Entertainment, Arts, and Sports Law Commons^™

The Ncaa's Challenge In Determining Nil Market Value, Meg Penrose

Faculty Scholarship

This Article proceeds in three parts. Part II discusses the changes that NIL has wrought in college athletics. It briefly explains collectives and their impact on NIL. Part III discusses the impossibility of limiting athletes’ “fair market value” given market value depends on what the market is willing to pay. Congress has failed to pass national legislation. Yet the mosaic of state laws is simply unfit to stand in for national legislation. And, following multiple litigation losses, the NCAA cannot be trusted to “value” the athletes themselves. Market value, if one is to be established, must be uniform and assessed …

The Marathon Continues: Texas Nil Has Room To Grow, Johnathon Blaine

Texas A&M Journal of Property Law

College athletes are now permitted to profit off their name, image, and likeness. However, while a hodgepodge of different regulations exists state-by-state and Congress continues to drag its feet to pass a federal framework, Texas restricts college athletes from maximizing their name, image, and likeness earning potential. This Comment proposes improvements to Senate Bill 1385 that would allow college athletes in Texas to partner with the same categories of “taboo” products as their respective university and to endorse products from competing brands, provided such endorsement is outside of a university-sponsored event, with an exception allowing unrestricted endorsement of footwear. This …

Breaking The Ncaa's Two-Tiered System: Attaining Full Scholarships For Equivalency Sport Athletes, Mason Corbett

Texas A&M Law Review

In June of 2021, the Supreme Court released the Alston decision, invalidating NCAA restrictions on educational-related benefits for Division I football, men’s basketball, and women’s basketball student-athletes. Alston laid the groundwork for future challenges to NCAA rules, with Justice Kavanaugh explicitly encouraging further challenges to NCAA rules in his concurring opinion. This Comment reviews NCAA rules limiting the number of scholarships below the number of scholarship roster spots for certain sports. If these rules were challenged under the Alston framework, they likely would not stand up under the antitrust review for NCAA rules established by Alston.

Furthermore, this Comment …

Fashion In The Times Of War: The Recent Exodus Of Luxury Brands From Russia And What It Means For Trademark Law, Irene Calboli, Vera Sevastianova

Faculty Scholarship

In February 2022, Russia infamously invaded Ukraine, starting an unprovoked war. As a result, many foreign companies left their Russia-based operations, including most luxury fashion houses. In these remarks, we elaborate on the possible issues that these companies may face regarding the enforcement of their IP rights in Russia, particularly trademark rights, following their departure resulting from the sanctions imposed by Western countries.

At the time of writing, perhaps the most pressing issue is whether luxury fashion houses risk losing their trademark rights in Russia due to their decision to suspend their operations, even though temporarily. An additional issue facing …

America’S Race-Based Caste Structure: Its Impact In College And Professional Sports, Timothy Davis

Texas A&M Law Review

Racial inequities in college and professional sports remain prevalent and persistent despite the awareness of such inequities by those with the power to effectuate change. This Article proposes that explanations frequently offered for the slow pace of progress often fail to account for the hierarchy derived from a race-based caste system embedded in American society. Relying on the work of author Isabel Wilkerson, Part II describes major pillars of America’s race-based caste structure. Part III examines how stereotypes of Blacks’ presumed intellectual inferiority and a lack of fitness for leadership roles adversely impact their access to positions of power in …

Vara Turns Thirty-One: How Amending The Visual Artists Rights Act Of 1990 To Add Guiding Language Can Further Advance The Act’S Purpose, Ana-Victoria Moreno

Texas A&M Journal of Property Law

Congress passed the Visual Artists Rights Act (“VARA”) in 1990, introducing the doctrine of moral rights into United States law. Moral rights consist of four rights: attribution, disclosure, withdrawal, and integrity. VARA recognizes the rights of attribution and integrity to preserve the integrity of artworks and of the country’s cultural heritage by encouraging artists to create. The passing of VARA has been met with criticism but also with excitement that Congress recognized the importance of artists’ non‌-economic rights. In the thirty‌-one years since the enactment of VARA, caselaw has developed that shows how courts and parties are interpreting its language. …

