Entertainment, Arts, and Sports Law Commons^™

The Friends Creative Exemption: How Stereotypes Play A Role In Objectivity Standards, Jessica N. Leal

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

The recent, controversial California Supreme Court holding in Lyle v. Warner Brothers Television Productions is illustrative of whether the pervasiveness of sexually explicit conduct is insufficient as a matter of law or should be sent to the trier of fact. The court held that a former writer's assistant for the popular, adult-oriented television show Friends failed to establish actionable harassment under the California Fair Employment and Housing Act ("FEHA"). According to the court, the circumstances did not establish a prima facie case of hostile workplace environment sexual harassment, even though there was no dispute that sexually coarse and vulgar language …

A Most Interesting Part Of Baseball's Monetary Structure - Salary Arbitration In Its Thirty-Fifth Year, Edmund P. Edmonds

Writings

No abstract provided.

2008 Antitrust Developments In Professional Sports: To The Single Entity And Beyond, James T. Mckeown

Marquette Sports Law Review

No abstract provided.

Where Is The Privacy In Wada's "Whereabouts" Rule? , James Halt

Marquette Sports Law Review

No abstract provided.

Parental Rights In Myspace: Reconceptualizing The State's Parens Patriae Role In The Digital Age, Sheerin N. S. Haubenreich

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

Generally, parents have a great deal of leeway in their childrearing decisions, including choices in the content of their children's internet use. But there is a harm about which many parents and state and federal governments are unaware: reputational harm. Children and teenagers' current internet use puts them at risk of permanently harming their reputations, and there are no protective measures in place, whether educational or regulatory. They are posting personal information on the internet at an alarming rate mostly via social networking sites like MySpace.com and Facebook.com without an awareness of the present and long-term consequences, such as the …

I'M A Highway Star: An Outline For A Federal Right Of Publicity, Sean D. Whaley

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

The federal government has failed to codify a federal publicity right. This has caused numerous problems recently, as varying state laws unevenly restrain the commercial speech of many actors in interstate commerce. However, the nature of the publicity right as a property right and its essential function in interstate commerce calls for Congress to adopt a federal publicity right. Similar to the dual system of trademark protection, a federal publicity right will not preempt such rights at the state level. Rather, establishing such a right will detail proper justification and contours of the right. By establishing a federal right, the …

The Supreme Court As The Grand Mediator In Social Regulation Of The Media - De Gustibus Non Disputandum Est: Or Are They, Richard J. Hunter, Ann M. Mayo, Hector R. Lozada

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

This article presents a study of administrative and statutory schemes designed to regulate various aspects of the media in considering broad questions of indecency, obscenity, and societal and parental controls over content in various forms of media broadcasting. The article then provides an important historical back-drop by referencing Burstyn v. Wilson (a 1950s case involving an alleged "secular sacrilege") and Pacifica Foundation (the George Carlin "Filthy Words" monologue case). It then turns to a discussion of the litigation and controversy spurred by passage of the Communications Decency Act of 1996 and the Child Online Protection Act of 1998 as the …

Solidifying The Defensive Line: The Nfl Network's Current Position Under Antitrust Law And How It Can Be Improved, Ethan Flatt

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

In the United States, the broadcasting of professional sporting events is a multi-billion dollar industry, and the National Football League (NFL) alone earned more than $3 billion from television contracts during its 2008 season. Considering the massive revenues that broadcast rights can generate, it is no surprise that some major professional sports leagues have recently developed their own television networks. While it was not the first league-owned television network, the NFL Network has certainly generated the most attention. Since it started broadcasting a select number of NFL regular season games in 2006, the NFL Network has been subject to media …

Dr. Strange-Rating Or: How I Learned That The Motion Picture Association Of America's Film Rating System Constitutes False Advertising, Jason K. Albosta

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), a trade association whose members include film production studios, distributors, and theater chains, administers the most popular system for rating the content contained in the vast majority of publicly exhibited motion pictures in the United States. The stated goal of the rating scheme is to caution parents about any objectionable content that a film contains in order to allow them to make informed decisions about which films they will allow their children to see. While the rating scheme has undergone several changes since its establishment to further its stated goal, a fundamental conflict …

Blades Of Steal - The Fight For Control Of Sports Clubs' Websites And Media Rights In Madison Square Garden, L.P. V. National Hockey League, Michael Huntowski

Jeffrey S. Moorad Sports Law Journal (1994 - )

No abstract provided.

