U.S. Supreme Court Justices Offer Mixed Views During Arguments in Landmark 'Grokster' Case
April 29, 2005
WASHINGTON, DC ' The controversy over whether developers and distributors of peer-to-peer file-sharing software should be found liable for contributory and vicarious copyright infringement has been described as the most important copyright case for the entertainment industry in two decades ' or as an issue that Congress ultimately will decide. (That the underlying unlicensed downloading and uploading of entertainment content by consumers is direct infringement has already been made clear by courts.) To this observer in the court's press section, questioning by the U.S. Supreme Court justices during the recent oral arguments in what is known as the <i>Grokster</i> case demonstrated no clear consensus among the justices.
Bit Parts
April 29, 2005
Recent developments in entertainment law.
Sports Report
April 29, 2005
This occasional column will cover court rulings on sports-related issues of interest to the entertainment industry.
Music Group To Sue Students Over Internet2 Downloads
April 28, 2005
The super-fast "Internet2" network that connects universities researching the next-generation Internet has found new followers in college students who download pirated music and movies. <br>Entertainment groups said last month they intend to sue hundreds of students accused of illegally distributing copyrighted songs and films across college campuses using the private research network, which boasts speeds hundreds of times faster than the Internet.
Stakes Rise As U.S. Supreme Court Hears Downloading Showdown
April 28, 2005
The Supreme Court appeared wary on March 29th of punishing peer-to-peer downloading services like Grokster for copyright violation, in spite of arguments by a lawyer for the recording and movie industries that they amount to "a gigantic infringement machine." <br>An hour of spirited oral arguments in the case <i>MGM Studios Inc. v. Grokster Ltd.</i>, played out before a courtroom packed with intellectual property lawyers and entertainment industry representatives.
Online Gambling Boom Comes With Tangle of Lawsuits
April 28, 2005
The booming world of online gambling has dealt lawyers a messy hand of legal challenges, spawning a host of lawsuits that target an industry poised to make nearly $10 billion this year ' up 40% from last year. <br>In California, a group of lawyers has filed a class action suit against a dozen search engines, including Yahoo and Google, for allegedly running ads that lead players to online gaming sites. The suit seeks to hold the search engines responsible for gambling losses.
Courthouse Steps
March 29, 2005
Recently filed cases in entertainment law, straight from the steps of the Los Angeles Superior Court.
Federal Tax Reform Includes Traps For Deferred Compensation Deals
March 29, 2005
Last October, President Bush signed into law the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004. This 2004 Tax Act amended nearly 600 sections of the Internal Revenue Code (IRC), thereby making far-reaching changes to many areas of tax law. While the major focus of the 2004 Act was to provide tax relief for U.S. corporations repatriating earnings back to the United States, this new legislation also provided numerous revenue-raising provisions and tax cuts that affected corporate and individual taxpayers and special interest groups, from film producers to owners of sports teams.