Episode 13 of the Entertainment Law Update podcast discusses Justin Bieber and his soon to be lawsuit. The lawsuit comes from a kid from Illinois, one of Justin Bieber’s enemies. Bieber revealed the kid’s phone number on twitter and has received 26,000 texts. The podcast also includes a mention of the Tenenbaum v. Sony case and how the award from the case was cut 90% on constitutional grounds. The update also talks about Kate Plus 8. The issue at hand is whether the children should be allowed to film because they are under the age of 7 and are not allowed to work on television. They then talk about Jay-Z and his lawsuit against Ahab Joseph Nafal, which involves Nafal infringing copyright on “Big Pimpin”.
There are so many issues on the entertainment law update podcasts that I could only pick a few. But the ones that I have mentioned are all quite recent. It shows that stars are not invincible. I also believe that the Kate Plus 8 court case should be reviewed because the work of children should be monitored. The issue with Jay-Z shows us that even if you live in another country, use another language and use someone else’s tune, you can still be charged with copyright.
The second podcast discusses Lady Gaga and Madonna. Lady Gaga was said to have stolen a song from Madonna. The song they are talking about is “Born This Way”, which is supposed to be Madonna’s “Express Yourself”. Another issue that was talked about was about Subway and their “foot long”. Casey’s General Store, Inc. claims that Subway told them to desist from using the term “foot long”. CGS, Inc. came back saying that the word “foot long” is not copyrighted. Another issue talks about Super Bowl fans and how during the 2011 Super Bowl, ticket holders were denied their tickets to the game.
This issues that were brought up in this podcast were very entertaining. I enjoyed hearing about the popular Gaga and Madonna case. I also believe that Subway should not be able to copyright the word “foot long”. And lastly the case with the Super Bowl Fans, well I hope they get their money’s worth.
The last podcast talks about the book Hollywood on Strike by Jonathan Handel. The book covers the 2007-2008 Writer’s Guild strike and the stalemate from the Screen Actors, which lasted through 2009. The book discusses how the strike got started and why the writers thought they were not being paid enough money.
I found this podcast interesting because I remember hearing about the strike, but I never really followed why it happened. Hearing this podcast made me realize how much money actors were making compared to writers.
www.entertainmentlawupdate.com
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Industry Liabilities
Today’s topic is industry liabilities. Every industry has them, including the television industry. There are three articles that relate to industry liabilities. The first industry liability article comes from Bloomberg.com and concerns Sam Zell and his desires to buy Fortune.
Sam Zell, a real estate entrepreneur, wanted to buyout the private media conglomerate, Tribune. Tribune consisted of newspapers and television. He was going to buy the company for $8.2 billion, but now calls the deal, “the deal from hell”. The lawsuit was set against him by creditors and blames him for the company’s inability to pay $13 billion from the buyout in 2007.Two hedge funds were set up in order to reorganize the billions of dollars in legal claims. Tribune filed bankruptcy in 2008. Tribune has 23 television stations and eight newspapers.
People must take severe caution when buying a company. Buying a company is nothing but legal work. I suggest that Sam Zell should have taken small steps in order to buy the company. Buying the company all at once and quite fast proved to cause him billions of dollars in legal fees.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-03-23/billionaire-sam-zell-fights-to-avoid-legal-claims-over-tribune.html
The second article is about the Supreme Court decision on Internet content distribution. Mediacaster.com has an article on how the Supreme Court of Canada is deciding on how Internet service providers are broadcasters when they submit media and video online. In terms of their legal and copyright obligations, mobile providers are being seen as conventional broadcasters. If the Supreme Court rules that is it considered broadcasting, then the Canadian Radio-television and communications commission under the broadcasting act of 1991 will view the content.
This issue opens up a whole other legal door for the Internet and its contact with media. The Internet is nothing but media and videos, placing a constraint and attaching fees is only going to make the Internet a nightmare for those who are posting media.
http://www.mediacastermagazine.com/issues/story.aspx?aid=1000405845
The last article is from nzherald.co.nz. The article covers the right to express opinion in newspapers. The Press Council has discarded a criticism from a previous Feltex administrator concerning an article by Brian Gaynor. Peter Thomas objected to an article in the New Zealand Herald that was written by Brian Gaynor and stated that it violated Press Council principles connecting to balance, accuracy and fairness. Thomas also complained that the article was misleading. “The charges were that the directors had failed to disclose a breach of a loan agreement (a debt facility provided by the ANZ Bank); and that this loan had been classified as a "non-current" liability when it should have been "current".”
The issue at hand involves revealing news in public media sources. The newspaper is a common piece of literature and legal forms must be followed before the copies are issued.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10711788
Sam Zell, a real estate entrepreneur, wanted to buyout the private media conglomerate, Tribune. Tribune consisted of newspapers and television. He was going to buy the company for $8.2 billion, but now calls the deal, “the deal from hell”. The lawsuit was set against him by creditors and blames him for the company’s inability to pay $13 billion from the buyout in 2007.Two hedge funds were set up in order to reorganize the billions of dollars in legal claims. Tribune filed bankruptcy in 2008. Tribune has 23 television stations and eight newspapers.
People must take severe caution when buying a company. Buying a company is nothing but legal work. I suggest that Sam Zell should have taken small steps in order to buy the company. Buying the company all at once and quite fast proved to cause him billions of dollars in legal fees.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-03-23/billionaire-sam-zell-fights-to-avoid-legal-claims-over-tribune.html
The second article is about the Supreme Court decision on Internet content distribution. Mediacaster.com has an article on how the Supreme Court of Canada is deciding on how Internet service providers are broadcasters when they submit media and video online. In terms of their legal and copyright obligations, mobile providers are being seen as conventional broadcasters. If the Supreme Court rules that is it considered broadcasting, then the Canadian Radio-television and communications commission under the broadcasting act of 1991 will view the content.
This issue opens up a whole other legal door for the Internet and its contact with media. The Internet is nothing but media and videos, placing a constraint and attaching fees is only going to make the Internet a nightmare for those who are posting media.
http://www.mediacastermagazine.com/issues/story.aspx?aid=1000405845
The last article is from nzherald.co.nz. The article covers the right to express opinion in newspapers. The Press Council has discarded a criticism from a previous Feltex administrator concerning an article by Brian Gaynor. Peter Thomas objected to an article in the New Zealand Herald that was written by Brian Gaynor and stated that it violated Press Council principles connecting to balance, accuracy and fairness. Thomas also complained that the article was misleading. “The charges were that the directors had failed to disclose a breach of a loan agreement (a debt facility provided by the ANZ Bank); and that this loan had been classified as a "non-current" liability when it should have been "current".”
The issue at hand involves revealing news in public media sources. The newspaper is a common piece of literature and legal forms must be followed before the copies are issued.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10711788
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