International
Developments
The
UK House of Lords has ruled in favor of the Wall Street Journal
Europe in a libel lawsuit filed by a Saudi company whose bank
account, the Journal reported, was being monitored by the Saudi
government to prevent the account from being used to aid terrorists;
though the article was inaccurate, the Journal was protected from
liability by a qualified privilege to publish articles in the public
interest, the Lords unanimously held.
Jameel v. Wall Street Journal Europe
[2006] UKHL 44
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/
pa/ld200506/ldjudgmt/jd061011/jamee.pdf
WIPO
has ordered the transfer of the domain “jkrowling.ir” to
“Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling.
Joanne Rowling v. Hostine.net
WIPO Case No. DIR2006-0004
http://www.wipo.int/amc/en/domains/
decisions/html/2006/dir2006-0004.html
WIPO
has ordered the transfer of the domains “columbiapicture.net”
and “columbiapictures.org” to Columbia Pictures.
Columbia
Pictures Industries, Inc.
v. North West Enterprise, Inc.
WIPO Case No. D2006-0951
http://www.wipo.int/amc/en/domains/
decisions/html/2006/d2006-0951.html
WIPO
has ordered the transfer of the domain “davidnalbandian.com” to
Argentinian professional tennis player David Nalbandian.
David Pablo Nalbandian v. Yuri Babayan
WIPO Case No. D2006-0963
http://www.wipo.int/amc/en/domains/
decisions/html/2006/d2006-0963.html
Washington
Monitor
The FCC has found that Cher’s use of “fuck” and Nicole Richie's use of
“fucking” in statements they made during Fox broadcasts of the 2002 and
2003 “Billboard Music Awards” were indecent and profane; but it
also found that a guest’s use of “bullshitter” during a news segment of CBS’s
“The Early Show” was not.
In the Matter of Complaints
Regarding
Various Television Broadcasts
FCC 06-166 (Nov. 2006)
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/
attachmatch/FCC-06-166A1.pdf
Recent
Cases
StreamCast
is liable for secondary copyright infringement because it intended
to induce its users to infringe copyrights, a federal District Court
has ruled following remand from the Supreme Court’s Grokster decision; the District Court based its decision on evidence
that showed that StreamCast’s P2P software was used
“overwhelmingly” for infringement, it actively sought former
Napster users, it gave technical assistance that helped users play
infringing files, its software included a “Top 40” search
feature, its business model depended on infringing uses, and it did
not attempt to prevent infringements.
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, Inx. v.
Grokster, Ltd.
2006 WL 2806882
2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 73714
(C.D.Cal. 2006)
HBO’s
hit series “Six Feet Under” does not infringe the copyright to a
screenplay titled “The Funk Parlor,” because they are not
substantially similar, even though both are set in a funeral home.
Funky Films, Inc. v. Time Warner
Entertainment
462 F.3d 1072
2006 U.S. App. LEXIS 22231
(9th Cir. 2006
)
Evidence
offered by the plaintiffs in a copyright infringement trial was
properly excluded, an appeals court has ruled, in an opinion that
upholds the jury’s verdict that the television series “City of
Angels” did not infringe the copyrights to screenplays about an
inner-city hospital with a mostly-black staff.
Metcalf v. Bochco
2006 WL 2472193
2006 U.S. App. LEXIS 22244
(9th Cir. 2006)
Sander/Moses
Productions is not entitled to contingent compensation for executive
producing the NBC television series “The Profiler.”
Sander/Moses Productions, Inc. v. NBC
Studios, Inc.
142 Cal.App.4th 1086
2006 Cal. App. LEXIS 1366
(Cal.App. 2006)
“Sex
and the City” author Candace Bushnell will have to defend herself
against allegations that she owes “management” fees to her
former friend Clifford Streit, and that she copied material in her
novel “Four Blondes” from a movie script he wrote; though
Bushnell claims Streit’s allegations are “frivolous,” a
federal District court has ruled that disputed facts prevent him
from granting her motion for summary judgment.
Streit v. Bushnell
424 F.Supp.2d 633
2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12823
(S.D.N.Y. 2006)
The
First Amendment rights of Brentwood Academy were violated by a
Tennessee high school athletic association “recruiting rule”
rule that punished the school for sending letters to incoming
students about spring football practice, a federal appeals court has
ruled.
Brentwood Academy v.
Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association
442 F.3d 410
2006 U.S. App. LEXIS 6605
(6th Cir. 2006)
The
Cleveland Browns and NFL were the first users of the “Dawg
Pound” trademark, and thus they are the mark’s owners rather
than clothing manufacturer Hawaii-Pacific, a federal District Court
has ruled; the court rejected the clothing company’s argument that
the Browns and NFL had abandoned the mark when the team moved to
Baltimore and became the “Ravens.”
Hawaii-Pacific Apparel Group, Inc. v.
Cleveland Browns Football Company LLC
418 F.Supp.2d 501
2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7403
(S.D.N.Y. 2006)
Major
League Baseball does not violate federal or state antitrust laws by
licensing trademarks on behalf of its teams, a federal District
Court has ruled (in a recently-published opinion) in an infringement
lawsuit filed against an unlicensed maker of plush toys bearing team
logos.
Major League Baseball Properties v. Salvino, Inc.
