<b><i>Commentary: </b></i>Keep the Core Neutral: ICANN Policy Proposes to Restrict New Domain Names
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers ('ICANN'), the private California corporation set up by the United States Commerce Department in 1998 to manage and control the Internet's root server, is developing a policy to introduce new generic Top-Level Domains. Unfortunately, the draft policy ignores freedom of expression guarantees, expands the rights of trademark owners on the Internet and sets up an arbitrary and subjective process in which ICANN will decide what ideas may be expressed in Internet domain names ' and by whom.
Bit Parts
Book Publishing/Personal Jurisdiction; Copyright Infringement/Preliminary Injuctions; Right-of-Publicity Claims/Insurance; Theatrical Productions/Personal Jurisdiction; Video-Game Statutes/Constitutionality.
Features
Clause & Effect
Recording Agreements/Forum-Selection Clause; Royalty Claims/Letter of Inducement; TV Music Scores/Synchhornization Royalties.
Keeping Track of Celebrity Image Use
For celebrities, image is everything. For the entertainment lawyers who represent their interests, that means confronting ever more complex efforts to profit from (or poison) a client's fame. Among the talent-side lawyers, there's a small club of firms doing the lion's share of the image work for the big stars.
Cameo Clips
Concert Tours/Deal Breakdown; Right of Publicity/Web Photo Display; TV Interviews/Anti-SLAPP Law.
Features
Decision of Note: No Interference Seen in Failure of Deal Talks
The Appellate Court of Conn-ecticut affirmed that the rap group Fort Knox failed to establish that a member's brother tortiously interfered with the group's business expectancy of entering into a recording contract with rap mogul Master P.
Solving the Fight over Union Residuals
The Writers Guild of America has been negotiating with the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers for a new collective bargaining agreement. The current agreement expires on Oct. 31, 2007. The current agreements of the Directors Guild of America and Screen Actors Guild of America end on June 30, 2008. This article summarizes some of the key conflicts that may trigger threatened guild strikes. Most of these issues relate to the income base and calculation of residuals. This article suggests a simple and fair alternative method for calculating residuals that eliminates all the contentious issues, not just in the pending negotiations of the guild agreements, but also in practice.
Changes to Retiree Health Benefits
Changes in accounting rules, spiraling health-care costs, increased competition and changing demographics converge to make it economically infeasible for some employers to continue providing such benefits at the generous levels of years past. Consequently, many companies have been compelled to modify their retiree health plans in ways that reduce or eliminate some benefits or that require retirees to pay more out of pocket. These changes have resulted in an avalanche of litigation.
Need Help?
- Prefer an IP authenticated environment? Request a transition or call 800-756-8993.
- Need other assistance? email Customer Service or call 1-877-256-2472.
MOST POPULAR STORIES
- Protecting Innovation in the Cyber World from Patent TrollsWith trillions of dollars to keep watch over, the last thing we need is the distraction of costly litigation brought on by patent assertion entities (PAEs or "patent trolls"), companies that don't make any products but instead seek royalties by asserting their patents against those who do make products.Read More ›
- Private Equity Valuation: A Significant DecisionInsiders (and others) in the private equity business are accustomed to seeing a good deal of discussion ' academic and trade ' on the question of the appropriate methods of valuing private equity positions and securities which are otherwise illiquid. An interesting recent decision in the Southern District has been brought to our attention. The case is <i>In Re Allied Capital Corp.</i>, CCH Fed. SEC L. Rep. 92411 (US DC, S.D.N.Y., Apr. 25, 2003). Judge Lynch's decision is well written, the Judge reviewing a motion to dismiss by a business development company, Allied Capital, against a strike suit claiming that Allied's method of valuing its portfolio failed adequately to account for i) conditions at the companies themselves and ii) market conditions. The complaint appears to be, as is often the case, slap dash, content to point out that Allied revalued some of its positions, marking them down for a variety of reasons, and the stock price went down - all this, in the view of plaintiff's counsel, amounting to violations of Rule 10b-5.Read More ›
- Use of Deferred Prosecution Agreements In White Collar InvestigationsThis article discusses the practical and policy reasons for the use of DPAs and NPAs in white-collar criminal investigations, and considers the NDAA's new reporting provision and its relationship with other efforts to enhance transparency in DOJ decision-making.Read More ›
- The DOJ Goes Phishing: The Rise of False Claims Act Cybersecurity LitigationWhile the DOJ Civil Cyber-Fraud Initiative is still in its early stages and cybersecurity regulations are evolving, whistleblower plaintiffs have already begun leveraging the FCA to pursue alleged noncompliance with government cybersecurity requirements.Read More ›
- What Does 2024 Hold for Cybersecurity?Our annual poll of experts on the trends and developments to watch out for in 2024 in AI, data privacy, cybersecurity, e-discovery and more.Read More ›