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Media & Entertainment
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May 22, 2013
Media Big Didn't Defame Firm With Fla. Remarks, Judge Says
A New York state judge has tossed a suit alleging British media and advertising mogul Sir Martin Sorrell defamed a small Manhattan law firm and hurt its business prospects when he mistakenly said in an interview that the firm was based in Florida, not New York.
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May 22, 2013
3rd Circ. Sides With IRS In Majestic Star Casino Tax Dispute
The Third Circuit on Tuesday overturned a bankruptcy court decision that allowed Majestic Star Casino LLC to escape taxes foisted upon it when the casino operator’s nondebtor parent revoked its “S” corporation status, siding with the U.S. Internal Revenue Service and Majestic Star’s former owner.
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May 22, 2013
Penguin To Pay $75M To Settle States' E-Book Antitrust Claims
Pearson PLC's Penguin Group USA Inc. has agreed to pay $75 million to resolve allegations, lodged by state attorneys general and a proposed consumer class, that it conspired with other publishers and Apple Inc. to fix e-book prices, Pearson said Wednesday.
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May 22, 2013
9th Circ. Squashes MGA Suit Over Robot Co.'s Toy Bug Claims
The Ninth Circuit on Tuesday affirmed a lower court ruling tossing MGA Entertainment Inc.’s lawsuit alleging Innovation First Inc. engaged in an anti-competitive scheme by making false statements about the design for a robotic insect toy, ruling IFI lacked jurisdictional ties with California for the suit to proceed.
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May 22, 2013
Philly Can't Duck NAACP's Airport Ad Placement Suit
A Pennsylvania federal judge on Monday declined to dismiss a suit filed by the NAACP claiming the city of Philadelphia violated its free speech rights by refusing to let it place an advertisement at Philadelphia International Airport on high prison rates.
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May 21, 2013
3rd Circ. Solidifies Free Speech Test In EA Likeness Case
The Third Circuit ruled Tuesday that the First Amendment does not shield video game publisher Electronic Arts Inc. from a former quarterback's right of publicity suit, adding to a growing consensus that the use of a person's likeness is protected speech only if it is transformed into an original expression.
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May 21, 2013
Revel Finishes Restructuring, Exits Ch. 11
Revel AC Inc. has completed its financial restructuring and emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy with lenders now owning an 82 percent stake in the Atlantic City luxury resort and casino, it announced Tuesday.
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May 21, 2013
AFP, Getty's Liability Shrinks In Twitter Photo Copyright Suit
A New York federal judge on Tuesday limited potential damages a photojournalist may be entitled to in a lawsuit alleging Agence France-Presse and Getty Images Inc. lifted his images off of Twitter, ruling the agencies don't have to pay separate penalties for copyright infringement.
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May 21, 2013
Belkin Settles Out Of Slingbox ITC Patent Probe
Sling Media Inc., which makes TV streaming device Slingbox, has agreed to drop accusations that Belkin International Inc. imported products that infringed a patented technology called placeshifting, according to a settlement filed Monday with the U.S. International Trade Commission.
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May 21, 2013
Jury Convicts Atty Over Stock Fraud Scheme With Ex-NFLer
A Florida jury on Monday convicted a California attorney of conspiring with former NFL player Willie Gault and others to artificially inflate a heart-monitoring device company's stock through a series of fraudulent schemes.
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May 21, 2013
Fed. Circ. Nixes Bid To Patent Music Royalty Tech
The Federal Circuit on Tuesday rejected an inventor’s bid to patent his digital rights management technology that allows singers and other music copyright holders to receive their due royalties when their work is publicly performed, ruling the technology behind the invention is obvious.
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May 21, 2013
Philly Daily News Beats Ex-Fumo Atty's Defamation Suit
The Philadelphia Daily News on Friday dodged claims that it libeled Sprague & Sprague founder Richard Sprague in a column calling him a liar for testifying that he’d publicized a defense on behalf of a client — convicted state Sen. Vince Fumo — that he didn’t believe.
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May 21, 2013
Insurers Dodge Coverage For Kardashian False Ad Suit
A federal judge said Monday that two insurers did not owe coverage to Tria Beauty Inc. in false advertising litigation involving its spokeswoman Kim Kardashian because Tria made the claims for coverage outside of the policy period and an intellectual property exclusion applied.
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May 21, 2013
Ex-Stephen King Atty Sees Commission Suit Slashed
A New York state judge on Tuesday panned a "hard to understand" complaint accusing famed writer Stephen King's literary agent of cutting an attorney out of a lucrative commission deal, ruling that only some of the claims can go forward.
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May 21, 2013
'Girls Gone Wild' Subsidiary Cleared For Ch. 11
A California bankruptcy judge on Monday gave the green light to the “Girls Gone Wild” Chapter 11 trustee to file bankruptcy for subsidiary GGW Marketing LLC, paving the way for the recovery of company trademarks that were allegedly fraudulently transferred to an offshore trust.
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May 20, 2013
Aereo, FilmOn Settle Trio Of Trademark Disputes
Media mogul Barry Diller and billionaire Alki David have settled three California federal court trademark disputes regarding the websites, hardware and names pertaining to their rival Aereo Inc. and FilmOn television-streaming services, the parties said in a joint statement on Monday.
