Entertainment, Arts, and Sports Law Commons^™

Cheating In E-Sports: A Proposal To Regulate The Growing Problem Of E-Doping, Jamie Hwang

Northwestern University Law Review

E-sports, also known as professional video gaming, is growing rapidly around the world. In the United States, e-sports events sell out at large sporting venues, including the Staples Center in Los Angeles and the Barclays Center in New York. The growth of this multibillion-dollar industry comes with a host of new legal issues. Among them is the regulation of “e-doping”: the use of hacks and cheats during e-sports games, which gives e-dopers an unfair advantage. E-doping compromises the integrity of the industry, which is vital to its continued growth, by discouraging gamers and fans from trusting the fairness of e-sports. …

Title Ix At 50: Exploring The Impact Of The Law On Cases Of Sexual Misconduct And Participation Equity In Athletics, Erica J. Zonder, Emily J. Houghton

Human Performance Department Publications

June 23, 2022 will mark the 50th anniversary of Title IX; during that time frame there has been a drastic increase in girl’s and women’s participation in sport. There has also been significant political debate and push back to Title IX which has threatened to undermine the impact of the law. Over the last 10 years, Title IX has been synonymous with litigation related to sexual harassment and transgender athlete participation in sport. Additionally, universities have continually sought to cut women’s sports under the guise of budgetary constraints. The purpose of this poster presentation is three-fold: 1) Review recent case …

Copyright Licensing And The Regulation Of China's Music Market: Searching For Transactional Efficiency And Fair Compensation, Chien-Chih (Jesse) Lu

Washington Journal of Law, Technology & Arts

China’s music copyright collecting society and its new music platforms, find points of commonality through constructing more efficient and profitable systems to generate more users and greater income. By undertaking a comparison of the various copyright regulations, cases, and statistics, this research aims to contribute to academic science by extracting frameworks and solutions from the United States and European licensing models and examining them in the context of China’s music market. It aims to discover rational approaches to connect rising technology and emerging economic incentives.

Appropriate solutions are proposed based on the influence of international treaties and legislative progress driven …

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. …

Terminated Asu Women's Lacrosse Coach Files Retaliation And Wrongful Termination Lawsuit, Erica J. Zonder, Emily J. Houghton

Human Performance Department Publications

Courtney Connor, the former women’s lacrosse coach at Arizona State University, sued the University and the Arizona Board of Regents (collectively, “ASU”) for Title VII and Title IX retaliation, as well as wrongful termination.

The Ballad Of Hicks Carmichael: Law, Music, And Popular Justice In Urban Appalachia, William Davenport Mercer

Scholarly Works

This article examines a rare folk ballad to revisit an 1888 Tennessee trial that newspapers referred to as the fastest in the country in which the death penalty was involved. If we look at this event using court records and newspapers, it tells a regrettably common story of a court under pressure from the populace skirting the protections of law. However, if we consider the trial as a performative endeavor, we can rightly consider other performative events, like folk songs, not as reflective of official events but as equivalents that help provide insight into the larger motives behind the court’s …

Separating Governance Tokens From Securities: How The Utility Token May Fall Short Of The Investment Contract, Kyle Bersani

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Licensed To Rock The Campaign Trail: Are The Ascap And Bmi Political Campaign Licenses Violating Their Antitrust Consent Decrees?, Leah Scholnick

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Betting On Gambling: How Professional Sports Leagues Could Increase Revenues Following Murphy V. Ncaa, Edward “Max” Bell

The Journal of Business, Entrepreneurship & the Law

This comment explores the avenues professional sports leagues are taking to profit from legalized sports gambling following the Murphy decision. Part II provides the modern historical legal background of sports gambling in America, discussing the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act and the reasoning for and the effects following the Act’s falling in Murphy. Part III analyzes the current sports gambling landscape, including the current federal and state legal landscape; society’s ever-revolving views on sports gambling; the American sports gambling industry, the offshore industry, and the growth of the industry as a whole; and the stances of sports leagues before …

The Hollywood Circuit’S Protection Of The Batmobile Provides An Uncertain Future For First Amendment Protections, Nicole Geiser

The Journal of Business, Entrepreneurship & the Law

This Comment analyzes the potentially damaging impact the Ninth Circuit’s decision in Towle could have on modern copyright law and the First Amendment. Part I will provide an overview of modern copyright law, challenges faced when deciding the level of protection that should be afforded to characters, and the important difference between literary characters and visually depicted characters and how it can affect the degree of protection allowed. Part II will discuss the history of character copyright, specifically, the different tests adopted by circuit courts and the impact each one has on the protection of characters. Part III will analyze …

