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Features

How Will the Music Modernization Act's Mechanical Licensing Collective Work? Image

How Will the Music Modernization Act's Mechanical Licensing Collective Work?

Chris Castle

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.

Features

Abandonment Defense Stays in Copyright Suit on Filesharing Image

Abandonment Defense Stays in Copyright Suit on Filesharing

Zach Needles

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.

Features

DMCA Filmmakers Exemption Expanded Image

DMCA Filmmakers Exemption Expanded

Scott Graham

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.

Columns & Departments

Bit Parts Image

Bit Parts

Stan Soocher

Phil Everly's Family Time-Barred From Claiming Co-Ownership of “Cathy's Clown” Song Copyright With Brother Don<br>Newsworthiness and Public Interest Exceptions in Indiana's Right-of-Publicity Statute Apply to Fantasy Sports

Columns & Departments

Upcoming Events Image

Upcoming Events

ssalkin

Annual Entertainment, Sports &amp; Media Law Institute<br>Copyright Year in Review

Features

COUNSEL CONCERNS: Federal Judge Scolds Both Sides' Lawyers In Labels/Spinrilla Copyright Dispute Image

COUNSEL CONCERNS: Federal Judge Scolds Both Sides' Lawyers In Labels/Spinrilla Copyright Dispute

R. Robin McDonald

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.”

Features

Usher Song Credit Suit Outcome; Suit Over Led Zeppelin Song Gets Retrial  Image

Usher Song Credit Suit Outcome; Suit Over Led Zeppelin Song Gets Retrial 

Max Mitchell & Scott Graham

A man claiming to have been cheated out of credit for writing a song that was eventually recorded by R&amp;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.

Features

The 'New NAFTA' and How It Will Affect Intellectual Property Law Image

The 'New NAFTA' and How It Will Affect Intellectual Property Law

Lawrence E. Ashery 

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.

Columns & Departments

Bit Parts Image

Bit Parts

Stan Soocher

<i>Friday the 13th</i> Screenplay Author's Copyright Termination Notice Found Valid<br>Infringement Suit over Justin Timberlake's “Damn Girl” Allowed to Proceed

Features

4 Takeways from EU Copyright Directive Vote Image

4 Takeways from EU Copyright Directive Vote

Dan Clark

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.

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