Highlights

  • CBS Argues that Remastered Pre-1972 Songs are New IP

    The 9th Circuit heard oral arguments last week on whether or not recent digital remasterings of pre-1972 songs were fundamentally different enough from their original recordings to qualify as new intellectual property and thus be covered under Federal Copyright Law. In an appeal filed by ABS Entertainment last year, the company argues that the District […]

  • Blocking Goodell’s Go-Ahead Contract Extension

    According to Sports Illustrated, Jerry Jones, owner of the Dallas Cowboys, has threatened to sue the National Football League (“NFL”) and other NFL franchise owners. Specifically, he has threatened to sue the owners of the Atlanta Falcons, Kansas City Chiefs, New England Patriots, Houston Texans, New York Giants, and Pittsburgh Steelers, all members of the […]

  • GOP Tax Plan Doesn’t See Fun in Stadium Funding

    In the latest tax reform proposal, private activity bonds – a standard tool to finance stadium construction for decades – have been placed on the chopping block. House Republicans released proposed tax reforms that would eliminate private activity bonds. Interest earned on private activity municipal bonds is tax exempt. It is estimated that the government […]

  • A Small Claims Court for Copyrights?

    Statutory damages for a willful copyright infringement for a single work can reach $150,000, but the average cost of litigating a copyright case is around $278,000. Even though copyright theft affects the majority of copyright owners, a small minority in reality enforce those rights and receive due compensation. As a potential solution, Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) […]

  • Disney in Talks to Acquire 21st Century Fox Assets

    As first reported by CNBC on November 6, the Walt Disney Company recently held preliminary talks with 21st Century Fox about buying its entertainment business, including the Fox movie studio, the FX cable network and the UK – based television service Sky. The potential asset acquisition may allow Fox to focus on its news and […]

  • The Cosby Show Sues over Unwanted Return to TV

    Even though The Cosby Show has been pulled from broadcast, the show’s producers have filed a copyright lawsuit against BBC and Sugar Films for allegedly using a substantial amount of copyrighted material for a documentary called Bill Cosby: Fall of an American Icon, which depicts the sexual assault scandal that Bill Cosby was embroiled in these past […]

  • Online Sports Wagering? Don’t Bet On It

    On October 30, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf signed House Bill 271, a gaming expansion bill that legalizes, among other things, online sports betting in Pennsylvania. Wolf’s signature comes a week after the state legislature passed the bill, which legalizes and regulates daily fantasy sports, online gambling, and sports betting. The bill includes a steep 36% […]

  • NASL and USSF Take the Pitch

    On Tuesday October 31, North American Soccer League asked U.S. District Judge Margo K. Brodie to issue a preliminary injunction blocking a denial of its Division II application by the U.S. Soccer Federation. The hearing arose out of NASL’s September antitrust suit against USSF and its alleged co-conspirators Major League Soccer, Soccer United Marketing, and […]

  • Travis Scott Faces the Music for Wild Concerts

    Rapper Travis Scott may be facing the music for his wild, over-the-top concerts. While these crazy antics have boosted his popularity, they have had dangerous consequences. A fan who claims he is now paralyzed because of his experience at a Travis Scott concert earlier this year has filed suit against the rapper. The fan, Kyle […]

  • PragerU Accuses Google of Censoring Conservative Videos

    Prager University (PragerU), a nonprofit digital media organization that creates conservative media content, has sued Google in California for violating its First Amendment rights on YouTube, the streaming platform owned by Google. The complaint, filed on October 25th, 2017, alleges that the Google engaged in censorship and illegally restricted PragerU’s right to free speech by filtering out […]

  • Pulling Weeds out of NBA’s Banned Substances List

    Former National Basketball Association (“NBA”) Commissioner David Stern has announced that he believes marijuana should be removed from the NBA’s banned substances list. In a documentary for the online sports programming network Uninterrupted, Stern speaks with former NBA player Al Harrington about the medicinal value of marijuana in the league. During the conversation, Stern tells […]

  • Notorious Markets List Sparks Debate over Stream Ripping Sites

    Each year the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) publishes a report on “online and physical marketplaces that reportedly engage in and facilitate substantial copyright piracy and trademark counterfeiting,” called the Notorious Markets List. As part of creating the report, the USTR requests the aid of the public to identify these marketplaces through […]

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