Protecting Cultural Property Through Provenance, Christopher D. Cutting

Seattle University Law Review

This Comment recommends that Congress take action to bring consistency to the treatment of cultural property in two ways. First, ownership disputes should be settled based on the quality of provenance between competing claimants, a system similar to land title registration. Provenance is the history of a piece of cultural property that shows where it came from and where it has been. Second, to ensure provenance is a complete guide to title all cultural objects, both illegally exported and stolen cultural property should receive the same treatment. Part II of this Comment discusses the history of cultural property regulation. Next, …

One Strike And You're Out: Alcohol In The Major League Baseball Clubhouse, Steven B. Berneman

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

In the past decade, much has been written about Major League Baseball's (MLB) mistaken policies regarding performance-enhancing substance abuse by players. MLB executives are shortsighted, however, if they believe that steroids are the only substances being abused by players. Along with performance-enhancing drugs, professional baseball has a long-standing history of alcohol abuse. Steroids may provide better headlines--Congress has never held an investigation into alcohol abuse by professional athletes--but professional baseball faces a real danger from the unchecked liability of allowing players to overindulge at the ballpark and drive home shortly thereafter. By serving beer in the clubhouse after games, clubs …

A Most Interesting Part Of Baseball's Monetary Structure - Salary Arbitration In Its Thirty-Fifth Year, Ed Edmonds

Marquette Sports Law Review

No abstract provided.

Antitrust And Free Movement Risks Of Expanding U.S. Professional Sports Leagues Into Europe, Marc Edelman, Brian Doyle

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

This article discusses the legal risks that would emerge if the NBA and NFL decide to expand into Europe. Part I of this article explains the differences in operating structure between U.S. and European professional sports leagues. Part II discusses the differences in competition law between the United States and European Community. Part III explains why the legal status of age and education (age/education requirements) is more favorable to professional sports leagues under U.S. law than under EC law. Part IV explains why the legal status of league drafts and reserve systems also might be more favorable to professional sports …

Actual Interpretation Yields Actual Dissemination: An Analysis Of The Make Available Theory Argued In Peer-To-Peer File Sharing Lawsuits, And Why Courts Ought To Reject It, Shana Dines

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

The Recording Industry Association of America has sued thousands of individuals for peer-to-peer file sharing in an attempt to save the failing music industry and resist new technology. The lawsuits rely on an interpretation of copyright law that making a work available to the public is an infringement of the distribution right. The recording industry has vigorously argued this "make available" theory because it is easy to prove, given the limited evidence obtainable in peer-to-peer file sharing cases. However, the district courts in various federal circuits are split on accepting this theory, some holding that actual dissemination is required to …

Mobile Messaging Making E-Discovery Messy: Mobile Messaging And Electronic Discovery, Daniel B. Garrie, Maureen Duffy-Lewis, Richard L. Gillespie, Mari Joller

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

Mobile e-discovery spans the globe and creates a multitude of issues for litigants and the courts. The issue of privacy, jurisdiction, privilege, and consent intersect in the mobile space with users sending text messages, twittering, posting notes and videos on-line, and sharing pictures all in the span of a work day. Of course this is further complicated by the integration of the 24/7 workplace and the electronic discovery issues of retention, preservation, and production of the data that mobile devices create. This article examines these issues and provides an overview of some of the more common underlying mobile telecommunication technologies.

Avatar Rights In A Constitutionless World, Tiffany Day

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

Courts will face novel issues in constitutional law when the virtual world begins to resemble the real world. Virtual world platforms, such as Second Life, offer a glimpse into the problems that online players face, as well as a look at how some of these problems can be handled in real life. While courts have largely ignored in-game legal issues and have left game creators with the power to decide punishment and distribution of rights, as online commerce and business models begin to grow these issues become more relevant to today's society.

This Note examines the various theories of player …

When Sex And Cell Phones Collide: Inside The Prosecution Of A Teen Sexting Case, Robert D. Richards, Clay Calvert

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

The high-tech phenomenon of teen "sexting," which is now garnering mainstream media attention, is pushing and straining traditional legal notions of what constitutes child pornography. As teens take sexually provocative photos of themselves and send them off to other teens via cell phones, some prosecutors are charging them as child pornographers. This article pivots on an exclusive, in-person interview conducted in Florida by the authors in May 2009 with attorney Lawrence Walters and his client Phillip Alpert, who sexted a nude photo of his girlfriend when he was 18 years old. Alpert was charged under child pornography laws and, today, …

"It's Third And Eight!": The Third Circuit Adopts An Eight-Factor Test For Likelihood Of Confusion In False Enforcement Cases And Flags Related Defenses In Facenda V. Nfl Films, Justin Kerner

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

Due to the increased importance of celebrity in American culture, the volume of false endorsement claims under Section 43(a) of the Lanham Act has risen steadily in the last twenty years. In the third circuit, courts have adopted a three-element test for false endorsement cases: plaintiffs must prove that (1) the mark in question is valid and legally protectable; (2) the plaintiff owns the mark; and (3) the defendant's use of the mark will likely create confusion. In Facenda v. NFL Films, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals adopted a eight-factor test for the third element, likelihood of confusion. This …