De-Gentrified Black Genius: Blockchain, Copyright, And The Disintermediation Of Creativity, Tonya M. Evans

Faculty Scholarly Works

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 …

Video Games And The Federal Trade Commission Act: An Analysis Of The Practices Of Video Game Developers And Their Effects On Players

Florida A & M University Law Review

The purpose of this Note is to propose that the FTC exercise its broad authority under § 45 of the Federal Trade Commission Act (“FTC Act”) to address the seemingly innocuous conduct of the video game industry. To that end, this Note is divided into two sections. The first section reviews administrative and judicial opinions interpreting the history and scope of the FTC. It also notes how the Wheeler-Lea Amendment expanded the Commission’s power to include consumer protection. The second section identifies specific acts and practices used by video game developers (hereinafter “VGDs”) to demonstrate how they fall within the …

Must American Artists Starve?

Florida A & M University Law Review

This legal essay proposes a solution to the problem of artist and publisher compensation as deprived by MMA and discusses the realities and limitations of pursuing a Takings Clause violation under the Fifth Amendment. It further proposes a modern perspective on copyrighted works as property to lay the intellectual foundation for copyright reform and offers that the “best efforts” standard should replace the “commercially reasonable efforts” standard since modernizing copyright law is essential to the music industry. Lastly, the author suggests a practical approach to pursuing a Due Process claim under the Fifth Amendment.

Intellectual Property And Tabletop Games, Christopher B. Seaman, Thuan Tran

Scholarly Articles

There is a rich body of literature regarding intellectual property’s (“IP”) “negative spaces”—fields where creation and innovation thrive without significant formal protection from IP law. Scholars have written about innovation in diverse fields despite weak or nonexistent IP rights, such as fashion design, fine cuisine, stand-up comedy, magic tricks, tattoos, and sports plays. Instead, these fields rely on social norms, first- mover advantage, and other (non-IP) legal regimes to promote innovation in the absence of IP protection.

As a comparison to these studies, this Article comprehensively analyzes the role of IP law in facilitating innovation in tabletop gaming, including board …

Labor & Employment Law Guidance For Professional Sports Teams, Christopher R. Deubert

Marquette Sports Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Ethics Of Sign Stealing In College Football, Joshua D. Winneker, Ian Silfies

Marquette Sports Law Review

No abstract provided.

Gendered Slurs On The Schoolyard: Unlawful Harassment Or “Simple Teasing”?, Ilona M. Turner

Marquette Sports Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Seal Has Been Lifted: Ncaa And Predominantly White Colleges Must Soon Stop Exploiting Their Black Athletes, Daniel Bartlett

American University Business Law Review

This Comment argues that passing the Amateur Athletes Protection and Compensation Rights Act of 2021 (AAPCA), Fair Pay to Play Act, and similar legislation will allow college athletes to rightfully profit from their names, images, and likenesses and open the door for star athletes to choose HBCUs over traditional Power Five sports programs. Part II of this Comment will explain the legislative and procedural battles student-athletes have faced when arguing against the NCAA for the right to earn compensation. Traditionally the NCAA has avoided compensating its athletes, and courts have avoided tackling the issue. Part III will analyze previous litigation …

Movies To Fall Asleep To: The Antitrust Implications Of Terminating The Paramount Consent Decrees, Isha C. Biswas

American University Business Law Review

This Comment will argue that, while the Consent Decrees seem obsolete in the 21st century when studios own significant numbers of theaters, movies are no longer released one theater at a time like they were in 1948, which implicates relevant antitrust standards. With the prevalence of streaming, termination of the Paramount Decrees would allow streaming giants such as Disney+ and Netflix to monopolize the movie release market through the hybrid release model, impacting future case law and litigation. Part II of this Comment will examine the Paramount case, the consent decrees that resulted from it, and the judicial and congressional …

Caster Semenya And The Policing Of Competitive Athletic Advantage, Taylor Vann

Connecticut Law Review

In recent years, transgender and intersex athletes competing in track and field have come under intense scrutiny. The most notable of these athletes at the elite level is Caster Semenya of South Africa. Semenya has been accused of benefiting from an unfair competitive advantage due to her natural biological makeup. In response, international track and field’s governing body has promulgated multiple regulations to address athletes like Semenya. This article examines these regulations and their impact on transgender and intersex athletes at multiple levels of competition, It argues that these regulations and similar attempts under Title IX in the United States …