Welcome to our monthly recap of stories relating to intellectual property (including copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets, etc.) and entertainment law – art, animation, television, film, digital games, etc. This month’s stories cover many issues including: IMDb & actor age censorship law; Star Trek fan film copyright suit; artists & music streaming; trademarks & Krusty Krab; injunction against VidAngel; free speech troll; and more.
These are some of the articles, reports, posts, etc. that caught our attention this month. We originally send them out through our twitter account @dg_lawgroup, so follow us to get them as we find them. But many of them are such great resources we don’t want you to miss them, so we’ve decided to put them as a weekly recap. Some have links that will take you to their original sources, whether Mashable, Lexology, New York Times, ArtNews, and/or others. For some others you need to go directly to our Twitter account. Enjoy and let us know some of the stories you’ve found interesting this week. Just share in the comments below. Have a great week!
- IMDb Declares War On “Actor Age Censorship Law” And Seeks Preliminary Injunction Against Enforcement http://fb.me/7VOpguyaR
- Download 8 of the 10 Screenplays Nominated for the 2017 Oscars Right Now
- 7 Reasons Why Music Is Important To World Cultures http://fb.me/17y3rbwLL
- Art Market Mines Gold on Instagram The quirkily personal Instagram accounts of taste-making specialists have become the “soft power” of today’s traders. nytimes.com
- Preliminary Approval Granted in DWA Settlement US District Judge Lucy Koh has given her preliminary approval to the $50 million payment proposed by DreamWorks Animation back in October as settlement… animationmagazine.net
- What to Expect in FTC Privacy Enforcement During the Trump Administration A look at how a Republican majority may impact the focus of the FTC. legaltechnews.com
- BroadwayCon Faces Dispute With Actors’ Equity Association The union is asking its members not to perform at BroadwayCon until an agreement is reached. nytimes.com
- Having a Sundance Hit May Not Make You Rich Anymore In the last decade, only one film that had its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival has earned more than $40 million at the box office. nytimes.com
- CBS, Paramount Settle Lawsuit Over ‘Star Trek’ Fan Film A deal comes as the the studios were prepared to head to an unexplored copyright galaxy at trial on Jan. 31. hollywoodreporter.com
- Social Media In Sport: Top Tips It seems there is seldom a time when social media is not in the spotlight one way or another and the sporting world is no exception. Most recently, we have seen inc… natlawreview.com
- ARTISTS VS SONGS : BUILDING IDENTITY IN A STREAMING ERA – PART I Guest post by Nick Susi, creative strategist in music & media Entering 2017, a popular topic of conversation has been focused on streaming’s impact on the music i… rethink-music.com
- Iconic Paintings Reimagined with LEGO Figures Italian artist Stefano Bolcato has the habit to work with LEGO figures. In his latest creations he chose to reimagined iconic painting by replacing peopl… fubiz.net
- Mark Zuckerberg, in Suit, Testifies in Oculus Intellectual Property Trial Oculus, a virtual reality company acquired by Facebook, is accused of stealing elements of the technology that went into its headsets. nytimes.com
- Paul McCartney Sues Sony to Regain Rights to Beatles Songs Sony/ATV is the defendant and could be primed to make a defense similar to the one being used against Duran Duran. hollywoodreporter.com
- Author Sued for “Children’s Versions” of ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s,’ ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ Big publishers and the estates of Truman Capote, Jack Kerouac, Ernest Hemingway and Arthur C. Clarke have teamed up for a copyright lawsuit. hollywoodreporter.com
- Why Does Barack Obama Face DMCA Takedown Notices? Barack Obama is actually quite a good singer. Yet, although he’s the commander-in-chief, this doesn’t exempt him from DMCA takedown notic… digitalmusicnews.com