Student Gladiators And Sexual Assault: A New Analysis Of Liability For Injuries Inflicted By College Athletes, Ann Scales

Michigan Journal of Gender & Law

This Article will focus on an issue that was probably not on the minds of 19th century educators, nor primarily on the minds of the legions of present-day academic critics of intercollegiate sports. Namely, this Article explores the ways in which big-time athletics- particularly football-normalize and encourage harms to women, including educational and sexual harms. The author’s theses depend upon acknowledging certain open secrets about college football: that it is a celebration of male physical supremacy (measured by male standards); that it is something that society lets males do and have as their sport, for reasons both good and bad; …

The Super Brawl: The History And Future Of The Sound Recording Performance Right, Brian Day

Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review

On February 4, 2009, Senator Patrick Leahy introduced the Performance Rights Act ("PRA") to the Senate, joined by Representative John Conyers in the House of Representatives. Thirty-eight years after sound recordings were first granted federal copyright protection against unauthorized reproduction and distribution--and more than ten years after gaining a limited digital performance right--legislation is pending that would once again expand the scope of sound recording copyright to encompass terrestrial radio broadcasts. Historically, such broadcasts have been exempt from sound recording performance royalties.[...] Instead of (or in addition to) seeking remuneration from terrestrial radio stations, this Note suggests that sound recording …

The Prohibition Of Prosthetic Limbs In American Sports: The Issues And The Role Of The Americans With Disabilities Act, Christopher Bidlack

Marquette Sports Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Monopoly Myth: A Comment On The Public Funding Of Sports Stadiums, Jeffrey Standen

Jeffrey S. Moorad Sports Law Journal (1994 - )

No abstract provided.

Pilots And Public Policy: Steering Through The Economic Ramifications, Victor Matheson, Brad R. Humphreys

Jeffrey S. Moorad Sports Law Journal (1994 - )

No abstract provided.

Money For Nothing And Music For Free? Why The Riaa Should Continue To Sue Illegal File-Sharers, 9 J. Marshall Rev. Intell. Prop. L. 1 (2009), William Henslee

UIC Review of Intellectual Property Law

The Recording Industry Association of America (―RIAA) has sued over 35,000 people for illegal file-sharing music, or uploading and downloading music. The RIAA has sued anyone under its ―making available‖ theory, or anyone who offers to distribute copyrighted music without the owner‘s consent. However, the United States Circuit Courts of Appeals are split on whether copyright infringement occurs when a file is ―made available‖ or when there is actual dissemination of a file. Due to this split, the RIAA has negotiated deals with internet service providers to penalize individuals who illegally share files. This article analyzes a recent decision, Capitol …

Sui Generis Genius: How The Design Protection Statute Could Be Amended To Include Entertainment Pitch Ideas, 9 J. Marshall Rev. Intell. Prop. L. 184 (2009), Lindsey Weisselberg

UIC Review of Intellectual Property Law

Hollywood writers and idea men have struggled to gain protection for their entertainment treatments because their works are caught in the realm between unprotected ideas and fully protected expression. In addition to their failure to secure federal copyright protection for their treatments, idea men have also failed to obtain state law protection for their entertainment ideas, leaving them with virtually no legal recourse for idea theft. This comment proposes that Congress should create sui generis protection for ideas in the entertainment industry similar to the protections afforded under the Vessel Hull Design Protection Act.

Is It Cheating To Use Cheetahs?: The Implications Of Technologically Innovative Prostheses For Sports Values And Rules, Patricia J. Zettler

Faculty Publications By Year

This Article uses the case of Oscar Pistorius – the South African runner and amputee who competed with blade-like, lower-leg prostheses – to analyze how the International Association of Athletic Federations (IAAF), the world governing body of track and field, should regulate elite athletes’ use of innovative prostheses. The Article argues that the Court of Arbitration of Sport correctly decided that Pistorius should be permitted to compete in able-bodied competitions, but that the IAAF rule on which the decision was based failed to account for the full range of sports values implicated by the use innovative prostheses. The Article proposes …

When Is A Cpa As Important As Your Era? A Comprehensive Evaluation And Examination Of State Tax Issues On Professional Athletes, Alan Pogroszewski

Marquette Sports Law Review

No abstract provided.

From Parts Unknown: Wwe V. Jim Hellwig In The Ultimate Battle For Character Copyright, Daniel Bilsky

Marquette Sports Law Review

No abstract provided.

Team Physicians: Adhering To The Hippocratic Oath Or Just Plain Hypocrites? , Andrew D. Hohenstein

Marquette Sports Law Review

No abstract provided.