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: Viacom’s privacy lawsuit; new CA IMDb Age law may be unconstitutional; FTC, celebrities & ads; Pandora & Amazon negotiating with record labels; crowdfunding & filmmaking; animation legalities; trademark for album covers; Regal settles monopoly suit; Gawker closes; 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!
- In ‘By the People,’ Designing for the Underserved and Overlooked In this exhibition at the Cooper Hewitt, everyday citizens cook up solutions to what ails their own communities. com
- Artificial Intelligence Wrote a Pop Song, and It’s Better Than You Think Computers at a Sony lab composed the track after studying a large database of songs. com
- Hollywood’s 25 Most Powerful Authors 2016 Count authors among the creator groups benefiting from the proliferation of new platforms and outlets in entertainment as 11 new writers (from a mil… com
- Hollywood Docket: Jay Z Beats Logo Suit; Comcast Escapes Daily Fantasy Sports Litigation A roundup of entertainment law news, including the alleged rights-holder of Zorro being sued for infringing a Zorro work. com
- The Plot to Put Conceptual Art on ‘Melrose Place.’ Yes, Really. A team of artists, led by Mel Chin, supplied art and props for the show’s sets, with coded messages. Those works are on display in a new exhibition. com
- Amy Schumer is No. 1 on the 2016 McAfee Most Dangerous Celebrities List | Intel Newsroom Comedian and actress Amy Schumer ranked No. 1 on the McAfee Most Dangerous Celebrities™ 2016 study. intel.com
- LVL XIII and Louis Vuitton Go Toe-To-Toe Over Toe Plates In a previous post, we discussed Louis Vuitton’s unsuccessful lawsuit against My Other Bag, Inc., in which the “parody defense” was a key iss… com
- Miami Woman Sues TeleSur for Defamation After Documentary Links Her to CIA TeleSUR, a global television network supported by six left-of-center Latin American countries, is being sued for defamation by a Miami woman who … com
- FCC’s Revised Set-Top Box Proposal Remains Deeply Flawed By Christian Dippon com
- Eriq Gardner @eriqgardner Sep 27 Defending a privacy lawsuit, Viacom stresses it tells kids to not use their real names on http://Nick.com
- Viacom Says It Doesn’t Collect “Personal Information” from Children Adults? That’s a different story. com
- New California IMDb Age Law Probably Unconstitutional, Experts Say Scholars and practitioners alike come down hard on the new law, with only one of seven lawyers suggesting the enactment would survive a challenge. com
- #Ad! — Lessons from the FTC’s First Case since the Release of its Enforcement Policy on Native Ads As was widely report here, here and here, the Federal Trade Commission entered into a settlement in March with Lord & Taylor over charges that the retailer alleg… com
- Pandora and Amazon Negotiating Agreements with Record Labels – Why They Don’t Just Rely on the CRB… The press has been full of reports over the last few weeks about Pandora and Amazon negotiating deals with record labels over music royalties, and some obs com
- Decatur Book Festival 2016 Recap #dbf2016 @gahumanities @DBookFestival @LetterboxLegal http://ow.ly/S4qo304AmR9
- FTC Cracking Down on Influencer Marketers and Their Clients In recent months, the media has been reporting on increased regulatory activity involving the Federal Trade Commission (the “FTC” or “Commission”) and the sell… com
- Letterboxlegal lunch event. Deborah Gonzalez and her group is dedicated to making legal services… https://www.instagram.com/p/BKwGomhgPBV/
- How many filmmakers run multiple crowdfunding campaigns? I studied all 47,809 Kickstarter film projects to see how many filmmakers run multiple crowdfunding campaigns. The results show a stark difference between… com
- We need to change how we view the standard work week: http://bit.ly/2bPQ2Ai (@tedbauer2003)
- So Your Client Wants to Be a Reality TV Star? Legal Ink Magazine http://ow.ly/eJ0O304t2vc
- A song composed by artificial intelligence in the style of the Beatles A song composed by artificial intelligence in the style of the Beatles net