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May 20, 2013
'Girls Gone Wild' Exec Dodges $3M Judgment In 3rd Circ.
A Third Circuit panel on Monday freed “Girls Gone Wild” video series founder Joe Francis from a $3 million judgment awarded to a woman who claimed he wrongly linked her identity to a high-profile sex scandal, finding that there wasn't enough evidence to show that Francis made the video or that the New Jersey federal court had authority to hear the case.
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May 20, 2013
9th Circ. Won't Rehear Casino Ruling But Issues New Opinion
The Ninth Circuit on Monday refused to rehear a dispute over an Indian tribe's controversial plan to build a $600 million Las Vegas-style casino in Glendale, Ariz., but withdrew its earlier opinion on the matter and replaced it with a decision remanding the issue to the U.S. secretary of the interior.
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May 20, 2013
Snoop Dogg Shakes Claims Over Role In Druggy Video
Rapper Snoop Dogg lost a bid Friday to dismiss breach of contract and fraud claims filed by a Lebanese businessman, but did defeat an accusation that he had violated the man's publicity rights by including him in a drug-filled music video.
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May 20, 2013
Comcast Dodges Fee Suit Launched By Business Customers
A Pennsylvania federal judge on Friday tossed a proposed class action accusing Comcast Cable Communications Inc. of wrongly hitting its business-class customers with early termination and Internet equipment fees, saying there's no controversy since Comcast offered to settle the allegations in a previous lawsuit.
Expert Analysis
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When Rights Of Publicity Trump 1st Amendment
An important practice tip that flows from the Third Circuit's opinion in Ryan Hart v. Electronic Arts Inc. is that talismanic invocation of the First Amendment does not resolve the legal problem of balancing that amendment with competing rights such as the right of publicity, says Ronald Katz of Manatt Phelps & Phillips LLP.
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The Starstruck Medical Causation Trend
In the technical sense, medical causation answers whether an accused substance brought about some alleged disease. But rarely are the central causal allegations in major toxic torts purely courtroom affairs — publicity and politics now drive the litigation, with plaintiff verdicts begetting more publicity, says James Sabovich of Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP.
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Righthaven V. Hoehn: Bad News For Copyright Trolls
In its recent decision in Righthaven LLC v. Hoehn, the Ninth Circuit made clear that courts must look beyond labels in agreements and evaluate the substance of the rights actually assigned in order to determine whether an assignee has standing to pursue a claim for copyright infringement, say Benjamin Marks and Elisabeth Sperle of Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP.
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Rise Of The Machines — Predictive Coding Goes Mainstream
The pros of using predictive coding far outweigh the cons. Given the heavy pressure on law firms and in-house counsel to reduce discovery costs, as well as the Justice Department's recent stance on the subject, it appears predictive coding will continue to emerge from the obscure world of legal technology to the mainstream of legal practice, say Michael Moscato and Myles Bartley of Curtis Mallet-Prevost Colt & Mosle LLP.
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Why 'Escape From Tomorrow' Likely Won't Make It To Theaters
"Escape From Tomorrow," a movie that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival this year, was shot on-site at Disney World without the permission or knowledge of The Walt Disney Co. Disney didn't file suit, but it appears that the strategy of silence has largely paid off up to this point, says Brent Lorentz of Winthrop & Weinstine PA.
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FCC Ruling Provides TCPA Guidance For Courts
The Federal Communications Commission’s long-anticipated ruling in the Charvat v. Echostar and U.S. v. Dish Network LLP matter is significant because it confirms that companies that do not exercise undue levels of control over their telemarketers or their call centers will not be held liable when those third parties violate the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, say attorneys with Locke Lord LLP.
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Viacom V. YouTube Provides Some Insight Into DMCA
Though many of the issues in Viacom International Inc. v. YouTube Inc. are still unsettled in light of the strong likelihood of additional appeal in the Second Circuit, the district court’s analysis provides a basic framework for the Southern District of New York’s interpretation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act’s safe harbor provisions, say attorneys with Latham & Watkins LLP.
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E-Discovery In The Cloud: Who Can Get Your Data?
Many lawyers are asking whether placing electronically stored information in the cloud could inadvertently waive the attorney-client privilege and whether the government or a civil litigant could obtain ESI directly from a cloud service provider. In answering these questions, there are a number of aspects of the cloud worth considering, say Timothy Broas and Matthew Saxon of Winston & Strawn LLP.
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5 Reasons For Optimism In The Venture Capital Community
Not every company can be the next Facebook. But thankfully, for many startups, generating one billion users is not the end goal, nor should it be. Enter “narrowcasting” — one of a few reasons to be optimistic about venture capital, despite the first quarter of 2013 being the slowest for fundraising since 2002, says David Kaufman of Thompson Coburn LLP.
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How To Use The New Trademark Clearinghouse
As the rollout of new Internet domains continues to become more complex, it is crucial for intellectual property owners to familiarize themselves with each step of the trademark clearinghouse registration process in order to have full control over their brand, says Jan Corstens of Deloitte.