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Full-Text Articles in Entertainment, Arts, and Sports Law

Give Or Take—Is The Droit De Suite A Taking Without Just Compensation?, Jeremy Cohen Jan 2024

Give Or Take—Is The Droit De Suite A Taking Without Just Compensation?, Jeremy Cohen

Pepperdine Law Review

The Constitution mandates Congress to protect the arts and sciences directly by creating an exclusive right called copyright. However, visual artists such as painters, sculptors, and photographers in the United States still cannot participate in the significant profits from the secondary sales of their copyrighted works at public and private auctions. In over eighty countries worldwide, the droit de suite, also known as the Artist Resale Royalty (ARR), grants visual artists such royalties. Unfortunately, the United States currently lacks such a royalty, despite multiple unsuccessful attempts by Congress to pass federal legislation. Although California enacted its own version of the …


Who Owns Your Name? The Trend And Economic Impact Of Personal Trademarks In The Ncaa Nil Aftermath, Daniel Foster Jul 2023

Who Owns Your Name? The Trend And Economic Impact Of Personal Trademarks In The Ncaa Nil Aftermath, Daniel Foster

The Journal of Business, Entrepreneurship & the Law

To aid in understanding the prevalence of personal athlete logos and the trend of ownership and design, Section II will outline the history of this area of trademark law in the United States. It will provide background on the theory of trademark ownership and the development of this intellectual property discipline in the athletic and celebrity sphere. Section II will look at the two common and distinct processes, a company-designed logo versus an athlete-designed logo, and the modern trends in this area. Moving on from this historical discussion, Section III will examine the 2021 decision of NCAA v. Alston, the …


Choreography And Copyright: Why The Law Must Twist And Turn To Serve The Dancing Industry, Gabrielle Mix Jul 2023

Choreography And Copyright: Why The Law Must Twist And Turn To Serve The Dancing Industry, Gabrielle Mix

The Journal of Business, Entrepreneurship & the Law

With so many hurdles to jump over for choreographers to earn simple rights, it is time to re-evaluate the process of copyright protection for dance. In part A, this comment will discuss the history of copyright law and choreography. Part B will analyze the requirements copyright has placed on choreography and the struggles courts face in applying them. Part C will discuss the spread of online choreography and the difficulties these choreographers face regarding copyright protection. Part D will discuss additional reasons why choreographers are not seeking copyright protection. Part E will discuss the barriers choreographers face in proving infringement, …


Know When To Hold Them, When To Fold Them, And When To Walk Away: Tiktoks Are Professional Sports Franchises' Ace In Collective Bargaining Negotiations, Angelica Varona Apr 2023

Know When To Hold Them, When To Fold Them, And When To Walk Away: Tiktoks Are Professional Sports Franchises' Ace In Collective Bargaining Negotiations, Angelica Varona

Pepperdine Law Review

TikTok, the social media app, has become both a central force in entertainment, creating a slew of influencers and young celebrities, as well as an important tool in all things branding and marketing. Athletes have recognized the value of social media and fan engagement and have taken to becoming content-creators on the platform. The growing presence of professional athletes on the app brings up important issues of copyrightability and ownership of the content they are producing. This Comment considers the nature of athlete content-creation on TikTok as well as the employment scheme and contractual responsibilities that form a part of …


The Current State Of Student-Athlete Nil Rights: How Congress Should Respond To The Rapidly Changing Landscape Of Inter-Collegiate Sports, Kyle Aronson Feb 2023

The Current State Of Student-Athlete Nil Rights: How Congress Should Respond To The Rapidly Changing Landscape Of Inter-Collegiate Sports, Kyle Aronson

Journal of the National Association of Administrative Law Judiciary

Collegiate student-athletes began signing sponsorship deals that compensate them for their name, image and likeness beginning in July 2021. Since its inception, the NCAA has prohibited student-athletes from receiving any outside monetary compensation to preserve traditional notions of amateurism. States have begun to pass legislation that allow for student-athlete compensation following recent decisions by the Supreme Court and Ninth Circuit suggesting that the NCAA’s historic practice may run afoul of antitrust law. This comment analyzes issues with the current state-by-state patchwork of laws that formulate the current landscape of collegiate sports. Finally, this comment will show why centralized, federal regulation …


"Stronger" Together: Kanye Could Have Owned His Masters By Engaging In Collective Bargaining, L. Camille Cordova May 2022

"Stronger" Together: Kanye Could Have Owned His Masters By Engaging In Collective Bargaining, L. Camille Cordova

Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal

Because the legislature and judiciary have failed to protect recording artists’ interests, this article proposes that engaging in collective bargaining will re-balance the bargaining positions of the major record labels and recording artists to create a mutually beneficial agreement that gives recording artists a termination of rights clause that mirrors section 203 of the 1976 Copyright Act. By contracting with a major record label, recording artists are automatically eligible for union membership to the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists union (“SAG-AFTRA”), who have experience negotiating other collective-bargaining agreements with these record labels. This agreement would provide …


