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Entertainment Law & Finance
What Is the Difference Between ‘Covenant’ and ‘Condition Precedent’ In Song Administration Agreement?
Stan Soocher
A question of law arose for a District Judge when a songwriter sued YouTube, claiming she never approved licensing her works to YouTube — whether the administration agreement’s notice-and-consent clause was a condition precedent to the administrator’s ability to license the songwriter's songs.
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Entertainment Law & Finance
Tax Issues In Charitable NIL Collectives In College Sports
Todd Kesterson and Alyssa R. Wan
With a growing number of donor groups forming Name Image and Likeness collectives as not-for-profit entities, there are questions about whether or not these collectives truly qualify as charitable organizations for tax purposes.
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Entertainment Law & Finance
NY Court Strips Major Claims from Lil Wayne’s Suit Against Lawyer
Jason Grant
A New York State appellate court knocked out major claims from prominent rapper Lil Wayne’s $20 million lawsuit against Ronald Sweeney, his former attorney and representative of 13 years, including causes of action for fraudulent inducement, legal malpractice, breach of fiduciary duty and unjust enrichment.
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Entertainment Law & Finance
Online Extra: Live Nation Taps Prominent Antitrust Attorney Ahead of Congressional Showdown
Chris O’Malley
Girding itself for scrutiny by Congress and regulators over anti-competitive concerns, Live Nation Entertainment has retained prominent antitrust attorney-turned-lobbyist Seth Bloom.
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Entertainment Law & Finance
Fresh Filings
ELF Staff
Notable court filings in entertainment law.
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Entertainment Law & Finance
Players On the Move
ELF Staff
A look at moves among attorneys, law firms, companies and other players in entertainment law.
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Entertainment Law & Finance
Bit Parts
Stan Soocher
Breach-of-Contract Claim Can Continue Over Refusal to Exercise Option to Retain Anti-Vaccination Actress
California Court Rules on Intersection Between Anti-SLAPP Law and Movie Trailer
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Entertainment Law & Finance
Copyright Claims Board: Now Entering the “Active Phase"
Michelle Davis
2023 is shaping up to be a big year for small claims. Since making its debut in June of 2022, the Copyright Claims Board (CCB) has received over 250 claims, and at least 11 have made it to the “active phase,” with more on the way. Active phase means a respondent was served, failed to “opt out,” and now the esteemed three-member tribunal of copyright experts may finally get a chance to make some rulings.
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Entertainment Law & Finance
The NFT Market and Fallout from the FTX Scandal
Mark Cianci, Charles Humphreville, Kelley Chandler and Ty Owen
The FTX bankruptcy scandal that has shaken the largely unregulated cryptocurrency world has slowed but isn’t likely to end the roll-out of celebrity-related, non-fungible digital token (NFT) offerings. But how might the FTX story impact a push for federal regulation of the NFT market?
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Entertainment Law & Finance
Fresh Filings
ELF Staff
A look at moves among attorneys, law firms, companies and other players in entertainment law.
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Entertainment Law & Finance
Players On the Move
ELF Staff
A look at moves among attorneys, law firms, companies and other players in entertainment law.
Read More ›
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Entertainment Law & Finance
Bit Parts
Stan Soocher
COVID-19 Insurance Coverage Affirmed for Cancellation of Tina Turner Musical
MTV Floribama Shore Overcomes Trademark Infringement Claim
New York Appellate Division Reinstates Lawsuit Alleging Misappropriation of Reality TV Concept
Ninth Circuit Affirms Film Clip In Talent Acting Reel Was Fair Use
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Entertainment Law & Finance
New Decisions In Disputes Over Titles Reinforce ‘High Bar’ In Proving Public Was ‘Explicitly Misled’
Stan Soocher
When it comes to expressive content, disputes over trademark rights in titles of creative works are commonly fought under the federal Lanham Act. Many of these battles play out in courts in the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which has well-developed legal guidelines on the subject — many of them from lawsuits that have arisen in the entertainment industry.
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Entertainment Law & Finance
Conn. Fed. Court Distinguishes Funny Girl Lyrics Royalty Rights from Copyright
Allison Dunn
A federal judge in the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut sided with the family of a production company executive in finding that the wife of late Broadway lyricist Bob Merrill had no right, under §304(c) of the U.S. Copyright Act, to cancel a more than 50-year-old royalty agreement between the executive and Merrill.
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Entertainment Law & Finance
Texas App. Court’s Ruling in Suit By Band Member’s Lawyer
Adolfo Pesquera
A.B. Quintanilla III, founding member and leader of the Latin music group Kumbia Kings, prevailed on appeal in a dispute with a Texas attorney who claimed Quintanilla conspired to cut the lawyer out of his alleged share of a settlement.
