Industry Expert Blog

I found these podcasts to be mostly informative as to what is required to break into entertainment law, and what qualities are most useful in this field of law. The ASU law blog commented on the copyright infringement case filed last year by the tattoo artist who designed and tattooed Mike Tyson’s face tattoo against Warner Brothers.  The suit was filed over the tattoo seen on Ed Helm’s face in The Hangover 2, which is the same as the one Mike Tyson has.  The artist was trying to block the opening of the movie, but the hosts of the podcast state that the case will likely be settled as parody and rule that the tattoo is fair use. As we know now, the movie did open on time, which served as a major strike against the tattoo artist.  In the law school interactive podcast, Larry Zerner uses Charlie Sheen’s contractual issues with Two and a Half Men as an example of entertainment law at work. The law school interactive podcast featured three entertainment lawyers who spoke about their definition of entertainment law, and what is encompassed under this field.  They also state that traditional law school may not fully prepare a student for entertainment law.  One tip that I thought was very good to hear was that an entertainment lawyers ability to negotiate will be one of their most powerful assets.  

Another case discussed in these podcasts was a trademark case for a suit filed by Eastland Music Group over the movie 50/50.  The group represents a music group that uses the same name.  The judge in the case watched the movie and then ruled that the title was relevant to the movie in that it described the main character’s chances of surviving his battle with cancer. The ruling was that there was no similarity to the music group, even though the name was the same.

http://www.entertainmentlawupdate.com/ 

http://best.arclg.com/2012/03/podcast-introduction-to-arc-law-group.html

http://www.sportsandentertainmentlawblog.com/2011/05/the-asu-sports-entertainment-law-podcast-ep-3/

Industry Expert Blog

I found these podcasts to be mostly informative as to what is required to break into entertainment law, and what qualities are most useful in this field of law. The ASU law blog commented on the copyright infringement case filed last year by the tattoo artist who designed and tattooed Mike Tyson’s face tattoo against Warner Brothers.  The suit was filed over the tattoo seen on Ed Helm’s face in The Hangover 2, which is the same as the one Mike Tyson has.  The artist was trying to block the opening of the movie, but the hosts of the podcast state that the case will likely be settled as parody and rule that the tattoo is fair use. As we know now, the movie did open on time, which served as a major strike against the tattoo artist.  In the law school interactive podcast, Larry Zerner uses Charlie Sheen’s contractual issues with Two and a Half Men as an example of entertainment law at work. The law school interactive podcast featured three entertainment lawyers who spoke about their definition of entertainment law, and what is encompassed under this field.  They also state that traditional law school may not fully prepare a student for entertainment law.  One tip that I thought was very good to hear was that an entertainment lawyers ability to negotiate will be one of their most powerful assets.  

Another case discussed in these podcasts was a trademark case for a suit filed by Eastland Music Group over the movie 50/50.  The group represents a music group that uses the same name.  The judge in the case watched the movie and then ruled that the title was relevant to the movie in that it described the main character’s chances of surviving his battle with cancer. The ruling was that there was no similarity to the music group, even though the name was the same.

http://www.entertainmentlawupdate.com/ 

http://best.arclg.com/2012/03/podcast-introduction-to-arc-law-group.html

http://www.sportsandentertainmentlawblog.com/2011/05/the-asu-sports-entertainment-law-podcast-ep-3/

Industry Expert Blog

I found these podcasts to be mostly informative as to what is required to break into entertainment law, and what qualities are most useful in this field of law. The ASU law blog commented on the copyright infringement case filed last year by the tattoo artist who designed and tattooed Mike Tyson’s face tattoo against Warner Brothers.  The suit was filed over the tattoo seen on Ed Helm’s face in The Hangover 2, which is the same as the one Mike Tyson has.  The artist was trying to block the opening of the movie, but the hosts of the podcast state that the case will likely be settled as parody and rule that the tattoo is fair use. As we know now, the movie did open on time, which served as a major strike against the tattoo artist.  In the law school interactive podcast, Larry Zerner uses Charlie Sheen’s contractual issues with Two and a Half Men as an example of entertainment law at work. The law school interactive podcast featured three entertainment lawyers who spoke about their definition of entertainment law, and what is encompassed under this field.  They also state that traditional law school may not fully prepare a student for entertainment law.  One tip that I thought was very good to hear was that an entertainment lawyers ability to negotiate will be one of their most powerful assets.  

