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Bit Parts

By Stan Soocher
May 02, 2015

Film Production Company Loses Legal Malpractice Suit

The New York Appellate Division, First Department, decided that a legal malpractice suit against a law firm that was retained to help form a film production company should be dismissed. Candela Entertainment Inc. v. Davis & Gilbert LLP, 14687. Candela Entertainment and its co-founder Cynthia Newport sued the law firm Davis & Gilbert for allegedly failing to render proper advice on obtaining consent for transferring the rights in copyrighted materials used in the movie Dance Cuba . But the appellate court noted: “Plaintiffs never alleged that they would have abandoned or postponed the assignment of film rights and attendant intellectual property from the individual plaintiff's nonparty, nonprofit corporation to the plaintiff corporation, had they been advised by the law firm that the film involved licensing issues necessitating licensor consents in order to be freely marketable. The individual plaintiff had secured the licenses for materials used in the film before the assignment, and plaintiffs do not allege that they were unable to secure consents after the assignment.”


'“Iron Man Theme” Copyright “Owner” Settlement Doesn't Preclude Work-for-Hire Finding

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