Entertainment, Arts, and Sports Law Commons^™

Intra-Enterprise Activity, Joint Ventures And Sports Leagues: Identifying Unilateral Conduct Under The Antitrust Laws, Herbert J. Hovenkamp

All Faculty Scholarship

In the American Needle case the Supreme Court will consider whether the NFL’s decision to give an exclusive trademark license to one firm should be counted as “unilateral” on the NFL’s part, or rather as the concerted joint venture activity of the NFL’s individual member teams. The intellectual property in question is not trademarks in the NFL itself, but rather the trademarks and other intellectual property developed separately by each individual team, and which the teams in turn have licensed exclusively to the NFL.

In general, when a joint venture is engaged in its own business the unilateral characterization is …

Documentation, Documentary, And The Law: What Should Be Made Of Victim Impact Videos?, Regina Austin

All Faculty Scholarship

Since the Supreme Court sanctioned the introduction of victim impact evidence in the sentencing phase of capital cases in Payne v. Tennessee, 501 U.S. 808 (1991), there have been a number of reported decisions in which that evidence has taken the form of videos composed of home-produced still photographs and moving images of the victim. Most of these videos were first shown at funerals or memorial services and contain music appropriate for such occasions. This article considers the probative value of victim impact videos and responds to the call of Justice John Paul Stevens, made in a statement regarding the …

Custom, Comedy, And The Value Of Dissent, Jennifer E. Rothman

All Faculty Scholarship

In this essay, I comment on Dotan Oliar and Christopher Sprigman's article, There's No Free Laugh (Anymore): The Emergence of Intellectual Property Norms and the Transformation of Stand-Up Comedy, 94 Va. L. Rev. 1787 (2008). Their study of the quasi-intellectual property norms in the stand-up comedy world provides yet another compelling example of the phenomenon that I have explored in which the governing intellectual property regime takes a backseat to social norms and other industry customs that dominate the lived experiences of many in creative fields. The microcosm of stand-up comedy reinforces my concern that customs are being used to …

From Medals To Morality: Sportive Nationalism And The Problem Of Doping In Sports, Dionne L. Koller

All Faculty Scholarship

The conventional wisdom is that in the fight against doping, the government is in the best position to clean up sport and protect the integrity of competition. The premise underlying this assumption is that in the United States, sport is private, so that the government typically has no role in its regulation. It is now, advocates suggest, with the integrity of sport on the line, the government should move off the sidelines and take action. This essay challenges that premise by arguing that with respect to doping in sports the government has not merely been a sidelines observer, but was …

Bringing Baseball To Israel, Kenneth Lasson

All Faculty Scholarship

This brief article discusses little leagues in Israel, as well as individuals interested in baseball in that nation, especially those from the Maryland and Baltimore area. Mentioned is assistance sent to the little leagues by the Baltimore Orioles baseball team, and some of the memories of those involved of baseball in the United States, but who now reside in Israel.

Frozen In Time: The State Action Doctrine's Application To Amateur Sports, Dionne L. Koller

All Faculty Scholarship

The state action doctrine has as its central goal the preservation of liberty by limiting the intrusion of the government into the "private" sphere. It achieves this by applying the Constitution only to government, and not private, action. Traditionally, amateur sports regulators such as the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) have been viewed by courts as private. As a result, this article explains that courts generally give great deference to amateur sports organizations such as the NCAA and USOC to regulate sports with little judicial interference, including in the area of constitutional litigation. …

How The United States Government Sacrifices Athletes' Constitutional Rights In The Pursuit Of National Prestige, Dionne L. Koller

All Faculty Scholarship

This Article is about the United States Government trading off athletes' constitutional rights in the pursuit of national prestige through sport. The Olympic Movement has for decades provided an incentive for governments of all ideologies to use elite athletes to enhance national prestige or demonstrate national supremacy. This phenomenon is commonly known as "sportive nationalism." Unlike countries such as the former East Germany and Soviet Union, the United States Government has not readily acknowledged its own practice of sportive nationalism, preferring instead to assert that Olympic Movement sport in the United States is a private endeavor. This Article, however, demonstrates …

Some Learning Opportunities From The Imus Affair, Kenneth Lasson

All Faculty Scholarship

The author discusses the broader issues of free speech under the surface of the Don Imus affair, where that commentator made a gratuitous slur about the Rutgers women's basketball team. He balances this gaff against the good deeds of the same personality, comparing this with similar provocative remarks made by other well-known public figures. The media is cited for an overreaction to the Imus incident, and all these components are discussed in light of what free speech means.