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Entertainment Law & Finance
Legal Malpractice Suit Involving Celebrity Memorabilia Can Proceed
Jason Grant
A New York appeals court rejected a Manhattan boutique law firm’s attempt to dismiss a malpractice action against it, finding that questions remained as to whether the statute of limitations for the claim was tolled and if the firm received sufficient notice about a bankruptcy that prevented its client from collecting a judgment.
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Entertainment Law & Finance
Questions About Fox Corp. CLO Bar Licensing
Greg Andrews
The chief legal officer of Fox Corp. since 2018 didn’t become licensed in California until this summer, a delay one law professor described as a “big screw up” that might expose his communications with fellow Fox executives to public disclosure in the multibillion-dollar defamation litigation brought by two voting companies.
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Entertainment Law & Finance
Fresh Filings
A look at moves among attorneys, law firms, companies and other players in entertainment law.
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Entertainment Law & Finance
Bit Parts
Stan Soocher
Court Doesn’t Buy Pandora’s Antitrust Argument Against Comedy Content Licensor
Lawyer Sanctioned Under Rule 11 for Submitting Judicial Notice Request in Artist’s Infringement Suit
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Entertainment Law & Finance
Upcoming Event
Copyright Year in Review. Dec. 9, 2022
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Entertainment Law & Finance
Second Circuit Addresses Significant Music Compulsory Licensing Issues In Bill Graham Archives Dispute
Stan Soocher
In 2015, a group of music publishers sued the purchaser of the Bill Graham Archives — a repository that includes live performances staged by the late, legendary concert promoter of an array of musical artists beginning in the 1960s. Now, the Second Circuit has handed down its appellate opinion in the litigation, addressing the important compulsory licensing concerns as well as some of the additional issues in the case.
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Entertainment Law & Finance
Fight Stream Distributor Can Pursue Claim Against TN Grill
Allison Dunn
In a matter of first impression, the Sixth Circuit sided with a third-party sporting events distributor by finding the distributor has standing to sue a Kingsport, TN, bar under the U.S. Copyright Act for livestreaming a 2017 boxing match between Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor without the proper licensing.
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Entertainment Law & Finance
Copyright Attorney Fees Ruling in Friday the 13th Termination Case
Mason Lawlor
The U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut granted Friday the 13th screenwriter Victor Miller partial attorney fees totaling more than $886,564, in his long-running fight against the 1980 horror film’s production outfit Manny Co. over proceeds from the film.
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Entertainment Law & Finance
Report on Oral Arguments At Supreme Court In 'Warhol' Case
Scott Graham
During the recent oral arguments before it, the U.S. Supreme Court sounded open to extending more fair use protection to an Andy Warhol painting of rock icon Prince than the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit did.
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Entertainment Law & Finance
Players On the Move
ELF Staff
A look at moves among attorneys, law firms, companies and other players in entertainment law.
Read More ›
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Entertainment Law & Finance
Fresh Filings
ELF Staff
A look at moves among attorneys, law firms, companies and other players in entertainment law.
Read More ›
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Entertainment Law & Finance
Bit Parts
Stan Soocher
Florida Federal Court’s Findings in Battle Over “LINEAR” Band Name Not So Linear
Second Circuit Agrees Federal Copyright Law Preempts Right of Publicity Complaint Over Sirius XM’s Use of Howard Stern Show Archival Recordings
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Entertainment Law & Finance
Upcoming Event
ELF Staff
Nashville Bar Association Annual Entertainment, Sports & Media Law Institute
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Entertainment Law & Finance
Right to Funds from Sale of Tax Credits At Issue In Litigation Between Production Companies
Stan Soocher
State tax credits are valuable tools for helping meet the costs of producing films, TV shows, commercials, and other media and entertainment productions. But if more than one production company is involved with a project, a legal dispute can arise over which company owns the right to the tax credit funds.
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Entertainment Law & Finance
Malpractice Claim Over Prince Tracks Is Governed by Massachusetts Law
Colleen Murphy
The Mass. Appeals Court ruled that a legal malpractice claim brought by representatives of the iconic musician Prince’s estate against an attorney and his firm is governed by Massachusetts, not Minnesota, law.
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Entertainment Law & Finance
Defamation Cases Against Netflix, Funimation Have Different Outcomes
Adolfo Pesquera
Defamation litigation crops up often in the entertainment industry. Two recent Texas Court of Appeals opinions raise issues worth noting in such cases, though each of the Texas decisions had different outcomes.
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Entertainment Law & Finance
Pondering AI Machine Learning and Copyright Fair Use
Cassandre Coyer
By feeding machine-learning models hundreds of copyrighted pictures to train them to identify and “read” certain concepts, companies could face violating copyright laws.
