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Followup: PBS Wins Verdict In Suit By Fired TV Show Host Tavis Smiley
It was a trial to remember for Morgan, Lewis & Bockius partner Grace Speights, lead defense attorney for PBS against Tavis Smiley, former long-running program host for the TV network — and not just because she defeated a million-dollar labor and employment claim against her client in a high-profile case. TS Media Inc. v. Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), 2018 CA 001247 B. She also won a $1.486 million jury verdict for PBS by using a morals contract clause.
"This was a landmark case, both in terms of the precedent-setting nature of testing the morals clause in contracts before a jury, and by the fact that our client was the one being sued by someone accused of sexual misconduct," Speights told The National Law Journal, an ALM affiliate publication of Entertainment Law & Finance, by email as she flew to the West Coast for a client meeting. (For more coverage of this case, see, "Morals Clause in Spotlight in Smiley PBS Litigation" by Michael S. Poster on p.3 of the March 2020 issue of Entertainment Law & Finance.)
There was a status conference a few days later back in Washington before D.C. Superior Court Judge Yvonne Williams to discuss what to do next. The jury award wasn't the end of the story; there was the matter of attorney fees.
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Major Differences In UK, U.S. Copyright Laws
This article highlights how copyright law in the United Kingdom differs from U.S. copyright law, and points out differences that may be crucial to entertainment and media businesses familiar with U.S law that are interested in operating in the United Kingdom or under UK law. The article also briefly addresses contrasts in UK and U.S. trademark law.
The Article 8 Opt In
The Article 8 opt-in election adds an additional layer of complexity to the already labyrinthine rules governing perfection of security interests under the UCC. A lender that is unaware of the nuances created by the opt in (may find its security interest vulnerable to being primed by another party that has taken steps to perfect in a superior manner under the circumstances.
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Legal Possession: What Does It Mean?
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In 1987, a unanimous Court of Appeals reaffirmed the vitality of the "stranger to the deed" rule, which holds that if a grantor executes a deed to a grantee purporting to create an easement in a third party, the easement is invalid. Daniello v. Wagner, decided by the Second Department on November 29th, makes it clear that not all grantors (or their lawyers) have received the Court of Appeals' message, suggesting that the rule needs re-examination.