Entertainment and Sports Law

A look at moves among attorneys, law firms, companies and other players in entertainment law.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

A look at moves among attorneys, law firms, companies and other players in entertainment law.