- Copyright Claim against Beyoncé Gets Bounced in Scène à faire Tour de Force R&B sensation Beyoncé can go back to promoting her album Lemonade now that a federal court held that a copyright claim against her was nothi… com
- Social media and defamation law pose threats to free speech, and it’s time for reform Defamation law poses a considerable threat to freedom of speech in Australia, especially where social media is concerned. com
- How Pop Culture Wore Out Leonard Cohen’s ‘Hallelujah’ Cohen’s hymnlike 1984 song has become shorthand for Big Emotional Moment everywhere from “Shrek” to the Emmys. nytimes.com
- From Beyonce to Frank Ocean, Breaking Down the Mechanics, and… Universal Music Group chairman Lucian Grainge spent the weekend of Aug. 20 thinking long and hard about his business. As Twitter buzzed with will-… com
- The relative popularity of genres around the world In the second of four articles we wrote for the American Film Market, Bruce Nash and I looked at the relative popularity of genres around the world. We studied the… com
- “The Man Who Brought the Beatles to America” is Bringing Them Back…to a U.S. District Court Sid Bernstein was a legendary promoter and producer of iconic rock-and-roll performers including the Rolling Stones, the Moody Blues and, of cou… com
- Cut, Paste and Steal: What Can Artists Do About International Online Art Theft@LetterboxLegal http://ow.ly/W6vw304cYec
- The Legal Side of Pitching Your Project @LetterboxLegal http://ow.ly/tSY4304cVXR
- Some Interesting Animation Lawsuits @LetterboxLegal http://ow.ly/K4Z7304cVRC
- Creative Collaboration & the Law @LetterboxLegal http://ow.ly/UDIN304beWs
- 5 Tips for Animator Blog Disclosures @LetterboxLegal http://ow.ly/7AQR304beRM
- Contracts: The Bomb! @LetterboxLegal http://ow.ly/RgIJ304beN9
- I Don’t Own My Work? What?! @LetterboxLegal http://ow.ly/or9a304beFf
- Strike a Pose and Say “Trademark” After visiting Rio to experience the Olympic Games a few weeks ago, I still feel like a winner. One athlete who won big in Rio was Usain Bolt, who took home three meda… com
- Stuttgart Animation Fest Calls for Entries http://ow.ly/7s7q3047M3L
- The cost, income and films of the Toronto International Film Festival I am currently at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), experiencing Canadian hospitality, international films and British jetlag. TIFF is a lot larger than I susp… com
- Amazon and Pandora to Gauge Music’s Value in the Internet Age The companies are planning to charge as little as $5 a month for new streaming music services, half the cost of the current pricing model. com
- WordPress GC: WB Blunder Shows Flaws in Copyright System Critics of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act got some ammunition-not to mention a laugh-last month, when Warner Bros. Entertainment embarrassi… com
- Online Legal Issues for Animators http://ow.ly/i39o3046Hed
- Protect Your Characters, Your Art and Your Brand! http://ow.ly/RJKY3046Hc5
- Trademark for Album Titles – Entertainment Law Asked & Answered – Entertainment Law Offices of… AUDIO: TRANSCRIPT: http://firemark.com Should you register a trademark for your album title? Hi, I’m attorney Gordon Firemark, and this is Asked … com
- Jerry Lee Lewis Sues Son-in-Law Over Posts http://ow.ly/GJTk3046BYB
- With Wearable Tech Deals, New Player Data Is Up for Grabs A new, $170 million deal could allow Nike to harvest personal data from Michigan athletes through wearable tech, raising concerns over privacy a… com
- EU Court Holds That Hyperlinks Can Infringe Copyright In a landmark decision that departs from previous case law, the Court of Justice of the EU, the highest court of the EU, held that a website operator that posts hyperli… com
- Legal Concerns for Social Media Influencers: Intellectual Property http://ow.ly/EDI830420ri
- Unforgettable Moments The wacky and weird events that turned fashion into theater. com
- The First Shows Designers recall their debuts and other pivotal moments in their runway careers. com
- A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie Modernizes New York Hip-Hop The most promising young rapper the city has produced in some time, A Boogie may have cracked the code at creating a new New York style. com