- 39% of Americans Don’t Care That Piracy Hurts Content Creators… According to a new study, 39% of American consumers admitted to downloading illegal content, despite constant piracy warnings. digitalmusicnews.com
- Modern Art That Takes Cues From the Classic Paintings and Sculptures This curated collection of modern art that is inspired by classic works of art proves that, like fine art, a little creativity never gets old. mymodernmet.com
- ‘Digital dangers’ and online obstacles: Legal tips for journalists – Journalist’s Resource It can be perilous in the digital age for journalists to offend the powerful, rich and litigious. Lawyer and Fortune staff writer Jeff John Roberts offers advice for… journalistsresource.org
- Join me for the first in a series exploring what the First Amendment means for creatives – filmmakers, visual… http://fb.me/5ZLMI5r08
- Of Klingons and Copyrights: Trekkie Fan Film Hits Fair Use Flameout A Star-Trek fan-film is boldly headed to a jury trial to determine whether Axanar Productions—the company behind the fan-film—is liable for copyright infringement… thetmca.com
- Bill Maher Isn’t High on Trump: The State of Free Speech in a New Era Maher, who has tested the limits of political criticism, is among many in Hollywood who fear that the president-elect’s critics will be targeted. nytimes.com
- Hot on the Trail of ‘La La Land,’ Here Come More Movie Musicals When a song-and-dance film earns $132 million this fast, others will follow — with Emma Watson, Will Ferrell, Kristen Wiig and Josh Gad, for starters. nytimes.com
- Another IP Lesson from Bikini Bottom: What “The Krusty Krab” Teaches Us About Trademark Protection… In a previous post we discussed what SpongeBob SquarePants can teach us about trademark licensing. Now, more IP lessons are bubbling up from… thetmca.com
- For Early ‘Jersey Boys’ Investors, Oh, What a Run About three out of four Broadway shows lose money. But not “Jersey Boys.” Here’s how a group of unlikely investors helped make the show a… nytimes.com
- Our news habits look a lot like Britain’s in 1655 – Futurity When it comes to getting our news, we’re surprisingly similar to 17th-century Britons, new research suggests. futurity.org
- 10 Female Directors to Watch in 2017 From Patty Jenkins to Amma Asante to Sofia Coppola, these are the trailblazers to keep an eye on. vanityfair.com
- ‘Duck Dynasty’ Creators Sue ITV for $100M, Claim Extortion “My clients will not be intimidated by [ITV’s] outrageous, strong-arm tactics to acquire my clients’ interest in Gurney Productions at a massively disco… hollywoodreporter.com
- Change is Coming: New Rules for TTAB Opposition and Cancellation Proceedings The United States Patent and Trademark Office recently issued final rules amending the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board Rules of Practice and ra… thetmca.com
- Phish Snared in Trademark Office’s Net Due to Phan Products Ask any fan of the American improvisatory rock band Phish to explain the significance of the following pattern and you will invariably receive the same answer: I… thetmca.com
- Joshua Grode – Hollywood’s Top 20 Dealmakers of 2016 Irell & Manella hollywoodreporter.com
- When and how the film business went digital Last week, I looked at six trends for how the film business is changing. It got a great response and I was heartened to see such interesting, lively debate about i… stephenfollows.com
- Samantha Bee and Jane Pauley Are Breaking the News The late-night news comedian and the veteran television journalist compare notes on the news — real, fake and satirical. nytimes.com
- Lawyer will have to ID dead Twitter user sued by James Woods, judge rules Actor James Woods will learn the name of the person who called him a “cocaine addict” in a tweet, even though the Twitter user is no longer alive.In a decision abajournal.com
- The Second Circuit Gets the Joke – Affirms Dismissal of Trademark Parody Lawsuit Last January, we blogged about a district court decision involving trademark parody in Louis Vuitton Malletier, S.A. v. My Other Bag, Inc. In t… thetmca.com
