Courthouse Steps
January 03, 2006
Recently filed cases in entertainment law, straight from the steps of the Los Angeles Superior Court.
Bit Parts
January 03, 2006
Internet/Unauthorized Movie DistributionThe U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania denied summary judgment to both Paramount Pictures…
Digital Issues For Distributors And Indie Labels
January 03, 2006
The advent of digital-music delivery has brought about significant changes in both the format and distribution channels by which consumers receive music. Nonetheless, the fundamental role of distribution remains the same: to put product into the hands ' and today the computers and portable media devices ' of consumers. <br>Now, traditional offline distributors and a number of independent record labels have decided that digital distribution is an important component of their respective business models. <br>This article examines some of the interplay between the provisions of digital-distribution contracts and provisions contained in pre-existing contracts between offline distributors and independent record labels, and between independent record labels and artists.
'Save As Privileged' ' The Next e-Discovery Answer?
January 03, 2006
In general, the proposed rules will increase awareness of the discovery issues that are unique to electronic discovery and will require that the lawyers, the parties and the court focus early on the format in which electronic data will be produced in federal actions. Also, absent unusual circumstances, the new rules will protect parties from sanctions for failure to produce electronic data lost by routine, good faith loss of data and will protect parties from the need to produce inaccessible data under some circumstances.
Of Mice and Men
January 03, 2006
On Aug. 9, 2005, the Delaware Court of Chancery issued its decision in In re The Walt Disney Co. Derivative Litigation, 2005 WL 2056651 (Del. Ch. Aug. 9, 2005), a case that had drawn intense media attention to a relationship that definitely had gone awry despite the best laid schemes of The Walt Disney Company and its former President, Michael Ovitz. (The case currently is on appeal to the Delaware Supreme Court.) As the court noted, the case became something of a "public spectacle ... commencing as it did with the spectacular hiring of one of the entertainment industry's best known personalities to help run one of its iconic businesses, and ending with a spectacular failure of that union, with breathtaking amounts of severance pay the consequence." The severance package amounted to approximately $140 million in cash and vested stock options, which was paid to Ovitz upon the termination of his employment under a "no-fault" termination provision in his employment agreement. (The court found that the $140 million severance payment, while "breathtaking," was not economically material to Disney.) Now that the dust has settled and that breathtaking $140,000,000 severance payment is history, the question is: what has been learned?
A 'TIP' for Responding to Trademark Infringement
December 05, 2005
If tsunamis, hurricanes and terrorist strikes have taught us anything, it is that emergency preparedness is vital to minimizing damage and facilitating recovery. Trademark infringement is no different. Trademark infringement preparedness can help lay the groundwork for an effective response by facilitating communication, reducing delay, ensuring comprehensive gathering of key response items, allowing for productive use of human resources, and providing for efficient allocation of monetary resources.
Foreign Filming Creates Challenges For Lawyers
November 29, 2005
As Hollywood filmmakers increasingly shift production abroad, they're creating myriad opportunities for U.S. entertainment lawyers. While the so-called "runaway" productions are bleeding thousands of U.S. industry jobs, the migration is a boon for entertainment-law practices that thrive on international legal complexities.
Courthouse Steps
November 29, 2005
Recently filed cases in entertainment law, straight from the steps of the Los Angeles Superior Court.