- Harry Potter And The Cursed Legal Update | #Trademark and #Copyright Law An enjoyable update. http://www.trademarkandcopyrightlawblog.com/2016/07/harry-potter-and-the-cursed-update/ …
- How Artificial Intelligence Will Transform The Delivery Of Legal Services Many lawyers believe AI will marginalize them. Ironically, AI’s biggest impact might be to enhance their standing by improving client access and service. com
- Brand Names as Stage Names – Tribute or Infringement? While all the world might be a stage, the famous U.K. fashion house Burberry Limited has now established that none of its players – except Bu… com
- Yes, the News Can Survive the Newspaper As newspapers fade from the scene, there has been no certainty that the best services that newspapers provide would live on. com
- Hollywood’s Summer of Extremes: Megahits, Superflops and Little Else As the industry searches for answers, some point to the loss of an underappreciated figure: the ticket buyer who treks to the theater more for… com
- Edward Snowden’s Long, Strange Journey to Hollywood Oliver Stone wanted a hit — and the chance to put America’s most iconic dissident onscreen. The subject wanted veto power. The Russian lawyer w… com
- His Zombie Books Were a Hit, but Now His Publisher Is Suing http://ow.ly/U3Vb303Swwb
- Review: ‘Equal Means Equal’ Asks How Far Women Have Really Come Kamala Lopez’s fact-packed documentary features legal experts, ordinary women and feminists like Eleanor Smeal and Gloria Steinem. com
- Watch the first ever movie trailer made by artificial intelligence For the Kate Mara-starring Morgan com
- S. Olympic Committee Sued Over Social Media Olympic Rules | Lexology http://ow.ly/Q2nN303QAyb
- Comcast’s DreamWorks Animation Acquisition to Face Anti-Trust Review in China China’s commerce ministry says it has received unspecified complaints that the U.S. deal, which closed last week, could hurt competition in the Chi… com
- The Lonely Toil of Frank Ocean: Is It Art, or Denial? After a four-year silence, this 28-year-old singer releases works full of pain, confusion, curiosity, dispassion and need. com
- A Celebrity Z-List? Yes, It Exists As the gossip machine continues to define celebrity downward, a striving celebrity underclass has risen to dominate it. com
- Do memes violate copyright law? http://ow.ly/j1Oe303LmOo
- MTV Video Music Awards, a Playground for the Next Generation The challenge MTV faces moving forward was clear in the night’s performances: The gap between the veterans and the younger class was… com
- China Advances Film Industry Law, Cracks Down on “Western Values” Topics addressed in the draft of China’s film industry rulebook include market access for foreign movies, censorship and how to handle artists “t… com
- Pitching Ideas Legal Case: http://ow.ly/iVVO303Ixi8
- A Tale of Two Stephens: Stephen Colbert and his Right to Use his Own Name In a recent episode of CBS’ The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, the host lampooned an apparent cease and desist demand from lawyers contending that Colbert … com
- Leslie Jones Hack And Cyberbullying: Can Twitter’s Rumored New Feature Stop The Online Abuse? Incidents like the recent hack of Leslie Jones’ website, and the stream of social media abuse that she dealt with before it, have brought the cyberbu… com
- Trader Joe’s Wins Lanham Act Appeal Against Canadian Copycat The Lanham Act can stretch across the U.S. border to reach a Canadian man selling Trader Joe’s merchandise at a store he calls Pirate Joe’s in … com
- Georgia Bar Celebrates 100 Years of Women Lawyers Dorothy Beasley, the first female judge on the Georgia Court of Appeals, gave rousing remarks at a celebration of the 100th anniversary of women … com
- #BLFF Legal Mashup 2016 Recap | Corrected Link http://ow.ly/xNNy303GyMH
- Meet the man helping a robot write a movie Artificial intelligence used to be something that featured in science fiction films. Now, it’s writing the scripts. com.au
- Tate Britain project uses AI to pair contemporary photos with paintings IK prize-winning system matches images from the 24/7 news cycle with centuries-old artworks and presents them online com