Let's Get Serious - The Clear Case For Compensating The Student Athlete - By The Numbers - A University Of Michigan Athletic Program Case Study, Neal Newman

Faculty Scholarship

Should college athletes be compensated for their play and if so, how? The first question has been a debate for some time now. But the second question—the “how”—not so much. This writing addresses both questions in depth. With the Ed O’Bannon case that was decided back in August of 2014 and the palaver the Northwestern football team raised in their efforts to unionize, it is acknowledged that the discussions on this issue may have reached its crescendo years ago. That is until now. On September 27, 2019, Gavin Newsom, the Governor of California, signed into law Senate Bill 206. Senate …

Enemy Of The People: The Ghost Of The F.C.C. Fairness Doctrine In The Age Of Alternative Facts, Ian Klein

Student Scholarship

The FCC Fairness Doctrine required that all major broadcasting outlets spend equal time covering both sides of all controversial issues of national importance. The Fairness Doctrine remained the standard for decades before it stopped being enforced during the Reagan administration, and was removed from the Federal Register during the Obama administration. Since the Fairness Doctrine’s disappearance, the perception by conservatives and progressives alike has been that major media outlets display overt biases towards one political affiliation or the other. As it becomes harder to determine real news from “fake news,” Americans’ trust in media is at an all-time low. An …

Good Initiative, Bad Judgement: The Unintended Consequences Of Title Ix's Proportionality Standard On Ncaa Men's Gymnastics And The Transgender Athlete, Jeffrey Shearer

Student Scholarship

Title IX fails to provide the tools or guidelines necessary to equalize opportunities for all student athletes in the collegiate setting despite the government’s continuous effort to explain the law. This failure is because judicial precedent has largely developed around the binary proportionality test of compliance. Title IX was originally intended to equalize educational opportunities for male and female students in order to remedy past discrimination in our society. However, the application of Title IX has frequently created fewer opportunities in athletics due to the unintended relationship between the proportionality standard and the social phenomenon that is the commercialization of …

How Copyright Law May Affect Pop Music Without Our Knowing It, Peter K. Yu

Faculty Scholarship

Commissioned for a symposium on copyright law and the creation of music, this article explores five questions about popular music that can be illuminated by greater insights into copyright law and the music business. Why do popular songs usually last for fewer than five minutes? Why are professional songwriters dissatisfied with Pandora and Spotify? Why can we bring European CDs back to the United States? Why can't YouTube videos be created with ASCAP/BMI licenses? Are digital downloads sales or licenses? And as a bonus: Why did the royalty rate for sheet music stay at seven cents per copy?

It is …

Sharing Stupid $H*T With Friends And Followers: The First Amendment Rights Of College Athletes To Use Social Media, Meg Penrose

Faculty Scholarship

This paper takes a closer look at the First Amendment rights of college athletes to access social media while simultaneously participating in intercollegiate athletics. The question posed is quite simple: can a coach or athletic department at a public university legally restrict a student-athlete's use of social media? If so, does the First Amendment provide any restraints on the type or length of restrictions that can be imposed? Thus far, neither question has been presented to a court for resolution. However, the answers are vital, as college coaches and athletic directors seek to regulate their athletes in a constitutional manner.

Tinkering With Success: College Athletes, Social Media And The First Amendment, Meg Penrose

Faculty Scholarship

Good law does not always make good policy. This article seeks to provide a legal assessment, not a policy directive. The policy choices made by individual institutions and athletic departments should be guided by law, but absolutely left to institutional discretion. Many articles written on college student-athletes' social media usage attempt to urge policy directives clothed in constitutional analysis.

In this author's opinion, these articles have lost perspective-constitutional perspective. This article seeks primarily to provide a legal and constitutional assessment so that schools and their athletic departments will have ample information to then make their own policy choices.

Field Of Dreams: Is The Movie Site's Commercialization A Dream Plan With Significant Benefits Or A Nightmare Script With Crippling Effects?, Michael J. Mcgraw

Texas A&M Journal of Property Law

This Comment will detail the field’s powerful attraction, discuss and analyze the applicable zoning laws and governing case law associated with comparable property disputes in relation to the present facts, praise the use of tax rebates to help subsidize the project, and assert that the public sector could have established even further requirements for the private business to meet before receiving such substantial public funds.

