The U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada decided a genuine issue of fact existed as to whether a master-copyright report prepared by a consultant for an adult-film distributor was a trade secret. V.C.X. Ltd. v. Burge.
Celebrity Images/Trade-Dress Claims
Copyright Infringement/Joint-Authorship Claim
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.
The Court of Appeal of California, Second District, Division 1, found an arbitration clause in a management agreement unenforceable under the California Talent Agencies Act. Ferrer v. Preston.
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.
Highlights of the latest commercial leasing cases from around the country.
Recent developments in e-commerce law and in the e-commerce industry.
Recent cases in e-commerce law and in the e-commerce industry.
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.
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.
