Features
<b>Counsel Concerns:</b> Severability Used In Malpractice Suit Over California Talent Agency Act
In January 2008, the California Supreme Court decided that the doctrine of severability of contracts could be applied to the state's Talent Agencies Act (TAA). Under the supreme court's ruling, a personal manager's activities as an unlicensed talent agent may be severed from the manager's legal activities, the latter still being commissionable from the artist by the manager.
Features
Business Manager Denied New Trial In Malmsteen Case
The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York refused to grant a judgment as a matter of law or for a new trial for the former business manager of musician Yngwie Malmsteen in a suit by the musician over missing income.
Features
Is a Retroactive Publicity Right Constitutional?
Was Marilyn Monroe domiciled in New York and not California when she died in 1962? If it was California, the company succeeding to her rights might have publicity rights after her death, if that state's statute extending publicity rights back from when the statute originally took effect was constitutional. The new California statute is retroactive as well as prospective. Monroe, of course, never heard of publicity rights, which were enacted in California in 1984. If it was New York, there are no publicity rights, only privacy rights, which ended with her death.
Features
e-Commerce Takes A Hit From Falling Economy, But Remains Brisk
The battered economy appears to have caught up with e-commerce, by the way the U.S. Census Bureau's estimated retail sales for the fourth quarter of 2008 look.
Features
Advanced Online Strategies for Lawyers
The polished and plugged-in e-commerce attorney, though well aware of options for enterprises he or she advises, may not think readily of using social media tools a marketing-savvy client may employ for business. But those tools are available to everyone, and using them may bring a big boon. Social networking can turn virtual possibilities into very beneficial realities.
Features
Understanding The Importance of Derivative Works
This article attempts to provide a practical understanding of derivative works and their importance in structuring business ' including e-commerce ' transactions involving the right to create derivative works. It also discusses several strategic considerations relating to derivative works. This area of law is of critical importance to rightsholders and business partners, and is of particular importance in the growth of up-and-coming e-commerce firms, which need flexibility with intellectual property and rights, and whose principles and counsel need a keen understanding of these issues to promote and sustain healthy expansion.
Features
Applying Res Judicata Principles to Zoning Applications
In two recent cases, the Second Department has dealt with a recurring problem in zoning law: What constraint does precedent place on the decision-making authority of a zoning board of appeals? More particularly, what obligations does a zoning board of appeals (ZBA) have when a landowner applies for a variance or special permit that is substantially similar to a variance or permit the ZBA has previously denied?
Features
Matrimonial Valuation Dates
Ask any experienced matrimonial lawyer in New York State what valuation date should be used in valuing marital property, and the answer will inevitably be the same: "active" assets and "passive" assets. A look at <i>Mahoney-Buntzman</i> and its impact on valuation.
Features
When Bankruptcy and Family Issues Collide
When an abused child won a nearly $4 million award from her mother in 2007 for the mother's part in failing to protect her from sexual abuse by the stepfather, it would have seemed that all that was left to do was collect. Now, however, the mother, Irene S. Chaffee, has filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy relief, and she is seeking to have the debt to her daughter discharged. The question now is, "Can this debt be erased?
Features
One Picture May Not Be Worth 1,000 Words
Childrens' drawings are sometimes treated as evidence of their perceptions of their family relationships. These pictures may be evaluated for insights into whether a child feels emotionally close to parent who is seeking custody or is afraid of a person accused of sexually abusing the child. But are such pictures really "worth 1,000 words"?
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