LJN Newsletters

  • Courts Are Split On Tests for Right of Publicity

    The California Court of Appeal relied on a similarity test in prior California Supreme Court cases in recently finding that three video-game companies had a First Amendment right to create a character that shared some traits with Kieren Kirby, or 'Lady Miss Kier,' the former lead singer of the 1990s funk band Deee-Lite. Kirby v. Sega of America. But in a 2003 Missouri Supreme Court decision involving former St. Louis Blues hockey player Tony Twist, the judges found that Twist might have a case alleging that his name and likeness were exploited to sell the comic book 'Spawn.' Doe v. TCI Cablevision.

    December 28, 2006Amanda Bronstad

  • Estate-Planning Issues for Entertainers

    Estate planning is central to the post-mortem distribution and protection of an individual's assets. Celebrities have special estate-planning concerns that include intellectual-property valuations, how the valuations affect estate taxes and post-mortem administration of intellectual-property. In the following interview, conducted in Nashville by Entertainment Law & Finance Editor-in-Chief Stan Soocher, entertainment attorney Robert L. Sullivan discusses these and related estate-planning issues that affect artists. Sullivan is a partner in the Nashville office of Loeb & Loeb where his clients include songwriters, music-publishing companies, record companies and recording artists. He has 30-years of experience as an entertainment lawyer and serves as a trustee for the estate of Johnny Cash.

    December 28, 2006ALM Staff | Law Journal Newsletters |

  • The Leasing Hotline

    Highlights of the latest commercial leasing cases from around the country.

    December 28, 2006ALM Staff | Law Journal Newsletters |

  • Developments of Note

    Recent developments in e-commerce law and in the e-commerce industry.

    December 28, 2006Michael Lear-Olimpi

  • e-Commerce Docket Sheet

    Recent cases in e-commerce law and in the e-commerce industry.

    December 28, 2006Julian S. Millstein, Edward A. Pisacreta and Jeffrey D. Neuburger

  • Blog Defamation

    Bloggers can be held liable for defamatory statements posted on their sites, regardless of whether the statements were original comments generated by the blogger or whether he or she republished the statements that someone else made.
    The good news, though, particularly for bloggers and counsel who advise and represent enterprises where blogs are likely to be created and used (say, for instance, e-commerce or technology companies that supply or deal extensively with e-businesses), is that just as with traditional print publications, bloggers may raise a defense against defamation claims under Internet communication-protection statutes and the First Amendment.

    December 28, 2006Jonathan Bick

  • Empowering Attorneys and Clients to Exchange Large Files Securely

    Given the sensitive nature of attorney/client files, the challenge is how to give attorneys the ability to exchange the information in a secure way. Strategically, security is the easier part of the problem; the bigger issue is how to facilitate the exchange so that users are in control of the process instead of having to call for IT support every time information must be exchanged.

    December 28, 2006Daniel G. Rhodes

  • Punk Rock and The Sale of Your e-Business

    'Should I stay or should I go?'
    That was the question that those classic '80s punk rockers The Clash asked in a song by the same title about a romance gone awry. That's just a song, though.
    But, interestingly enough, that hard-driving ditty is applicable to the world of e-business: The entrepreneur contemplating the future of his or her business ' a love built of the same good times and bad, and with the same blood, sweat and tears as a real-life romance ' confronts the same dilemma when it's time to make that decision: Should he stay or should he go? How could a person not expect such perseveration? When an entrepreneur reads about the rapid rise of YouTube from startup to $1.65 billion buyout, he or she can easily forget about the many new firms that fail, and instead imagine being the personification of ' or fantasize about ' having a company that becomes the next tech-economy icon.

    December 28, 2006Stanley P. Jaskiewicz

  • Beware of Phishing: How Landlords and Tenants Can Avoid the Hook

    Although landlords and tenants often have different views on various topics, they share a common interest in protecting their premises against theft. Until recently, security considerations were generally limited to decisions concerning appropriate locks and the installation of stout hardware. In the new millennium, however, securing electronic entryways to premises may be of even greater importance, and it behooves landlords and tenants alike to keep abreast of developments in computer-related security breaches. In particular, landlords and tenants must be alert to a variety of identity theft threats, including phishing scams, in which they receive an e-mail from a seemingly reputable company (eg, a tenant receives an e-mail that appears to be from the landlord) that attempts to obtain personal information from the recipient when in fact the e-mail was sent by an identity thief.

    December 28, 2006Melissa J. Krasnow and Randolph M. Perkins