- ‘Star Trek’ Fan Film Dispute Goes to Jury Trial in Big Ruling A judge rules that the ‘Axanar’ production company can’t claim fair use, but a jury will decide the question of subjective substantial similarity. hollywoodreporter.com
- The 10 best paintings of all time, ranked The following famous paintings—from Jan van Eyck’s portrait to Gustav Klimt’s masterpiece—have stood the test of time timeout.com
- January 2017 Forum – Women in Technology (WIT) http://fb.me/2Xw1kUjMI
- Usher’s Still in the Clear in Copyright Suit The Third Circuit Court of Appeals recently affirmed the dismissal on summary judgment of copyright infringement claims brought by Daniel Marino (not tha… thetmca.com
- 20 New Year’s Resolutions for News, Journalism and Social Media Avoid use of headlines and writing of tweets that misrepresent and/or oversimplify the content of linked-to articles. Headlines matter as they frame the stories for… commondreams.org
- 2016 Box Office Hits Record $11.4B in North America Despite Angst Animated family films (and Disney) played a huge part in the boom, while Ryan Reynold’s ‘Deadpool’ was the top-grossing superhero film of 2016 d… hollywoodreporter.com
- Run-DMC Sue Wal-Mart, Amazon, and Jet for $50 Million In court documents obtained by DMN, Daryl “DMC” McDaniels, on behalf of Run-DMC Brand, sued Wal-Mart, Amazon, and Jet for selling counterfeit … digitalmusicnews.com
- Run-DMC Sue Wal-Mart, Amazon, and Jet for $50 Million In court documents obtained by DMN, Daryl “DMC” McDaniels, on behalf of Run-DMC Brand, sued Wal-Mart, Amazon, and Jet for selling counterfeit … digitalmusicnews.com
- The Problem With ‘Self-Investigation’ in a Post-Truth Era The internet was supposed to democratize information, but instead it has democratized disinformation. nytimes.com
- The Problem With ‘Self-Investigation’ in a Post-Truth Era The internet was supposed to democratize information, but instead it has democratized disinformation. nytimes.com
- The Most Read Styles Stories of 2016 Our readers couldn’t resist these 10 articles. nytimes.com
- A Ben Affleck flop inspired this script-reading robot The process used to create a major motion picture hasn’t changed much in a century. Someone has an idea that they turn into a screenplay, which is … engadget.com
- Directors Guild of America Board Approves New Three-Year Contract The agreement includes enhanced residual formulas for programs made for subscription video on demand. hollywoodreporter.com
- $750M Suit Filed Against CBS Over JonBenet Ramsey Broadcast A four-hour retrospective on the unsolved slaying of the 6-year-old beauty princess is the basis of a $750 million defamation suit filed Wednesday. dailyreportonline.com
- Security App Aims to Help Players Overseas New York — The WNBA is offering an assist to players trying to stay safe while traveling overseas.The league has partnered with LiveSafe, a safety… vnews.com
- Carrie Fisher, a Princess, a Rebel and a Brave Comic Voice She entered popular culture as a princess in peril and endures as something much more complicated and interesting. nytimes.com
- Digital Journalist’s Legal Guide | Reporters Committee for Freedom of… http://fb.me/a07qbnRad
- Erasing the News: Should some stories be forgotten? The committee at Florida’s largest newspaper, based in St. Petersburg, acted on such a plea at its first gathering: A woman wanted the committee to delete a story from… abajournal.com
- Advertising’s Moral Struggle: Is Online Reach Worth the Hurt? Data and automation allow companies to connect with people anywhere on the internet, but that advertising also bankrolls sites toxic to society. nytimes.com
- Hollywood Pays Tribute to George Michael “You’ve found your Freedom, your Faith. It was your Last Christmas, and we shall miss you.” hollywoodreporter.com
- The Year in Pictures 2016 A selection of the year’s most riveting photographs. nytimes.com
- Their Words to Live By: Artists We Lost in 2016 Remembering outsize cultural figures who died in 2016 through a sampling of their bon mots, song lyrics and more. nytimes.com
- The Lives They Lived Remembering Muhammad Ali, Gwen Ifill, David Bowie, Natalie Cole and more of those we lost in the past year. nytimes.com