De-Gentrified Black Genius: Blockchain, Copyright, And The Disintermediation Of Creativity, Tonya M. Evans Apr 2022

De-Gentrified Black Genius: Blockchain, Copyright, And The Disintermediation Of Creativity, Tonya M. Evans

Pepperdine Law Review

In a 2016 acceptance speech during the Black Entertainment Television (BET) Awards, actor and activist Jesse Williams used the phrase “gentrifying our genius” to refer to the insidious process of misappropriating the cultural and artistic productions of Black creators, inventors, and innovators. In that speech, he poignantly and unapologetically condemned racial discrimination and cultural misappropriation. This Article chronicles the nefarious history of the creative disempowerment of creators of color and then imagines an empowering future for those who successfully exploit their creations by fully leveraging copyright ownership and transfer termination. To that end, I reference the considerable scholarship of Professor …


Reflections On Music Copyright Justice, Peter S. Menell Apr 2022

Reflections On Music Copyright Justice, Peter S. Menell

Pepperdine Law Review

The digital revolution has upended many aspects of the copyright system, particularly as it relates to music. Drawing on creative, jurisprudential, technological, and social science insights, this article explores the broad range of music copyright justice concerns, ranging from file sharing to royalty distribution, copyright infringement standards, and the creation of music mashups.


Thieves In The Temple: The Scandal Of Copyright Registration And African- American Artists, Kevin J. Greene Apr 2022

Thieves In The Temple: The Scandal Of Copyright Registration And African- American Artists, Kevin J. Greene

Pepperdine Law Review

Copyright registration is the currency of copyright transactions in music, film, and television and is essential for pursuing infringement claims and ownership disputes. Despite copyright registration’s outsized reach across the copyright spectrum and importance to the copyright industries, the U.S. Copyright Office does not verify claims of copyright authorship or ownership. No express mechanism exists to challenge false copyright registrations in the Copyright Office, and the penalties for falsely claiming copyright authorship are paltry in comparison to the potential gains. This Article contends that lax copyright registration standards call into question the legitimacy of the registration system and that the …


The Hollywood Circuit’S Protection Of The Batmobile Provides An Uncertain Future For First Amendment Protections, Nicole Geiser Jan 2022

The Hollywood Circuit’S Protection Of The Batmobile Provides An Uncertain Future For First Amendment Protections, Nicole Geiser

The Journal of Business, Entrepreneurship & the Law

This Comment analyzes the potentially damaging impact the Ninth Circuit’s decision in Towle could have on modern copyright law and the First Amendment. Part I will provide an overview of modern copyright law, challenges faced when deciding the level of protection that should be afforded to characters, and the important difference between literary characters and visually depicted characters and how it can affect the degree of protection allowed. Part II will discuss the history of character copyright, specifically, the different tests adopted by circuit courts and the impact each one has on the protection of characters. Part III will analyze …


Songwriters V. Spotify: Is Spotify The Problem Or A Symptom Of The Problem?, Mariana L. Orbay Aug 2021

Songwriters V. Spotify: Is Spotify The Problem Or A Symptom Of The Problem?, Mariana L. Orbay

Pepperdine Law Review

Today, streaming is the prevailing mode of music consumption. Yet, streaming services are struggling to turn a profit, as songwriters also face significant financial challenges in the streaming era. All the while, record labels are collecting the majority of streaming revenue and seeing record profits. The 2018 Music Modernization Act attempted to address songwriters’ and streaming services’ financial problems by altering the factors considered by the Copyright Royalty Board in determining the mechanical royalty rates owed by streaming platforms to songwriters. A proper application of this newly instated factor test necessitates considering both songwriters’ and streaming services’ business operations and …


Protecting The First Amendment Rights Of Video Games From Lanham Act And Right Of Publicity Claims, Yen-Shyang Tseng Mar 2021

Protecting The First Amendment Rights Of Video Games From Lanham Act And Right Of Publicity Claims, Yen-Shyang Tseng

Pepperdine Law Review

In 2013 and 2015, the Ninth Circuit decided two nearly identical cases in which professional football players alleged a video game publisher used their likenesses without authorization in a game that simulates real football games. One plaintiff brought a false endorsement claim under the Lanham Act, while others brought state law right of publicity claims. That made all the difference. The Ninth Circuit found the First Amendment protected the game against the false endorsement claim, but not against the right of publicity claims. These contradictory results stem from court’s application of the Rogers v. Grimaldi test to Lanham Act claims …


The Music Industry: Drowning In The Stream, Jonathan Croskrey Mar 2021

The Music Industry: Drowning In The Stream, Jonathan Croskrey

Journal of the National Association of Administrative Law Judiciary

The Department of Justice is reviewing two of it's oldest consent decrees, which were entered into with ASCAP and BMI. ASCAP and BMI are the two original performing rights organizations and existed well before streaming. This article analyzes copyright and antirust law through the lens of modern technology and the current landscape of the music industry. It examines whether the consent decrees should be removed or modified and what the consequences of each would be.


