Law.com Subscribers SAVE 30%
Call 855-808-4530 or email [email protected] to receive your discount on a new subscription.
'Asserted Truths' Doctrine Used to Decide Jersey Boys Copyright Dispute
To prove copyright infringement, a plaintiff must demonstrate that the defendant copied a substantial amount of protected expression from a plaintiff's work. Facts themselves are not copyrightable, although a sufficiently original selection, coordination or arrangement of facts may qualify for a compilation copyright. In its recent decision in Corbello v. Valli, 974 F.3d 966 (9th Cir. 2020), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that materials taken from an autobiography of Tommy DeVito — an original member of The Four Seasons music group — and used in the Broadway musical Jersey Boys depicting the band's history and hits, comprised facts and other noncopyrightable expression.
After filtering out the nonprotected expression, the Ninth Circuit found insufficient similarities of protected expression to constitute infringement. In its analysis, the appeals court rejected the plaintiff's argument that a number of copied incidents and events described in the book were "made up" by its authors and therefore should be treated as protected fiction. Instead, the court applied a doctrine sometimes referred to as "copyright estoppel" (but redefined by the court as the "asserted truths" doctrine) to require that facts represented in the autobiography to be historically accurate must be treated as nonprotected facts rather than protected fiction.
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.
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.
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.