- ‘The Get Down’ and ‘Stranger Things’ Feed Nostalgia With a Historical Remix Two Netflix summer dramas offer alternative takes on the nostalgic remake. com
- ‘Sausage Party’ Animators’ Pay Dispute Prompts Union Complaint Animators piped up on a trade blog earlier in August about getting denied overtime pay. com
- Regal Settles Monopoly Suit Led by Mark Cuban’s Landmark Theatres According to the plaintiff, the theatrical giant has agreed to back down from clearances in the nation’s capital. com
- The Race to Save the Films We Love Every day we lose more frames from beloved old films. Preservationists are rushing to save them before a crucial part of cultural history is lost. com
- What Do You See in Art? Nearly 50 People Told Us We wanted to better understand the modern museumgoer. So we went to the Met Breuer exhibition “Unfinished: Thoughts Left Visible” and talked … com
- Frank Ocean’s ‘Blonde’ Amplifies Discord in the Music Business The album’s release, through an exclusive deal with Apple, surfaced long-simmering tensions between record labels, streaming services and artists. com
- Seeing the Signs: Using Social Media to ID Potential Threats to Artists’ Safety (Guest Column) It is our obligation, as representatives of these artists, to vigilantly monitor social media and email accounts and proactively address these potentially… com
- Review: Kanye West, Both Close and Out of Reach at His Tour Opener Performing on hovering platforms as cameras projected views of him, Mr. West was simultaneously host and reveler at his “Saint Pablo” concert in I… com
- Truth in Advertising Organization Officially Reports Kardashian/Jenners to FTC It is official. After notifying the Kardashian/Jenner family of an array of Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) disclosure violations and thereafter giving them over a … com
- Watch These 3 ‘Unfairy Tales’ And See If They Move You A new UNICEF project takes real-life stories of Syrian refugee kids and turns them into short — and really intense — animated videos. org
- SAG-AFTRA’s Gabrielle Carteris: Actors Need a Law to Keep Ages Off IMDb (Guest Column) It’s “blatant discrimination,” writes the union president and former ‘Beverly Hills, 90210’ star, who is pushing for a new law requiring casting websites… com
- Why The Kardashians Could Be In Legal Trouble The Kardashians could be in legal trouble over posting non-labeled ads on social media. com
- 15 Musicians Spent the Night in an Active Volcano. Listen to What Happened. At 10 p.m., the moon rose over the edge of the crater, drenching it in white light as the music built in intensity. com
- Extremist Pleads Guilty in Hague Court to Destroying Cultural Sites in Timbuktu Ahmad al-Faqi al-Mahdi, a member of a Qaeda-linked group, was a defendant in the International Criminal Court’s first prosecution of destru… com
- Kardashian Media Empire Under Legal Scrutiny The Kardashians haven’t been super great about labeling their Instagram posts as the ads they so obviously are. com
- Frank Ocean Finally Delivers His Album, and a Pop-Up Surprise “Blonde,” his sophomore release, had been one of the most anticipated albums of the year, and various delays only added to the expectations. com
- ‘Lochte Mess Monster’: Press & social media lay into US swimmers after fake Rio hold up — RT Sport Aside from incurring the wrath of the people of Brazil for lying to police about being robbed at gunpoint, four US Olympic swimmers have also be… com
- com to Shut Down Next Week Word of the website’s closing comes after the sale of its parent, Gawker Media, to Univision this week. nytimes.com
- Dancing Baby Waltzes Up to The Biggest Dance Floor in the Land It’s not every day that SCOTUS is asked to review a case involving a video of a dancing baby. But that’s what happened late last week when the law… com
- A Break in the Assange Saga The founder of WikiLeaks is central to a critical debate about secrecy, privacy and the public interest in the digital age. com
- In Praise of the Double Feature A new retrospective of film pairings at Film Forum in proves that, sometimes, one plus one equals three. com
- Why security is a transversal issue for video games development Santiago Sassone, a senior corporate communications specialist, on why security is a transversal issue for video games development. com
