Litigation

O'Melveny & Myers has filed suit against MGA Entertainment seeking payment of $10.2 million in unpaid legal fees related to the company's long-running legal dispute with Mattel over ownership of the popular Bratz line of fashion dolls.

A federal judge in Manhattan said "Beat It" to most counts in a $300 million suit filed against Michael Jackson's estate, Jackson's ex-manager, Frank Dileo, and Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) over promotional rights to the comeback tour the King of Pop was planning prior to his death last summer.

Litigation in the social gaming sector features young companies vying for position in a lucrative and fast-growing market where copycat games and employee poaching are commonplace. Social gaming is expected to contribute more than $800 million this year to the $1.6 billion virtual goods market. Legal questions continue to surround the sector's ubiquitous practice of "fast following" ' quickly copying competitors' successful gaming concepts.

The Superior Court of New Jersey, Appellate Division, reinstated a jury verdict that dismissed a complaint against an entertainer who shoved a security guard, injured as a result, during a performance at the Trump Taj Mahal Casino in Atlantic City.

Advances in digital distribution technologies and widespread use of the Internet have moved media distribution technology out of the control of rights holders and distributors, and directly into the hands of consumers or creative members of the general public. To address how U.S. copyright law should apply to new business models that take advantage of these technologies, some have proposed collective rights licensing at the Internet service provider (ISP) level.

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When it comes to infringement of intellectual property, there are no "IP police" hiding in the obscure nooks and crannies of cyberspace to chase down those who misuse property online. Instead, the e-commerce firm itself often must become its own IP cop, when it discovers ' as it inevitably will in the online free-for-all ' that its marks, copyrighted content or knockoffs of its unique products appear on the Web site or in the e-catalog of a competitor.

If this were an article about Toyota's actions and inactions, it could stop here. But it is really about the proposed "Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 2010." This legislation, engendered by the Toyota recalls, makes TREAD (Transportation Recall Enhancement Accountability and Documentation Act)sem minor by comparison.