Media & Entertainment

  • January 24, 2025

    Taxation With Representation: Latham, Simpson Thacher

    In this week's Taxation With Representation, a Brookfield private real estate fund acquires Divvy Homes' property portfolio and platform, Kantar Group proposes the sale of Kantar Media, and an Ares Management-led group buys a majority of Form Technologies Inc.'s common equity.

  • January 24, 2025

    Trump Treads Into Murky Waters With TikTok Gambit

    Nearly five years after he sought to kill the social media platform TikTok, President Donald Trump has opened his second term with a legally questionable bid to save it, cloaking the app's future in the U.S. market in even more uncertainty.

  • January 23, 2025

    Buzbee Says Jay-Z Is Who Should Be Sanctioned In Diddy Suit

    Texas attorney Tony Buzbee tore into rapper Jay-Z's request that Buzbee be sanctioned for filing a suit accusing Jay-Z and Sean "Diddy" Combs of raping a 13-year-old, arguing that Jay-Z is merely trying to intimidate the accuser and that if anyone should be sanctioned, it's Jay-Z.

  • January 23, 2025

    'Bad Spaniels' Toy Dilutes, Doesn't Infringe Jack Daniel's TM

    A "Bad Spaniels" dog toy parodying Jack Daniel's iconic whiskey bottle does not infringe trademark rights but does dilute the whiskey maker's trademarks and trade dress, an Arizona federal judge ruled Thursday, following the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling that the First Amendment does not shield the toy's maker.

  • January 23, 2025

    Think, McFly! 'Back To The Future' Writer Says No Apple Theft

    The co-writer of "Back to the Future" suggested to a California federal jury Thursday that an independent filmmaker suing Apple and acclaimed director M. Night Shyamalan for copyright infringement should make like a tree and get out of the courtroom because her film bears no resemblance to the Apple TV+ show, "Servant."

  • January 23, 2025

    2nd Suit Filed Against Calif. Art Museum Over Bias Allegations

    Los Angeles contemporary art museum The Broad's former facilities director said in an age and race bias suit filed Thursday he was fired following a "pretextual 'witch-hunt'" stemming from its chief operating officer's hatred for white men and her unsubstantiated statements accusing him of being a misogynist.

  • January 23, 2025

    Netflix, Litigation Funder Fight Over Docs In Subpoena Row

    Intellectual property strategy service AiPi LLC says it has been abiding by an order to produce documents relating to patent litigation against Netflix, while the streaming giant says "AiPi's attempt to appear reasonable is contrivance."

  • January 23, 2025

    Fox Raises Specter Of Corruption In LA's Smartmatic Contract

    Fox News has filed a public records lawsuit suggesting that Los Angeles County officials may have taken bribes to award a 2020 election contract to Smartmatic, the voting technology company currently pursuing a $2.7 billion defamation suit over Fox's coverage of that election.

  • January 23, 2025

    AI Chatbot Co. CEO, Atty Spouse Indicted On $60M Fraud

    Federal prosecutors in California arrested the former CEO of an artificial intelligence company Thursday alongside his lawyer wife, accusing the duo of a $60 million fraud scheme in which they allegedly lied to investors about the company's financial state and diverted funds to pay for their wedding.

  • January 23, 2025

    AT&T, Dish Owe FCC $20.6M In Unverified Subsidy Payments

    AT&T and Dish Network will have to repay the Federal Communications Commission the more than $20 million it took in early pandemic broadband subsidy funds because they failed to verify that the people they used those funds for were eligible for the program.

  • January 23, 2025

    Nike Says Defamation Allegations Must Go In $60M TM Fight

    Nike moved this week to stop a Los Angeles-based company that says it once collaborated with the sportswear giant on custom sneakers for celebrities and athletes from moving forward with a defamation counterclaim against Nike's $60 million trademark lawsuit.

  • January 23, 2025

    Ex-Police Chief Defamed Protester With Gang Claim, Suit Says

    Atlanta's ex-police chief faces a renewed defamation suit over comments he made during a 2020 press conference to address arrests made at a Black Lives Matter protest, in which he allegedly accused one arrestee of being a violent gang member.

  • January 23, 2025

    Ex-Amazon Exec Will Oversee Google, Apple Probe In UK

    The U.K.'s competition enforcer said Thursday it will be looking into how Google and Apple's "mobile ecosystems" have been affecting competition for both consumers and businesses, an announcement that comes just days after the watchdog booted its leader for a former Amazon head honcho.