- With Streaming, Musicians and Fans Find Room to Experiment and Explore In 2016, the industry’s evolution and embrace of streaming has encouraged listeners’ curiosity as artists have become experimental and adventurous. nytimes.com
- Secular Hollywood Quietly Courts the Faithful Inviting pastors to movie sets, writing bullet points for sermons, proposing Sunday school lesson plans: All are part of the film industry’s outreach to… nytimes.com
- Hollywood Studios Sue Ticket Broker for Offering Access to Private Events Disney, NBCUniversal, Universal, Warner Bros. and Sony claim infringement of intellectual property and inducement of trespass. hollywoodreporter.com
- Super Mario Run’s Not-So-Super Gender Politics More and more girls and women play video games. So why does Nintendo still design them like it’s 1985? nytimes.com
- The Oscar Season Sizzles, Strictly by Design Harvey Weinstein may be the king of the modern campaign, but Gene Hackman has also played a role in Oscar history. A look at methods to … nytimes.com
- The East Lobs a Blockbuster-Hopeful to the West With ‘The Great Wall’ As the epic fantasy movie begins its global release, it will show whether the Chinese film industry is ready to become an international player. nytimes.com
- Beyonce Sued for Millions Just for Flashing the Roc-a-Fella Logo Clothing designer Dwayne Walker is suing Beyonce for “prominently displaying” his logo in the singer’s 2013 video, Drunk in Love. digitalmusicnews.com
- Should Musicians Bother with LinkedIn? Yet another social network to deal with? Take a closer look: LinkedIn could be valuable to growing your career as a professional musician. digitalmusicnews.com
- How to Measure the Value of Playlist Placement Getting your music placed in a popular playlist is one of the most valuable ways to get heard by thousands of fans. But not all playlists are created … digitalmusicnews.com
- Heartwarming Animated Short Offers Important Lesson In Making Time For What You Love “Every winter, a magical snowman puts on a show for a little girl. But over time, life pulls them apart. Will she remember to take time for what she l… womenyoushouldknow.net
- EU court rules against UK data retention laws LONDON (AP) — The European Court of Justice ruled Wednesday that governments must not indiscriminately collect and retain people’s email… hickoryrecord.com
- EU court rules against UK data retention laws LONDON (AP) — The European Court of Justice ruled Wednesday that governments must not indiscriminately collect and retain people’s email… hickoryrecord.com
- Honored to be part of Rep Able Mable Thomas’s team for minorities in entertainment. Thank you Jose Marquez,… http://fb.me/8vsiqouFp
- C4 Atlanta just gave testimony to the Fulton County Commissioners regarding the budget thanking them for their… http://fb.me/5pb6JjkUi
- NY Attorney General Reaches $411K Overtime Settlement With True Entertainment New York’s attorney general has reached a settlement with Real Housewives TV producer True Entertainment over overtime pay. deadline.com
- Dear Fashion Santa, Let Me Explain… We only want one thing for Christmas this year: clear and unambiguous terms for ownership of intellectual property. We know you’ll understand af… thetmca.com
- Anthrax Won’t Side With Irving Azoff and Global Music Rights in Lawsuit Irving Azoff and his performance rights organization is taking on the “radio cartel” for fair royal rates. Fearing losing radio play, Anthrax won’t join. digitalmusicnews.com
- The creator of Mr. Robot is adapting sci-fi masterpiece Metropolis as a miniseries Fritz Lang’s 1927 film is coming back theverge.com
- Why Artificial Intelligence Won’t Displace Human Artists Machines can paint, compose and write novels, but they can’t really innovate. bloomberg.com
- Look at what we are adding to the library for 2017. What arts and entertainment books have you read or want to… http://fb.me/1LZcWYZWb
- ‘Respect the Feathers’: Who Tells Standing Rock’s Story? More than 30 teams of filmmakers have turned up to document the protests, the Sioux say, and some are neither Native American nor all that… nytimes.com
