The Volokh Conspiracy

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Crime

Fun Sony / Pearson v. Dodd / MPAA connection

|The Volokh Conspiracy |


Former senator Chris Dodd, CEO and Chairman of the Motion Picture Association of America, with his wife, Jackie, from "Top of the Hay" at the Hay Adams in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 14 for the MPAA and Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation's evening honoring Reagan's contributions to the motion picture industry. (Rebecca D'Angelo for the Washington Post)

As I mentioned, Sony's threats to sue media outlets that publish leaked Sony documents are likely to founder on two precedents. One of those precedents is Pearson v. Dodd, a 1969 D.C. Circuit case involving copies of stolen documents from Sen. Thomas Dodd's office. And the son of Sen. Thomas Dodd, Chris Dodd—himself a former senator—is now chairman, CEO and chief lobbyist at the Motion Picture Association of America.

Thanks to Ira Teinowitz of The Washington Post for drawing the connection.

Eugene Volokh is the Gary T. Schwartz Distinguished Professor of Law at UCLA and a Visiting Fellow (Senior Fellow starting May 2024) at the Hoover Institution (Stanford). Naturally, his posts here (like the opinions of the other bloggers) are his own, and not endorsed by any educational institution.