Law Commons^™

How Free Should A Freeport Be?: Reducing Money Laundering In The Art Market Through Freeport Regulation, Cates Grier Saleeby

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

The tax incentives that luxury freeports provide have created opportunities for money laundering and other forms of financial crime through the sale of art. The use of such institutions in combination with the anonymity that art transactions allow can create a series of transactions that are difficult to track, making the market ripe for corrupt behavior. Legislation like the Anti-Money Laundering Act, the Bank Secrecy Act, and the Money Laundering Control Act have helped reduce financial crime, but an approach more narrowly tailored to the art market and the freeports that enable its high value sales would further the goals …

To Win Friends And Influence People: Regulation And Enforcement Of Influencer Marketing After Ten Years Of The Endorsement Guides, Craig C. Carpenter, Mark Bonin Ii

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

For the last ten years, social media influencer marketing has been regulated by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) under the FTC’s Section 5 “unfair practices” authority, guided by the Endorsement Guides, a “best practices” document published by the FTC. This is a fairly “light” regulatory scheme where violators typically enter no-money, no-fault consent decrees and generally undertake to do a better job following the Endorsement Guides in the future. During this time, the practice has flourished, and companies are spending significant portions of their marketing budgets on social media influencer advertising. Recently, the FTC has submitted proposals for increased enforcement …

Innovation Rewards: Towards Solving The Twin Market Failures Of Public Goods, Gregory N. Mandel

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

The challenge of achieving socially optimal incentives for innovation in public goods faces twin market failures: a market failure to adequately promote public goods invention and a market failure to implement innovative public goods once developed. Though innovation in private goods sometimes faces the former hurdle, often ameliorated by intellectual property law, the interaction of both market failures for public goods innovation raises unique difficulties.

Environmentally beneficial technology presents an illustration of the innovation problem for public goods. Private actors lack sufficient incentives both to engage in environmentally beneficial innovation and to implement such innovation. While traditional intellectual property law …

Explaining The Art Market's Thefts, Frauds, And Forgeries (And Why The Art Market Does Not Seem To Care), Gregory Day

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

Based upon a series of interviews with art market experts, this Article identifies and answers a significant, yet previously unexplored economics puzzle affecting the art market. Economics suggests that markets typically produce efficiency and social wealth, but when they fail, most actors should prefer remedial measures over an inefficient status quo. The art market currently is, and has been, plagued with frauds, thefts, forgeries, and market failure--a state of affairs that the governing legal framework has made worse. Despite this, the art market seems to adamantly, and puzzlingly, defend its business culture, rejecting attempts to remedy inefficiencies. In other words, …

Infringers Or Innovators? Examining Copyright Liability For Cloud-Based Music Locker Services, Brandon J. Trout

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

Music lockers--Internet sites where users may store a copy of their music for later playback--have revolutionized the way people listen to music, allowing them to take their music with them anywhere in the world. However, rights holders are concerned that these locker services potentially infringe music copyrights when they allow their users to upload and stream music and when they use a space-saving technology called "deduplication." This Note delineates the separate rights guaranteed under the Copyright Act as applicable to music lockers: the right to copy and the right of public performance. The analysis looks at several music locker services …

Intercepting Licensing Rights: Why College Athletes Need A Federal Right Of Publicity, Talor Bearman

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

The right of publicity is the right of an individual to control the commercial use of her name, image, likeness, or other identifiable aspects of her persona. In the United States, the right of publicity is a state-law right, not federal, and recognition of the right varies significantly from state to state. The lack of uniformity among states poses significant problems for individuals who are recognizable throughout the United States. Specifically, student athletes, who would lose the ability to play college athletics if they were reimbursed for the use of their images, are among the individuals most at risk of …

Terroir Vs. Trademarks: The Debate Over Geographical Indications And Expansions To The Trips Agreement, Emily C. Creditt

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

The ever expanding global marketplace and increasing sophistication of consumers has led to a heightened desire for high-quality wines, spirits and food products that derive their unique characteristics from the geographical region from which they originate. The particular geographic identity of a product, known as a "geographical indication" can increase the marketability and value of any number of consumer goods, from wines and spirits to rice and cheese. The desire to protect geographical indications from misappropriation and abuse eventually led to the adoption of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects for Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement) during the establishment of the …