420 F.Supp.2d 212
2005 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 28881
(S.D.N.Y. 2005)
Rod
Stewart must refund, with interest, a $2 million advance he was paid
by the Rio hotel in Las Vegas for a concert he never performed due
to illness; a force majeure clause did not apply, because a jury
found that Stewart and the Rio did not agree on the material terms
of the clause.
Rio Properties, Inc. v. Stewart Annoyances, Ltd.
420 F.Supp.2d 1127
2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14647
(D.Nev. 2006)
CBS,
Fox, NBC and ABC are entitled to a nationwide permanent injunction
in their copyright infringement suit against EchoStar, because the
company’s DISH Network committed “willful and repeated”
violations of the Satellite Home Viewer Act by selling distant
network programming to ineligible subscribers, a federal appeals
court has held.
CBS Broadcasting v. EchoStar Communications Corp.
450 F.3d 505
2006 U.S. App. LEXIS 15068
(11th Cir. 2006)
Karaoke
machines that display lyrics while it plays songs are not entitled
to compulsory mechanical licenses, nor are they exempt from
licensing requirements by the fair use doctrine, a federal District
Court has held (in a recently-published opinion).
Leadsinger, Inc. v. BMG Music Publishing
429 F.Supp.2d 1190
2005
U.S. Dist. LEXIS 41838
(C.D.Cal. 2005)
A
general release form signed by a nightclub dancer when Paramount
Pictures made the movie “Flashdance” barred the claims she later
asserted in response to Jennifer Lopez’s “Flashdance”-based
music video “I’m Glad,” even though the dancer was paid only
$2300 for the release, a federal appeals court has affirmed.
Marder v. Lopez
450 F.3d 445
2006 U.S. App. LEXIS 14330
(9th Cir. 2006)
Paramount
Pictures will have to defend itself against a Houston television
station’s allegation that Paramount violated federal antitrust law
by illegally tying broadcast licenses for “Judge Judy” and
“Judge Joe Brown” to a license for “Becker,” a federal
District Court has ruled; the court also awarded Paramount summary
judgment for $1 million on its breach of contract claim for unpaid
licensing fees.
Paramount Pictures Corp. v.
Johnson Broadcasting Inc.
432 F.Supp.2d 707
2006 WL 1663361
2006 WL 1406870
2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 32039
2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 31433
2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9900
(S.D.Tex. 2006)
John
Steinbeck’s son and granddaughter effectively terminated the
author’s pre-1978 grants of publication rights, and thereby
recaptured those rights for themselves, despite a post-1978
agreement entered into by the author’s widow permitting the
continued publication of his novels and stories, a federal District
Court has ruled; the court noted that the widow’s agreement with
the publisher specifically acknowledged termination rights, but also
ruled that if the agreement had stripped the son and granddaughter
of their termination rights, it would have been void.
Steinbeck v. McIntosh & Otis, Inc.
433 F.Supp.2d 395
2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 38346
(S.D.N.Y. 2006)
The
unauthorized use of a Los Angeles strip club's trademark and trade
dress in the video game “Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas” was not
infringing because it was protected by the First Amendment, a
federal District Court has held.
E.S.S. Entertainment 2000, Inc.
v. Rock
Star Videos, Inc.
444
F.Supp.2d 1012
2006
U.S. Dist. LEXIS 57575
(C.D. Cal. 2006)
Michigan, Louisiana, Oklahoma
and Minnesota statutes barring sale of violent video games to minors are
declared (or found likely to be) unconstitutional.
Entertainment
Software Ass’n v. Granholm
426
F.Supp.2d 646
2006
U.S. Dist. LEXIS 24733
(E.D.Mich. 2006)
Entertainment
Software Ass'n v. Foti
2006 WL 2572101
2006
U.S. Dist. LEXIS 67290
(M.D.La. 2006)
Entertainment
Merchants Ass’n v. Henry
2006 WL 2927884
2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 74186
(W.D.Okla. 2006)
Entertainment Software Ass'n v. Hatch
443
F.Supp.2d 1065
2006
U.S. Dist. LEXIS 52636
(D.Minn. 2006)
Disney
has defeated a claim that its EPCOT park infringes the copyright to a
painting for an international theme park; an appeals court has affirmed
a summary judgment dismissing the case, because there was no
admissible evidence that Disney had access to the painting, and
expert opinions (offered by the plaintiff) that EPCOT and the
painting are “strikingly similar” were properly excluded,
because the experts based their opinions on the painting’s ideas
and concepts rather than its protectable expression.
Corwin v. Walt Disney Co.
2006 WL 3091464
2006
U.S. App. LEXIS 27148
http://www.ca11.uscourts.gov/
opinions/ops/200416554.pdf
(11th Cir. 2006)
Departments
Entertainment
Lawyer News:
George
A. Cooke has joined Manatt Phelps & Phillips as a partner in the
firm’s New York City office, and Mark D. Litvack has joined the
firm as a partner in its Los Angeles office.
Manatt News & Events
http://www.manatt.com/
newsevents.aspx?id=4002&folder=22
http://www.manatt.com/
newsevents.aspx?id=4018&folder=22
Pierre Vudrag has been appointed Vice President of Business and
Legal Affairs of The Tennis Channel, based in Los Angeles.
The Tennis Channel Newsletter
http://www.thetennischannel.com/aboutus/
pressrelease/pressreleasedetail.aspx?id=115
In the Law Reviews
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