This article focuses on managing change for clients affected by the MMA's government-mandated mechanical licensing collective. In my view, far from putting songwriters on a trajectory away from the government regulation that has oppressed them for generations, the collective imposes an entirely new bureaucracy with potentially significant costs that are not readily apparent.
Malibu Media LLC is by now well-known as a frequent filer of copyright infringement lawsuits nationwide against Web users alleged to have illegally downloaded and shared the company's adult films. But a federal judge in Pennsylvania recently said it should be up to a jury to decide whether the company is entitled to stake a claim to those copyrights in the first place.
Digital Millennium Copyright Act exemptions aren't just for documentary filmmakers anymore. The U.S. Copyright Office and Library of Congress has broadened a DMCA exemption to now allow more filmmakers to circumvent anti-copying technology and rip short video clips for purposes of commentary and criticism.
Phil Everly's Family Time-Barred From Claiming Co-Ownership of “Cathy's Clown” Song Copyright With Brother Don
Newsworthiness and Public Interest Exceptions in Indiana's Right-of-Publicity Statute Apply to Fantasy Sports
Annual Entertainment, Sports & Media Law Institute
Copyright Year in Review
A federal judge in Atlanta called out attorneys in a nationally watched copyright case for their role in an “an all-out, knock-down, drag-out fight between the '800-pound Gorilla' of the recording industry in one corner of the room vs. 'Spinrilla', the self-proclaimed '800-pound Gorilla of free hiphop mixtapes' in the other corner.”
A man claiming to have been cheated out of credit for writing a song that was eventually recorded by R&B star Usher won a more than $40 million judgment in a combined verdict and settlement against two men he co-wrote the song with. And the copyright case against Led Zeppelin by the band Spirit over "Stairway to Heaven" will return for an encore after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit called for a retrial.
The stage is set for the 24-year-old north American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) to end and the U.S. Mexico Canada Agreement (USMCA), which has implications for intellectual property, to take its place.
Friday the 13th Screenplay Author's Copyright Termination Notice Found Valid
Infringement Suit over Justin Timberlake's “Damn Girl” Allowed to Proceed
In September, the European Parliament passed a new draft of the European Union (EU) Copyright Directive legislation championed by content creators and publishers, but decried by tech behemoths. The directive will have to go through more committee discussions and another parliamentary vote before it can become law, but this doesn't mean the polarizing legislation isn't already making in-house counsel nervous.
