Christian Filmmaker Fights for Fair Use

National News

An independent Christian filmmaker says Rock Solid Productions tried to prevent him from releasing a documentary on the record company's evangelical Christian founder, singer-songwriter Larry Norman, by threatening to sue him for copyright infringement. The company wants to silence "aspects of Norman's life and career that Norman's family apparently finds unpalatable," filmmaker David Di Sabatino claims in Federal Court.
The plaintiff says he is also an evangelical Christian and "possibly the leading expert on Norman's life and creative work," outside Norman's immediate family. Di Sabatino's 2007 documentary "Frisbee: The Life and Death of a Hippie Preacher" was nominated for an Emmy.
Di Sabatino claims he first interviewed Norman in his quest to document the "Jesus freak" movement of the 1960s and 1970s. At the time, Norman was the movement's Bob Dylan, according to the lawsuit.
The plaintiff says Norman was "a bona fide rock star presenting an evangelistic message to his listeners to live their spiritual lives in a radical manner and spurn 'worldly' success."
Di Sabatino made and funded a 1.5-hour documentary film about Norman, using music, video clips and photographs owned by Rock Solid Productions.
The plaintiff says his use of the material constitutes fair use, and that Rock Solid threatened litigation in order to protect Norman's image as a Christian musical prophet, rather than "an 'outlaw' who conned the faithful," as some Christians purportedly believe.
Di Sabatino says the company is now mainly controlled by Norman's brother, Charles Norman, who "expressed an implacable hostility toward the documentary."
The plaintiff seeks a court declaration that he neither violated the defendant's copyrights nor Norman's privacy rights.
He is represented by Lincoln Bandlow of Lathrop & Gage LLP.

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USCIS Will Begin Accepting CW-1 Petitions for Fiscal Year 2019

On April 2, 2018, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will begin accepting petitions under the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI)-Only Transitional Worker (CW-1) program subject to the fiscal year (FY) 2019 cap. Employers in the CNMI use the CW-1 program to employ foreign workers who are ineligible for other nonimmigrant worker categories. The cap for CW-1 visas for FY 2019 is 4,999.

For the FY 2019 cap, USCIS encourages employers to file a petition for a CW-1 nonimmigrant worker up to six months in advance of the proposed start date of employment and as early as possible within that timeframe. USCIS will reject a petition if it is filed more than six months in advance. An extension petition may request a start date of Oct. 1, 2018, even if that worker’s current status will not expire by that date.

Since USCIS expects to receive more petitions than the number of CW-1 visas available for FY 2019, USCIS may conduct a lottery to randomly select petitions and associated beneficiaries so that the cap is not exceeded. The lottery would give employers the fairest opportunity to request workers, particularly with the possibility of mail delays from the CNMI.

USCIS will count the total number of beneficiaries in the petitions received after 10 business days to determine if a lottery is needed. If the cap is met after those initial 10 days, a lottery may still need to be conducted with only the petitions received on the last day before the cap was met. USCIS will announce when the cap is met and whether a lottery has been conducted.

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