Another case discussed in these podcasts was a trademark case for a suit filed by Eastland Music Group over the movie 50/50.  The group represents a music group that uses the same name.  The judge in the case watched the movie and then ruled that the title was relevant to the movie in that it described the main character’s chances of surviving his battle with cancer. The ruling was that there was no similarity to the music group, even though the name was the same.

http://www.entertainmentlawupdate.com/ 

http://best.arclg.com/2012/03/podcast-introduction-to-arc-law-group.html

http://www.sportsandentertainmentlawblog.com/2011/05/the-asu-sports-entertainment-law-podcast-ep-3/

Industry Expert Blog

I found these podcasts to be mostly informative as to what is required to break into entertainment law, and what qualities are most useful in this field of law. The ASU law blog commented on the copyright infringement case filed last year by the tattoo artist who designed and tattooed Mike Tyson’s face tattoo against Warner Brothers.  The suit was filed over the tattoo seen on Ed Helm’s face in The Hangover 2, which is the same as the one Mike Tyson has.  The artist was trying to block the opening of the movie, but the hosts of the podcast state that the case will likely be settled as parody and rule that the tattoo is fair use. As we know now, the movie did open on time, which served as a major strike against the tattoo artist.  In the law school interactive podcast, Larry Zerner uses Charlie Sheen’s contractual issues with Two and a Half Men as an example of entertainment law at work. The law school interactive podcast featured three entertainment lawyers who spoke about their definition of entertainment law, and what is encompassed under this field.  They also state that traditional law school may not fully prepare a student for entertainment law.  One tip that I thought was very good to hear was that an entertainment lawyers ability to negotiate will be one of their most powerful assets.  

Another case discussed in these podcasts was a trademark case for a suit filed by Eastland Music Group over the movie 50/50.  The group represents a music group that uses the same name.  The judge in the case watched the movie and then ruled that the title was relevant to the movie in that it described the main character’s chances of surviving his battle with cancer. The ruling was that there was no similarity to the music group, even though the name was the same.

http://www.entertainmentlawupdate.com/ 

http://best.arclg.com/2012/03/podcast-introduction-to-arc-law-group.html

http://www.sportsandentertainmentlawblog.com/2011/05/the-asu-sports-entertainment-law-podcast-ep-3/

Industry Expert Blog

I found these podcasts to be mostly informative as to what is required to break into entertainment law, and what qualities are most useful in this field of law. The ASU law blog commented on the copyright infringement case filed last year by the tattoo artist who designed and tattooed Mike Tyson’s face tattoo against Warner Brothers.  The suit was filed over the tattoo seen on Ed Helm’s face in The Hangover 2, which is the same as the one Mike Tyson has.  The artist was trying to block the opening of the movie, but the hosts of the podcast state that the case will likely be settled as parody and rule that the tattoo is fair use. As we know now, the movie did open on time, which served as a major strike against the tattoo artist.  In the law school interactive podcast, Larry Zerner uses Charlie Sheen’s contractual issues with Two and a Half Men as an example of entertainment law at work. The law school interactive podcast featured three entertainment lawyers who spoke about their definition of entertainment law, and what is encompassed under this field.  They also state that traditional law school may not fully prepare a student for entertainment law.  One tip that I thought was very good to hear was that an entertainment lawyers ability to negotiate will be one of their most powerful assets.  

Another case discussed in these podcasts was a trademark case for a suit filed by Eastland Music Group over the movie 50/50.  The group represents a music group that uses the same name.  The judge in the case watched the movie and then ruled that the title was relevant to the movie in that it described the main character’s chances of surviving his battle with cancer. The ruling was that there was no similarity to the music group, even though the name was the same.

http://www.entertainmentlawupdate.com/ 

http://best.arclg.com/2012/03/podcast-introduction-to-arc-law-group.html

http://www.sportsandentertainmentlawblog.com/2011/05/the-asu-sports-entertainment-law-podcast-ep-3/

Legal Controversy in the Industry Today

Several lawsuits have been filed recently against record labels that have allegedly taken millions from artists by mislabeling digital music sales as "sales" instead of "licenses".  Sales carry a much lower royalty rate than licenses, and artists claim to be losing massive amounts of money from this process. A lawsuit filed by Eminem against Aftermath records has brought the most light to this situation, after his legal team provided audits that showed that Aftermath had claimed more than $3 million in royalties that should have gone to Eminem.  The judge ruled that digital music should be considered a license.  This means that millions of artists could stand to gain a significant amount of money from labels that have not been treating digital sales as such.

