Law.com Subscribers SAVE 30%

Call 855-808-4530 or email [email protected] to receive your discount on a new subscription.

Columns & Departments

Bit Parts Image

Bit Parts

Stan Soocher

California Court of Appeal Finds Film Producer's Anti-SLAPP Free Speech Argument Is Valid Against Lawsuit By Investor No Implied Covenant to File Song Cue Sheets for Foreign Broadcast

Features

How Judges Are Interpreting Supreme Court's Copyright 'Registration' Ruling Image

How Judges Are Interpreting Supreme Court's Copyright 'Registration' Ruling

Stan Soocher

In Fourth Estate Public Benefit Corp. v. Wall-Street.com LLC, the U.S. Supreme Court held that, under 17 U.S.C. §411(a), "registration occurs, and a copyright claimant may commence an infringement suit, when the Copyright Office registers a copyright" — that is, acts on a registration application, rather than when an applicant delivers the registration materials to the Copyright Office.

Features

What Would End of Film Studio Consent Decrees Mean? Image

What Would End of Film Studio Consent Decrees Mean?

Karen Hoffman Lent & Kenneth Schwartz

In November, the DOJ asked a federal district court to terminate the Paramount Consent Decrees, a set of rules governing major film studios for the last 70 years. In effect, these rules prohibited movie studios from owning downstream movie theaters and banned a variety of vertical agreements, such as block booking — the practice of bundling multiple films into one theater license.

Features

Counsel Concerns: 3rd Circuit Decides Lawyers' Dispute over Video Game Litigation Client Image

Counsel Concerns: 3rd Circuit Decides Lawyers' Dispute over Video Game Litigation Client

P.J. D'Annunzio

A federal appeals court upheld the dismissal of a Philadelphia lawyer's suit alleging that Los Angeles litigation boutique Pierce Bainbridge Beck Price & Hecht acted in bad faith by failing to follow through with a $160,000 settlement in a dispute over attorney fees.

Features

IP Issues and Esports Athletes Image

IP Issues and Esports Athletes

Frank Ready

A new esports-centric survey released by the law firm of Foley & Lardner projects that esports revenues will climb above the $1 billion mark this year. But the increased stakes and growing sophistication of the industry will likely not be without their headaches.

Features

Challenges to Evidence of Copyright Ownership Image

Challenges to Evidence of Copyright Ownership

Stan Soocher

There has been a long-term debate over whether sound recordings can be copyright works made for hire. Sound recordings don't appear in the list of works for hire set out in §101 of the Copyright Act of 1976, though record labels argue recordings can be deemed so as a "compilation" or a "contribution to a collective work," per §101.

Columns & Departments

Players on the Move Image

Players on the Move

Dan Clark

Copyright Office General Counsel Moves to MPAA

Features

Film and Music Cases Result in Different Outcomes for Default Judgment Motions Image

Film and Music Cases Result in Different Outcomes for Default Judgment Motions

Stan Soocher

Non-payment of monies is an all-too-common complaint in the entertainment industry, with frustrated plaintiffs in many cases seeking default judgments against defendants who fail to respond to lawsuits seeking payment. Two new Central District of California federal court decisions illustrate — after the judges sort through the factors for determining whether to grant a default judgment — how consideration of the amount of money at issue resulted in different outcomes on whether to enter a default judgment.

Features

Editor's Note Image

Editor's Note

Stan Soocher

We sadly note the November passing of long-time Entertainment Law & Finance editorial board member Jay Rosenthal.

Features

Photo Cases Test Copyright Law and Embedded Tweets Image

Photo Cases Test Copyright Law and Embedded Tweets

Raychel Lean

A New Yorker who settled a copyright lawsuit against several news outlets over a photo he took of star quarterback Tom Brady and Boston Celtics manager Danny Ainge has struck again. This time he's suing a radio station owner in Florida federal courts in a case that could test the boundaries of an emerging area of copyright law, raising major questions about how media companies incorporate social media posts into online stories.

Need Help?

  1. Prefer an IP authenticated environment? Request a transition or call 800-756-8993.
  2. Need other assistance? email Customer Service or call 1-877-256-2472.

MOST POPULAR STORIES

  • Major Differences In UK, U.S. Copyright Laws
    This article highlights how copyright law in the United Kingdom differs from U.S. copyright law, and points out differences that may be crucial to entertainment and media businesses familiar with U.S law that are interested in operating in the United Kingdom or under UK law. The article also briefly addresses contrasts in UK and U.S. trademark law.
    Read More ›
  • A 'Cloud Security Doctrine' for Law Firms
    Cloud computing may be here to stay, but is it truly safer than the solutions that it's outmoding? The Legal Cloud Computing Association (LCCA) thinks there's a path to greater security, publishing for law firms its first "Cloud Security Doctrine."
    Read More ›
  • IP News
    Federal Circuit: PTAB Did Not Err In Finding That It Retained Authority to Issue Final Written Decision After Deadline Passed Federal Circuit: District Court Did Not Err In Finding That an Abbreviated New Drug Application Is Limited to the Uses Described Therein
    Read More ›
  • The Article 8 Opt In
    The Article 8 opt-in election adds an additional layer of complexity to the already labyrinthine rules governing perfection of security interests under the UCC. A lender that is unaware of the nuances created by the opt in (may find its security interest vulnerable to being primed by another party that has taken steps to perfect in a superior manner under the circumstances.
    Read More ›