Features

Antitrust Actions In Entertainment Industry Sectors
The growth in size of companies dominating sectors of the entertainment industry has been subject to antitrust challenges with mixed results. What are some notable recent developments in this area?
Features

Second Circuit Affirms Slashing of Unreasonable Fees In Dismissed Involuntary Bankruptcy Case
An involuntary bankruptcy petition is a limited, risky remedy for both creditors' counsel and debtor's counsel. The fee problems encountered by counsel for the petitioners and the putative debtor in this case provide a cautionary tale.
Features

Mass. Appeals Court Holds That Email to Landlord Constituted 'Effective Notice' to Prevent Automatic Lease Renewal
Despite a provision in a commercial lease that prohibited electronic notice, the Massachusetts Appeals Court sided with a tenant in holding that an email to its landlord constituted effective notice to opt out of an automatic five-year lease extension.
Columns & Departments
Development
Court Reserves Decision Pending Further Proceedings When ZBA Produced Inadequate Findings of Fact to Support Variance Grant Landmark Designation Upheld Despite Town's Failure to Call Public Hearing Within Code's Time Limit
Features

9th Circuit Bases Attorney Fees On What Class-Action Clients Get In Hand
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit made clear its view — that class-action plaintiffs' lawyers generally should not be awarded fees that exceed the amount their clients get from a settlement — as the court struck down a $1.7 million fee award in which a copyright plaintiffs' class received less than $53,000 in an infringement dispute settlement.
Features

Second Circuit Sets Up Seven-Factor Test for Third-Party Releases In Bankruptcy Cases
The Second Circuit had a tough call to make in the Purdue Pharmacy bankruptcy appeal: What to do about the release given to the Sackler families who had agreed to contribute $5.5 to $6 billion to Purdue's reorganization plan but were not themselves in bankruptcy.
Features

Bankruptcy Court Highlights Pitfalls to Avoid When Retaining Experts
Simply because the expert is retained by counsel in anticipation of litigation, does not automatically render all communications privileged.
Features

Bankruptcy Judge Dismisses 3M Unit's Earplug Case, Concluding It Had No 'Valid Reorganization Purpose'
U.S. Chief Bankruptcy Judge Jeffrey Graham found that 3M subsidiary Aearo Technologies, which is financially solvent, had no "valid reorganization purpose" to file for Chapter 11 protection last year.
Columns & Departments
Fresh Filings
Notable court filings in entertainment law.
Features

Online Extra: The Other Recent Copyright Infringement Lawsuit Against Ed Sheeran
The lion's share of attention to copyright-infringement claims against Ed Sheeran over his song of the Year "Thinking Out Loud" recently focused on the trial in New York federal court in which a jury found in Sheeran's favor in the lawsuit brought by the heirs of a co-author of the 1970s soul-song classic "Let's Get It On." But in September 2022, a related infringement suit over the same songs' matching chord progression and harmonic rhythm was allowed to go forward.
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