Kirby Dick, Arthur Dong, Davis Guggenheim, and Haskell Wexler.
It was especially exciting to see one of those filmmakers, Davis Guggenheim, win an Oscar on Sunday for his film Inconvenient Truth. His film is a fantastic example of the power of this medium, and it is wonderful to see it receive the recognition it so richly deserves. Read more » about Board Member Davis Guggenheim Wins Oscar For Inconvenient Truth
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Salinger v. Colting, et al.
We filed an amicus brief on behalf of a group of library associations and others asking the Second Circuit to reverse a lower court’s injunction of the publication of 60 Years Later: Coming through the Rye an unauthorized story based on J.D. Salinger’s in Catcher In The Rye. Read more » about Salinger v. Colting, et al.
Gaylord v. U.S. Postal Service
We filed an amicus brief in the Federal Circuit on behalf of the Warhol Foundation and Warhol Museum, contemporary artists and law professors in support of the U.S. Postal Service, urging affirmance of the district court’s finding of fair use. Read more » about Gaylord v. U.S. Postal Service
Rowling v. RDR Books
We defended the publisher of the Harry Potter Lexicon against suit from J.K. Rowling and Warner Brothers. Read more » about Rowling v. RDR Books
Lennon v. Premise Media
Yoko Ono and EMI sued a documentary filmmaker for using a short clip from the John Lennon song “Imagine” as part of a critique of the lyrics of the song. We defended the filmmaker and successfully argued that the use of the copyrighted song was fair use. Read more » about Lennon v. Premise Media
Kahle v. Gonzales
In this case, two archives challenged statutes that extended copyright terms unconditionally—the Copyright Renewal Act and the Copyright Term Extension Act (CTEA)—as unconstitutional under Copyright Clause and the First Amendment. Read more » about Kahle v. Gonzales
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Lennon v. Premise Media - Opposition to Motion for Preliminary Injunction (Federal Court)
Opposition to the preliminary injunction motion filed by Yoko Ono Lennon (federal case). Read more » about Lennon v. Premise Media - Opposition to Motion for Preliminary Injunction (Federal Court)
Rowling v. RDR Books - Opposition to Plaintiffs' Motion for Preliminary Injunction
Opposition to Plaintiffs' Motion for Preliminary Injunction. Read more » about Rowling v. RDR Books - Opposition to Plaintiffs' Motion for Preliminary Injunction
Kahle v. Gonzales - Reply Brief in Support of Petition for a Writ of Certiorari
Reply Brief in Support of Petition for a Writ of Certiorari. Read more » about Kahle v. Gonzales - Reply Brief in Support of Petition for a Writ of Certiorari
Aguiar v. Webb - Opposition to Plaintiffs' Motion for Preliminary Injunction
Floyd Webb's Opposition to Plaintiff's Motion for Preliminary Injunction. Read more » about Aguiar v. Webb - Opposition to Plaintiffs' Motion for Preliminary Injunction
Kahle v. Gonzales - Supplemental Reply Brief in support of Petition for a Writ of Certiorari
Supplemental Reply Brief in Support of Petition for a Writ of Certiorari. Read more » about Kahle v. Gonzales - Supplemental Reply Brief in support of Petition for a Writ of Certiorari
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The Growing Power of the Meme
For the originator of a meme, legal protections are slim, and that’s the way it should be, says copyright attorney Anthony Falzone, executive director of the Fair Use Project at Stanford Law School. “If you’re the first person to do the video S- -t Girls Say, that doesn’t mean someone else can’t use the same idea with girls saying different stuff,” he says. “Just because you’re the first one to do something doesn’t mean you should be the only one to get to do it.”
Read the full publication at the original link below. Read more » about The Growing Power of the Meme
Postal Disservice: Could a Sculptor's Fight for Royalties From a Postage Stamp Change Copyright Law?
Kim Dotcom makes it big in Hollywood
Kim Dotcom: A wannabe Steve Jobs?
Effect of Regulation on Technology & Innovation
Anthony Falzone, Executive Director of the Fair Use Project, along with Larry Kramer, Mark Lemley, Richard Epstein, Peter Thiel and Ted Ullyot in the Federalist Society's panel "Effect of Regulation on Technology & Innovation. Read more » about Effect of Regulation on Technology & Innovation
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Four Factors In Search Of a Question: Anchoring Fair Use to Free Expression and Social Value (Past Event)
Four Factors In Search Of a Question: Anchoring Fair Use to Free Expression and Social Value Read more » about Four Factors In Search Of a Question: Anchoring Fair Use to Free Expression and Social Value
ONA12 Law School for Digital Journalists (Past Event)
The Online News Association, in conjunction with the UNC Center for Media Law & Policy, the Stanford Law School Center for Internet & Society and the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, presents the Third Annual Law School for Digital Journalists, part of the Thursday Workshops at ONA’s 2012 Conference & Awards Banquet, Sept. 20-23. Read more » about ONA12 Law School for Digital Journalists
SOPA, PIPA and Internet Freedom Where Do We Go From Here? (Past Event)
Join us for an evening conversation with CIS Executive Director of the Fair Use Project Anthony Falzone and Congressman Darrell Issa where they will discuss topics about SOPA, PIPA and internet freedom. Read more » about SOPA, PIPA and Internet Freedom Where Do We Go From Here?
Intellectual Property and Individual Liberty: Friends or Foes (Past Event)
Hosted by the Federalist Society. More info about this event.
Anthony Falzone and Mark Schultz will debate whether significant developments in U.S. copyright law work to protect or violate individual freedom. Professor Paul Goldstein will moderate. Mr. Flazone is the Executive Director of the Fair Use Project with SLS's Center for Internet and Society. Mr. Schultz is a professor of law at Southern Illinois University School of Law, and his research focuses on the intersection of copyright and social norms.
Read more » about Intellectual Property and Individual Liberty: Friends or Foes
Copyright and the Public Domain After Golan (Past Event)
Golan v. Holder involves a challenge to the constitutionality of the 1994 Uruguay Round Agreements Act (URAA), which restored copyright in foreign works previously in the public domain under U.S. copyright law. The plaintiffs in the case have challenged the URAA as contravening both the "limited times" requirement and the First Amendment. In October 2011, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the case and is expected to issue a ruling before June 2012. Read more » about Copyright and the Public Domain After Golan
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Joseph Gordon-Levitt CIS Speaker Series 2011
April 27, 2011
Copyright, Remix and the Art of Collaborative Media: A conversation with Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Anthony Falzone. hitRECORD.org is a project Joseph Gordon-Levitt started almost five years ago. It has evolved into a professional open production company that creates and develops art and media collaboratively. Rather than just exhibiting and admiring each other's work as isolated individuals, they invite users to gather and collectively work on projects together. Read more » about Joseph Gordon-Levitt CIS Speaker Series 2011
Copyright, Remix and the Art of Collaborative Media: A conversation with Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Anthony Falzone
April 27, 2011
Copyright, Remix and the Art of Collaborative Media: A conversation with Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Anthony Falzone
Stanford Law School - April 25, 2011
Hosted by the Center for Internet and Society Read more » about Copyright, Remix and the Art of Collaborative Media: A conversation with Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Anthony Falzone
