Print Email this page In the News

On Wednesday, October 7, 2009, Pryor Cashman Partner John Lynch will be speaking as part of a panel titled “User Generated Content – Avoiding Legal Pitfalls and Maximizing Business Benefits.” The Panel will be presented in the course of the International Bar Association’s annual conference to be held in Madrid, Spain.

From Facebook to Twitter to MySpace to studiVZ to YouTube . . . the amount of online content generated by website users is increasing at a staggering rate. Many businesses, in an effort to better connect with customers and maximize their return on advertising dollars, are seeking to exploit this phenomenon. The Panel will address risks and liabilities that can arise from “UGC”, including the potential for claims of defamation, copyright or trademark infringement, false advertising, invasion of privacy, “cyber harassment,” etc. 

In particular, Lynch will address defenses that might be available to businesses, Internet Service Providers and content providers in the U.S. under the Communications Decency Act, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and the First Amendment.

The Panel’s other speakers will include Microsoft's European IP counsel, a Microsoft technologist, in-house legal counsel from The Travel Channel and Corbis, the European Commission's Director General of Information and Media, the General Counsel of the German social networking site StudiVZ, and leading intellectual property and media attorneys from the U.S., Austria, France and the UK.

Lynch is a Partner in Pryor Cashman’s Intellectual Property, Media and Litigation Groups. He serves as the Chair of the International Bar Association’s Committee on User Generated Content.