As a companion to his feature article on online content aggregators, Chris Castle discusses some of the new hardware that is available for downloading and playing online music ' and its possible effect on online music subscription rates.
In the superheated competition of reality television programming, ownership of ideas is increasingly being disputed.
Allegations of idea theft will likely increase as the number of reality TV shows expands and the realm of truly novel ideas shrinks. Resolution of these cases could set new standards for ownership of ideas and the best ways of protecting those rights.
Legitimate online music services have struggled to provide content from the fragmented independent music world. Until recently, independent artists were not very present on the legitimate online music services. This is partly because the major labels control the best-known recordings, partly because the major labels usually support online distribution with significant marketing budgets and partly because it is not very efficient for an online service to negotiate agreements with thousands of independent artists.
But after securing licenses from the major labels, the major online services sought to differentiate their offerings by adding independent artists. This created opportunities for a few companies to enter into "middleman" distribution agreements with many independent artists, and then enter into a licensing agreement with an online service for the artists' content. (Aggregators may also represent smaller independent labels, but this article will focus on independent artists who are also copyright owners.)
Recently filed cases in entertainment law, straight from the steps of the Los Angeles Superior Court.
Depending on the circumstances and the law, parties on either side of an entertainment suit may ask a court for an award of attorney fees. Following are recent court rulings that deal with this and related concerns.
What's happening around the states.
National rulings of importance to you and your practice.
Anti-harassment and diversity training can be a very effective tool in preventing claims of workplace discrimination and minimizing risk. It is essential, however, to be aware of the snares along the way: poorly executed training may be as good as no training at all, or worse. Properly executed, anti-harassment and diversity training holds out some hope for employers as a means to avoid the adage, all too familiar in the human resource community, that "no good deed goes unpunished."
