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Case Briefing
Recent rulings of importance to you and your practice.
Drug Importation Task Force Completes Its Listening Sessions
Over the past few months, the Task Force on Drug Importation has held its so-called "listening sessions" with groups and individuals that would be impacted by drug importation, should it be legalized. At the meetings, U.S. Surgeon General Richard H. Carmona served as the chairman over a panel of representatives from the Department of Health and Human Services, as well as from other departments of the federal government with an interest in drug importation issues (see sidebar on page 5). The task force's members are being asked to offer recommendations to Health and Human Services' Secretary Tommy Thompson by December 2004 concerning how best to address key questions posed by Congress as part of the Medicare Prescription Drug Act, such as how drugs can safely be imported, what the impact of such imports would be on incentives to drug research and development, and how much the policing of imports would cost the government.
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<b>Decision of Note:</b><b>Agency Contract Found Properly Disaffirmed</b>
A Manhattan federal district court granted summary judgment dismissing a claim against a Canadian modeling agency for tortious interference with contract. <i>NYC Management Group Inc. v. Brown-Miller</i>. The defendant had secured New York agency representation from the plaintiff's modeling agency for 16-year-old Jessica Stam, who later disaffirmed the minor's contract based on her unhappiness with the plaintiff's agency.
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Attorney Fees Update
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. In this and future issues, <i>Entertainment Law & Finance</i> will report on such relevant rulings in Attorney-Fee Updates.
Editing Software Reignites Ire Of Film Directors
This spring, RCA launched a DVD player that includes a software program by ClearPlay Inc. that is preprogrammed to filter out nudity, sex, violence and harsh language from hundreds of movies ranging from "Lost in Translation" to "The Cat in the Hat." <br>The technology has created a furor in Hollywood, with a group of 16 prominent directors ' including Stephen Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Robert Redford and Stephen Soderbergh ' teaming up with seven motion picture studios to get it off the market. The directors claim the editing violates their trademarks by mutilating and diluting their movies, while the studios argue it infringes their copyrights by creating derivative works.
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Courthouse Steps
Recently filed cases in entertainment law, straight from the steps of the Los Angeles Superior Court.
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Arbitration Update
Many contracts in the entertainment industry include arbitration clauses. <i>EL&F</i> will periodically provide updates on how courts are interpreting and enforcing these clauses and appeals to arbitrators' rulings.
Grappling With Liability Issues For Entertainment Attorneys
Attorneys are faced with a variety of potential liability issues in handling matters for clients. Malpractice insurance can help, but such policies don't eliminate the raising of liability claims. These claims may include disqualification of counsel based on alleged adverse interests of clients, malpractice allegations based on transactional and litigation work and the threat of Rule 11 sanctions. <br>The entertainment business presents its own lawyer liability concerns.
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