New Architectures For Music: Law Should Get Out Of The Way, Henry H. Perritt Jr.

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Football Most Foul, William A. Birdthistle

All Faculty Scholarship

The 2006 FIFA World Cup was a disappointing display of soccer, comprising forgettable athletic contests that turned most critically on the administration of justice. Referees, more than athletes, emerged as the central protagonists in each game by providing the most dramatic plot twist - either by handing out red cards, which they did at a record pace, or awarding penalty kicks, which provided the winning goal in almost ten percent of the tournament's games. For much of the viewing public, the footballers' performances were even more deplorable, as players constantly flopped to the ground at minor or nonexistent contact and …

Does The Constitution Apply To The Actions Of The United States Anti-Doping Agency?, Dionne L. Koller

All Faculty Scholarship

Since its formation in 2000, the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) has aggressively pursued athletes who are believed to have used performance-enhancing substances and has aggressively prosecuted those who ultimately test positive. To many, this is a long overdue response to the growing problem of doping in sports. But to others, USADA's actions, and the federal government's support of these efforts, has sparked enormous controversy. This article examines USADA and its relationship to the federal government to determine whether USADA's actions could be constrained by the Constitution. While it is clear that USADA has very close ties to the federal …

The Game Of Pleasant Diversion: Can We Level The Playing Field For The Disabled Athlete And Maintain The National Pastime, In The Aftermath Of Pga Tour, Inc. V. Martin: An Empirical Study Of The Disabled Athlete, Donald H. Stone

All Faculty Scholarship

Kenny Walker, a deaf football player; Jim Abbott, a one-handed professional baseball player; Tom Dempsey, a physically disabled professional football kicker; Brad Doty, a paralyzed auto racer; and Nick Ackerman, a wrestler with amputated legs, have all competed at the highest level of sports. Persons with mental illness, individuals who are blind, and students with hearing impairments are seeking an opportunity to compete in fair competition with their non-disabled competitors. Can this occur in a fair, open, and just manner between competing athletes?

Does the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 ("ADA"), the landmark civil rights act protecting an individual …

I Say It's Spinach: Charitable Trusts To Remedy Market Failures In The Performing Arts, Jeffrey G. Sherman

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

A Contested Ascendancy: Problems With Personal Managers Acting As Producers, William A. Birdthistle

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Hell Hath No Fury Like A Fan Scorned: State Regulation Of Sports Agents, Phillip J. Closius

All Faculty Scholarship

This article first describes the existing system of state statutes regulating sports agents, including the proposed Model Uniform Athlete Agents Act. The article then examines the validity of these statutes in the context of jurisdictional limitations and dormant Commerce Clause principles. Lastly, federal regulation and the rules of professional sports unions are considered as alternatives to state legislative activity.

"Not Just For The Fun Of It!" Governmental Restraints On Black Leisure, Social Inequality, And The Privatization Of Public Space, Regina Austin

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Regulating Violence On Television, Harry T. Edwards, Mitchell N. Berman

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The First Amendment And Fcc Rule Making Under The 1992 Cable Act, Michael I. Meyerson

All Faculty Scholarship

This Article explores the First Amendment implications of the Federal Communication Commission's (FCC) regulations issued under the Cable Television Consumer Protection and Competition Act of 19921 (1992 Cable Act). The 1992 Cable Act imposes numerous requirements that are beyond the scope of this Article. This Article analyzes only the FCC's exercise of rule making discretion under the 1992 Cable Act.

Additionally, it must be remembered that an under-staffed FCC was given an enormous amount of work to do within fixed time limits. Therefore, it must be expected that the rulemaking would be vulnerable to second-guessing. Nonetheless, whenever a governmental entity …

Groveling At The Feet Of Football's Greedy Lords, Kenneth Lasson

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

A Field Of Dreams Needs A History, Kenneth Lasson

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Myths And Misunderstandings, Michael I. Meyerson

All Faculty Scholarship

This article explores the utility of the Holmsean marketplace of ideas when considering the regulation of different forms of communication technology.

Impending Legal Issues For Integrated Broadband Networks, Michael I. Meyerson

All Faculty Scholarship

Given human nature, computer networks are prone to many of the same legal problems that have affected earlier forms of communication. The insatiable human appetite for mischief, information, pornography, and anti-competitive activity guarantees that the many legal conflicts that afflict computers, telephones, cable television, and broadcasting will be visited upon IBNs. This article focuses on several of these legal problems. By examining the history of controversies involving the electronic media and breaches of security, protection of privacy, regulation of sexual material and refusals to deal, this article attempts to outline some ways to think about applying the lessons from the …

Amending The Oversight: Legislative Drafting And The Cable Act, Michael I. Meyerson

All Faculty Scholarship

The Cable Communications Policy Act of 1984 ("Cable Act") represented the first comprehensive federal law governing the no-longer new communications technology of cable television. After years of confronting a "patchwork" of federal, state, and local regulation, the cable industry, government regulators, and the public were told that the Cable Act would create a "national policy concerning cable communications," and firmly "establish guidelines for the exercise of Federal, State, and local authority."