  • January 23, 2025

    Calif. Kids' Privacy Law Ignores 1st Amendment, Judge Says

    A California federal judge appeared open Thursday to preliminarily blocking for the second time a landmark California law requiring tech giants to bolster privacy protections for children, telling the state's counsel that nothing shows the Legislature "cared one whit about the Constitution," and "now you're trying to reverse engineer it."

  • January 23, 2025

    Meta Wants Mass. Justices To Intervene In AG's Suit

    Meta Platforms has urged Massachusetts' highest court to take up its challenge to a pending lawsuit brought by the state attorney general's office, which accused the social media company of intentionally designing Instagram to be addictive to children and teenagers.

  • January 23, 2025

    House Bill Filed To Renew FCC Auctions, Spectrum Pipeline

    A Republican lawmaker introduced a bill Thursday that would give the Federal Communications Commission authority to auction the airwaves and direct the government to turn over at least 2,500 megahertz for private sector or shared use in the next five years.

  • January 23, 2025

    Combs Lodges $50M Suit Over Supposed Sex Assault Tapes

    Sean "Diddy" Combs filed a $50 million defamation suit in New York federal court on Wednesday accusing a grand jury witness, a lawyer and Nexstar Media Inc. of spreading falsities about nonexistent videos that purportedly depict the indicted hip-hop mogul sexually assaulting intoxicated celebrities and minors.

  • January 23, 2025

    4th Circ. OKs Limiting Online Docs Access To Attys, Staff

    A split Fourth Circuit panel has ruled that limiting a Virginia court's remote access service only to attorneys and their staff does not violate the First Amendment, as claimed by a news outlet that wanted to skip the trip to the courthouse and view records online.

  • January 23, 2025

    'Not Just A Game': Producers Fight Pause On 'The Deb' Suit

    Producers of the musical film "The Deb" urged a Los Angeles judge on Thursday not to pause Rebel Wilson's embezzlement claims while the actress appeals another portion of the case, saying they need a resolution in order to sell the movie and recoup nearly $14 million for investors.

  • January 23, 2025

    Feds Want 14 Years For Fraudster Who Scammed NBA Pros

    Prosecutors asked a Manhattan federal judge to sentence a recidivist fraudster who was convicted of swindling two former NBA players out of $8 million to up to 14 years in prison, saying his previous sentences had not deterred him and he'd committed repeated bail violations.

  • January 23, 2025

    Paul Hastings Adds Ex-Chair Of Willkie Farr Music Practice

    Paul Hastings LLP has added the former chair of Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP's music and digital media practice as a partner in its Los Angeles office and as chair of its own music industry practice, the firm announced Thursday.

  • January 22, 2025

    Shyamalan Denies Theft From Indie Film: 'I Didn't See It'

    Filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan, who found success in Hollywood with his breakout movie "The Sixth Sense" about a child who sees dead people, testified Wednesday in a California federal trial that he never saw a film he's accused of stealing from for his Apple+ show "Servant" before it was produced.

  • January 22, 2025

    LinkedIn Accused Of Disclosing Subscribers' Data To Train AI

    LinkedIn Corp. broke the enhanced privacy promises it makes to paid subscribers by unlawfully sharing the sensitive contents of their private messages with third parties in order to train generative artificial intelligence models, according to a proposed class action filed in California federal court Tuesday.

  • January 22, 2025

    11th Circ. Floats Jurisdiction Query In 'Summer Waves' TM Suit

    The autonomous local government that runs a state park on Jekyll Island, Georgia, urged the Eleventh Circuit on Wednesday to overturn a Georgia federal court's finding that it couldn't sue an inflatable-pool maker over its purported use of the phrase "summer waves."

  • January 22, 2025

    Chris Brown Hits Warner Bros. With $500M Defamation Suit

    Singer Chris Brown has hit Warner Bros. and others involved in the production of the recent documentary "Chris Brown: A History of Violence" with a $500 million defamation lawsuit in California state court, accusing them of distributing the 82-minute film despite knowing it included purportedly false criminal assault claims against him.

Expert Analysis

  • Considerations For Federal Right Of Publicity As AI Advances

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    Amid rapid advances in generative artificial intelligence technology, Congress should consider how a federal right of publicity would interact with the existing patchwork of state name, image and likeness laws, as well as other issues like scope, harm recognized and available relief, says Ross Bagley at Pryor Cashman.