I personally think that this decision is great for artists, as I have long felt that for the most part artists do not get enough from the sales of their music.  Treating digital sales as a license will mean higher earnings and hopefully a repayment to artists that have lost a significant amount of money from this situation.

http://musiciancoaching.com/music-news-2012/lawsuits-sesac-columbia-records-march-4/

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/28/business/media/28eminem.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all

Another possible major lawsuit that is being discussed is that of Music industry groups such as the RIAA and the IFPI filing an anti-trust suit against good for not prioritizing its search results to make legal music sites top matches and make piracy sites appear lower in order to make it more cumbersome for users to find piracy sites.  Google has already taken steps to cooperate with anti-piracy efforts by removing over 5 million copyright-infring sites from its results, but apparently the music industry does not feel they are doing enough.  

In this situation, I hope that the industry doesn't file suit. Google has shown that they will work with the industry to fix what they can.  If Google periodically goes through and removes sites that are serious offenders from its results, and continues working with the industry to improve its search results, I see no reason for the industry to even threaten this suit.  I personally feel this makes the music industry look like they are trying to bully everyone.

http://www.digitaltrends.com/music/music-industry-considers-lawsuit-against-google-over-piracy-search-results/

And now for a topic that I have been following very closely.  Lamb of God frontman Randy Blythe's legal saga in the Czech Republic has seen major developments in the last few weeks. His last hearing saw his bail doubled, and he was finally released after 5 weeks of incarceration.  He still faces charges in the death of a fan in 2010, which could land him in prison for up to 10 years if he is convicted.  Evidence in the case suggests that it may have been a security guard at the venue and not Blythe that pushed the fan, and Blythe maintains that he never attacked anyone.  I will continue to follow the developments in this story, but for now I am happy that Blythe is able to return to the U.S. and resume his tour with his band, which had previously been canceled due to his incarceration, but will not commence in October. 

http://www.eonline.com/news/335296/lamb-of-god-singer-randy-blythe-bails-out-of-jail-still-faces-fan-death-charges

Lamb Of God Frontman Being Held in Czech Republic for Manslaughter

Lamb of God Frontman Randy Blythe was arrested on June 27^th at the airport in Prague as his band was arriving to play a show in the city for a possible Manslaughter charge.  The alleged incident occurred in 2010 while the band was touring in the Czech Republic, as a fan climbed on stage multiple times and was repeatedly blocked by security.  Blythe was alleged to have pushed the fan back into the crowd on one attempt, when the fan hit his head, suffered a brain hemmorage that left him in a coma, and eventually led to his death. Since his arrest, video evidence has been released that may possibly clear Blythe in the incident.  The video shows a security guard throwing the fan to the floor.  Czech authorities have argued that the sequence of songs in the video does not line up with the set list from the show in question.  I find it strange that neither the promoter of the show, nor anyone associated with the band were notified of the incident at the time that it occurred, and that no one associated with the band was made aware of the situation in any manner until Blythe was arrested.  I feel horrible for the family of the fan that died, but I have not seen anything that indicates that Blythe should be held solely responsible for the death. Randy posted bail to the tune of $200,000 USD but will not be release until at least July 19, when he will go before a 3 judge panel to have his bail either upheld or annulled. Keep in mind that a formal charge has not yet been filed. While I am the first to admit that I am very unfamiliar with the Czech legal system, this process seem highly flawed, to say the least. This is a story that I will be following very closely, and will hoping for Blythe’s exoneration in this incident.  I feel that the fan had no business rushing the stage in the first place, and while it is tragic that he died, the responsibility for his actions should be place only on him. 

http://loudwire.com/randy-blythe-bail-hearing-court-date-can-remain-imprisoned-for-6-months-if-denied/