Entertainment Law Matters

That may be true, at least if you’re in Illinois, which has perhaps the toughest eavesdropping statute in the country. 

In a day and age when most everyone has some kind of audio/video recording capability on their cell phone, few probably stop to think about the consequences of publicly exposing their recordings.  Perhaps we should, if what’s happening in Illinois — where two ordinary individuals are facing jail time for exposing audio recordings of public officials — is any indication of what’s to come.   Continue reading »

Artist Jeff Koons and retailer Park Life have recently settled their dispute over the rights to sell balloon-dog shaped bookends.

Last week, we reported about Koons’s efforts to stop Park Life from selling the bookends, which he claimed infringed his intellectual property rights in his “Balloon Dog” sculptures.  After receiving a cease-and-desist letter from Koons, Park Life brought a federal court action seeking a declaratory judgment that its sale of the bookends did not infringe upon Koons’s intellectual property rights.

Yesterday, Park Life voluntarily dismissed its case.  Reportedly, the parties reached a settlement whereby Park Life can continue to sell the bookends, but they cannot claim that the bookends are affiliated with Koons.  One could argue that this is not much of a “give” on Park Life’s part, since it claims it never advertised its products as being affiliated with Koons and had no plans to do so.

Perhaps not surprisingly, Koons’s claim has boosted Park Life’s sales.  Park Life’s sales dramatically increased after the dispute was publicized.

-Amelia Brankov