Internet Retailers And Intertype Competition: How The Supreme Court's Incomplete Analysis In Leegin V. Psks Leaves Lower Courts Improperly Equipped To Consider Modern Resale Price Maintenance Agreements, Daniel B. Nixa

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

In Leegin Creative Leather Products, Inc. v. PSKS, Inc., the U.S. Supreme Court held that resale price maintenance (RPM) agreements are to be judged under the rule of reason. An RPM agreement is an agreement between a manufacturer and retailers stipulating that retailers will charge a certain price for the manufacturer's products. This Note argues that the Supreme Court should have instructed lower courts to consider intertype competition in addition to interbrand and intrabrand competition when evaluating RPM agreements under the rule of reason. Two reasons lead to this conclusion. First, the Internet has invigorated intertype competition and has made …

Bring It On: The High-Stakes Battle Over Whether The Courts, Congress Or The Fec Should Muzzle Independent "527" Television Advertising, Christopher G. Johnson

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

This Note analyzes possible FEC actions, pending court decisions, and proposed legislation that could once again dramatically change the landscape of political advertising. Section I of this Note examines the BCRA and the Supreme Court's subsequent ruling in McConnell v. FEC that created the environment that caused 527's to flourish. Section II focuses on FEC enforcement of campaign finance laws and examines a pending court case considering whether the FEC acted arbitrarily by failing to require all 527's to register as political committees. Section III considers whether courts or law-makers should require 527's to register as political committees in light …

A Whole Different Ball Game: Ticket Scalping Legislation And Behavioral Economics?, Jasmin Yang

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

Baseball is the sport most closely intertwined with American culture.' In many ways, the scandals associated with baseball, such as antitrust, segregation, and labor disputes, parallel and reflect the nation's development. In helping to shape the nation's collective identity, baseball's history is a sentimental reminder of a time when people were less concerned with profit and more interested in democratic access. And despite its somewhat tarnished image, many people want to champion and maintain the purity of the game. In jarring contrast, ticket scalpers personify the intersection of America's love for baseball with its love of profit. They represent pure …

Pop Goes The Commercial: The Evolution Of The Relationship Between Popular Music And Television Commercials, Nora Miles

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

Although the use of new pop songs in commercials is a recent development, the fact that music plays an important role in advertising is certainly not news. Music is and has always been an integral part in nearly all commercial advertising campaigns. Since the advent of radio and television the consumer public has been exposed to marketing through music. In order to understand the implications of the trends in music advertising, this note examines the more traditional schemes of music in advertising. To that end, there are several different routes an advertiser can choose when selecting music for a particular …

The Government Tunes In To Tune Out The Marketing Of Violent Entertainment To Kids, Shannon Mccoy

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

This Note examines the recent investigation conducted by the Federal Trade Commission ("FTC" or "Commission") and its 2001 Follow-Up to that inquiry. The September 2000 Report ("Report") concluded that the entertainment industry intentionally and aggressively advertises both R and PG-13 movies to children under the age of 18. As a solution, the FTC recommended self-regulation by the entertainment industry. The 2001 Follow-Up to the Report ("Follow-Up") found that although the movie industry has made progress, a greater effort must be exerted to successfully eliminate the marketing of violent entertainment to children.' Both the Report and the Follow-Up demonstrate that self-regulation …

End Game: Ex Parte Seizure Process And The Battle Against Bootleggers, Lucas G. Paglia, Mark A. Rush

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

This Article presents a broad overview of the exparte seizure process, what it is and how it can be deployed by trademark owners to shut down counterfeiters. It first discusses the general structure and mechanics of the TCA. It then proceeds to discuss some important areas of practical concern with respect to proceedings under the Act. The Article concludes by providing a hypothetical case study of the ex parte seizure process in action.

Changes In The Ticket Distribution Industry: Is This The Beginning Of The End For Ticketmaster?, Joycelyn Stevenson

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

This Note aims to explore the legal underpinnings of consumer frustration with Ticketmaster and the rest of the ticket distribution industry as it moves into the electronic age. First, this Note introduces Ticketmaster and examines its use of exclusive dealing agreements with local venues. It then discusses the relevant federal antitrust statutes affecting the industry and the market in which distributors operate. It also analyzes the role exclusive dealing agreements play in stifling competition. Next, this Note discusses the challenges--both legal and economic--to the industry's most visible member. It then discusses Ticketmaster as a possible product of competition in light …