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Hey! That's My Move!
The U.S. Supreme Court just crashed the copyright world's latest dance party — stepping on the toes of a soiree of copyright infringement lawsuits against videogame developer Epic Games, the creator of Fortnite. For months, a growing group of plaintiffs, including Alfonso Ribeiro, otherwise known as the self-confident yet naive character "Carlton Banks" from TV's The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, raised claims that Fortnite was using popular dance moves without the permission of the artists who popularized them.
Fortnite, a massive multiplayer, online battle royale game, gives players the ability to purchase or earn "emotes," which are essentially a series of code giving game characters impressive dance moves — moves which largely mimic famous dances from pop culture. Although Fortnite is free-to-play, it generates significant revenue from in-game purchases such as emotes. While emotes are not central to gameplay, their ubiquity has helped Fortnite reportedly generate over $2.4 billion in 2018, its second year on the market. Fortnite's emotes have transcended beyond the game and into the realm of social media, where life imitates art as fans and players post clips of themselves performing emote dances from the game. See, Complaint ¶23, Ribeiro v. Epic Games, Inc., et al., No. 2:18-cv-10412 (C.D. Cal. Dec. 17, 2018).
The DOJ's New Parameters for Evaluating Corporate Compliance Programs
The parameters set forth in the DOJ's memorandum have implications not only for the government's evaluation of compliance programs in the context of criminal charging decisions, but also for how defense counsel structure their conference-room advocacy seeking declinations or lesser sanctions in both criminal and civil investigations.
The DOJ's Corporate Enforcement Policy: One Year Later
The DOJ's Criminal Division issued three declinations since the issuance of the revised CEP a year ago. Review of these cases gives insight into DOJ's implementation of the new policy in practice.
Use of Deferred Prosecution Agreements In White Collar Investigations
This article discusses the practical and policy reasons for the use of DPAs and NPAs in white-collar criminal investigations, and considers the NDAA's new reporting provision and its relationship with other efforts to enhance transparency in DOJ decision-making.
Bankruptcy Sales: Finding a Diamond In the Rough
There is no efficient market for the sale of bankruptcy assets. Inefficient markets yield a transactional drag, potentially dampening the ability of debtors and trustees to maximize value for creditors. This article identifies ways in which investors may more easily discover bankruptcy asset sales.
A Lawyer's System for Active Reading
Active reading comprises many daily tasks lawyers engage in, including highlighting, annotating, note taking, comparing and searching texts. It demands more than flipping or turning pages.