Q1.Please explain what role administrative agencies play in ourgovernment and the steps for how rules and regulations are made inthose agencies. Do you think they should be a fourth branch ofgovernment and why or why not?
Q2. On February 1, 2004, CBS presented a live broadcast of theNational Football League’s Super Bowl XXXVIII, which included ahalftime show produced by MTV Networks. Nearly 90 million viewerswatched the Halftime Show, which began at 8:30 p.m. EasternStandard Time and lasted about 15 minutes. The Halftime Showfeatured a performance with Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake asa “surprise guest” for the final minutes of the show.
Timberlake and Jackson performed his popular song “Rock YourBody” as the show’s finale. Their performance, which involvedsexually suggestive choreography, portrayed Timberlake seeking todance with Jackson, and Jackson alternating between accepting andrejecting his advances. The performance ended with Timberlakesinging, “gonna have you naked by the end of this song,” andsimultaneously tearing away part of Jackson’s bustier. CBS hadimplemented a five-second audio delay to guard against thepossibility of indecent language being transmitted on air, but itdid not employ similar precautionary technology for video image. Asa result, Jackson’s bare right breast was exposed on camera fornine-sixteenths of one second.
On September 22, 2004, the Commission issued a Notice ofApparent Liability, finding that CBS had apparently violatedfederal law and FCC rules restricting the broadcast of indecentmaterial. After its review, the Commission determined that CBS wasliable for a forfeiture penalty of $550,000 because its actionswere willful.
CBS filed with the FCC for a reconsideration, which wasdenied. CBS then appealed the case to the federal Court of Appealson the grounds that the finding of willful as well as the penaltywere arbitrary and capricious and violated First Amendment rights.Based on the Fox Television Station’s case, what do you think thedecision should be and why?
Q3.The U.S. Supreme Court has been deciding some casesinvolving Intellectual property rights (patents, trademarks, orcopyrights), which has been a hot topic. Your assignment is tolocate any article, case, etc. dealing with an infringement ofone's intellectual property rights - you cannot use any of thecases discussed in the textbook's chapter. Then you will post youranswer citing your source, summarizing the infringement issue andhow the court or parties resolved the matter. You also need toaddress the following question. How has this infringement/resultimpacted society today?
Q4. A small brewery in New York called Empire Brewing Companymanufactured a brand of beer called "Strikes Bock." For sevenyears, the brewery served the beer only on tap. With the intentionof bottling and selling the beer in stores, Empire Brewing sought atrademark for "Strikes Bock." Lucasfilm opposed the trademarkregistration maintaining that it could cause confusion with itsfamous film, "The Empire Strikes Back." What is the probableoutcome and why?
