Entertainment and Sports Law

In 23XI Racing LLC v. National Association of Stock Car Racing LLC (NASCAR), racing teams 23XI and Front Row Motorsports Inc. sued NASCAR, including over the latter’s inclusion of a waiver clause in agreements that permit teams to compete in NASCAR’s pinnacle Cup Series.

Early in Van Halen’s career, Neil Zlozower shot photos of the music group at Sunset Sound Studios with Eddie holding his famous "Frankenstein" guitar. Years later, Zlozower sued the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame & Museum, alleging copyright infringement after the institution included two of his Van Halen photos, unlicensed from and uncredited to Zlozower, in exhibits at the museum.

When can an artist using AI tools copyright their work? Earlier this year, the Copyright Office addressed the issue and rejected the proposition that only prompting an AI model can create a copyrightable work. But Copyright Office’s analysis missed that “randomness” for a computer means something entirely different than we generally think, ultimately underselling the amount of control someone can have over a model’s output.

As a global streaming giant, Spotify is a big litigation target. As proof, the company is currently caught between new proposed class-action lawsuits filed by artists and filed by consumers.

Notable recent court filings in entertainment law.

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

It’s a fundamental copyright principle that a song and a sound recording of that song each have their own copyright protection. But that protection isn’t equal.

We are in a frenzied time for merger and acquisition (M&A) activities for companies in the entertainment and communications industries. These are intricate endeavors, often involving fast-paced negotiations, complex due diligence and the navigation of multiple regulatory frameworks. Among these, compliance with FCC regulations represents a significant and frequently underestimated challenge in deals involving companies with FCC authorizations.