Creative Destruction: Copyright's Fair Use Doctrine And The Moral Right Of Integrity, Cathay Y. N. Smith Jun 2020

Creative Destruction: Copyright's Fair Use Doctrine And The Moral Right Of Integrity, Cathay Y. N. Smith

Pepperdine Law Review

This Paper explores the role of copyright’s fair use doctrine as a limit on the moral right of integrity. The moral right of integrity gives an author the right to prevent any distortion, modification, or mutilation of their work that prejudices their honor or reputation. Actions that have been found to violate an author’s moral right of integrity include, for instance, altering a mural by painting clothing over nude figures, selling separated panels of a single work of art, and displaying sculptures with holiday ribbons. At the same time, copyright’s fair use doctrine allows follow-on creators to transform original works …


Copyrighting Experiences: How Copyright Law Applies To Virtual Reality Programs, Alexis Dunne Oct 2019

Copyrighting Experiences: How Copyright Law Applies To Virtual Reality Programs, Alexis Dunne

The Journal of Business, Entrepreneurship & the Law

This note will attempt to shed light on the question of what kind of protection copyright law affords VR experiences. Part II discusses the nature of VR experiences and their implementation through specifically tailored VR technology. Part III provides an overview of copyright protection, its limitations, and specifically the history of the copyrightability of computer programs. Parts IV and V outline case law relevant to the discussion of the copyrightability of different types of VR experiences and how that case law similarly or dissimilarly apply to the protection of VR experiences. Part IV focuses on protecting VR experiences as a …


Piracy On Peer-To-Peer File Sharing Networks: Why A Streamlined Online Dispute Resolution System Should Not Be Forgotten In The Shadow Of A Federal Small Claims Tribunal, Naomi Gemmell Sep 2017

Piracy On Peer-To-Peer File Sharing Networks: Why A Streamlined Online Dispute Resolution System Should Not Be Forgotten In The Shadow Of A Federal Small Claims Tribunal, Naomi Gemmell

Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal

This Article proposes application of an ADR system for resolving online copyright disputes related to P2P file sharing. Section II provides an overview of P2P file sharing networks and associated copyright infringement. Section III explores current approaches that fall short in resolving P2P copyright disputes, namely the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, litigation, and private agreements. Section IV examines the two primary proposed solutions to online copyright disputes: alternative dispute resolution and federal small claims. Section V recommends that a streamlined online dispute resolution system is necessary (even if a federal small claims tribunal is adopted), and concludes.


Consent Decrees In The Streaming Era: Digital Withdrawal, Fractional Licensing, And § 114(I), Steven J. Gagliano Jul 2017

Consent Decrees In The Streaming Era: Digital Withdrawal, Fractional Licensing, And § 114(I), Steven J. Gagliano

The Journal of Business, Entrepreneurship & the Law

Clear disagreement exists about how best to reconcile the copyright protections afforded to songwriters with the antitrust considerations protecting consumers. Songwriter public performance royalty collections account for over $2 billion in annual U.S. revenue, roughly 90% of which is collected by the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) and Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI). ASCAP and BMI are performance rights organizations (PROs) regulated by seventy-five-year-old consent decrees. After the Second Circuit determined that these consent decrees prohibit music publishers from selectively withdrawing their new media rights from ASCAP and BMI to directly negotiating with new media services, the PROs …


Film Piracy: Surfing The Internet For Free Content Provides Little Bounty For The Collective Economy, Jordan Matthews Jul 2017

Film Piracy: Surfing The Internet For Free Content Provides Little Bounty For The Collective Economy, Jordan Matthews

The Journal of Business, Entrepreneurship & the Law

This Note focuses on the protection of a copyright holder against infringement in the form of film piracy. It centers on the recent litigation surrounding Dallas Buyers Club, a biographical film articulating the life and events surrounding an AIDS patient, diagnosed in the mid-1980s, who pursued experimental treatments by smuggling pharmaceuticals into the United States. In 2013, more than 4,700 Australian Internet users allegedly downloaded the film within the span of one month. In August of 2015, an Australian federal court declared that the studio behind the film would need to post a $600,000 bond before it could send letters …


Is Internet Radio “Livin' On A Prayer”? With New Legislation, It “Will Make It, I Swear”, Kelsey Schulz Nov 2014

Is Internet Radio “Livin' On A Prayer”? With New Legislation, It “Will Make It, I Swear”, Kelsey Schulz

