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To Deal or Not To Deal, That is the Question for Music Publishers
Despite marketing itself as a law-abiding and musician-friendly service since its launch in 2006, Spotify’s latest lawsuit settlement has helped unmask its less than aboveboard practices. Several months ago, the National Music Publisher’s Association (NMPA) sued the popular music streaming service for failure to properly obtain mechanical licenses for a significant portion of its library of music. Despite appearing to be a virtually slam dunk case in the music publishers favor, after a protracted negotiating period, both sides agreed to a settlement that, once again, leaves Spotify virtually unscathed after being caught with its hand in the cookie jar. It is […]
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No Show Business Comes Cheap: Princess Cruises Sued for Exploiting Barry Manilow’s Work in On-Deck Entertainment
Stiletto Entertainment, an entity that exists to manage Barry Manilow’s affairs and owns the underlying intellectual property rights in Music and Passion Live From Las Vegas, has filed suit against Princess Cruises and Swank Motion Pictures in a potentially lucrative federal infringement suit. Music and Passion Live From Las Vegas is the recording of Manilow’s 100th concert and took place in Las Vegas in 2005 for a PBS special. The lawsuit here centers on the Princess Cruises conduct in “repeatedly broadcasting Music and Passion Live on the lido deck of its ships as a key component of its entertainment of its […]
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Florida Jury Values Hulk Hogan’s Right to Privacy At $140 Million
On March 21, a jury panel in Florida awarded television celebrity, Hulk Hogan, $140 million in damages an invasion of privacy lawsuit against popular celebrity gossip website, Gawker. Tony Bollea, better known by his wrestling name Hulk Hogan, has been embroiled in a years-long legal battle with Gawker. This lawsuit, concerning a graphic sex tape of Hogan posted by Gawker on its site in 2012, seemed superficial at first blush. Yet, it soon became an unlikely battleground between First and Fourteenth Amendment rights – the right to free speech and the right to be free from undue invasion of privacy. At […]
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Lights, Camera, (No?) Action for The Screening Room, the Spotify of Films
Billions of dollars are at stake in the quest to provide the best movie going experience—excluding massive revenues from concessions and DVD sales, in 2015 alone Americans spent over $11.7 billion on movie tickets. The Screening Room, one of the newest and hottest Hollywood start-ups, has the potential to usurp the quintessential profit-making aspects of the film industry. At its core, The Screening Room is the latest, and possibly most significant, mechanism with the potential to bring everything movie theatres have to offer (besides the $10 jumbo-size tub of overly salted popcorn) directly into consumers’ living rooms. A movie streaming service, […]
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Don’t Mess With Tradition – Radio Now A Billion Dollar Digital Industry
According to a report released by the Radio Advertising Bureau (RAB), radio revenue from digital platforms hit an all-time high in 2015, with traditional radio revenue exceeding $1 billion for the first time in history. The president and CEO of the RAB cites changes in advertising practices as the main driver for this growth, as “more and more advertisers are extending the unmatched reach of broadcast radio by taking advantage of radio’s off-air and digital options.” With such showings of steady growth, traditional radio could emerge as a healthy competitor for non-interactive web-based streaming services like Pandora. This state of affairs is […]
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Maria Sharapova Tests Positive for Meldonium
World’s richest female athlete, Maria Sharapova, recently announced that she failed a drug test at the Australian Open. In an attempt to get out ahead of any rumors, she held a press conference in which she stated, “I made a huge mistake.” Sharapova tested positive for meldonium, a drug that is currently banned in the US, but available in Russia and other Eastern European countries. Meldonium is sometimes used to treat heart disease and improve circulation, but, when taken in large doses, can improve oxygen uptake and increase blood flow. She stated that she had been taking meldonium during the past […]
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Tidal, Microsoft, Google, Rhapsody, and Slacker Face The Billion Dollar Baby of Class Actions
According to a breaking news story by Digital Music News, multiple music streaming services including Tidal, Microsoft, Google Play, Rhapsody, and Slacker will be facing multiple class action lawsuits for their alleged failures to acquire the appropriate mechanical licenses for song recordings in their repertoires. With each suit seeking hundreds of millions of dollars and royalty damages, this onslaught of litigation against music streaming services is looking to become a billion dollar baby for aggrieved artists and songwriters. Digital Music News reports that claims against each of these services were filed over the weekend, and should be announced this week. […]
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Germany Fights Facebook’s Data Use With Anti-Trust Allegations
The German federal competition authority, also known as the Bundeskartellamt, has begun proceedings to investigate Facebook’s data harvesting practices. However, the grounds for the investigation are not data protection, they are antitrust. Specifically, Germany alleges that Facebook’s terms and conditions, as they relate to its use of user data, are unlawful, and because they must be accepted in order to access Facebook’s service, Facebook’s use of those terms and conditions constitute an abuse of market position. According to the German competition authority, “If there is a connection between such an infringement and market dominance, this could also constitute an abusive practice […]
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Scream Queen Screams for $55 Million
Actress Paz de la Huerta is suing Lionsgate for breach of contract in relation to injuries she sustained while filming the horror movie “Nurse 3D” in October 2011. A video that allegedly recorded the accident shows a woman being thrown to the ground after being struck by a stunt ambulance while on the set of Nurse 3D. De la Huerta claims that she suffered numerous injuries as a result of being hit, including a broken tailbone and a spinal fracture, that reportedly required more than 20 surgeries to repair. The “Boardwalk Empire” and “Nurse 3D” star has stated that the incident […]
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Deflategate Legal Costs Piling Up
As deflategate costs near $20 million it becomes clear that the lawsuit is no longer arguing over a few missing pounds of pressure in footballs. ESPN estimates that with negotiating rates nearing $1,000 an hour, the NFL has spent over $12.5 million in legal costs and investigation fees. The NFL player’s union has spent upwards of $5 million defending Tom Brady, with its main outside counsel, Winston & Strawn LLP. Other costs include those expended by the Patriots in defending against the investigation’s report and those that will continue to incur during the appeals process. When the court last year held […]
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Former N.W.A. Manager Jerry Heller Sues To Be The “Good Guy”
Jerry Heller, former manager of iconic L.A. hip-hop group N.W.A., is in the midst of suing the film-makers of Straight Outta Compton for $110 million to prove that he’s one of the good guys. Heller’s primary complaint is that the film, chronicling the rise of the N.W.A in the 1990s and 2000s, falsely portrays him as a “bad guy.” In legal terms, he claims that whatever was true about him violated his publicity rights while whatever was untrue defamed him. Luckily for the defendants, which include NBCUniversal, Ice Cube, and Dre. Dre, Heller filed the suit in California, where there is […]
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Louis C.K.’s Routine Falls Flat In Court – Comedian Ordered To Pay Defense’s Legal Fees
Successful comedian Louis C.K.’s time in federal court has finally come to an end. Louis C.K. is a member of multiple unions, and from these unions were three union-industry plans requiring Louis to make financial contributions. Last year Louis’ production company, Pig Newton, filed a lawsuit against the directors of the three union-industry plans, seeking a declaratory judgment that Louis was not required to make these contributions, and even if he was, the contributions should have a “ceiling” so as to only reflect the actual hours Louis spent acting in various roles. In March 2015, a federal judge ruled for the […]