Band Rush Threatens Legal Action Against Radio Host Rush Limbaugh for Use of their Music

Posted by on Mar 23, 2012 in Art, Copyright, Entertainment, Intellectual Property, Music, News, Trademark | 1 comment Things aren’t looking up for conservative radio show host Rush Limbaugh. With so many of his advertisers refusing to continue advertising on his radio show, the band Rush’s latest cease and desist letter to Mr. Limbaugh can’t be helping matters. The band Rush and Mr. Rush Limbaugh are not in any way associated with one another and that is how the band Rush wants to keep...
read more

Trial Date Set in Actress Huang Hoang’s Lawsuit Against IMDB and Amazon

Posted by on Mar 6, 2012 in Art, Employment, Entertainment, Film, News, Television | 0 comments The Texas-based actress suing IMDB and its parent company Amazon for publishing her true age on their website is now moving forward and the federal judge presiding over the case has set a trial date for January 07, 2013. Hoang’s lawsuit asserts causes of action for breach of contract, fraud, and violation of Washington’s Privacy and Consumer Protection Act. Now that the Ms. Hoang has...
read more

Netflix Pays Out $9 Million for Class Action Lawsuit Asserting Privacy Violations

Posted by on Mar 6, 2012 in Commercial Transactions, Entertainment, Film, News, Television | 0 comments Although Netflix has been in the news lately for its recent price hikes, it is has been in court facing a huge lawsuit regarding its retention of private customer information. Netflix is a large corporation that offers customers live streaming movies and television shows straight to their home television. The company also offers services that allow for dvd rentals delivered straight to...
read more

Actress Who Sued IMDB Over Her Age Disclosure Has Been Forced to Reveal Her Identity

Posted by on Mar 5, 2012 in Art, Entertainment, Film, News, Television | 0 comments Recently, an actress who originally sued the popular IMDB website, a subsidiary of Amazon, for disclosing her real age, revealed her true identity in court documents. The federal judge presiding over her case ordered her to identify herself by name and gave her fourteen days to do so or face having her case dismissed. Actress Huang Hoang has been praised by the Screen Actors Guild for her...
read more

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...
read more

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...
read more

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...
read more

Las Vegas Company Ordered to Pay $120,000 in Attorney’s Fees for Filing “Frivolous” Copyright Infringement Lawsuit

Posted by on Nov 5, 2011 in Copyright, Entertainment, Intellectual Property, News, Television | 0 comments On Wednesday, October 26, 2011, Las Vegas company named Righthaven LLC was ordered by a federal court judge to pay $119,488 in attorneys fees and costs. This past summer, federal judge Roger Hunt dismissed Righthaven’s lawsuit against former federal prosecutor Thomas DiBiase on the basis that Righthaven did not have standing to file its lawsuit. The basis of Righthaven’s lawsuit was...
read more

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...
read more

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...
read more

Determining Trademark Ownership

Posted by on Nov 4, 2011 in Business Litigation, Business Transactions, Commercial Litigation, Commercial Transactions, Entertainment, Intellectual Property, News, Television, Trademark | 0 comments Trademark ownership is determined by who uses the mark first in a commercial setting. By simply using a name, logo, or other symbol to identify goods or services in the marketplace, a trademark has been created and trademark ownership has been established. There is no real difference between a trademark and a service mark. A trademark refers to any name, logo, symbol or other device used to...
read more

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...
read more