Character Exclusivity in Rights Deals

In this increasingly competitive media landscape, companies are seeking to create entertainment brands that can endure, serve as the basis for dozens of hours of content on the new generation of owned-and-operated premium platforms, and extend across various forms of media. However, transmedia deals are seldom straightforward, and may create issues that one is less

Content in Quarantine: Copyright Best Practices During a Pandemic

At a time when we are stuck at home, working or “working” (or, sadly for many, not working) the tenet that content is king has never been more relevant.  From Disney+ releasing “Frozen II” and “Onward” early to help placate restless youngsters, to DreamWorks releasing “Trolls World Tour” for “theatrical” in-house rental, to Instagram sensation

CDAS IP Group and Partner Nancy Wolff Recognized in Chambers USA 2020

The highly regarded “Guide to the Top Lawyers and Law Firms” described CDAS as a “highly skilled boutique offering excellent capabilities handling trademark and copyright infringement cases, as well as substantial portfolio management matters. [CDAS] exhibits expertise acting for market-leading entertainment, media and digital platform clients.” In addition to recognizing the firm for Intellectual Property:

Nancy Wolff Featured in ABA Grassroots Initiative Discussing the CASE Act

As part of ABA Day, Nancy participated in a CASE Act Introduction and discussed implications of The Copyright Alternative in Small-Claims Enforcement (CASE) Act of 2019 and its creation of the Copyright Claims Board as an alternative forum to pursue low-value claims of $30,000 or less. Listen to the panel here.

How Broadway Podcasts Are Bucking the Trend

As the spread of COVID-19 has forced almost all Americans to stay at home, many podcast programs have seen the size of their audiences shrink. One podcast publisher shared that the number of people downloading its shows has dropped 19 percent over the past two weeks, and Lindsay Graham of the audio production company Airship confirmed

Marc Hershberg was Featured at NAMT’s Technology & Theatre Virtual Conference

CDAS Entertainment attorney Marc Hershberg fielded questions at the National Alliance for Musical Theatre (NAMT) Technology & Theatre Virtual Conference: Digitizing the Fourth Wall, a curriculum designed to help regional theatres, in particular, use new digital technologies to reimagine staged theatrical storytelling.

Contractual Disruptions: How They Arise and How to Prepare

With the recent spread of the novel coronavirus COVID-19 and its unprecedented precipitation of social-distancing, work-from-home policies, shelter-in-place orders, and limitations on foreign travel, many individuals may be questioning whether certain contractual obligations are excused. This article provides a primer on the contract concepts of force majeure, impossibility and impracticability, and related provisions that affect,

CDAS Partners Briana C. Hill and Benjamin Jaffe Named Co-Chairs of the Entertainment and the Digital Media & Technology groups, respectively.

Briana Hill, Co-Head of the Beverly Hills office of Cowan DeBaets Abrahams & Sheppard LLP, joins Fred Bimbler and Simon Pulman in leading the firm’s Entertainment group, which includes televison (traditional to broadband), streaming, film, new media, talent, theatre and podcasting. The group assists clients with their entertainment projects through early development, the solicitation of