IMDb Refuses to Delete or Change Actors’ Ages, Despite Talks with SAG and AFTRA

Posted by on Nov 7, 2011 in Art, Employment, Entertainment, Film, Music, News, Sports, Television | 0 comments Earlier last month, an anonymous actress filed a million dollar lawsuit against the IMDb (“Internet Movie Database”) website claiming that the database violated her constitutional right to privacy by accessing and providing personal information, specifically her age. It may come as no surprise that the entertainment industry is taking the recent lawsuit very seriously and has been in talks...
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Compulsory Licenses in the Music Industry

Posted by on Nov 7, 2011 in Art, Business Litigation, Business Transactions, Commercial Litigation, Commercial Transactions, Copyright, Entertainment, Intellectual Property, Music, News, Television | 0 comments Compulsory copyright license is the exception to copyright law. It is the government’s attempt to correct a market failure or a monopoly. A compulsory license allows a person to exercise one or more of the copyright’s exclusive rights without having to obtain the copyright holder’s permission. All the individual has to do is pay a licensing fee. This is why it is called a...
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SiriusXM is Looking to License Music Directly from Labels

Posted by on Nov 6, 2011 in Art, Business Litigation, Business Transactions, Commercial Litigation, Commercial Transactions, Copyright, Entertainment, Intellectual Property, Music, News | 0 comments There has been chatter in the entertainment industry with regard to SiriusXM’s recent attempt to directly license music from record labels. SiriusXM, a satellite radio, currently has a statutory license to play music and pays digital public performance royalties to a nonprofit organization called SoundExchange, which is a nonprofit organization designated by Congress pursuant to the 1995...
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Individual Publicity Rights

Posted by on Nov 5, 2011 in Art, Business Litigation, Business Transactions, Commercial Litigation, Commercial Transactions, Entertainment, Film, Intellectual Property, Music, News, Sports, Television | 0 comments Today, more and more individuals are becoming connected through the internet. People are given instant updates on celebrities, public figures, and even random people they may or may not know. The computer savvy are able to sell goods or services through websites online, and using celebrities and public figures to sell goods and services is becoming even more popular and more profitable! An...
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The Benefits of Federal Trademark Registration

Posted by on Nov 4, 2011 in Art, Business Litigation, Business Transactions, Commercial Litigation, Commercial Transactions, Entertainment, Intellectual Property, News, Television, Trademark | 0 comments When a party registers his or her trademark with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, presumptions come into play and infringement lawsuits become a lot more feasible from a financial standpoint. An infringement lawsuit is the only way to enforce trademark ownership and federal registration makes it much easier to win a federal lawsuit against later infringers. Federal registration make...
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European Court Issues a Judgment that May Have Sweeping Impact on Celebrity Lawsuits Against Media, Bloggers, and Websites

Posted by on Nov 2, 2011 in Art, Business Litigation, Business Transactions, Commercial Litigation, Commercial Transactions, Copyright, Entertainment, Film, Intellectual Property, Music, News, Sports, Television, Trademark | 0 comments With the ever increasing reach of the internet and the speed at which website content can reach thousands, if not millions, of viewers throughout the world in a matter of minutes or hours, it is not surprising that this past Tuesday October 25, 2011 the European Court of Justice made a sweeping ruling that may greatly affect a celebrity’s publicity or privacy rights. The European Court...
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