Entertainment Law Update Episode 160 – August/September 2023
Floyd Mayweather finds himself deep into a lawsuit, as fraud and theft claims have been put against his name. The American boxer and rapper Tyga are now part of a suit by Leonard Sulaymanov, who has alleged the non-payment of...more
Bluebonnet Internet Media Services, LLC (“Bluebonnet”) asserted three patents relating to generating media playlists against Pandora Media, LLC (“Pandora”). Judge Chhabria granted Pandora’s motion for judgment on the...more
These days, it seems almost impossible for most people to spend a day without using the internet. For some, that means not reading daily news articles online by swiping their smartphone screens. For others, that means not...more
Over his highly successful career, comedian Lewis Black has certainly done his share of hard work writing jokes. He also has copyrighted them. Now he and a host of other famous comedians are seeking compensation for the use...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
Lewis Black is the latest comedian to sue the music streaming service Pandora for copyright infringement. Black is following on the heels of the Robin Williams and George Carlin estates, who sued the platform in February,...more
What Rights Does Your Music License Agreement Give You? Many people believe that when they pay for a subscription to a music subscription service, such as Apple Music, Spotify, Pandora, Amazon Music, or Google Play Music,...more
Data Scape Limited, a non-practicing entity based in Ireland, has recently filed a wave of patent infringement lawsuits in the United States and Germany against leading technology companies including...more
Instagram co-founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger have resigned over the direction of their app, which Facebook acquired in 2012. The pair has reportedly been frustrated of late by the increasing intervention of Facebook’s...more
Mr. Buffett’s decided to sell his massive 10.6 million share stake in General Electric, withdrawing from the company to which he lent roughly $3 billion to help see it through the 2008 financial crisis....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
On July 6, 2016, the Michigan Supreme Court held that a Pandora user was not a “customer” allowed to bring a class action under the Video Rental Privacy Act (“VRPA”) in Michigan. ...more
CBS recently secured a potential landmark victory that could benefit radio stations, streaming services, and satellite radio providers—many of whom have been mired in litigation for years with owners of sound recordings of...more
Lending Club week continues here on the Brief, where the Deal Professor tries to take the good (disrupting the traditional banking system and opening up new paths of credit for consumers) with the bad (yet another...more
Following the Copyright Royalty Board’s ruling to raise Pandora’s royalty rates, last week Pandora announced new licensing agreements with the country’s two largest performing-rights societies, Broadcast Music Inc. and the...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
Yes, it's that time of year again. Nostalgia and reflection time—taking a look at this past year in digital media. Nearly one year ago, Manatt Digital Media CEO Peter Csathy made several predictions for TechCrunch in an...more
The popular music app company Pandora Media Inc. has opened quite a musical box. It has been in litigation over what are known and loved as the “oldies.” Various record labels such as Capitol Records and Sony Music sued...more
The "Dancing Baby" Case—Ninth Circuit Rules That "Fair Use" Must First Be Considered Before Sending Takedown Notices Under the DMCA - Why it matters: On September 14, 2015, the Ninth Circuit ruled in Lenz v. Universal...more
Protecting Trade Secrets in the Era of the Data Breach - The prevalence of data breaches cannot be ignored. New data breaches continue to occur one after an-other. In the first half of 2015 alone there were reports of...more
In this edition, we reflect upon the key digital media events of the first half of 2015 and present the major deals, developments and trends across video, music, gaming and virtual reality....more
The U. S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed a district court ruling that composers and music publishers cannot partially withdraw from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) licensing...more
On May 6, 2015, in Pandora Media, Inc. v. American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers, the Second Circuit held that composers and music publishers cannot partially withdraw from the American Society of Composers,...more
Any child familiar with Aesop’s Fables can tell you that turtles are slow. The founding members of the 1960s rock band named after these half-shelled plodders, however, were anything but slow in moving to take full advantage...more