Entertainment and Sports Law

Just a few days after the Florida Supreme Court ruled the state's common law doesn't provide pre-1972 sound recordings with rights to public performance royalties, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit heard oral arguments on whether remasterings inject pre-1972 sound recordings with federal copyright protection.

In 2016, concerns about protecting trade secrets in the European Union resulted in Directive (EU) 2016/943 of the European Parliament and of the Council of June 8, 2016. Directive (EU) 2016/943, which will impact the entertainment industry, seeks to protect undisclosed know-how and business information (trade secrets) against their unlawful acquisition, use and disclosure.

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York is conducting a criminal investigation into transactions connected to The Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR) that were arranged by embattled film producer Harvey Weinstein, The New York Times reported. The transactions involved $600,000 raised at a May 2015 auction in Cannes on the French Riviera from a pair of fundraising packages arranged by Weinstein.

Add this to the growing list of legal problems facing Harvey Weinstein, The Weinstein Co. (TWC) and Miramax: Lawyers at Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro and The Armenta Law Firm have filed a federal racketeering class action against Weinstein, the production company and the studio alleging they conspired "to facilitate and conceal [Weinstein's] pattern of unwanted sexual conduct."

Florida Federal Court Confirms Denial of Song Administration Rights to Chic Co-Founder's Widow
Minnesota Right of Publicity Ruled Descendible in Prince Recordings Dispute
Original Housewives Producers' Fraud Claim Time-Barred, Though Contract Breach Claim Can Proceed
Ticketmaster.com Arbitration Clause Doesn't Apply to Potential Buyer on ticketexchangebyticketmaster.com

The big news in the fantasy sports arena this past summer was the announcement that competitors FanDuel and DraftKings, which make up more than 90% of the online market, would end their merger bid following the Federal Trade Commission's filing of an antitrust lawsuit against the companies. Now, there's good news for FanDuel and DraftKings on a different front, involving the use of athletes' personality components.

Several of the same concepts that are in agreements between performing artists and managers also apply to agreements between authors and literary representatives.

In the context of a copyright case, a defendant's prior bad acts and prior conduct are more useful to a plaintiff than is typical in civil litigation. In many instances, copyright infringement lawsuits are brought against defendants who have been sued before for infringement, or related misconduct, or who have been the subject of allegations or informal complaints, or who simply have experience in copyright matters.