The Journal of Business, Entrepreneurship & the Law

This Comment discusses whether the IRFA would be the appropriate solution to the inequities in current copyright law as it pertains to digital music. Part I of this Comment will provide a more in-depth discussion of the history of copyright law and music distribution. It will examine the implications of the 1971 Sound Recording Act, the 1976 Copyright Act, and the Digital Performance Right in Sound Recordings Act of 1995. Part II will provide a critique of the current state of the law, including a look at the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 and its effects on the respective …


Copyright And The Musical Arrangement: An Analysis Of The Law And Problems Pertaining To This Specialized Form Of Derivative Work, Joel L. Friedman Feb 2013

Copyright And The Musical Arrangement: An Analysis Of The Law And Problems Pertaining To This Specialized Form Of Derivative Work, Joel L. Friedman

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.


Droit De Suite: Only Congress Can Grant Royalty Protection For Artists, Lynn K. Warren Feb 2013

Droit De Suite: Only Congress Can Grant Royalty Protection For Artists, Lynn K. Warren

Pepperdine Law Review

Congress has enacted the 1976 Copyright Act which does not grant resale royalties to fine artists. It does, however, add a strong preemption provision that was not a part of the 1909 Act. This provision emphatically preempts any state law granting a right equivalent to a right granted by the federal statute to any work which is the subject matter of copyright. In its desire to increase protection for fine artists, the State of California has enacted the first droit de suite legislation in the United States, patterned after European copyright law, which extends resale royalties to fine artists. This …


Rohauer Revisited: "Rear Window," Copyright Reversions, Renewals, Terminations, Derivative Works And Fair Use , Richard Colby Jan 2013

Rohauer Revisited: "Rear Window," Copyright Reversions, Renewals, Terminations, Derivative Works And Fair Use , Richard Colby

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.


Sufficiently Supervised Commissioned Workers: Mythical Beasts Sculpted From Old Law, Alexander Lambrous Jan 2013

Sufficiently Supervised Commissioned Workers: Mythical Beasts Sculpted From Old Law, Alexander Lambrous

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.


A Descendible Right Of Publicity: Has The Time Finally Come For A National Standard?, J. Steven Bingman Jan 2013

A Descendible Right Of Publicity: Has The Time Finally Come For A National Standard?, J. Steven Bingman

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.


Musical Copyright Infringement: The Replacement Of Arnstein V. Porter - A More Comprehensive Use Of Expert Testimony And The Implementation Of An "Actual Audience" Test , Michelle V. Francis Nov 2012

Musical Copyright Infringement: The Replacement Of Arnstein V. Porter - A More Comprehensive Use Of Expert Testimony And The Implementation Of An "Actual Audience" Test , Michelle V. Francis

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.


Fun & Profit: When Commercial Parodies Constitute Copyright Or Trademark Infringement, Tammi A. Gauthier Nov 2012

Fun & Profit: When Commercial Parodies Constitute Copyright Or Trademark Infringement, Tammi A. Gauthier

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.


Internet-Based Fans: Why The Entertainment Industries Cannot Depend On Traditional Copyright Protections , Thomas C. Inkel Oct 2012

Internet-Based Fans: Why The Entertainment Industries Cannot Depend On Traditional Copyright Protections , Thomas C. Inkel

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.


A New Look For The Fashion Industry: Redesigning Copyright Law With The Innovative Design Protection And Piracy Protection Act (Idpppa), Brittany West Sep 2012

A New Look For The Fashion Industry: Redesigning Copyright Law With The Innovative Design Protection And Piracy Protection Act (Idpppa), Brittany West

The Journal of Business, Entrepreneurship & the Law

Introduced in Congress in August 2010, the Innovative Design Protection and Piracy Prevention Act (IDPPPA) would amend 17 U.S.C. § 1301 to extend copyright protection to unique, distinguishable, non-trivial, and non-utilitarian fashion designs. The fashion industry in the United States is currently a $200 billion industry which is afforded limited intellectual property protection compared to foreign markets. This article explores the applicability of the existing Copyright Act to fashion designs and argues that the IDPPPA takes a narrow approach to eliminate ambiguity present in former bills attempting to amend copyright law. The IDPPPA would incentivize innovation, the ultimate goal of …


No More Format Disputes: Are Reality Television Formats The Proper Subject Of Federal Copyright Protection?, Jessica E. Bergman Sep 2012

No More Format Disputes: Are Reality Television Formats The Proper Subject Of Federal Copyright Protection?, Jessica E. Bergman

The Journal of Business, Entrepreneurship & the Law

No abstract provided.


What's In A Name? Fred Goldman's Quest To Acquire O.J. Simpson's Right Of Publicity And The Suit's Implications For Celebrities, Laura Hock Mar 2012

What's In A Name? Fred Goldman's Quest To Acquire O.J. Simpson's Right Of Publicity And The Suit's Implications For Celebrities, Laura Hock

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.