Financier Got Bona Fide Right To Screenplay Copyright
The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York decided that an investor obtained the copyright to a film screenplay, even if the finance advisor for the production company in which the screenplay author had an equity interest fraudulently induced the author to assign the copyright to the production company.
Sup. Ct. Hears <i>Raging Bull</i> Laches Dispute
The U.S. Supreme Court in January heard oral arguments on whether a person's unreasonable delay in filing a copyright infringement action can be used to bar that lawsuit. <i>Petrella v. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer</i> Inc. stems from a dispute over the rights to <i>Raging Bull</i>, the 1980 Martin Scorsese film based on the life of World Middleweight Champion Jake LaMotta.
<i>Soul Men</i> Ruling Shows Shift To Transformative Use Test
Celebrities often turn to the Lanham Act and state right of publicity laws to protect against exploitation of their name, image or voice in connection with the promotion of products or services. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit recently considered both Lanham Act and right of publicity claims in an action that pitted a Grammy winning musical artist against a major motion picture studio over the alleged use of the musician's likeness in a movie.
Is the Internet a Safer Place for Content Owners?
Many battles have been fought in courtrooms across the United States over the unauthorized Internet sharing of copyrighted books, music, movies and television shows. These include disputes over increasingly more sophisticated software products and websites that appear designed to respond to the latest court rulings over the scope of the DMCA "safe harbor" protections and the elements required to establish secondary copyright infringement liability.
Bit Parts
Hulk Hogan Denied Temporary Injunction Against Publication of Sex Tape<br>Publisher's Copyright Registration Permits Songwriter's Estate to Pursue Infringement Claim<br>'Vampyres' Book Didn't Defame Plaintiff with Same Name as Fictional Character
Global Corruption Enforcement
For multinational corporations, reducing the risks and concomitant expenses associated with corrupt employee behavior must be a priority. This article discusses the benefits of embedding compliance doctrine within operations, and how businesses could market integrity and compliance to gain a competitive advantage.
Content Owners' Pursuit of Secondary Infringement Claims
Secondary liability can be imposed on an ISP or distributor of a product used to commit infringement based upon claims of contributory infringement, inducement infringement or vicarious infringement. The contributory and inducement claims both focus on a defendant's contribution to the infringement and require that the defendant knows that direct infringement is occurring. These related claims, which provide independent ways to attack secondary infringement, differ in important respects.
Tensions Between Authors' Contracts for Book Publishing and Film Production Rights
The agreements authors make with companies that publish their books ' and with the production companies that make films based on those books ' have changed significantly over the past several years. Due in part to the kind of films currently being produced and to available new technologies (particularly for books), these changes have introduced conflicting overlaps between the two types of contracts.
Meals and Entertainment Expenses
Meals and entertainment expenses are generally only 50% deductible, and provided the expenses are ordinary and necessary, have a business purpose and have proper documentation, there should be no issues surviving an IRS audit.
