As we begin a new year, many beleaguered hedge funds will reflect on 2007 and how the credit crunch affected Wall Street, corporate borrowers and hedge funds in the long run. Although nobody knows if the end of troubled times is near, we do know that a sustained recovery will take lots of know-how, cooperation and willingness to be more transparent in our dealings with one another and, perhaps, some old-fashioned work.
Karaoke Recordings/Synchronization Licenses
File-Sharing Suits/Attorney Fees
Song Infringement/Access
Trademarks/Record Labels
Personal Jurisdiction in Legal Fees Dispute
Statutory Interest on Legal Fees Owed
FILM PRODUCTION/ARBITRATION
RIGHTS IN BAND NAMES/LACHES
After its first two releases went gold, Miami rap-R&B upstart Pretty Ricky claims one member ' Pleasure ' broke the rules by doing what music stars like Beyonce Knowles and Justin Timberlake have done in the past: going solo. The group's Fort Lauderdale, FL-based management company Bluestar Entertainment International is suing Pleasure, whose real name is Marcus Cooper, for performing outside the group.
Jan. 14, 2008 marked Eric Brunstad's seventh oral argument before the Supreme Court and it was a doozy, with justices hitting him harder than almost any lawyer in recent memory. The case was Preston v. Ferrer, an arbitration case that also has a modicum of celebrity appeal because of the identity of Brunstad's client. Brunstad was arguing on behalf of Alex Ferrer, a former Florida judge who stars in the syndicated 'Judge Alex' TV show in which, ironically enough, he arbitrates disputes between ordinary folks over issues like falling trees and damaged furniture.
In the months before his death from cancer in 1991, Beaumont, TX, lawyer Rex Conrad Woodard helped Thomas Gaetano DeVito, an original member of the pop group the Four Seasons, write an autobiographical book, Woodard's widow alleges. Woodard died before the book could be published. Now, with the work allegedly partly the basis for the hit Broadway musical 'Jersey Boys,' Woodard's widow has sued DeVito for a share of income stemming from the work.
The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York decided that a breach-of-contract suit by the Allman Brothers Band (ABB) alleging royalty underpayments from Jan. 1, 2000 through Dec. 31, 2003, was barred by the limitations provision of the band's recording agreement.
The value of athletes' personas and related indicia is a bedrock component of the sports industries. Merchandising and endorsement deals date back decades. But this tradition hasn't meant a smooth ride today. Disputes over athlete indicia are as common as those for entertainers. An examination of several court rulings from the past few weeks demonstrates common claims and defenses over licensed and unlicensed uses.
Zebra Technologies Corporation's legal department has five attorneys, a director of patents and technology, a director of international trade compliance and three administrative assistants. In addition to the matters handled exclusively in-house, Zebra has more than 1,350 matters open at this time. We work with approximately 25 law firms that generate approximately 200 invoices per month. To assist in the management of these documents, we selected CT TyMetrix T360' to help us organize, manage and pay invoices.
