Entertainment Litigation Blog

SUPREME COURT MAY CONSIDER WHETHER FEDERAL APPEALS COURT RULING PERMITTING REMOTE DIGITAL VIDEO RECORDERS VIOLATES THE COPYRIGHT ACT

The manner in which we view television programs has changed. The advent of digital video recorders like Tivo means that viewers are regularly "copying" content. While copying for personal use has been upheld by the courts, new technologies allowing cable companies to provide digital video recorders from a remote, central location have given rise to a number of cases across the country.

In August 2008, the Second Circuit considered the issue of whether such a "remote digital recorder" violated content providers' copyrights. That court reversed a ruling in the Southern District of New York and held that these remote DVRs did not infringe upon the providers' rights. However, just last month, the United States Supreme Court requested the government to weigh in on the issue -- requesting that the Solicitor General submit a brief to express the government's view of the law.

Should content providers really be complaining about a DVR system which appears to be more secure against piracy? Stay tuned to see if your cable's DVR will be upheld to be legal.

Continue reading "ENTERTAINMENT LITIGATION: COPYRIGHT AND THE NEW REMOTE DIGITAL VIDEO RECORDERS" »

TAKING A LESSON FROM BASEBALL'S STEROID SCANDALS

The task of protecting celebrities from public humiliation is difficult and complex. In a recent post, I discussed strategies to protect celebrities and, in particular, the need to be absolutely sure about the true facts before embarking upon aggressive response strategies. Recent revelations about the use of performance enhancing drugs in baseball illustrate the problems for celebrities facing scandalous allegations.

The way different players handle these difficult issues can provide lessons on how to deal with such accusations against any celeb.

Continue reading "ENTERTAINMENT LITIGATION: UPDATE ON PROTECTING CELEBRITIES" »

ANDY KENNEDY'S ARREST LEADS TO COMPETING CIVIL CLAIMS

The defamation lawsuit filed by University of Mississippi head basketball coach, Andy Kennedy, has taken some interesting twists. Kennedy was arrested on December 18, 2008 after allegedly punching a cab driver in the face and using ethnic slurs outside a Cincinnati nightclub. A valet attendant supported the cabbie's claims in a police report. The next day, Kennedy filed a defamation lawsuit against both the driver and valet.

As I previously wrote, filing a "preemptive" defamation lawsuit can be a valid, aggressive response in order to false accusations. However, the Kennedy case illustrates the kind of unintended consequences that may result when a lawsuit is brought so quickly after an incident.

Continue reading "ENTERTAINMENT LITIGATION: UPDATE ON DEFAMATION CASE FILED BY OLE MISS BASKETBALL COACH" »

PROTECTING CELEBRITIES FROM DEFAMATION AND INVASION OF PRIVACY

It's been said that "a good reputation is more valuable than money." When it comes to celebrities -- and most recently sports figures -- reputation is both valuable and easily tarnished. In this electronic age, damaging information can circulate instantly through cyberspace. Rumor quickly becomes generally accepted fact. Pictures can go "viral" and disseminated to millions at the speed of light. Once established, public perception becomes very difficult if not impossible to change.

So what can be done to protect a celeb's privacy and reputation -- and at what cost?

Continue reading "ENTERTAINMENT LITIGATION: WHAT IS YOUR REPUTATION WORTH?" »

ACTORS' DEAL EXPIRES WITH NO PACT ON THE HORIZON

July 1 has come and gone with no deal in place which would prevent another crippling strike in Hollywood. The Screen Actors Guild and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers have reportedly reached an impasse in their negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement to replace the previous agreement, which expired at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday morning. While the two sides are scheduled to meet today, public statements by AMPTP representatives make clear that the studios are unwilling to consider any changes to their final proposal which they transmitted on Monday, June 30.

For its part, SAG has acknowledged that the studios' final proposal is "generally consistent" with the agreements that the studios brokered with other guilds, including SAG's sister union, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. The studios first reached agreement with the Directors Guild of America in January. That agreement helped facilitate a resolution with the Writers Guild of America after an extended writers strike which halted production virtually across the board. Recently, the studios reached agreement with AFTRA on a new agreement with that union. The voting results of the AFTRA membership should be known some time next week.

