Courthouse Steps
Recently filed cases in entertainment law, straight from the steps of the Los Angeles Superior Court.
Decision of Note: <B>CA's USPA Covers Computer-Altered Likeness</B>
The Court of Appeal of California, Second Appellate District, Division Seven, decided that claims over the use of computer-altered likenesses of the plaintiffs in children's television programming were covered by the Uniform Single Publication Act (USPA), Calif. Civ. Code Sec. 3425.1 <i>et seq.</i> Thus, the claims were barred by California's relevant two-year statute of limitations. <i>Long v. The Walt Disney Co.</i>, B164750.
Index
Everything you need to find what's inside this issue.
Restrictive Covenants Meet the Telecommunications Act of 1996
Congress enacted the Telecommunications Act of 1996 to encourage development of telecommunications technologies, and in particular, to facilitate growth of the wireless telephone industry. The statute's provisions on pre-emption of state and local regulation have been frequently litigated. Last month, however, the Court of Appeals, in <i>Chambers v. Old Stone Hill Road Associates (see infra<i>, p. 7) faced an issue of first impression: Can neighboring landowners invoke private restrictive covenants to prevent construction of a cellular telephone tower? The court upheld the restrictive covenants, recognizing that the federal statute was designed to reduce state and local regulation of cell phone facilities, not to alter rights created by private agreement.
Development
Recent cases of importance to your practice.
WARN Act Reaches Equity Owners
The Federal District Court for the Southern District of New York has allowed a class of 6,500 plaintiffs to pursue their complaint against several investment companies for violations of the Workers Adjustment and Notification, or WARN, Act. In doing so, the court in In re Vogt, 2004 WL 187153, adopted and applied not the traditional piercing-the-corporate-veil test but instead the more narrowly focused and easier to establish "DOL test," based on the Department of Labor's WARN regulations. <br>This case should be of concern to all employers, not just equity investors. The nation's economy now seems to be hovering between recession and recovery.
