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Copyright Report May Constitute Trade Secret
December 28, 2006
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. <i>V.C.X. Ltd. v. Burge</i>.
Cameo Clips
December 28, 2006
Celebrity Images/Trade-Dress Claims<br>Copyright Infringement/Joint-Authorship Claim
Courts Are Split On Tests for Right of Publicity
December 28, 2006
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. <i>Kirby v. Sega of America</i>. 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.' <i>Doe v. TCI Cablevision</i>.
<b>Decision of Note: </b>Arbitration Clause Unenforceable Under Agent Act
December 28, 2006
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. <i>Ferrer v. Preston</i>.
Estate-Planning Issues for Entertainers
December 28, 2006
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 &amp; 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 &amp; 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.
e-Discovery Docket Sheet
December 28, 2006
Recent court rulings in e-discovery.
The Leasing Hotline
December 28, 2006
Highlights of the latest commercial leasing cases from around the country.
Combating e-Discovery Project Risk With Effective Communication
December 28, 2006
Litigants and their law firms continue to be frustrated with the escalating costs of discovery during litigation, investigations and regulatory response. Fueling these costs is risk ' and the fears associated with discovery risk ranging from common concerns such as budget and schedule issues, to more severe outcomes, including sanctions, adverse inference or even stress-induced hair loss.<br>A simple way for litigants to lessen risk and gain control of these costs is through effective project planning and communication. In fact, without good communication, you're not just taking a ride down the wrong route ' you're paving the road to risk.
The Growing Role Of Litigation Support Teams
December 28, 2006
The world of litigation support isn't what it used to be.<br>It used to be that technical issues revolved around finding a vendor to scan the other 100 boxes of documents someone just 'found' and still meet the original deadline. After calling a short list of vendors, the issues focused on whether to select a scan rate of 200 dots per inch (dpi) versus 300 dpi to increase scan speed ' and find a vendor that could get the load-file specs right.<br>How times have changed. e-Discovery has forced a deeper understanding of technology and a deeper understanding of the litigation process.
Non-traditional Sources of e-Data In Investigations
December 28, 2006
From teenagers to retirees, the digital revolution has touched almost all aspects of our everyday lives. Widespread business use of voice mail, e-mail, instant messaging (IM), and sales-management systems, as well as use of portable devices, simplifies our work in many ways, but also makes electronic discovery much more complex.<br>This article describes some of the more prominent non-traditional sources of electronic data. The reader should be mindful of these sources when he or she develops a discovery work plan ' and should weigh the costs and benefits of each option.

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  • Private Equity Valuation: A Significant Decision
    Insiders (and others) in the private equity business are accustomed to seeing a good deal of discussion ' academic and trade ' on the question of the appropriate methods of valuing private equity positions and securities which are otherwise illiquid. An interesting recent decision in the Southern District has been brought to our attention. The case is <i>In Re Allied Capital Corp.</i>, CCH Fed. SEC L. Rep. 92411 (US DC, S.D.N.Y., Apr. 25, 2003). Judge Lynch's decision is well written, the Judge reviewing a motion to dismiss by a business development company, Allied Capital, against a strike suit claiming that Allied's method of valuing its portfolio failed adequately to account for i) conditions at the companies themselves and ii) market conditions. The complaint appears to be, as is often the case, slap dash, content to point out that Allied revalued some of its positions, marking them down for a variety of reasons, and the stock price went down - all this, in the view of plaintiff's counsel, amounting to violations of Rule 10b-5.
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