- German Law Would Require Facebook, Social Media to Delete Fake News, Hate Speech Facebook and its social media peers would be required to swiftly remove fake news and hate speech from their platforms under a law proposed by … wsj.com
- Hiring More Women In Front Of And Behind The Camera Benefits Everyone As Co-Founders of Broad Street Pictures, we have a mission to put more women in front of and behind the camera in the male-dominated indep… huffingtonpost.com
- Not What I Signed Up For: CA’s New Autograph Law | Art Law Blog Effective January 1, 2017, art dealers operating in California will have a new certificate of authenticity requirement. artlawgallery.com
- Getting Financed, The Lowdown: What Works and What Doesn’t, From the Producer of Swiss Army Man -… Whether it’s your best friend’s parents, a bank willing to finance a backstop deal, a production company putting in gap or equity, it’s valid, dammit. moviemaker.com
- Behind Your Film’s Soundtrack: The Important Role of the Music Supervisor Music supervision is one of those coveted jobs by individuals who are passionate about music and who sense they can match songs with imag… documentary.org
- The Year in Streaming 2016 Breaking down the winners and losers of this breakthrough year for streaming music, and looking ahead to what’s next for the industry pitchfork.com
- Proposed legislation could protect online reviewers from retaliatory suits The Speak Free Act would allow travelers to quickly end SLAPP suits before they run up legal bills. washingtonpost.com
- ‘To Age Is a Sin’: In Blunt Speech, Madonna Confronts Bias in Various Forms While accepting Billboard’s Woman of the Year award, the 58-year-old star said that all was not well and fair for female entertainers, or for women in… nytimes.com
- ‘To Age Is a Sin’: In Blunt Speech, Madonna Confronts Bias in Various Forms While accepting Billboard’s Woman of the Year award, the 58-year-old star said that all was not well and fair for female entertainers, or for women in… nytimes.com
- In Trump Era, Uncompromising TV News Should Be the Norm, Not the Exception A CNN interview with Vice President-elect Mike Pence was held up as a shining example of stand-up journalism. But such moments now seem so… nytimes.com
- The film financing of a £660k feature film Last year, I shared the full costs and income of a £850k feature film called Papadopoulos & Sons. The article remains popular and has led to a number of pe… stephenfollows.com
- Hollywood Studios Win Injunction Against Streamer VidAngel VidAngel gives users the ability to filter language, nudity and violence from films and television shows. hollywoodreporter.com
- What’s Your Word for 2017? – Attorney at Work While you contemplate plans for the coming year, consider Ruth Carter’s new favorite exercise: Identify the single word to serve as your theme in 2017. attorneyatwork.com
- A Massive List of Winter 2017 Grants All Filmmakers Should Know About Winter grant deadlines are upon us, and ’tis the season to start applying. nofilmschool.com
- ‘The Revenge of Analog’: See It. Feel It. Touch It. (Don’t Click) David Sax asserts that analog isn’t going anywhere, but is, in fact, experiencing a bracing revival. And it’s not just a case of nostalgia. nytimes.com
- On the Trail of the Sale at Art Basel Miami Beach At 66, the gallerist Fredric Snitzer pins his hopes for an art-world ascent on a fresh generation. nytimes.com
- Sound Marks in China A sound mark can be registered in China since May 1, 2014. According to a draft Standard of Examination issued by the Chinese Trademark Office, a sound mark… thetmca.com
- Can Robots with Artificial Intelligence Outperform Human Radio DJs? As Artificial Intelligence becomes a bigger part of music pure-play engines, how does local broadcast radio compete and remain relevant? jacobsmedia.com
- Dallas case tests free-speech rights of a social-media troll A court case in Dallas centers on whether a man’s negative comments on social media crossed a line beyond free speech, with authorities saying … seattletimes.com