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Nike Gets the ‘W’ in ‘Jumpman’ Copyright Suit
On Tuesday, February 27, a 2-1 split Ninth Circuit panel rejected a copyright suit against Nike Inc. alleging the athletic company’s “Jumpman” logo infringed on a photographer’s copyright. The court ruled that the logo was not substantially similar enough to Jacobus Rentmeester’s photo of Jordan from a 1984 issue of LIFE magazine. Rentmeester originally had the idea to take the photograph of retired all-time great basketball player Michael Jordan performing a leaping pose that resembled a grand jeté. This photo served as the inspiration for Nike’s recreation of the photograph with a different backdrop and slightly different limb positions. “While the photos […]
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Redbox Squares Off Against Disney
In the most recent litigation battle between powerhouses Disney and Redbox, Redbox triumphed as a federal court judge rejected Disney’s request for an injunction. In its initial lawsuit filed in December, Disney alleged that Redbox was in violation of their contract and of Disney’s copyrights due to its sale of download codes for Disney movies. According to Deadline, Disney points to the small print on the bottom of its movie packaging stating that the download codes “are not for sale or transfer” as evidence of breach of contract. The company further claims that Redbox encouraged its customers to make illegal digital […]
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Lawsuit Threatens to Expose Vice Media’s Vices
According to the New York Times, Vice Media was sued this week by a former employee alleging that the company intentionally created a wage disparity between their male and female employees. The employee, Elizabeth Rose, filed the complaint in Los Angeles Superior Court against the company who is known for its documentaries and news reports that air on HBO and its own Viceland TV network. Rose worked for Vice as a project manager and channel manager and recalls learning about the disparate pay in 2015 when the salaries of 35 Vice employees were shown to her on an internal company document. […]
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Path Appears Clear for the Music Modernization Act
The Songwriters Guild of America (SGA) has joined the growing support for the Music Modernization Act. Due to state-by-state legislation that governs mechanical royalties, the current state of copyright legislation is incredibly complicated for songwriters to navigate. This legislation scheme has resulted in songwriters and publishers not receiving due royalties along with a host of litigation against digital streaming providers. Initially the SGA did not support the MMA. Concerned that the new mechanical rights collecting society established by the bill gave too much power to publishers over songwriters, SGA voiced opposition. Spurred by an edict from House representatives for consensus among […]
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“Art Bastard” Sues New York Art Museums
Last Tuesday, Robert Cendella, a painter known as “Art Bastard,” has brought a class action lawsuit against contemporary art museums in New York. He alleges in the complaint that these museums have illegally conspired with five major galleries in New York to raise the prices of the works by artists represented by those galleries. Cendella claims that a handful of galleries, private collectors, and auction houses play an influential role in determining what pieces museums exhibit. Museums like the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Met) and Museum of Modern Art are dependent on private collectors and gallery owners for their exhibits, either through loans and donations, or lower purchase […]
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College Athletes Sue Fantasy Sports Gambling Sites
In May 2016, a class of former college athletes sued FanDuel and DraftKings, alleging that the sites wrongfully profited from their likenesses. Relying on Indiana’s right of publicity statute, the former college athletes argued that FanDuel and DraftKings violated their right to control the commercial use of their own identities. The case was dismissed in district court by U.S. District Judge Tanya Walton Pratt, stating that the sites’ commentary on players’ likely performance and estimated salaries fell within the newsworthiness and public interest exceptions of the Indiana statute. The class appealed to the 7th Circuit. The players argue that the judge erred in applying free speech protections to DraftKings and […]
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Recording Academy Holds 20th Entertainment Law Initiative Event
Last weekend, in New York City, the Recording Academy hosted the industry’s top, as well as up and coming, entertainment lawyers at the 20th anniversary of the Entertainment Law Initiative Event. The Entertainment Law Initiative is a gathering where industry practitioners have the opportunity to honor its members who have made significant contributions. This year the event presented awards to Michael Reinert, a partner at Fox Rothschild LLP, and Allen Grubman, a partner at Grubman, Shire, Meiselas & Sacks, P.C. for their service to the industry over the years. Both Reinert and Grubman shared their experiences as new lawyers starting out […]
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Montana Governor Plants His Flag for Net Neutrality
A week after 21 states and the District of Columbia filed a lawsuit against the FCC over its repeal of Net Neutrality, Montana Governor Steve Bullock signed an executive order protecting Net Neutrality in his state. The executive order points to oft-cited reasons for net neutrality as well as less conspicuous, though nonetheless relevant, ones. For example, public schools rely on the internet as a teaching tool in the classroom, so education will be affected. Also, the state government and its systems rely on the internet, and paid prioritization of the internet will deepen the inequalities between the rich and poor. […]
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Redbox Accuses Disney of Copyright Protection Abuse
As Disney is gearing up to establish its own streaming service, it has started cracking down on unauthorized digital downloads of its works. In November 2017, Disney sued the video rental company Redbox for breaching the terms and conditions of their licensing agreement as well as violating Disney’s copyrights in their motion pictures. In the complaint, Disney alleges that Redbox disassembled “combo packs”, which include a Blu-ray disc, a DVD and a digital download code of a particular film, and rents out the Blu-ray discs and DVDs, while separately selling the digital download codes to customers. The digital download codes are marked “not […]
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Southern Miss Faces Discrimination Lawsuit from Recruit with One Kidney
On November 29, Devon Hammond filed a civil rights lawsuit against the University of Southern Mississippi (“Southern Miss”) for violating federal antidiscrimination law. Hammond alleges the school discriminated against him by refusing to let him play football after learning Hammond only has one kidney. Hammond, a former Louisiana State University (“LSU”) football recruit, transferred to Southern Miss after being recruited by the school’s football coach Dan Disch. According to Hammond, Disch offered the recruit a full scholarship at the school so long as Hammond assisted the program’s rebuild and earned a second string or better position on the roster. Hammond jumped […]
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HBO Hacker Indicted on Counts of Fraud and Extortion
According to The New York Times, the man behind the cyber attack on HBO this summer has been indicted on charges of wire fraud, computer fraud, identity theft and extortion. Behzad Mesri, an Iranian national, hacked into HBO’s system under the pseudonym “Skote Vahshat”, where he stole data from May to August. Additionally, Mesri released the stolen data including episodes of popular HBO shows like “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and the script for one episode of HBO’s highest grossing show, “Game of Thrones.” The gradual release of these episodes was done to extort millions of dollars from HBO. In addition to the […]