The latest on: NFL Anti-Trust decision; Record Labels Sue Over Generative AI; Copyright Office clarifies Termination Rights, Royalties, Transfers, Disputes, and the MMA.
The Briefing: Not Terminated - Cher Still Entitled to Her Share of Music Royalties
The Briefing: Not Terminated - Cher Still Entitled to Her Share of Music Royalties (Podcast)
The Briefing: Supreme Court Holds Copyright Damages Can Go Beyond 3 Years (Podcast)
Taylor's Version: El Derecho de Artistas en la Industria Musical
The Briefing: Brandy Melville Doubles Down Against Redbubble
AI Update: ELVIS Act Passes, SAG-AFTRA Agree with Record Labels. FTC Non-compete Ban Analyzed By Gordon Firemark and Tamera Bennett.
The Briefing: Tennessee’s ELVIS Act Isn’t What You Think (Podcast)
The Briefing: Tennessee’s ELVIS Act Isn’t What You Think
(Podcast) The Briefing: Nirvana Stuck in Lawsuit Over “Nevermind” Album Cover
The Briefing: Nirvana Stuck in Lawsuit Over “Nevermind” Album Cover
(Podcast) The Briefing: Merry Litigation – All I Want for Christmas is a Copyright Infringement Lawsuit
The Briefing: Merry Litigation – All I Want for Christmas is a Copyright Infringement Lawsuit
(Podcast) The Briefing: Jingle Brawl – The Battle for ‘Queen of Christmas’
The Briefing: Jingle Brawl – The Battle for ‘Queen of Christmas’
Writer's Strike Ends, Actor's Strike Continues, Ed Sheeran, The MLC, NIL and more in Episode 161-Entertainment Law Update Podcast
The Briefing: Judge Finds Lyrics and Themes “Guns, Money, and Jewelry” Too Commonplace for Copyright Protection
Emerging Technology Issues in the Music Industry with Aarash Darroodi, Executive Vice President & General Counsel, Fender Musical Instruments
Entertainment Law Update Episode 160 – August/September 2023
Podcast: The Briefing - Deepfakes vs Right of Publicity: Navigating the Intersection Between Free Speech and Protected Rights
Just like Napster triggered a global, technological shift in the way music is consumed and distributed, we are now on the precipice of another major revolution certain to disrupt the music industry. Artificial intelligence,...more
Trends may come and go, but TikTok is likely here to stay. With many people stuck inside during the pandemic and needing inspiration for new hobbies, they turned to TikTok for recipes, books, dances, fashion, makeup and hair,...more
Dependable recurring income from digital music rights is attracting major investment from PE funds - Streaming has made song rights one of the most compelling emerging asset classes going....more
The US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit affirmed a district court’s summary judgment grant with respect to a copyright infringement claim related to technical drawings, and reversed the court’s summary judgment grant...more
Digitization, The Internet, And Social Media Have Changed Much About Our World. Among Them Is The Additional Exposure—but Also Vulnerabilities—photographers And Content Creators Face On Instagram. This Article Analyzes The...more
The so-called Big Three record companies—Universal, Sony, and Warner—have sued to hold an internet service provider liable for facilitating its customers’ copyright infringement....more
ReDigi, an online platform that allows users to buy and sell pre-owned digital content directly from other consumers, is asking the Supreme Court to overturn a ruling finding that its services were not protected by the...more
Holding that reproduction of a digital file for purposes of resale does not fall under the “first sale” doctrine of the Copyright Act, the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed the district court’s grant of...more
In a decision issued on December 12, 2018, the Second Circuit refused to recognize application of the first sale doctrine to a service that had been established as a marketplace for resale of digital music files. Under the...more
Ever bought a song or an album on iTunes and, after a while, decided you didn’t like it? Did you wish you could sell it somewhere, to someone, for something, the way you might have done with an old vinyl record or CD?...more
As we reported this spring, the “Music Modernization Act” (MMA) working through Congress avowed to bring the royalty determination formula for digital music services into the 21st Century. In April, the House of...more
This week, copyright is all over the place. After the European Parliament voted on proposed copyright reform in Europe last Wednesday (12 September 2018), the long-awaited decision of the German Federal Court of Justice (BGH)...more
A major upgrade for music copyright and licensing laws is one step closer to reality with the U.S. House of Representative's unanimous passage of HR 5447, dubbed the Music Modernization Act ("MMA"), which is aimed at...more
The results of the 2017 edition of China’s annual online piracy crackdown campaign, called the “Sword Net Action”, were recently published. As we announced earlier, the 2017 crackdown campaign promised to take a heavy hand...more
We at Manatt Digital are not only die hard music fans, we put our passions in our business and are invested and advocates of the ever evolving and seriously complicated business of music. This month’s newsletter is dedicated...more
On November 1, 2016, the United States Copyright Office published an amendment to 37 CFR § 201.38 that changes the registration requirements for Designated Agents under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Effective...more
The federal Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”) provides safe harbors from copyright infringement liability for online service providers that are engaged in specified activities and that meet certain eligibility...more
The promise of blockchain technology for the music industry is its ability to solve the problem of “shared facts” and to provide transparency in real time or near-real time. Advancing digital technology has created new...more
On August 4, 2016, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) rejected changes to the 1941 consent decrees with ASCAP and BMI. These decrees have been in place since 1941, when the DOJ settled antitrust claims with ASCAP and BMI...more
Newly leaked e-mails reveal that pop sensation Ariana Grande lost a gig performing at the White House based on a video circulated online last year. The surveillance footage taken at a California doughnut shop showed Grande...more
In “The Case of Prince, a Dancing Baby and the DMCA Takedown Notice,” we discussed the potential impact of the Ninth Circuit decision in Lenz v. Universal Music Corp., 801 F.3d 1126 (2015), a.k.a. the “dancing baby case,” in...more
On December 16, 2015, the Copyright Royalty Board released its much-anticipated ruling, increasing the royalty amount that Pandora and other digital streaming services must pay to stream music in 2016. The CRB’s ruling, which...more
Online content providers continue to struggle with the challenge of copyright infringement by BitTorrent users. One of the most aggressive tacks is the one taken by Malibu Media, which, after instituting over 4,500 lawsuits...more
In 2007, Stephanie Lenz posted a 29-second video to YouTube of her baby dancing in the kitchen with Prince’s “Let’s Go Crazy” playing in the background. Claiming use of their song amounted to copyright infringement, Universal...more
The Ninth Circuit held last week in Lenz v. Universal Music Corp. (the “dancing baby” case) that a copyright holder must consider fair use before sending a takedown notice under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)....more