- Gossip Cop Gets Cuffed For Copyright Infringement The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York recently found that Gossip Cop, a website that rates celebrity gossip on a scale of “real” to “rumor,” … com
- Hollywood Docket: In-Flight Music; Dr. Luke v. Kesha; Tracy Morgan A roundup of entertainment law developments including an insurance company calling reports of Morgan’s post-crash condition “overblown.” com
- Are Walking Dead spoilers protected by copyright law? The Walking Dead sent a shockwave through the internet with its sixth-season finale—one that persists after five months of videos and articles th… com
- What ‘Hamilton’ teaches lawyers about framing a story http://ow.ly/B0zl303hZ7x
- Ed Sheeran Gears up to “Get it On” in Another Copyright Lawsuit English pop musician Ed Sheeran once again finds himself in the crosshairs of a high-profile copyright infringement lawsuit, this time in the Southern… com
- No Lawyer Fees in ‘Stairway’ Copyright Case http://ow.ly/LuJh303bQtY
- Celebrities warned over paid-for social media endorsements – http://FT.com http://ow.ly/Wexm303bJKO
- Baz Luhrmann’s ‘The Get Down’ Is ‘West Side Story’ With Rappers and Disco Queens The Netflix series takes the strivers, spitfires and gang bangers of that film and repurposes them in a tale of the origins of hip-hop. com
- Online gamers risking security attacks Fans of games like Pokémon Go may be letting their guard down and letting hackers in co.uk
- SECOND CIRCUIT EASES TENSION BETWEEN U.S. DISCOVERY REQUIREMENTS AND E.U. PRIVACY LAWS Microsoft scored an important victory when the Second Circuit ruled that the government is not authorized to issue warrants for customer data st… com
- 3 Things You Need To Know If You Want To Work In Fashion And Entertainment Law We couldn’t have been happier with how this event turned out. We hope you’ll join us next time! com
- TV Networks Try to Win Over the Critics At an industry event in Beverly Hills, television executives try to make the case that their shows stand out. com
- At Seattle Art Fair, the Interaction Between Technology and Modern Life Now in its second year, the fair founded by the Microsoft billionaire Paul Allen featured artists such as Dawn Kasper, Adam McEwen and Wynne G… com
- Film vs movie – Which is the best term to use? In the last few weeks I have been writing articles about big budget Hollywood blockbusters and in doing so I have faced a linguistic dilemma. Until now, I almost … com
- The history of social networking Social networking didn’t start with Facebook. We examine the history of social networking, from BBSes and Friendster to Diaspora and beyond. com
- Social Media Sites’ Infringement Remedies Another Reason to ‘Favorite’ Trademark Registration Social media sites usually provide online forms that can be effective tools for brand owners to remove infringing uses of protected trademarks. com
- Avoiding the Road to Ruin in Your Road To Rio Marketing Blitz Late last month, the United States Olympic Committee (the “USOC”) sent a few not so nice warning letters to brands that sponsor athletes, but chose not to pay the… com
- Court’s Reconsideration Gives “Lift” to Dirty Dancing Trademark Dilution Claim It’s been almost 30 years since we were introduced to bad boy dance instructor Johnny Castle (Patrick Swayze) and sweet daddy’s girl Frances … com
- Instagram Stories vs Snapchat Stories: Has Instagram Broken the Law? We chatted to a specialist intellectual property (IP) lawyer to find out if Instagram broke any laws with its blatantly Snapchat-influenced new feat… com
- Terrence Howard Sued by Talent Manager Over ‘Empire’ Money His terminated management firm asserts entitlement to 10 percent of his earnings during a seven-year contract to star on ‘Empire.’ com
- Generation Famous: The Calculus Of Celebrity In The Age Of Social Media Can ‘fan’ and ‘famous’ converge online? Maybe. com
- Atlantic Records Takes Reddit to Court Over ‘Heathens’ Leak Atlantic Records wants a New York judge to force the user-driven news site Reddit to hand over IP address information that would show who posted … corpcounsel.com