LJN Newsletters

Despite its high rate of piracy, the strengthening of intellectual property laws in China has given some hope to owners of trademarks from other countries. The instructive article that follows documents the many twists and turns involved in in seeking to protect the trademark for a Japanese cartoon in China.

For merchants of all types, accepting credit card and debit card payments is almost a requirement of doing business in today's increasingly "cashless" economy. However, as the numbers of these transactions have increased, the costs that merchants must absorb on those payments have become a serious issue.

Even if a concert venue carries liability insurance to cover the scheduled performance, it is important for the musical group to carry its own liability and property insurance. And because cancellations, postponements, and the inability of the performer to take the stage also often occur due to unforeseen circumstances, those with a financial stake in the live event could also benefit greatly through the purchase of event cancellation and/or non-appearance insurance.

Because in-house counsel may be involved in giving advice on many issues that are more business-oriented rather than legal, conversations in which in-house counsel is a participant ' as well as documents addressed to or from in-house counsel ' are readily susceptible to discovery.

To Ninth Circuit Judge M. Margaret McKeown, the appeal in copyright case Monge v. Maya Magazines read "like a telenovela, a Spanish soap opera." McKeown wrote that the Spanish-language gossip magazine TVNotas violated the copyright of Noelia Lorenzo Monge, a Puerto Rican pop singer known mostly by her first name, and her husband, Jorge Reynoso, a music producer, by publishing private wedding photographs that apparently had been stolen from them.

Entertainment Law & Finance Editor-in-Chief Stan Soocher traveled to China over the summer to teach the course 'American Music Goes to Court' at the International College of Beijing. He reports here, in a two-part series, on the state of entertainment industry issues in China, as U.S. companies try to expand their reach there. Part One covers the current state of copyright law in China and discusses TV and film concerns.

Highlights of the latest equipment leasing news from around the country.

Is there any problem with filing your case directly with the MDL court? According to the author, the relative simplification of doing so may bring more problems than it is worth.