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The New York Appellate Division, Fourth Department, granted dismissal of claims against NBC and Jay Leno over use without the plaintiff's permission of her photograph in the humorous headlines segment of 'The Tonight Show.'

Recently filed cases in entertainment law, straight from the steps of the Los Angeles Superior Court.

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Legal Services After Bankruptcy Post-Petition Filed<br>Malicious Prosecution

In a typical corporate merger or acquisition, the associated intellectual assets exhibit several concurrent financial behaviors. On the balance sheet, intellectual assets behave like financial derivatives. On the asset side of the balance sheet, an intellectual asset creates the opportunity but not the obligation for an owner to capture above-average 'rents' from the sale of patented and/or branded goods and services ' a call option. An intellectual asset also creates the opportunity but not the obligation for an owner to assert patent rights against someone else, even if the owner is not using the rights otherwise ' a put option. On the liability side of the balance sheet, an intellectual asset holder may find himself targeted as a defendant where a host of incurred but not reported ('IBNR') historic events comprise a Pandora's box of expensive 'issues.' Hence, intellectual assets by their nature tend to generate volatile returns if the owner does not fully appreciate and manage associated risks.

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Recent cases in entertainment law.

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Faced with rising litigation costs and unpredictable juries, it is understandable that many product liability litigants ' on both sides of the courtroom ' eventually think about settlement in lieu of trial. In cases involving catastrophic injury, however, staggering medical expense liens often control the feasibility of reaching an acceptable agreement. Some lawyers have long dreaded settlement negotiations when Medicare is the major lien holder, because Medicare can be the proverbial 800-pound gorilla at the table. Unfortunately, with the enactment of the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 (MPDIMA) the gorilla has only gotten bigger. To have any chance at taming the Medicare beast, lawyers on both sides need to understand the reach of a Medicare lien, as well as potential avenues for reducing or eliminating Medicare's interest in the settlement proceeds.

For a few days recently, I 'researched' the adult-entertainment industry for this article. I became curious as to just how big the industry was, what kind of money was being made and what companies owned, operated, managed and provided adult entertainment. In fact, there are multiple segments and sectors within the industry, with companies involved in movies, books and magazines, Web sites and software, nightclubs, adult-cable networks, pay-per-view services, telephone and online services, retail stores and catalogs.