The homogenous nature of Hollywood’s output has been a source of frustration for some time, especially taking into consideration that the stories it has been telling (largely told from a white, cis male, heterosexual, US-centric point of view) do not reflect the composition of the world or its audience. The entertainment business has made some

The rights of a stock photographer were recently vindicated when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit overturned a controversial Virginia district court decision, which had held that a production company’s use of a stock photo on a website promoting a film festival was fair use.  In the decision, Brammer v. Violent Hues

California Civil Code Section 1542 (“Section 1542”) is ubiquitous in documents relating to California deals, parties, or litigations.  For instance, nearly every severance or settlement agreement entered into in California and/or involving a California person, company, or claim, will include a Section 1542 waiver provision. The main purpose of the Section 1542 statute is to

It was an eventful day for copyright law on Monday, March 4, as the Supreme Court of the United States issued two unanimous opinions, both involving provisions of the Copyright Act.  The decisions were fittingly both issued on the 110th anniversary of the 1909 Copyright Act. In the first case, Fourth Estate Public Benefit Corp.

Law 360 reports that “less than two years after ruling that a federal ban on racist trademark registrations violated the First Amendment, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed Friday to hear a case that will decide whether a similar rule banning “scandalous” material is also unconstitutional.” Catch up on this issue with our coverage of the

Earlier this week, actor Alfonso Ribeiro filed a claim for copyright infringement, violation of the right of publicity, and unfair competition against Epic Games, Inc. over its use of the dance move commonly known as “The Carlton” (the “Dance Move”) in the popular video game Fortnite: Battle Royale (“Fortnite”).  Ribeiro also filed a similar claim

While former Judge Alex Kozinski of the Ninth Circuit once noted that “[m]oviemakers do lunch, not contracts[,]”[1] Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Terry Green’s August 28, 2018 decision in Depp v. Bloom, 2018 WL 4344241 (Cal. Sup. Aug. 28, 2018), may force legal professionals in Hollywood to skip lunch in favor of properly executed fee

Following Comcast outbidding Disney for the purchase of Sky, a European satellite broadcaster, the next deal on the horizon seems to be a merger between CBS and Viacom. This comes hot on the heels of Disney’s acquisition of 21st Century Fox, and AT&T’s acquisition of Time Warner. With traditional players in the industry bulking up