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Entertainment Law & Finance
Fresh Filings
Rapper 50 Cent filed a right-of-publicity lawsuit against Angela Kogan and her company Perfection Plastic Surgery & MedSpa in Florida Southern District…
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Entertainment Law & Finance
Players On the Move
ELF Staff
A look at moves among attorneys, law firms, companies and other players in entertainment law.
Read More ›
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Entertainment Law & Finance
Upcoming Event
TexasBarCLE 32nd Annual Entertainment Law Institute
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Entertainment Law & Finance
Federal Judge Takes Aim at Legal Process for Targeting Counterfeit Merchandisers
Stan Soocher
The rebound in concert tours and ticket revenues as 2022 has unfolded gives the live events industry hope for a strong 2023, too. For many tours, though, it’s income from merchandise that makes the tour profitable. Thus, the rise in the number of artists touring also means a parallel resurgence in the activities of counterfeit-merchandise sellers and renewed efforts by the industry to battle its long-time problem with the sale of counterfeit merchandise near event venues.
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Entertainment Law & Finance
The Story Behind AFM & SAG-AFTRA Royalty Fund Distribution Litigation
Adolfo Pesquera
The case of a session musician's unpaid royalties revealed a gross lack of initiative on the part of the trustees and directors of AFM & SAG-AFTRA Intellectual Property Rights Distribution Fund and that the fund administrators had made little if any effort for years to distribute funds to thousands of session musicians and backup singers.
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Entertainment Law & Finance
Update on Changes In New York’s Ticket Sales Law
Anthony J. Dreyer, Ryan P. Bisaillon and Michael C. Salik
NY's update to its regulatory scheme for event ticketing principally affects the rules governing disclosure requirements for primary ticket sale prices and restricts the means of secondary ticket resale, including by expanding penalties for the use of scalper software “bots” and unauthorized ticket purchasing software.
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Entertainment Law & Finance
Esports Industry Labor, Employment Law Concerns
Davis Mosmeyer and Brooke Bahlinger
One of the issues facing the esports industry is the classification of professional players as employees versus independent contractors. This issue is of particular concern for companies operating competitive esports teams and/or using the services of content creators.
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Entertainment Law & Finance
Players on the Move
ELF Staff
A look at moves among attorneys, law firms, companies and other players in entertainment law.
Read More ›
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Entertainment Law & Finance
Fresh Filings
ELF Staff
A look at moves among attorneys, law firms, companies and other players in entertainment law.
Read More ›
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Entertainment Law & Finance
Bit Parts
Stan Soocher
Brian Wilson’s Ex-Wife Wins Remand Back to State Court of Her Claim to Share of Revenues from Sale of His Song Catalog
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Entertainment Law & Finance
Ninth Circuit Says Copyright Plaintiffs Can Reach Back More Than Three Years In Seeking Infringement Damages
Stan Soocher
How far back from accrual of a claim may a plaintiff reach for copyright damages?
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Entertainment Law & Finance
‘Banana’ Artwork Dispute Presents Slippery Slope for Copyright
Robert W. Clarida and Thomas Kjellberg
In July, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida denied a motion to dismiss in Morford v. Cattelan, a decision that began by posing the question: “Can a banana taped to a wall be art?”
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Entertainment Law & Finance
China Court’s Ruling On NFTs and Copyrights
Isha Marathe
China, which has had an up-and-down relationship with the U.S. entertainment industry, became the latest country to offer a key regulatory framework in its first-ever case dealing with NFTs and the copyright violations they are sometimes saddled with.
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Entertainment Law & Finance
Ricky Martin Sued By Former Manager
Alaina Lancaster
Ricky Martin’s former manager claims the singer owes her more than $3 million in unpaid commissions, according to a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court.
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Entertainment Law & Finance
2d Cir. Rules for Baron Cohen In Dismissal of Judge Moore’s Defamation Case
Jane Wester
Following up on an article in the July issue of Entertainment Law & Finance that detailed some of the arguments made before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in Roy Moore’s defamation suit against Sacha Baron Cohen, the court has issued its ruling.
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Entertainment Law & Finance
Fresh Filings
ELF Staff
A look at moves among attorneys, law firms, companies and other players in entertainment law.
Read More ›
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Entertainment Law & Finance
Players On the Move
ELF Staff
A look at moves among attorneys, law firms, companies and other players in entertainment law.
Read More ›
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Entertainment Law & Finance
Bit Parts
Stan Soocher
Nashville Federal Court Decides Spotify CEO Daniel Ek Must Sit for Deposition in Copyright Licensing Dispute Over Streaming of Eminem Songs
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