Last Friday, a California federal judge, Judge Fitzgerald, handed a win to Taylor Swift and her team when he dismissed a copyright suit against the singer with prejudice. This follows from a ruling in mid-February, where the judge granted a motion to dismiss for Swift’s team, but giving plaintiffs Sean Hall and Nathan Butler one chance to […]
Gibson Brands Inc., the 100+ old iconic guitar maker, faces possible bankruptcy in the next few months. Sparking concern for the guitar manufacturer is the departure of the company’s chief financial officer, Bill Lawrence. To meet its financial obligations coming due in July, Gibson is selling its Baldwin piano brand and has left its long time
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
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
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
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
According to Billboard, Fifth Harmony’s Normani Kordei has signed a solo management deal with S10 Entertainment & Media. The singer, 21, was featured in a picture posted to Brandon Silverstein’s Twitter with a caption welcoming her to his entertainment group. Kordei will go by the name NORMANI as a solo artist and has already been
When Billy McFarland and rapper Ja Rule originally tried to realize their vision for Fyre Festival, the disastrous island music festival, this vision likely did not include fighting multiple lawsuits. Now, Ja Rule has alleged that his former business partner McFarland ripped off his artistic vision for the festival. As reported by Law360, this allegation came before U.S.
As digital music streaming continues to explode, it calls for a platform that can track the data generated from billions of clicks and collect royalties for artists. Kobalt, the independent music services company founded in 2000, has been focusing on such a platform since Paul McCartney took his music publishing interest from EMI to Kobalt
As reported by Complete Music, in early March 2017, relatives of the late Egyptian composer Baligh Hamdi filed new papers in their ongoing appeal of a moral rights claim against music icons Jay-Z and Timbaland. The case began in 2007, when Hamdi’s family alleged that Jay-Z and Timbaland’s sampling of Hamdi’s music in their 2000 smash
