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: Tennessee’s ELVIS Act Isn’t What You Think (Podcast)
The Briefing: Tennessee’s ELVIS Act Isn’t What You Think
(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 by the IP Law Blog - Can Copyrighted Music Keep Vids of Police Encounters Off The Internet?
The Briefing by the IP Law Blog: Can Copyrighted Music Keep Vids of Police Encounters Off The Internet?
Nota Bene Episode 111: Charting the New World of Music Royalty Investment with Sid Fohrman
Beastie Boys Sue; Law Prof's 'Head Spins'
Robin Thicke Preemptively Sues Marvin Gaye's Estate in Copyright Kerfuffle
Stealth Lawyer: Shonali Bhowmik, Indie Rock Musician
Video Sharing App Vine Hit with Takedown Notice from Prince
New Happy Birthday Song, Copyright-Free
A woman in Texas filed a new lawsuit last Monday accusing Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson of sexual assault and battery in 2020....more
Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul announced that Illinois has joined an $82.5 million proposed antitrust settlement with Varsity Brands (Varsity). As a result, Illinois consumers who paid to participate in Varsity Brands’...more
The Pitch newsletter is a monthly update of legal issues and news affecting or related to the music, film and television, fine arts, media, professional athletics, eSports, and gaming industries. The Pitch features a diverse...more
Thank you for reading the February 2024 issue of Sterne Kessler's MarkIt to Market® newsletter. This month, we discuss the advertising rights of luxury resellers and important updates to the Warner Chappell Music v. Nealy...more
TTAB Emancipates “Queen of Christmas” from Mimi - Mariah Carey lets mark registration go unchallenged - Breakdown - Mariah Carey takes a lot of guff for...strange behavior. We won’t review the stories here; poring...more
Just Because it’s Published Doesn’t Mean it’s in the Public Domain - Some people think that if something is on the Internet, it’s in the public domain and is fair game to be copied. Not true! Giving the public access to an...more
Join Wilson Sonsini Partners Aaron Hendelman and Gary Greenstein as they dig into how copyrights and trademarks can implicate games and gaming companies. With conversation on topics such as: whether you could put Starbucks in...more
Nonfungible tokens (NFTs) have, in recent weeks, gone from a relatively obscure form of digital collectible stored on a blockchain to a virtual “gold rush” for artists, labels and other music rights owners looking for ways to...more
Just two months ago, we published a post about an Eastern District of Pennsylvania decision in the Pellegrino v. Epic Games case regarding Epic’s online battle royale video game, Fortnite. In that case, saxophonist Leo...more
In a recent decision, Judge John R. Padova of the federal court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania dismissed seven out of eight of the claims brought by musician Leo Pellegrino alleging that Epic Games unlawfully copied...more
If you know how to Floss and Milly Rock, then you are way more hip than most, including the author of this post. Both are popular dance moves, along with the Shoot, Running Man, and the Carlton, the latter made famous by...more
Copyright and Trademark Protection for a Reason - Protecting Creative Speech in Practice - Let’s talk intellectual property. Not patents and trade secrets, not that “hard stuff.” I’m talking creative intellectual property....more
Last week, Brooks Pierce participated in CD Baby’s DIY Musician Conference in Nashville. We hosted legal clinics, served as mentors, gave out free copies of our Musician’s Legal Handbook, and presented a legal workshop on...more
On September 4, 2015, a long running legal battle over the right to use footage from a 1972 concert by Aretha Franklin took a twist right out of a Hollywood movie when the Queen of Soul sought, and was granted, a temporary...more
The Northern District of Illinois recently held that the Supreme Court’s decision in Dastar Corp. v. Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp., 539 U.S. 23 (2003), did not protect a karaoke bar from claims of trademark infringement...more
Social drinkers. The founder of the Lagunitas Brewing Company decided to drop a lawsuit that he’d filed against Sierra Nevada for trademark infringement after beer drinkers expressed their disapproval of the suit on Twitter. ...more
In honor of African American Music Appreciation Month, sometimes known as Black Music Month, we recall the first judicial decisions in which jazz music was the subject of a legal dispute. Although jazz originated in the late...more
Last month, I wrote about the preemptive lawsuit filed by GoldieBlox, a toy retailer, against the Beastie Boys. GoldieBlox sought declaratory relief that their use of the Beastie Boys’ song “Girls” in a GoldieBlox...more
On August 28, 2013, the founder of the classic rock band BOSTON and the owner of all of its trademarks lost a bid to prevent the band’s former lead singer from using the name BOSTON in connection with his ongoing musical...more
Have you ever noticed how people rarely sing “Happy Birthday to You” in movies and television? Instead, people usually sing “For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow,” even though no one actually sings that song in real life. ...more