Art Law In Transactional Practice, Jeff W. Slattery

Faculty Scholarship

Artists are increasingly important players in the economic, social, and cultural development of communities throughout the United States. Unfortunately, a lack of adequate funding and appreciation of their legal needs often means artists do not seek or receive transactional legal assistance when it would be beneficial. Attorneys, meanwhile, may perceive the needs of artists as very specialized, and thereby well beyond the scope of services the attorney can provide. For these reasons, artists may find themselves without legal assistance, to the detriment of their business, their creative output, and their community. This article seeks to demystify a number of the …

Digital Copyright And Confuzzling Rhetoric, Peter K. Yu

Faculty Scholarship

The entertainment industry tells people they shouldn’t steal music because they wouldn’t steal a car, but has anybody ever downloaded a car? Music fans praise Napster and other file-sharing services for helping to free artists from the stranglehold of the music industry, but how many of these services actually have shared profits with songwriters and performing artists? Industry representatives claim that people use YouTube primarily to listen to or watch copyrighted contents, but are they missing a big piece of the user-generated content picture? Artists are encouraged to forget about copyright and hold live concerts instead, but can all artists …

Understanding And Regulating The Sport Of Mixed Martial Arts, Brendan S. Maher

Faculty Scholarship

The past fifteen years have seen the emergence of a new sport in America and around the world: mixed martial arts (“MMA”). MMA is an interdisciplinary combat sport whose participants engage in and combine a variety of fighting disciplines (e.g., kickboxing, wrestling, karate, jiu-jitsu, and so on) within one match.

In this Article, I examine and analyze the sport’s evolution, articulate a theory of sporting legitimacy, supply a conceptual taxonomy of regulation, and highlight potential reform. More specifically, my foundational treatment proceeds as follows. I first explain the modern history and development of MMA, tracing it from its shaggy, brutish …

The Graduated Response, Peter K. Yu

Faculty Scholarship

In the past few years, the entertainment industry has deployed aggressive tactics toward individual end-users, online service providers, and other third parties. One of the latest proposals that the industry has been exploring is the so-called “graduated response” or “three strikes” system, which threatens to suspend the service of internet users after they have received two warnings from their ISPs about potentially illegal online file-sharing activities.

In December 2008, the RIAA made a formal public announcement of its change of focus toward greater cooperation with ISPs. This new collaborative effort seeks to replace the highly unpopular lawsuits the industry has …

The Escalating Copyright Wars, Peter K. Yu

Faculty Scholarship

Piracy is one of the biggest threats confronting the entertainment industry today. Every year, the industry is estimated to lose billions of dollars in revenue and faces the potential loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs. To protect itself against Internet pirates, the entertainment industry has launched the latest copyright war. So far, the industry has been winning. Among its trophies are the enactment of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, Vivendi Universal's defeat and purchase of MP3.com, the movie studios' victory in the DeCSS litigation, the bankruptcy and subsequent sale of Napster and its recent relaunch as a legitimate subscription-based …

The Copyright Divide, Peter K. Yu

Faculty Scholarship

Most recently, the recording industry filed 261 lawsuits against individuals who illegally downloaded and distributed a large amount of music via peer-to-peer file-sharing networks, such as KaZaA, Grokster, iMesh, and Gnutella. Although the industry's recent approach was controversial and resulted in major criticisms from legislators, academics, civil libertarians, consumer advocates, and university officials, the copyright holders' aggressive tactics are not new.

In fact, copyright holders have been known for using, or encouraging their government to use, coercive power to protect their creative works. Only a decade ago, the U.S. copyright industries have lobbied their government to use strong-armed tactics to …

Fictional Persona Test: Copyright Preemption In Human Audiovisual Characters, Peter K. Yu

Faculty Scholarship

Whether a producer's copyright in human audiovisual characters preempts the actors' rights of publicity claims is the focus of this Note. Part I outlines the framework of state right of publicity law and traces the development of case law involving such a right. Because "[a]dvertisers who want to run a particular advertisement nationally must comply with the law of all fifty states," this Note focuses on the right of publicity of the state with the broadest interpretation-the state of California. This Part shows that, under existing California right of publicity law, virtually anything evoking one's personal identity, including copyrighted materials, …