The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has granted a limited appeal in Pittsburgh’s challenge to a Pennsylvania court ruling that the city’s tax on visiting athletes and performers is unconstitutional. ...more
As Top Gun: Maverick passes Doctor Strange 2 to become the highest-grossing movie in the US this year, it’s attracted a copyright infringement claim by the heirs of the writer of the article that inspired the original 1986...more
In California, an idea theft claim is based in large part on the California Supreme Court case of Desny v. Wilder. In Desny, the plaintiff Victor Desny wrote a script depicting the real-life story of Floyd Collins, a boy who...more
The team behind cryptocurrency Litecoin is scrambling after an employee “retweeted what turned out to be an untrue announcement about a partnership with Walmart Inc,” a move that briefly sent Litecoin and other cryptos...more
Settlements are a frequently used means of efficiently terminating proceedings, not only in cartel cases but also in other antitrust proceedings. The EU Commission can avoid having to spend resources on a time-consuming...more
Many of us will remember 2020 as the year that the theatrical exhibition business irrevocably changed. Our last blog covered the landmark agreement between Universal Pictures and AMC, the world’s largest theater chain, to...more
In a move that could upend the US theatrical exhibition landscape, the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice has announced that it will seek court approval to terminate the Paramount Consent Decrees. The...more
For the film and media distribution industries, this year has been action-packed. Production budgets are skyrocketing and new digital services have been announced or are launching with each passing month. The streaming wars...more
On June 26, 2019, the Minnesota Supreme Court held that a private plaintiff may not recover presumed damages for defamatory statements involving a matter of public concern unless the plaintiff can establish actual malice....more
Readers over 40 will remember the TV series MacGyver, which ran on ABC from 1985 through 1992. The show starred Richard Dean Anderson as a mild-mannered secret agent with an uncanny ability to escape the gravest perils by...more
The long-awaited judgment of the General Court (GC) in the pay-TV saga (case AT.40023 Cross-border access to pay-TV) has finally been delivered, two years after the annulment action was brought. It was worth waiting for: The...more
The Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) last week announced that it was seeking public comments on the continued viability of the Paramount Consent Decrees, which have regulated how motion pictures are...more
Axanar will finally beam down to YouTube after CBS and Paramount Pictures (“Paramount”) reached a settlement with Axanar Productions to end all ongoing litigation regarding the Star Trek fan film....more
The copyright infringement lawsuit between Star Trek fan film producer, Axanar Productions, and Paramount Pictures came to an end less than two weeks before trial. The settlement was undoubtedly triggered by the court’s...more
A Star-Trek fan-film is boldly headed to a jury trial to determine whether Axanar Productions—the company behind the fan-film—is liable for copyright infringement. Paramount Pictures and CBS Studios sued Axanar Productions...more
Fan films and fan fiction ordinarily don’t end up being the subject of a federal court lawsuit. Most fan fiction are creative expressions reflecting adoration of a series, film or character and the majority of copyright...more
If you are a Star Trek fan, the name Axanar has almost certainly crossed your lips or your computer screen recently. Axanar is a film (well, at least a very good trailer aspiring to be a film) set in the Star Trek universe,...more
On 26 July, the European Commission (EC) announced that it was closing its antitrust investigation of Paramount Pictures, following its acceptance of binding commitments from Paramount not to enforce certain restrictions in...more
This year marks the fiftieth anniversary of the premiere of the original series of Star Trek, which first aired on NBC in September 1966. On July 22, this milestone will be marked in earnest when Paramount Pictures releases...more
The beginning of the end for national TV boundaries? On 22 April 2016, the European Commission ("EC") invited industry comment on the commitments proposed by Paramount Pictures International Limited ("Paramount") in...more
On 22 April 2016, the European Commission (“EC”) invited industry comment on the commitments proposed by Paramount Pictures International Limited (“Paramount”) in response to concerns raised by the EC. The EC’s concerns were...more
Does your company run background checks on its employees? Do you pay a third-party to run the reports and trust them to get it right? You may not be as safe as you think you are. Just ask Whole Foods, Paramount...more
On December 16, we obtained summary judgment on behalf of our client, Paramount Pictures Corporation, in a case brought by a former paralegal in the studio’s Business Affairs Administration department. The plaintiff claimed...more