  • Series

    Rock Climbing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Rock climbing requires problem-solving, focus, risk management and resilience, skills that are also invaluable assets in my role as a finance lawyer, says Mei Zhang at Haynes and Boone.

  • Think Like A Lawyer: Dance The Legal Standard Two-Step

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    From rookie brief writers to Chief Justice John Roberts, lawyers should master the legal standard two-step — framing the governing standard at the outset, and clarifying why they meet that standard — which has benefits for both the drafter and reader, says Luke Andrews at Poole Huffman.

  • Alice Step 2 Trends Show Courts' Extrinsic Evidence Reliance

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    A look at recent trends in how district courts are applying Step 2 of the Alice framework shows that courts have increasingly relied on extrinsic evidence to help determine whether a claimed invention is "well-understood, routine, and conventional," says Jonathan Tuminaro at Sterne Kessler.

  • What To Know As Children's Privacy Law Rapidly Evolves

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    If your business hasn't been paying attention to growing state and federal efforts to protect children online, now is the time to start — there is no sign of this regulation slowing down, and more aggressive enforcement actions are to be expected in the coming year, says Susan Rohol at Willkie Farr.

  • What High Court TM Rulings Tell Us About Free Speech

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    Recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings show tension between free speech and trademark law, highlighting that while political mockery is protected, established brands may be forced to adapt to evolving cultural values, says William Scott Goldman at Goldman Law Group.

  • Series

    Being A Luthier Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    When I’m not working as an appellate lawyer, I spend my spare time building guitars — a craft known as luthiery — which has helped to enhance the discipline, patience and resilience needed to write better briefs, says Rob Carty at Nichols Brar.

  • Lead Like 'Ted Lasso' By Embracing Cognitive Diversity

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    The Apple TV+ series “Ted Lasso” aptly illustrates how embracing cognitive diversity can be a winning strategy for teams, providing a useful lesson for law firms, which can benefit significantly from fresh, diverse perspectives and collaborative problem-solving, says Paul Manuele at PR Manuele Consulting.

  • Questions Remain After 3rd Circ.'s NCAA Amateurism Ruling

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    The Third Circuit's recent holding that college athletes can be considered employees under the FLSA adds to the trend of student-athletes obtaining new legal status in collegiate athletics, but leaves key questions unanswered, including how the economics of the decision will be applied, say attorneys at Reed Smith.

  • Playing The Odds: Probing Sports Betting Allegations

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    With gambling-related controversies becoming a mainstay of the athletics landscape, it's essential for in-house and outside counsel to stay abreast of best practices for conducting sports betting investigations, say attorneys at Steptoe.

  • Opinion

    Now More Than Ever, Lawyers Must Exhibit Professionalism

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    As society becomes increasingly fractured and workplace incivility is on the rise, attorneys must champion professionalism and lead by example, demonstrating how lawyers can respectfully disagree without being disagreeable, says Edward Casmere at Norton Rose.

  • Leveling Up IP Protections For Video Game Icons' Film Debuts

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    Video game creators venturing into new realms of entertainment that include their iconic characters, such as television and film adaptations, should take specific steps to strengthen their intellectual property rights, say Joshua Weigensberg and Parmida Enkeshafi at Pryor Cashman.

  • The Show Must Go On: Noncompete Uncertainty In Film, TV

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    The Federal Trade Commission has taken action to ban noncompetes while the entertainment industry is in the midst of a massive shift away from traditional media, so it is important for studio heads and content owners alike to understand the fate of the rule and their options going forward, say Christopher Chatham and Douglas Smith at Manatt.

  • A Refresher On Calculating Political Advertising Costs

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    With election season well underway, it is important for broadcasters, political candidates, time buyers and others concerned with how the cost of broadcast political advertising is determined to know what the Federal Communications Commission factors into lowest unit calculations, and how the commission has defined "commercial advertisers," says Gregg Skall at Telecommunications Law Professionals.

  • Series

    Serving In The National Guard Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    My ongoing military experience as a judge advocate general in the National Guard has shaped me as a person and a lawyer, teaching me the importance of embracing confidence, balance and teamwork in both my Army and civilian roles, says Danielle Aymond at Baker Donelson.

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