Bit Parts
February 26, 2009
False Endorsement/No Preemption<br>Song Copyright/Implied License<br>Video-Game Statutes/Unconstitutionality
Assessing Challenge To Damages in File-Sharing Litigation
February 26, 2009
The recording industry estimates that music piracy has cost it billions of dollars during the past 15 years. Facing the potential for an industry-wide collapse, the RIAA undertook its aggressive litigation campaign to protect itself and its constituents from copyright infringement by suing individual file sharers. After fighting a public relations battle over some of its tactics, the RIAA has chosen to temper its aggressiveness. The RIAA is instead forming relationships with ISPs that maintain the online accounts of the consumers.
Cameo Clips
February 26, 2009
COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT/RULE 12(b)(6) DISMISSAL<br>THEATRICAL OPTIONS/FUTURE ENFORCEABILITY
<b>Counsel Concerns:</b> Severability Used In Malpractice Suit Over California Talent Agency Act
February 26, 2009
In January 2008, the California Supreme Court decided that the doctrine of severability of contracts could be applied to the state's Talent Agencies Act (TAA). Under the supreme court's ruling, a personal manager's activities as an unlicensed talent agent may be severed from the manager's legal activities, the latter still being commissionable from the artist by the manager.
Business Manager Denied New Trial In Malmsteen Case
February 26, 2009
The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York refused to grant a judgment as a matter of law or for a new trial for the former business manager of musician Yngwie Malmsteen in a suit by the musician over missing income.
Is a Retroactive Publicity Right Constitutional?
February 26, 2009
Was Marilyn Monroe domiciled in New York and not California when she died in 1962? If it was California, the company succeeding to her rights might have publicity rights after her death, if that state's statute extending publicity rights back from when the statute originally took effect was constitutional. The new California statute is retroactive as well as prospective. Monroe, of course, never heard of publicity rights, which were enacted in California in 1984. If it was New York, there are no publicity rights, only privacy rights, which ended with her death.
Practice Building Skills: Eight Recession-Busting Tactics
February 25, 2009
According to the 2008 ACC/Serengeti Managing Outside Counsel Survey, median spending on outside counsel last year fell 9.1% ' to the lowest level in 8 years. A growing amount of work is being kept in-house, and 40%-plus of corporations have fired some of their outside counsel during the prior year. Here's how to thrive.
The Treasury Department's Guidelines on Executive Pay
February 20, 2009
President Obama and Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner stood together on Feb. 4, 2009, to announce the Treasury Department's new set of guidelines restricting executive compensation at financial institutions that receive governmental money. Here's what this entails.