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The Lasting Impact of the “Rust” Movie Set Shooting
Written by Nefertari Elshiekh. The fatal shooting on the “Rust” movie set has resulted in many civil and criminal cases and has had far reaching implications throughout Hollywood. It has been just over three years since a prop gun killed cinematographer Haylna Hutchins on the film set of “Rust” in New Mexico. Several people involved […]
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The Dangers of Scrutinizing Gender in Sports
Written by Ahan Dhar. The controversy surrounding an Athlete’s gender at the Paris Olympics leads us to wonder: when does online discourse become targeted bullying? “Could any picture sum up our new men’s rights movement better? The smirk of a male who knows he’s protected by a misogynist sporting establishment enjoying the distress of a […]
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Love Is Blind? Read Your Contract.
Written by Shayna Toh. Behind the scenes of reality TV, producers and contestants have faced their own fair share of scandals over fairness of contracts. But what comes next? Bachelor Nation was rocked last month during the latest “After the Final Rose” finale, which saw the newest Bachelorette, Jennifer Tran—notably the series’ first Asian-American lead—sitting […]
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Miley Cyrus Faces Lawsuit over “Flowers”: Riff-off or Rip-off?
Written by Hugh Reynolds. The high-profile copyright suit raises questions about fair use, parody, and the extent to which musicians can build off one another. Miley Cyrus was sued in the United States District Court for the Central District of California for her Grammy award-winning single “Flowers.” The plaintiff, Tempo Music Investment, is alleging copyright […]
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Breaking the Broadcast Huddle: How College Football Conferences’ Bundling of Broadcast Rights Could Harm Student Athletes
By Edwin A. Farley Download the article here: Breaking the Broadcast Huddle: How College Football Conferences’ Bundling of Broadcast Rights Could Harm Student Athletes. Recent realignment activity between collegiate athletic conferences reveals how the sale of broadcast rights and the treatment of student athletes, including their compensation, are connected. The pursuit of greater revenue from broadcast rights for […]
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Dartmouth Men’s Basketball Team Makes History as First College Team to Vote to Unionize
By Nefertari Elshiekh On March 5th, Dartmouth’s men’s basketball team voted 13-2 to become the first college sports team to unionize–a historic step toward recognizing college athletes as employees. However, their legal battle is far from over. National Relations Labor Board (“NLRB”) Regional Director Laura A. Sacks found that Dartmouth athletes are employees under the […]
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What’s Copyright Got to Do, Got to Do With It?
By Shayna Toh The “cockroach of Broadway” seems to keep cashing checks. Despite the sneering term that veteran theatre critic Jesse Green used to describe jukebox musicals, the genre has dominated Broadway in recent years. In an industry that always seems to battle existential threats and huge financial losses—twelve current Broadway productions are slated to […]
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Supreme Court Considers Whether President Trump’s Name May Be Trademarked to Ridicule Him
By Alec Winshel In November 2023, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Vidal v. Elster. Their coming opinion will be the high court’s latest pronouncement on the relationship between trademark law and the First Amendment’s free speech protections. In my view, the Supreme Court should use Vidal v. Elster to clarify that trademarks are […]
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Enabling the Non-Elite: Imagining International Football Tournaments for Mid- and Bottom-Table Teams
By Martin Skladany, Law Professor, Penn State University, Dickinson Law The inequality between the gilded elite football clubs and all other teams is widening. One way to address this concern is to create more European football tournaments for the clubs most people live next to. Specifically, the Union of European Football Associations (“UEFA”) should establish two new tournaments—one for […]
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Free Speech is a Funny Thing: Jack Daniel’s Properties v. VIP Products Narrows First Amendment Protections for Trademark Usage
Image Courtesy of Foodie Factor/Pixabay By Alec Winshel In Jack Daniel’s Properties, Inc. v. VIP Products LLC, the Supreme Court held that the First Amendment does not protect use of another’s trademark as a signifier of one’s own product. Trademarks are words or symbols that identify a seller’s goods and distinguish them from others in […]
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Hollywood Unions Take Different Approaches to AI Protections
Both the DGA and WGA Negotiated AI Guardrails with the AMPTP. Can SAG-AFTRA? By Hugh Reynolds The 148-day writers’ strike ended when the Writers’ Guild of America (WGA) ratified their contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) on October 9th. This newly secured deal runs from until May 31, 2026, and […]
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A New Kind of Contract for a New Kind of Entertainment Industry
By Shayna Toh The recent return of familiar hosts to late night TV after a five-month hiatus marked the beginning of the end to one of the entertainment industry’s biggest battles in recent years. On October 2nd, the Writers Guild of America (WGA) voted to end their 148-day long strike, allowing over 11,000 writers to […]