Entertainment, Arts, and Sports Law Commons^™

Imitation Is The Sincerest Form Of Flattery, But Is It Infringement? The Law Of Tribute Bands, Michael S. Newman

Touro 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

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Antibiotic Resistance, Jessica D. Litman

Articles

Ten years ago, when I wrote War Stories,' copyright lawyers were fighting over the question whether unlicensed personal, noncommercial copying, performance or display would be deemed copyright infringement. I described three strategies that lawyers for book publishers, record labels, and movie studios had deployed to try to assure that the question was answered the way they wanted it to be. First, copyright owners were labeling all unlicensed uses as "piracy" on the ground that any unlicensed use might undermine copyright owners' control. That epithet helped to obscure the difference between unlicensed uses that invaded defined statutory exclusive rights and other …

Benay V. Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc.: New Standard Needed For Determining Actual Use, Brian Casido

Golden Gate University Law Review

This Note examines Benay v. Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., and the substantial-similarity standard under a California breach of an implied-in-fact contract claim and a federal copyright infringement claim. The standard used in Benay will hinder the free flow of ideas by deterring producers from accepting an author’s screenplay for fear of breaching an implied-in-fact contract. Part I of this Note summarizes the history and development of the protection of rights to creative works. Part II provides the facts and procedural history of Benay v. Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc. Part III analyzes and criticizes the Ninth Circuit’s holding in Benay …

Bloodsucking Copyrights, Ann Bartow

Law Faculty Scholarship

Some bloodsuckers live off the life-sustaining fluids of involuntary hosts and leave behind diseases or venom. Fleas, ticks, bedbugs, and mosquitoes are all bloodsuckers that are best avoided. Others, like the leech, suck blood in ways that can be very helpful to a host, promoting blood flow and healing. Vampires are fictional, sentient bloodsuckers that have populated various entertainment genres for centuries. Copyrights, too, can suck blood metaphorically in productive and destructive ways, or simply suck, period, when they senselessly impede free-flowing veins of information. And though they are not (yet) immortal, copyrights last a very long time. In Copyright’s …

User-Generated Content Sites And Section 512 Of The Us Copyright Act, Jane C. Ginsburg

Faculty Scholarship

This book chapter considers the liability of entrepreneurs of ‘user-generated content’ (UGC) sites. These immensely popular fora, such as YouTube and My Space, enable their participants to post and view a great variety of content, not all of it in fact generated by the posting user. The legislative compromise worked out between telecommunications providers and content owners in the 1998 ‘Digital Millennium Copyright Act’ provides the statutory framework, at once insulating the operators of UGC sites from debilitating copyright sanctions, while still affording meaningful relief to copyright owners. The statutory criteria to qualify for the section 512(c) safe harbor are …

Mixed Signals: How Mixtapes Have Blurred The Changing Legal Landscape In The Music Industry, Meredith L. Schantz

University of Miami Business Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Rhetoric Of Predictability: Reclaiming The Lay Ear In Music Copyright Infringement Litigation, Austin Padgett

The University of New Hampshire Law Review

[Excerpt] “Some things cannot be described. This is the theory that recent literary criticism has placed as its cornerstone. Philosopher-critic Roland Barthes identified this trend in his Mythologies, stating that critics often “suddenly decide that the true subject of criticism is ineffable, and criticism, as a consequence, unnecessary. Unfortunately, this view has become singular within the legal academy whenever an author discusses music copyright infringement analysis. It seems that scholars fear the thought of trusting a jury with such an “ineffable” subject as music and must propose alternatives, such as expert testimony, specialized courts, or mechanical analysis, that will diminish …

“It’S The Same Old Song”: The Failure Of The Originality Requirement In Musical Copyright, Valeria M. Castanaro

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Making Circumstantial Proof Of Distribution Available, Robert Kasunic

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Internet Packet Sniffing And Its Impact On The Network Neutrality Debate And The Balance Of Power Between Intellectual Property Creators And Consumers, Rob Frieden

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Debunking The Top Three Myths Of Digital Sampling: An Endorsement Of The Bridgeport Music Court's Attempt To Afford "Sound" Copyright Protection To Sound Recordings, Tracy Reilly

Tracy Reilly

Entering The Drm-Free Zone: An Intellectual Property And Antitrust Analysis Of The Online Music Industry., Monika Roth

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Three Reactions To Mgm V. Grokster, Pamela Samuelson

Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review

It was prescient of the Michigan Telecommunications and Technology Law Review to have organized a conference to discuss the Supreme Court's decision in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Inc. v. Grokster, Inc. As the articles in this issue reveal, commentators have had somewhat mixed reactions to the Grokster decision. Perhaps I am the most mixed (or mixed up) about Grokster among its commentators, for I have had not just one but three reactions to the Grokster decision. My first reaction was to question whether MGM and its co-plaintiffs really won the Grokster case, or at least won it in the way they had hoped. …

Fairly Used: Why Google’S Book Project Should Prevail Under The Fair Use Defense, Melanie Costantino

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Taking De Minimis Out Of The Mix: The Sixth Circuit Threatens To Pull The Plug On Digital Sampling In Bridgeport Music, Inc. V. Dimension Films, Steven D. Kim

Jeffrey S. Moorad Sports Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Copyright Infringement In The Indian Film Industry, Rachana Desai

