Bank Not Liable for Unauthorized Film Loan Transfer<br>Disney Owns "Pooh" Copyrights and Trademarks

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COPYRIGHT OWNERSHIP/INEFFECTIVE TRANSFER<br>FILM DISTRIBUTION/ADVANCE OBLIGATION

Today's game designers and consumers demand a sports game experience that is as close to the real world, and real players, as possible. Game manufacturers have largely succeeded in delivering on this demand. But at least a handful of players are not happy with this situation.

Some non-Hollywood law firms have carved out limited entertainment practices based on their own areas of expertise, such as large corporate mergers or financing. But most avoid the entertainment world altogether.

In a ruling of first impression, the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware decided that photographs published on a foreign Web site weren't simultaneously "published" in the United States. The photographer thus wasn't required to register the photographs with the U.S. Copyright Office prior to filing an infringement suit.

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SILOs underlie a confrontation between a taxpayer and the IRS in the new First Circuit case of <i>United States v. Textron Inc.</i> But that decision was not just about the legality or taxing of such leases. Rather, it has grave consequences on a far more sweeping issue: the inability of taxpayers to shield from disclosure so-called "tax accrual workpapers," documents typically prepared by in-house tax attorneys that set out in detail sensitive areas of tax liability.

Film financing and film production can be long, slow processes. But deals for distribution rights may be struck up fast and furious, as seen from distribution interest in buzz movies at film festivals. This happened with Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire, a film about a young African-American mother in Harlem that won both the grand jury prize and audience award in drama at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2009. Hurried negotiations for the film distribution rights to Push has led to multi-suit litigation ' and a recent Manhattan federal district court ruling that may help define when there's a binding distribution deal.

Who's doing what; who's going where.