Allen v. Cooper: Supreme Court Upholds State Sovereign Immunity in Copyright Row Over State’s Unauthorized Use of Videos and Images of Blackbeard’s Famed Shipwreck

In a technical win for states facing federal claims under the Copyright Act, on Monday, March 23, 2020, the United States Supreme Court struck down the Copyright Clarification Act of 1990 (the “CRCA”), which had allowed states to be sued in federal court for copyright infringement.  Allen v. Cooper, No. 18-877, 2020 WL 1325815 (U.S.

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,

Gray v. Perry: The Pendulum Swings on Copyright Infringement Verdict against Katy Perry

Following hot on the heels of the Ninth Circuit’s en banc decision clearing Led Zeppelin of copyright infringement allegations relating to the classic “Stairway to Heaven” (which we reported here), a California federal judge last week overturned a jury’s finding of copyright infringement against Katy Perry regarding the pop hit “Dark Horse.”  Songwriters still nervous