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 […]
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
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.
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
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
Over the summer, Disney and Pixar were sued by childhood development expert Denise Daniels over the film Inside Out. She claims that the film was based on her TV show, The Moodsters, and that she was uncompensated for her work. As reported by The Hollywood Reporter, there are some similarities between the two films as both conceptualize the emotions as
Warner Bros is being taken to court in Australia over breach of contract claims brought by George Miller. Miller claims that Warner Bros breached contract in denying him his $7 million bonus for “Mad Max: Fury Road.” Miller says that the company agreed to pay him the bonus in the event that he did not
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
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
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
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
