Clause & Effect: <b>'Recoupment' Defined In Agreements for Theatre Productions</b>
April 01, 2004
In theatre, "recoupment" is a term of art that all knowledgeable persons in the business understand to have a specific meaning. Simply stated, the concept is that the author, director or others involved in the play can be paid more after the play has started making a profit, which is the time when the investors could have recovered their respective investments. It has always been a good negotiation tactic, for example, to offer the author more after the play is making a profit. This tactic has saved many deals that could have fallen through.
Inferring Dishonesty: The Fifth Amendment and Fidelity Coverage
April 01, 2004
Dishonest employees always have posed a problem for businesses. The average business may lose 6% of its annual revenues to employee fraud, and cumulatively the impact of employee theft on the economy is estimated to be $600 billion annually. <i>See</i> Association of Certified Fraud Examiners ("ACFE"), 2002 Report to the Nation on Occupational Fraud & Abuse, at ii, 4 (2002), available at <i>www.cfenet.com/publications/rttn.asp.</i> Although the average loss through employee embezzlement is $25,000, where computerized financial records or transactions are involved, the average loss increases nearly twentyfold. <i>See</i> National White Collar Crime Center, <i>WCC Issue: Embezzlement/Employee Theft,</i> at 2 (2002), available at <i>http://nw3c.org/downloads/Computer_Crime_Weapon.pdf.</i>
Courthouse Steps
April 01, 2004
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>
April 01, 2004
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.
Real Property Law
April 01, 2004
The latest real property law rulings you need to know.
Index
April 01, 2004
Everything you need to find what's inside this issue.
Restrictive Covenants Meet the Telecommunications Act of 1996
April 01, 2004
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.
