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Advance Attempts to Push Black Vogue Out of Vogue
Vogue Magazine’s parent company, Advance Magazine Publishers Inc., wants to take Black Vogue founder Nareasha Willis to court. On September 28, Advance filed a claim at the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York against 26 year-old Willis, claiming that Willis’ Black Vogue design of the word “Vogue” uses Vogue’s “well-known font and stylization.” Advance alleges that Willis “intend[ed] to create a link between herself and [Vogue], creating the appearance that [Vogue] is affiliated with [Willis’] products.” Advance argued that this would create confusion and an assumption of authorization, which is not the case. Willis created Black Vogue […]
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Banksy Painting Self-Destructs at Auction
Immediately after being auctioned off for $1.4 million, art prankster Banksy’s Girl with Balloon shredded itself in front of a shocked auction audience at Sotheby’s in London. Banksy revealed on their Instagram account that the act was planned years in advance through placement of a remote-controlled mechanism on the back of the canvas. The writing accompanying the video states that “a few years ago [Banksy] secretly built a shredder into a painting in case it was ever put up for auction.” The situation is unprecedented with regards to how the mystery buyer’s situation will proceed, as the shredding took place after the gavel struck and […]
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Copyright Suit Against Gwen Stefani Fails to “Spark the Fire”
The United States District Court for the Central District of California has granted summary judgment in a copyright case stemming from singer Gwen Stefani’s 2014 hit song “Spark the Fire.” The suit was brought by Stefani’s former hairdresser Richard Morrill. He alleged that he played Stefani a song called “Who’s Got My Lightah” while working on her hair in the late ‘90s and that she lifted key elements from the song when recording “Spark the Fire” nearly two decades later, including distinctive word pronunciations and rhyme patterns. In her order granting Stefani’s motion for summary judgment, U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee […]
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Tattoos and Copyright, Take-Two
In 2016, Take-Two, a video game company that is the creator of the NBA 2K series of video games, was sued by Solid Oak Sketches, a company who owns the copyright in several NBA players’ tattoos. Solid Oak argued that the video game series, which seeks to simulate the NBA, infringed on their copyright because the tattoo designs were featured in the game without their consent. These tattoos appear on players like LeBron James, whom the plaintiff argued doesn’t have the authority to grant Take-Two permission to use their designs in the game. This case is still pending in New York […]
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Texas Band Hits Chick-Fil-A, ESPN with Copyright Suit Over College Football Commercial
Law360 reported a Texas rock band’s representatives, Platinum Jack Entertainment Inc., filed suit against Chick-Fil-A Inc. and ESPN Inc. in Texas federal court on Tuesday. The suit alleges that the pair of companies stole a song from Dallas rock band Drayter for in the background of two commercials the companies released featuring the well-known Chick-Fil-A cow mascots and sports anchors. Only one of the two commercials giving rise to the suit could be found online, but it can be viewed here. The commercial is titled “ESPN: Hafftime Reeport” and features ESPN anchors Adnan Virk and Joey Galloway hosting a sports highlight […]
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“Empire” Strikes Back: Record Label Asks Supreme Court to Hear Trademark Infringement Suit
In 2015, Empire Distribution Inc., a record label, sued Twentieth Century Fox for trademark infringement. The lawsuit revolves around the television show Empire, a “primetime drama based around a fictional [record label] of the name.” Both the real-life record label and the fictional record label predominantly release hip-hop songs. The Lanham Act, the main law that government trademark use in the US, “prohibits [the] use of another’s trademark that is likely to cause confusion among the public.” However, the Ninth Circuit has found that the First Amendment constrains the application of the Laham Act on expressive works that contains an allegedly infringing use. […]
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US Soccer Execs Ask Courts to Show NASL’s Suit a Red Card
This past week, Law360 reported that U.S. Soccer Federation (USSF) executives filed a motion to dismiss in the North American Soccer League’s (NASL) suit in New York state courts. NASL filed suit in February alleging a breach of fiduciary duty and a purposeful scheme by USSF executives to undermine NASL while promoting the other major American soccer leagues, Major League Soccer and the United Soccer League. Part of the basis for the motion to dismiss was that there is a similar case already underway in the New York federal courts between NASL and the USSF. This case expanded the case already […]
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AMP Act Introduced and Expected to Become Law
The Allocation for Music Producers (AMP) Act was recently introduced in the Senate. If signed into law, this bill will create a way for producers and engineers to receive direct payments from SoundExchange instead of relying on the artists to fulfill their contractual obligations for payment. The industry has always been plagued by complaints of delayed payments. Unfortunately, artists commonly suffer delays in payment for a stream or a download of their song for over a year. If it takes this long for Spotify to get money to a label and then a label to pay its artists, how much longer […]
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Fourth Time’s a Charm: Bill O’Reilly Sued for Defamation by Fourth Woman
Laurie Dhue, a former Fox News anchor from 2000 to 2008, is the fourth woman to bring a defamation suit against Bill O’Reilly. All four women had previously reached settlement agreements with O’Reilly over allegations of sexual harassment. In the settlement agreement with 21st Century Fox, the parent company for Fox News agreed to pay Dhue $1 million for sexual harassment allegations made against Bill O’Reilly as well as Roger Ailes, the founding chairman. According to the New York Times, the settlement agreements regarding Bill O’Reilly total $45 million, and these are only the ones known to the public. In her […]
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U.S. v AT&T/Time Warner: The Antitrust Trial of the Century
On Monday, March 19th, the U.S. Department of Justice faced off against Time Warner and AT&T in what is called the Antitrust Trial of the century. With the rise of direct-to-streaming companies such as Netflix and Amazon, Hollywood has seen aggressive content consolidation, such as Disney’s proposed purchase of 21st Century Fox. The Hollywood Reporter has reported that the outcome of this lawsuit could greatly impact the future of Hollywood. In the brief filed by the U.S. government in early March, the Department of Justice alleged that the outcome of the case “will chart the course for the future of video-content delivery in the United States.” The case […]
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Haters Gonna Hate: Taylor Swift Wins Copyright Lawsuit
Last Friday, a California federal judge, Judge Fitzgerald, handed a win to Taylor Swift and her team when he dismissed a copyright suit against the singer with prejudice. This follows from a ruling in mid-February, where the judge granted a motion to dismiss for Swift’s team, but giving plaintiffs Sean Hall and Nathan Butler one chance to amend their complaint by February 26th. When the plaintiffs chose not to amend the complaint and instead asked the judge to dismiss the suit without prejudice, the judge granted Swift’s request to dismiss the case with prejudice. The core issue of the case is to what extent can the lyrics […]
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Gibson Guitars May be Taking Final Bow
Gibson Brands Inc., the 100+ old iconic guitar maker, faces possible bankruptcy in the next few months. Sparking concern for the guitar manufacturer is the departure of the company’s chief financial officer, Bill Lawrence. To meet its financial obligations coming due in July, Gibson is selling its Baldwin piano brand and has left its long time warehouse in Nashville. Henry Juszkiewicz, CEO and majority shareholder, blames music store retailers for much of its woes. “There are problems with the guitar retail industry,” he said. “All of the retailers are fearful as can be; they’re all afraid of e-commerce, with Amazon just becoming the […]