Features
Robert J. Bernstein
&
Robert W. Clarida
In Dr. Seuss Enterprises L.P. v. ComicMix LLC, a unanimous three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit held in December that ComicMix's illustrated book combining elements of several Dr. Seuss children's books with characters, themes and other features of the popular sci-fi series Star Trek was not a fair use of the Seuss material from which it had admittedly been "slavishly" copied.
Features
Scott Graham
The court's decision means that in the Ninth Circuit commercial mash-ups will have to do more than place new characters in old settings to qualify for fair use.
Features
Charles Toutant
The New Jersey Supreme Court disbarred lawyer Gary Mason after finding he knowingly misappropriated $690,000 that investors paid to support the work of a fledgling filmmaker.
Features
Raychel Lean
Fort Lauderdale copyright attorneys Matthew Nelles and Adriana Kostencki of Nelles Kostencki were in a Los Angeles airport in February 2019, when movie director, producer and actor Spike Lee called the day after winning an Oscar for his historical crime drama BlacKkKlansman. But the call wasn't about the win.
Columns & Departments
Stan Soocher
Promotional Use of Supermodel's Appearance in Reality TV Show Didn't Violate Lanham Act
Taylor Swift Shakes Off Fifth Copyright Infringement Lawsuit by Jesse Graham
Features
Gwendolyn Seale
Part One of a Two Part Article
While the livestreaming of music performances is not an entirely new phenomenon, the COVID crisis has transformed the live performance landscape, compelling artists from around the world to reach their fanbase by producing "quarantine streams," in which they livestream their sets on social media platforms. Unsurprisingly many questions have arisen.
Features
Linda A. Thompson
The DSA is intended to reset the rules around online content moderation and to reframe the responsibility of platforms for illegal content uploaded to their websites.
Features
Stephen M. Kramarsky
The extremely flexible character of social media has required equal flexibility in courts' intellectual property analysis. Happily, under U.S. copyright law, that kind of flexibility is possible.
Features
Stan Soocher
Battles over celebrities' estates often end up in litigation, but a recent court ruling involving the estate of French oceanic explorer, environmentalist and documentary filmmaker Jacques Cousteau included a not-often-seen right of publicity consideration: how a U.S. court determines whether right-of-publicity protection in another nation is descendible.
Features
Heidi Reavis
This article examines the recent judicial dialogue concerning allocation of Weinstein settlement proceeds among Weinstein crime victims, Weinstein Company creditors and defense counsel who have defended the Weinstein corporate officers and directors, and the overall negative impact these various episodes of the Weinstein settlement story likely have on victims' willingness to participate or come forward at all.
