Copyright © 2012, 2009, 2007 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Public Relations Strategies and Tactics Tenth Edition Dennis L. Wilcox Glen T. Cameron This multimedia product and its contents are protected under copyright law. The following are prohibited by law: any public performance or display, including transmission of any image over a network; preparation of any derivative work, including the extraction, in whole or in part, of any images; any rental, lease, or lending of the program.

Copyright © 2012, 2009, 2007 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Chapter 12 Public Relations and the Law

Copyright © 2012, 2009, 2007 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Chapter 12 Objectives Describe what public relations professionals need to know about defamation, employee and privacy rights, copyright, and trademark laws Understand the key issues surrounding freedom of speech and public relations Identify which government agencies regulate the commercial speech used by public relations professionals Explain how public relations professionals can work effectively with lawyers

Copyright © 2012, 2009, 2007 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved. A Sampling of Legal Problems Public relations personnel must be aware that they can be held legally liable if they provide advice or tacitly support an illegal activity of a client or employer This area of liability is called conspiracy

Copyright © 2012, 2009, 2007 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved. A Sampling of Legal Problems cont… As a public relations person, you can be named as a coconspirator with organizational officials if you Participate in illegal action Counsels policy behind illegal action Takes a major personal part in the illegal action Establishes a “front group” Cooperates in any way with illegal action

Copyright © 2012, 2009, 2007 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Libel and Defamation A written falsehood is libel; a spoken falsehood is slander Both are called defamation by the courts Private citizens tend to have more success winning defamation suits than do public figures or corporations With public figures, there is the extra test of whether the libelous statements were made with actual malice

Copyright © 2012, 2009, 2007 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Libel and Defamation Cont… A person filing a libel suit must prove that The false statement was communicated to others The person is identifiable There was a loss The statement was malicious or negligent Avoiding libel suits Opinion statements must be accompanied by the facts Clearly label statements of opinion Review context of opinion for possible legal implications The fair comment defense

Copyright © 2012, 2009, 2007 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Invasion of Privacy Public relations staff must be particularly sensitive to the issue of privacy Employee communication Photo releases Product publicity and advertising Media inquiries about employees

Copyright © 2012, 2009, 2007 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Copyright Law Knowledge of copyright law is important from two perspectives What organizational materials should be copyrighted How correctly to utilize the copyrighted materials of others Protection of a creative work from unauthorized use Authorship is defined in seven categories Fair use v. infringement

Copyright © 2012, 2009, 2007 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Copyright Law Cont… Photography and art work The rights of freelance writers Copyright issues on the Internet The downloading of material The uploading of material Copyright guidelines

Copyright © 2012, 2009, 2007 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Trademark Law A trademark is a word, symbol, or slogan, used singly or in combination, that identifies a product’s origin It also serves as an indicator of quality A service mark is like a trademark, but it designates a service rather than a product

Copyright © 2012, 2009, 2007 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Trademark Law Cont… The protection of trademarks Three basic guidelines Trademarks are proper adjectives and should be capitalized and followed by a generic noun or phrase Trademarks should not be pluralized or used in the possessive form Trademarks are never verbs

Copyright © 2012, 2009, 2007 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Trademark Law Cont… The problem of trademark infringement Misappropriation of personality Result from the unauthorized use of well-known entertainers, professional athletes, and other public figures in an organization’s publicity and advertising materials Deceased celebrities also are protected The right of publicity gives entertainers, athletes, and other celebrities the sole ability to cash in on their fame

Copyright © 2012, 2009, 2007 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Regulations by Government Agencies The promotion of products and services fall under the doctrine of commercial speech States and the federal government have passed legislation that regulates commercial speech

Copyright © 2012, 2009, 2007 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Regulations by Government Agencies Cont… Guidelines have been established by major government agencies Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Other federal regulatory agencies The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)

Copyright © 2012, 2009, 2007 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Corporate Speech Commercial speech doesn’t have the same First Amendment protection as other forms of speech The government may regulate advertising that is False Misleading Deceptive Promoting unlawful goods and services Nike’s free speech battle

Copyright © 2012, 2009, 2007 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Employee Speech in the Digital Age Employee Surfing the Internet Employee blogs

Copyright © 2012, 2009, 2007 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Liability for Sponsored Events Public relations personnel often focus on the planning and logistics of an event You must also take steps to protect the organization from liability and possible lawsuits

Copyright © 2012, 2009, 2007 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Attorney/Public Relations Relationship Must work together to not only win in the court of law but in the court of public opinion Six keys to winning in both arenas Make carefully planned public comment in the earliest stages Understand the perspective of lawyers Guard against providing information to the other side Counsel and coach the legal team Build support Develop a litigation communication team