Entertainment Law Matters

We are very pleased to report that the National Law Journal has named Frankfurt Kurnit to its 2013 Midsize Hot List – a list of 20 of the nation’s top midsize law firms.  Here’s a link to the article.

When a photographer sells a “limited edition” of a photograph, does that mean that she cannot later sell any additional prints of that photograph, even if the reprints differ in size and medium from the original edition?  The answer is no, according to a federal judge who recently dismissed a collector’s lawsuit claiming that artist William Eggleston violated the law by selling digitized reprints of some of his most popular photographs. The decision should comfort artists wishing to create new editions of prior work, and is a cautionary tale for collectors interested in works sold in multiples. Continue reading »

A New York federal judge has declared that a film based on an Emma Thompson screenplay does not infringe the copyright of another screenplay and play based on the same historical events.   The decision in Effie Film, LLC v. Murphy, No. 11 Civ. 783, 2013 WL 1188018 (S.D.N.Y. Mar. 22, 2013) (hereinafter “Murphy”) is a win for all those seeking to dramatize real historical events despite possible interference from competing versions of the same events. Continue reading »

The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) revealed this week the results of its latest Undercover Shopper Survey. The Undercover Shopper program was designed by the FTC to test the effectiveness of self-regulatory programs by the motion picture, music recording, and electronic game industries.  Under the program, the FTC sends 13- to 16-year-olds, unaccompanied by a parent, to attempt to buy R-rated movie tickets, R-rated DVDs, unrated DVDs that were R-rated when first released in theaters, music CDs carrying a Parental Advisory Label (PAL) that warns of explicit content, and video games rated “M” (suitable for persons age 17 and older).  Between April and June 2012, these teenagers attempted to make product purchases at national and regional chain stores and theaters across the United States. Continue reading »

How Veoh Reconciled with Viacom (But Went Out of Business In the Meantime)

Veoh, or what is left of it, won a recent victory in the Ninth Circuit in UMG Recordings v. Shelter Capital Partners (Veoh), No. 10-55732 (“Veoh”), a significant opinion in the evolving jurisprudence on Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) safe harbors.  In a March 14, 2013 superseding decision, the Ninth Circuit resolved a difference with Second Circuit law as set forth in the April 2012 decision in Viacom Int’l, Inc. v. Youtube, Inc., 676 F.3d 19 (2d Cir. 2012) (“Viacom”).  The new opinion therefore puts to rest the current speculation that a circuit split would set safe harbor issues up for Supreme Court review.  Continue reading »

On March 11, 2013, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court’s judgment and  award of attorneys’ fees in favor of the company that produced the Broadway musical hit Jersey Boys.  The company had been sued for copyright infringement for including in the musical a 7-second clip from a January 2, 1966 episode of The Ed Sullivan Show in which Ed Sullivan introduces the Four Seasons. Continue reading »

In a recent decision, a California appellate court upheld a lower court holding in favor of Paramount Pictures against a private equity source of financing for a slate of the studio’s films. Continue reading »

Using a famous name in your URL can lead to more traffic to your website.  But it can also lead to lawsuits.  A recent New York case provides a good example.  On February 28, a New York federal court ruled in favor of Donald Trump (“Trump”) and found the registrant and user of the Internet domain names trumpbudhabi.com, trumpbeijing.com, trumpindia.com and trumpmumbai.com (collectively, the “Domain Names”) liable for violation of the Anti-Cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (the “ACPA”).  The full opinion can be read here. Continue reading »

The New York Yankees have long been known in some circles as baseball’s “Evil Empire.” But while the nickname certainly began as an insult, the team recently turned the tables and claimed ownership of it – brushing back a merchandising company called Evil Enterprises. Here’s what happened. Continue reading »

In a December 2012 decision, a federal district court in Washington State held that  a company’s numerical “player grades” assigned to college football players to reflect their likelihood of success in the National Football League were copyrightable, but also that the republication of these grades by a sportswriter covering the NFL draft was fair use. See National Football Scouting Inc. v. Rang, 105 USPQ2d 1074 (W.D. Wash. 2012). Continue reading »