Litigation

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit reversed a district court's award of attorney fees to Sony Corp. under §505 of the Copyright Act for winning a ruling that a lawsuit over a Sony Music songwriting contest should be sent to arbitration.

The hotly disputed legal issue between the majority and dissent in the recent, highly-publicized “Blurred Lines” decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit concerned whether Marvin Gaye's 1976 hit song “Got to Give it Up” was entitled to “broad” or “thin” copyright protection.

Pop musicians may be running out of creative space. And this problem is being exacerbated by the behaviors of what we might call the “legacy” interests — parties who own copyright interests in already-created songs but who won't be making any new music.

Two camps are battling in New Jersey federal court over royalties paid by Universal Pictures for use of the car that became a time machine in the Back to the Future movie trilogy.

A Delaware federal bankruptcy judge's ruling in May approved the $310 million sale of The Weinstein Co.'s television and film assets to Dallas-based Lantern Capital Partners. The development was the latest blow to women who had hoped to recover against the company for abuses suffered at the hands of company co-founder Harvey Weinstein.

In a lawsuit over rights to a card game with a pivotal role in the Star Wars saga, Lucasfilm Ltd. won an early battle against app maker Ren Ventures Ltd. when a federal district judge in San Francisco declined to dismiss Lucasfilm's claims based on Ren Ventures' use of various trademarks, primarily centered on the game Sabacc.

When entering into or acquiring leases for locations, a retail or restaurant business must consider broader business concerns in negotiating the leases' assignment provisions. Those provisions can inadvertently create major obstacles in the ultimate conveyance or financing of the business.

Sets Standard that Potentially Relieves Municipalities from Liability for Denying Religious Uses

The broad and somewhat vague definition of religious exercise in The Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) has invited much litigation over what constitutes a substantial burden and even what constitutes religious exercise.