Unfortunately, the Cable Act failed to fulfill its numerous objectives. Advertised as a careful balance, the Cable Act was administratively and judicially converted to a lopsided grant of victory …

The Right To Speak, The Right To Hear, And The Right Not To Hear: The Technological Resolution To The Cable/Pornography Debate, Michael I. Meyerson

All Faculty Scholarship

The advent of cable television presented a new opportunity to consider the competing interests on each side of the free speech/pornography debate. This Article attempts to construct an analysis that will be consistent with Supreme Court teaching on how government, under the first amendment, may constitutionally regulate legal obscenity, particularly in the name of protecting those who wish to avoid exposure to such material.

The Article shows how, unlike earlier battles over technology and pornography, cable television presented the novel opportunity to have a technological rather than a censorial solution to this difficult problem.

Below Market Loans: From Abuse To Misuses – A Sports Illustration, Phillip J. Closius, Douglas K. Chapman

All Faculty Scholarship

Below market loans have been traditionally used as substitutes for gifts, salaries, and dividends for the primary purpose of tax avoidance in the transfer of wealth. The Supreme Court's opinion in Dickman v. Commissioner subjected both demand and term loans in an intrafamilial setting to the federal gift tax. Congress, while subjecting all below market loans to either income or gift tax, applied different valuation formulas to term and demand loans and, in so doing, favored the use of demand loans as a salary substitute. This Article analyzes the current status of below market loans by examining their use in …

Cable Television's New Legal Universe: Early Judicial Response To The Cable Act, Michael I. Meyerson

All Faculty Scholarship

On October 29, 1984, a new era began in the relationship between law and cable television. On that day, the first major law regulation cable television, the Cable Communications Policy Act of 1984,was signed into law.

Early judicial attempts to interpret the Cable Act revealed the difficulties judges had with understanding the new legal regimen. A common thread running through these varied cases, if any, was the courts' apparent lack of appreciation of the Act's complexity. Many, though not all, decisions appear to misread congressional language and misinterpret congressional intent. The first part of this Article will discuss this problem …

Artists, Workers, And The Law Of Work: Keynote Address, Howard Lesnick

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Pursuit Of Pluralism: The Lessons From The New French Audiovisual Communications Law, Michael I. Meyerson

All Faculty Scholarship

Electronic mass communications, which have become increasingly influential over the past quarter century, have also undergone rapid and profound technological change. Constitutional governments around the world have struggled to apply their fundamental legal principals to the electronic media through sensible and balanced regulation. Perhaps the central problem in such regulation is to protect truth in the media, mainly by encouraging diversity, without allowing the regulators themselves to exert undue influence over what is disseminated over the airwaves and cables of a country's communications infrastructure. The following article traces the history of France's attempts to solve this problem in its electronic …

The Cable Communications Policy Act Of 1984: A Balancing Act On The Coaxial Wires, Michael I. Meyerson

All Faculty Scholarship

After three decades of what Chief Justice Burger termed ‘the almost explosive development’ of cable television, Congress updated the Communications Act of 1934 with the Cable Communications Policy Act of 1984. The Act represents the culmination of a ‘decade long effort to update the Communications Act of 1934 . . . and bring our outdated communications laws into the information age.’ The 1984 Cable Act was a complicated piece of legislation, the result of countless compromises and political deals. This Article explains how Congress attempted to balance the competing, and sometimes mutually exclusive, interests of the cable operators, cities, video …

Professional Sports And Antitrust Law: The Groundrules Of Immunity, Exemption And Liability, Phillip J. Closius

All Faculty Scholarship

As professional sports leagues increased their wealth and national prominence, the federal judicial system became uncomfortable with its characterization of sports as something other than a business. The Supreme Court reflected this change in policy in the 1950s by refusing to extend baseball's antitrust exemption to other sports. The application of the Sherman Act to all nonbaseball sports established the foundation for the forceful imposition of antitrust constraints on team owners in the sports litigation of the 1970s. These "revolutionary" decisions substantially eliminated the status of sports as a game or amusement insulated from the legal obligations of profit-making industries. …