Highlights

  • Is Age Really Nothing But A Number?

    Earlier this month, the IMDb (Internet Movie Database) filed a lawsuit requesting an injunction against the Actor Age Censorship Law, a California law that allows actors to demand that IMDb remove all references to their age from the website. This piece of legislation was passed in late 2016 and was supported by the Screen Actors Guild (SAG-AFTRA), which claimed that potential employers were using information about an actor’s age obtained from IMDb when making casting decisions, according to L.A. Weekly and The Hollywood Reporter. The law seeks to remedy this by allowing actors to demand that certain subscription-based websites remove references to their […]

  • Jamaican Relay Team Stripped of Gold

    “The Jamaican team is disqualified…the corresponding medals, medalist pins and diplomas are withdrawn and shall be returned.” – International Olympic Committee (IOC) As reported by ESPN, the IOC released a statement on January 25th, 2017 that Nesta Carter, one of Usain Bolt’s 4×100 relay teammates, tested positive for the banned stimulant methylhexaneamine in a re-analysis of samples from the 2008 Summer Beijing Olympics. As a result, the IOC has effectively stripped Bolt and his teammates of their relay gold medal. In a disciplinary hearing held on October 17, 2016, Carter gave testimony that he was taking supplements in 2008, but had […]

  • Producers Pressured to Disavow

    In the post-“Blurred Lines” music industry, where an artist even casually admitting that their work was influenced by another may expose them to potential copyright infringement lawsuits, music labels are taking no chances when commissioning official remixes. In what appears to be a direct response to the surprising verdict in which a jury awarded $5.3 million to Marvin’s Gaye’s estate after finding that Robin Thicke, Pharrell Williams, and T.I.’s smash hit song “Blurred Lines” infringed Gaye’s classic “Got to Give It Up,” according to Pitchfork at least one major label has incorporated “inspired by” provisions to its “standard legal disclaimers” for song […]

  • #disclose

    Companies and advertisers have long realized the unprecedented power social media affords them to market their products. Particularly through the social media app Instagram, many posts by celebrities and other influential users are actually paid ads and endorsements. American advertising law requires advertisers to tell people when they are targets of advertising, and as a result, the Federal Trade Commission requires paid Instagram endorsements to be identified with a hashtag indicating that it is a sponsored ad. However, as reported by The Fashion Law, the FTC has done little to enforce this policy, and consumer interest groups such as Public Citizen and […]

  • ‘Star Trek’ Fan Film Not Fair Use, Will Be Tried by Jury

    According to The Hollywood Reporter, a judge ruled Wednesday that a 20-minute Star Trek fan video and proposed feature-length film produced by Axanar Productions cannot be considered fair use, and therefore may constitute copyright infringement. Paramount Pictures and CBS, owners of the Star Trek copyrights, filed the lawsuit against Axanar last year after Axanar began a Kickstarter campaign to raise money to produce the film. The public quickly took notice of the case because many fan-made works had been unchallenged in the past, and the proposed fan film only focused on a minor character from one Star Trek episode. Despite this, […]

  • One for the Little Guy! Community Church Defeats Adidas in Trademark Dispute

    As reported by The Fashion Law, Adidas has been trying to register “Adizero,” the name of a line of sneakers, with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) since 2009. Unfortunately for Adidas, the Chicago-based Christian Faith and Fellowship Church had already trademarked “Add a Zero,” a phrase the church uses on its merchandise, namely shirts and hats. Because of the similarities between the two phrases and the likelihood of consumer confusion, the USPTO refused to trademark “Adizero,” leading Adidas to sue to have the Church’s trademarks cancelled. It offered several arguments as to why the trademarks were invalid, but the […]

  • Legal Drama at the 2016 World Chess Championship

    The last time the World Chess Championship was held in the U.S., O.J. Simpson was just a month away from being acquitted of murder. Twenty-one years later, the 2016 World Chess Championship, currently underway in New York, has gotten off to a rocky start. According to Reuters, on October 31st, organizers of the World Chess Championship sued a group of website operators who have a business of broadcasting news of chess moves at the World Chess Championship. This year, the organizers hope to protect their exclusive rights to news regarding the moves of world champion Magnus Carlsen of Norway and challenger […]

  • Tidal Claims Exclusive Streaming Rights to Prince Catalogue

    On Nov. 2 Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG) won the bidding war to become “worldwide publishing administrator” for the entire Prince catalogue. Unfortunately, for streaming purposes, it may have to license those publishing rights exclusively to Tidal. According to Billboard, on Nov. 11, Jay Z’s entertainment company, Roc Nation, filed paperwork in a Minnesota district court claiming Tidal has exclusive streaming distribution rights to Prince’s catalogue, granted by pre-existing contracts between the streaming service and the late pop star. Prince stated in Sept. 2015, “TIDAL have honored us with a non-restrictive arrangement that once again allows us to continue making art […]

  • European Songwriters Pressure US to Change Copyright Exception

    When the owner of a public space plays recorded music, she must obtain a license for the public performance of the copyrighted musical work. American copyright laws require the owner to only obtain one license for the song copyright, whereas in other countries, owners are required to obtain an additional license for the recording copyright, which is considered separate from the song. However, for some American owners, even the one required license can be waived. This strange quirk of the US copyright system stems from a 1990s law that exempts restaurants smaller than 3750 square feet and shops smaller than 2000 […]

  • No More Secrets For The NFL?

    The past few months have not treated the NFL very well. The League recently posted record low ratings for Monday Night Football and Sunday Night Football ratings have sunk to a 5-year low. Despite this ratings slump, the NFL’s most recent problem is of even more economic significance. On October 24th, Justice Jeffrey Oing of the New York Supreme Court issued an order forcing the NFL to disclose potentially damaging information that it has attempted to keep secret for over the past two decades.  According to The New York Times, the order “will let insurance companies that wrote policies for the NFL determine if the […]

  • Costume Copyright Case Haunts the Supreme Court on Halloween

    On Halloween this past Monday, costumes were not only on the minds of trick-or-treaters and partygoers, but also of the eight Supreme Court Justices, who heard a copyright case concerning cheerleader costumes. According to the Wall Street Journal, Varsity Brands Inc., the country’s leading cheerleader uniform maker, is suing smaller manufacturer Star Athletica for copyright infringement of its uniform designs. Under copyright law, designs that affect the garment’s function cannot be copyrighted, while designs that are purely aesthetic can. While this distinction seems intuitive, it is difficult to draw the line in reality. Varsity argues that the stripes and geometric patterns […]

  • Is “Uptown Funk” the new “Blurred Lines”?

    Minneapolis college funk band, Collage, has sued Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars for copyright infringement over the 2014 hit song “Uptown Funk.” According to Pitchfork, the complaint claims the track is a “strikingly and/or substantially similar copy” of a Collage song entitled “Young Girls” the band wrote in 1983. The alleged similar elements include the “instrumental attributes and themes of ‘Uptown Funk’” such as “guitar riffs,” “bass notes,” and “crescendo of horns.” The plaintiffs bolster their argument by pointing to public comments by Ronson and Mars regarding their 1930s Minneapolis electro-funk soul music influence. James, Jeff Bhasker, Devon Gallaspy, Phillip Lawrence, […]

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