Entertainment Law

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By Scott Hervey

Last October I had the good fortune of being invited to attend my friend’s “man shower” in Las Vegas. What made this trip interesting was the fact that this all guy’s version of a baby shower would be the subject of an episode of the VH1 reality TV show “Scott Baio is 46 and Pregnant.” While there are a number of interesting stories that came out of this first and only man style baby shower, the “what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas” rule prohibits me from telling you any. However, the tales fit for this article comes from my observations of the numerous, IP issues that came up during our two days of shooting.

As regular readers of my articles may know, part of my practice includes representing independent motion picture and reality television producers. While I have been production counsel for a number of movies and reality television shows, most of my work occurs before the cameras ever roll. Part of this work involves working with the production staff and preparing them to deal with those issues that may arrive when shooting in an environment you don’t entirely control. However, being on set and having to identify issues on the fly (especially when the person identifying the issues is not a lawyer) is very different from engaging in theoretical and hypothetical discussions.Continue Reading Lights, Camera, IP Issues…

By Scott Hervey

Just how valuable are baseball statistics? Apparently very valuable. In fact, baseball statistics are so valuable that CBC Distribution and Marketing, which has run the CDM Fantasy Sports leagues since 1992, sued Major League Baseball and challenged its ownership claim over player statistics.   In a matter which rose all the way to the United States Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit, CBC agued that baseball statistics become historical facts as soon as a game is over, and that it shouldn’t have to pay for the right to use them. Major League Baseball claimed that the right of publicity belonging to major league baseball players makes it illegal for fantasy leagues to commercially exploit the statistical profiles of its players.

Continue Reading Fantasy Sports League Hits It Out Of The Park In Challenging MLB’s Ownership Of Player Statistics

By Scott Hervey

The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York rules that the downloading of a digital music file embodying a particular song does not constitute a "public performance" of that song within the meaning of the Copyright Act.  Thus, on-line music retailers need not negotiate a license with performance…

By W. Scott Cameron

Last month, in a lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) companies[1] sued Load ‘N Go Video, a small company that loads customer purchased DVDs onto their personal iPods, for copyright infringement and violating the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).

          Based out of Boston, Load ‘N Go was founded in 2005 to help consumers get video content on to their portable media players, such as iPods. Load ‘N Go sells iPods and DVDs to their customers, who pay the company an additional charge to load purchased DVDs onto their iPod or other portable video player. Load ‘N Go then sends both the customized iPod and original purchased DVDs back to the customer.

[1] Paramount Pictures, Twentieth Century Fox, Universal Studios, Warner Bros Entertainment, Disney Enterprises, Columbia TriStar Television and Columbia Pictures

Continue Reading Should Ripping Your Purchased DVDs Onto Your iPod Be Illegal? The Motion Picture Association Says “Yes!”

By Scott Hervey

On October 16 the Register of Copyrights issued an interpretation of Section 115 of the Copyright Act that will make it easier for record labels and cellular phone services to offer ringtones to consumers. The question, whether compositions used for ringtones [monophonic (single melody line) or polyphonic (melody and harmony)] or for master ringtones (ringtones taken from a master recording) fall under the compulsory license provisions of Section 115 of the Copyright Act, was referred to the Register of Copyrights by the Copyright Royalty Board (“CRB”) acting on a request from the RIAA. The decision – that ringtones (including monophonic and polyphonic ringtones, as well as mastertones) may be subject to a compulsory license – marks a major victory for record labels and cellular phone services looking to fuel the ringtone hungry market.Continue Reading Copyright Office Clears the way for more Ringtones