On Monday, June 24, 2024, the three U.S. major record labels, Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment, filed copyright infringement claims against two artificial-intelligence (AI) music...more
Today, the North Carolina Supreme Court issued an order rescinding its 2020 order implementing a “universal citation” system. The change has to do with this question: How do you cite to a recently issued case? Sure, the...more
- There is that sweet sound of music as Universal Music Group’s IPO debuted as the largest in the history of the music business, with the listing on Euronext Amsterdam valuing the company at more than $53 billion. The stock’s...more
A reminder to practitioners: when a contract is unambiguous, the submission of a hurricane of extrinsic evidence to “interpret” it on a pre-answer motion to dismiss won’t fly....more
Strange as it may be, with vast majority of the world still reeling from the COVID-19 pandemic, we are on the eve of the opening ceremony for the “2020” Tokyo Summer Olympics. Olympic games in “normal” times are logistical...more
Well, today is the big day. If you’re reading this week’s installment of the Spotlight, it means that you survived the long and arduous journey of the name, image and likeness (NIL) era in college sports. Indeed, with the...more
Less than three weeks remain for either the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) or for Congress to act to stem the impending chaos on July 1 when college athletes’ name, image and likeness (NIL) laws go into...more
We recently reported on a lawsuit that the actor Faizon Love brought in November against Universal Pictures. Love was one of the stars of the 2009 movie Couples Retreat, whose overseas publicity campaign aroused controversy...more
Another day, another new Google antitrust lawsuit—this time thanks to a group of 30-plus states that have accused the company of “illegally arranging its search results to push out smaller rivals.” Oh, and money likely won’t...more
The 2009 Universal ensemble comedy Couples Retreat sparked controversy when its Black performers were erased from the film’s international marketing. That controversy has come back to life as the film’s co-star Faizon Love...more
Dramatically escalating the growing tension with China (despite considerable ambiguity in its language), the White House issued executive orders that would “ban all ‘transactions’” with ByteDance, the Chinese owner of TikTok,...more
The Federal Reserve took the rare step yesterday of stepping “into financial markets . . . to keep interest rates from rising above its target, the first time the central bank has had to carry out this type of ‘market...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
For those unfamiliar with what today’s young kids are listening to, Aubrey “Drake” Graham is one of the most commercially-successful recording artists of all time, with multiple multiple-platinum records to his credit. For...more
Apparently, George Lucas is not the only party in California who can edit his own work after release in order to change aspects he does not like. While perhaps not as culturally significant as changing “Star Wars: A New Hope”...more
In August 2015, the film Straight Outta Compton was released. It’s a biopic about the struggles of several young African American males who formed the musical group “N.W.A.” back in the 1980s. ...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
Apparently, George Lucas is not the only party in California who can edit his own work after release in order to change aspects he does not like. While perhaps not as culturally significant as changing Star Wars: A New Hope...more
Ninth Circuit Amends "Dancing Baby" Decision: Lenz v. Universal Music Corp., Nos. 13-16106, 13-16107 (9th Cir. Mar. 17, 2016) - On March 17, 2016, the Ninth Circuit amended its prior opinion in the famed "Dancing Baby"...more
While many were focused on “The Big Dance” on March 17, 2016, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals did some “dancing” of its own. The Court issued a revised opinion in Lenz v. Universal and thereby amended what has been referred...more
When computer science professor Scott Fahlman posted a sideways smiley face on an electronic message board at Carnegie Mellon University in 1982, he could not possibly have known that combination of dots and dashes would give...more
Behind the scenes of the Internet’s current swirl of memes, mashups and other viral content is a massive system of takedown notices and counternotices passing back and forth between content owners, web hosts and users,...more
Stephanie Lenz posted a short home video on YouTubein February 2007 of her two young children dancing to a barely audible recording of the Prince song “Let’s GoCrazy.” In June of the same year, YouTube received a takedown...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
The Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled today that Google's digitization of books for use in its Google Books and Google Books Library Project is not copyright infringement. The Court also ruled that providing a public...more