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

This Note focuses on the largest of these industries: Bollywood, the center of Hindi language cinema. In recent years, nearly eight out of every ten Bollywood scripts have been inspired by one or more Hollywood films. Previously, this widespread problem was not visible to those outside of India. The emergence of the internet and better global communications, however, have made Westerners more aware of the cultural copy situation in India. In 2003, best-selling fiction writer Barbara Taylore-Bradford brought a copyright infringement suit against Sahara Television for allegedly making a television series out of her book "A Woman of Substance." After …

The Reality Of Reality Television: Understanding The Unique Nature Of The Reality Genre In Copyright Infringement Cases, J. Matthew Sharp

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

Because copyright law is meant to protect creativity, there must be a means by which the U.S. government can offer some guarantee to the creators of a reality show that their creative output will be guarded against copying which diminishes the show's value. Therefore, this note seeks to answer the question: "what can we do to provide a reasonable level of protection against infringement to the creators of a new concept for a reality show?" Part I of this note provides a brief overview of the law regarding copyright infringement with particular emphasis on the unique protection afforded a compilation …

Sanitizing The Obscene: Fighting For The Right To Edit Objectionable Film Content, Darcy Williams

Jeffrey S. Moorad Sports Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Musical Musings: The Case For Rethinking Music Copyright Protection, J. Michael Keyes

Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review

This Article focuses on the topic of music copyright, but addresses this legal issue from a different vantage point than that of the industry insiders, insightful scholars, and policy makers that have weighed in on the debate. Instead of focusing on the issues regarding wholesale digital reproduction and dissemination of music protected by copyright, this Article focuses on music copyright infringement when the claim is that a given piece of music is "substantially similar" to another piece of music protected by copyright. Part I of this Article touches on the history of the music industry and copyright in this country, …

Copyright Infringement, Sex Trafficking, And Defamation In The Fictional Life Of A Geisha, Susan Tiefenbrun

Michigan Journal of Gender & Law

Memoirs of a Geisha has sold and made millions for Arthur Golden since 1997. This is his first novel, and it has earned him worldwide acclaim. A feature film version directed by Steven Spielberg is in the works. The book is translated into more than twenty languages. This article uses the book and the legal controversy that ensued after its publication to ask, and hopefully answer, two questions: First, is the geisha tradition as described by Golden in his fictional biography a variant of sex trafficking and sexual slavery which, despite possible cultural justifications, should be abolished by law? Second, …

A Jurisdictional Nightmare: Determining When An Interdependent Copyright And Contract Claim Arises Under The Copyright Act In Scholastic Entertainment, Inc. V. Fox Entertainment Group, Inc., Christopher D. Birrer

Jeffrey S. Moorad Sports Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Too Much Of A Good Thing: Deciphering Copyright Infringement For The Musician, Joseph K. Christian

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

Imitation may indeed be flattering, but at least in the world of music, too much imitation is illegal. Copyright law protects "original works of authorship fixed in any tangible medium of expression. "It guarantees the owner of a copyrighted work the exclusive right to reproduce, distribute, display, and publicly perform the work, among other rights. To the owner of a copyright in music, that means that no one else may perform the musical work, or make or distribute copies of the original manuscript or a recording of the work, without the permission of the copyright owner.'

Hey, Keep Your Link To Yourself - Legal Challenges To Thumbnails And Inline Linking On The Web And The Potential Implications Of A First Impression Decision In Kelly V. Arriba Soft Corp., Brad M. Scheller

Jeffrey S. Moorad Sports Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Neighborhood Watch: The Negation Of Rights Caused By The Notice Requirement In Copyright Enforcement Under The Digital Millennium Copyright Act, Colin Folawn

Seattle University Law Review

Part II of this Comment explains why the DMCA was created, beginning with a brief discussion of modern copyright justifications. Part III lays out the mechanics of the notice requirement and the safe harbor protection for ISPs. Part IV focuses on inconsistencies among the courts and the enforcement dilemma posed by the DMCA. Part V proposes a different standard for the initial notice, encouraging ISPs to work cooperatively with independent copyright holders. This part includes a preview of services and software that exist and that are being developed to ease the burden of finding and managing digital content. Finally, Part …

The Digital Music Dilemma: Protecting Copyright In The Age Of Peer-To-Peer File Sharing, Natalie Koss

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

This paper seeks a resolution between the need to eliminate copyright infringement and the desire to encourage new technology. This paper will suggest that the music industry would be better off directing resources toward solutions such as compulsory licensing, royalty collection, and working with hardware manufacturers to discourage copyright infringement. These solutions would allow the industry to take advantage of file sharing now rather than expending resources in court where the desired result of ending P2P programs may never come.

Disruptive Technology And Common Law Lawmaking: A Brief Analysis Of A&(And)M Records, Inc. V. Napster, Inc., Michael W. Carroll

Jeffrey S. Moorad Sports Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Is Proof Of Access Still Required - Proving Copyright Infringement Using The Strikingly Similar Doctrine: An Analysis Of The Fourth Circuit's Decision In Bouchat V. Baltimore Ravens, Inc., Henry J. Lanzalottie

Jeffrey S. Moorad Sports Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Introduction, Gregory P. Magarian

Jeffrey S. Moorad Sports Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Napster: The Case For The Need For A Missing Direct Infringer, Llewellyn Joseph Gibbons

Jeffrey S. Moorad Sports Law Journal

No abstract provided.