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Entertainment, Arts, and Sports Law Commons

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Articles 1 - 18 of 18

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 …


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 …


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 …


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 …


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 …


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.


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.


Can Copyright Law Perform The Perfect Fouetté?: Keeping Law And Choreography On Balance To Achieve The Purposes Of The Copyright Clause, Katie M. Benton Feb 2012

Can Copyright Law Perform The Perfect Fouetté?: Keeping Law And Choreography On Balance To Achieve The Purposes Of The Copyright Clause, Katie M. Benton

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.