Apparently, those deals are not good enough for some at SAG.

Continue reading "ENTERTAINMENT NEWS: ANOTHER STRIKE BREWING?" »

TELEVISION JUDGE LOSES BID TO HAVE CASE AGAINST MANAGER DECIDED BY THE CALIFORNIA LABOR COMMISSIONER

Alex Ferrer, a former Florida judge now known as Fox's "Judge Alex" on television, entered into a contract with Arnold Preston, a lawyer who provides "services" to people in the entertainment industry. The dispute between centered on the nature of those "services" -- with Preston claiming that he was Ferrer's personal manager and Ferrer claiming that Preston acted illegally as an unlicensed talent agent.

Pursuant to an arbitration clause in their contract, in 2005, Preston demanded arbitration on his claim that Ferrer failed to pay for his services. Ferrer countered with a petition to the California Labor Commissioner, claiming that the contract was void under the Talent Agencies Act because Preston acted illegally as an unlicensed talent agent.

And so began three years of litigation before the Labor Commissioner and the courts, culminating in the US Supreme Court's decision yesterday.

Continue reading "ENTERTAINMENT LITIGATION: "JUDGE ALEX" LOSES SUPREME COURT APPEAL" »

NBC filed a lawsuit on Friday, January 25, 2008 against the creator and executive producer of its three "Law & Order" series, Dick Wolf. The lawsuit reveals a dispute between Wolf and NBC over the terms of his contracts for the three highly successful programs and seeks the court's intervention to interpret -- or reform -- the agreement between the parties.

According to NBC's complaint, Wolf takes the position that the parties agreed that the 2 season guarantee means that, should NBC terminate any of the Law & Order series, he is entitled to 2 years of producing fees, essentially as a severance or "kill fee." NBC disputes that interpretation. NBC claims that the parties agreed that NBC's promise of a 2 season guarantee means that, if NBC decides not to order an additional season of episodes, NBC would be on the hook only for the remaining year on the prior 2 year order.

The parties were unable to resolve their differences during pre-lawsuit negotiations -- and rumors abound that one or more of the Law & Order series are in trouble and could be cut from NBC's lineup.

Courts are generally loathe to change the terms of written contracts. So NBC has its work cut out for it to convince the court to re-write the agreement to conform to its understanding. And NBC claims that the agreements themselves are confidential in deciding not to file the documents with its complaint. So while it's difficult to analyze the exact dispute between the parties over interpretation of unseen documents, those details will eventually become public if the parties continue to litigate the case in the courts.

STUDIOS INVOKE FORCE MAJEURE TO JETTISON TALENT DEALS AS WRITERS STRIKE CONTINUES

As the strike by Hollywood's writers enters its third month, studios have started to terminate overall talent deals with producers and writers. Dubbed "Black Friday" and "Black Monday" by the trades, virtually every major television production arm terminated deals this past Friday and Monday. ABC Studios started the carnage on Friday, January 11. On Monday, January 14, CBS Paramount Network TV, Universal Media Studios, 20th Century Fox Television and Warner Bros. TV followed suit with their own cuts.

The studios' efforts to jettison these deals raises interesting issues and brings to the forefront potential strategies by artists who can use contractual rights to apply pressure to their studios.

Continue reading "ENTERTAINMENT NEWS: FORCE MAJEURE CLAUSES WREAK HAVOC ON TALENT DEALS" »

The season premiere of the television show, Desperate Housewives, on September 29, 2007 provoked controversy when one of the show's punch lines took aim at the Filipino medical community. Teri Hatcher’s character, Susan, discusses with her doctor the possibility that she suffers from an early onset of menopause. Not pleased with his diagnosis of her condition, Ms. Hatcher quips that she would first like to check the doctor’s diplomas “to make sure they’re not from some med school in the Philippines.”

Not surprisingly, the Filipino-American medical community was highly offended by this remark.

Continue reading "ENTERTAINMENT NEWS: DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES TAKES UNNECESSARY SWIPE AT FILIPINO MEDICINE" »