Within the past two decades, the sport of mixed martial arts (“MMA”) has seen a drastic increase in public acceptance and interest. Today there are forty-six states that sanction and regulate MMA competitions. MMA events promoted by the Ultimate Fighting Championship, the world’s premiere MMA promoter, consistently sell out the world’s largest arenas. Broadcasts of […]
Copyrights are different from other property rights: There is nothing intuitive or inalienable about them. They are not meant to retain all benefits for a single owner, but rather to act as temporary valves as the benefits of ownership flow from one to many, from the private to ultimately the public. The first-sale doctrine is
Want to watch the Boston Celtics take on their playoff nemeses of the past two seasons, the red-hot Lebron James and the Miami Heat? No problem, except the cheapest seats in the house will cost you $85. Brokers can buy tickets at face value before selling at a substantial profit. Initially, sporting events, concerts, and
Ask anyone who has spent four hours on an immaculate green lawn, swinging a club wildly and chasing a small white ball from sandy ditch to wooded pines, and they will tell you: golf is a simultaneously blissful and frustrating sport. But few golfers have experienced the highs and lows of the game like Don
On October 22nd, 2012, the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), the governing body for professional cycling and overseer of international competitive cycling events, banned Lance Armstrong from cycling, stripped him of his seven Tour de France titles and called on him to return the prize money he won for those victories. The UCI’s decision to sanction
Once upon a time, there was a copyright that would not die. A short and shy Scottish writer, James Matthew Barrie, published a story about a boy who never grew up. In 1929, after publishing the script of the play Peter Pan, Barrie gave away its lucrative copyright to Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) –
Fame entails a life in the spotlight. However, even celebrities hope to keep both literal and figurative parts of themselves private. Regardless of their desires, stories detailing celebrity arrests, divorces, and, in the most lurid cases, their very bodies are a common fixture of American news. What recourse does the rich and famous have? American
In 1990, Congress passed the Visual Artist’s Rights Act (VARA) as part of the Copyright Act, intended to expand and protect artists’ rights over their works. Specifically, the act acknowledges an artist’s moral rights by granting artists the rights of attribution and integrity whereby they may claim or deny authorship and prevent any modifications of
In Roger Goodell’s NFL, punishment is swift and it is severe. For proof, one need look no further than the 1-year suspension meted out to Saints coach Sean Payton for his role in Bounty-Gate (not to mention the first ever suspension of a General Manager, Saints GM Mickey Loomis). But why can Commissioner Goodell hand down such a
Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey does not like Jersey Shore; neither its cast nor its message are appealing to the governor. Christie’s objection to both the show and the New Jersey Film Tax Credit Transfer Program led to his veto of a $420,000 tax credit to 495 Productions, the production company in charge of Jersey
