What Does the Law Say About Digital Necromancy?
Anne Diamond
When you die, you leave a lot in this world behind. One of the things you leave behind is your data. Some technological concepts aim to raise the dead virtually. The legalities around such acts are ambiguous.
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Challenges Raised by the Case, Howard University v. Borders
Gabrielle Stanfield
In June 2020, Howard University sued North Carolina couple, Larry and Virginia Borders, for the return of a drawing by African-American artist Charles White. White, known for his distinctive work in charcoal drawing completed the work at issue, titled Centralia Madonna in 1947. The whereabouts of the piece came to the attention of Howard after the Borders initiated a consignment process for the drawing with Sotheby’s in May 2020. The dispute, decided before the Southern District of New York, highlights pertinent challenges in the process of provenance diligence and designating the respective obligations of parties in situations of contested ownership. In all, the outcome of this case is unsettling as it seems to have resulted in significant losses to an innocent party. Even more challenging, the ideal winner and loser in this case remains unclear.
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The Strategic Importance of Protecting Cultural Heritage During International Conflict
Stella Martin
Heritage and identity often justify and even drive armed conflict, yet protection of them tends to take a backseat in response efforts and aid. When violence erupts between or within states, the initial concern of the global community is not the protection of art and cultural heritage. When lives are lost and homes are destroyed, the focus is justifiably not on the threat the conflict poses to artwork within the conflict zone. However, art and culture cannot be totally forgotten in times of crisis.
Joan Mitchell Foundation Asserts its Copyright against Louis Vuitton
Marielena Melero
Intellectual property law precedent is replete with instances of unauthorized uses of visual artists’ works. Whether it be through unauthorized inclusions in film, television, advertisements, or even social media posts, artists have found themselves surprised to stumble upon their work being used as the focal point of distinct projects. The Joan Mitchell Foundation currently finds itself grappling with this legal issue.
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More Trademark Infringement? The Birkin Continues to be the Center of Attention in Fashion
Michelle Gery
It was only a few weeks ago when Hermès won a major legal battle over controversially entitled “MetaBirkin” NFTs, when a jury found that NFT images of Birkins constituted trademark infringement. And yet, Hermès seems destined to face further Birkin-related legal challenges. Most recently, Filipino designer Xylk Lorena created a heavy-duty grocery bag with a photo-printed image of a Birkin. The bags were met with significant demand, and exploded in popularity on social media.
Sue(d) Sylvester: Copyright Infringement, Fair Use, and High School Show Choir
Corey Whitt
On May 19, 2009, William McKinley High School’s Glee Club opened for audition on the television series Glee. Across six critically-acclaimed seasons, the coming of age jukebox-musical followed the ups and downs of the program and its members on the high school show choir circuit. However, just as the fictional story reached its final cadence in 2015, the spotlight shifted to the Burbank High School choir program that inspired it all when Tresóna Multimedia, LLC (Tresóna)—a music licensing company—filed suit against the real-life Mr. Schuester and the Burbank High School Vocal Music Association.
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The U.S. Copyright Office’s Zarya Decision, and the Uncertain Future of AI Comics
Nathaniel Sans
On March 16, the U.S. Copyright Office (USCO) announced a new artificial intelligence (AI) initiative that will include a series of public listening sessions on the use of AI in expressive works, and a notice of inquiry requesting public comment on copyright issues stemming from use of AI that USCO expects to issue this year. USCO also issued a policy statement on March 16 describing its approach to the registration of works that include content generated using AI tools.
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K-Pop, aespa, and the Metaverse
Julie Min
K-dramas, K-beauty, K-food . . . and K-Pop! Korean pop culture is undoubtedly one of today’s trendiest sub-cultures, with a huge international fan base that comprises millions of avid followers.
Copyright Issues with AI-Enabled Coding
Kathan Roberts
GitHub, owned by Microsoft, is a widely-used cloud storage system that allows software developers to store and track different versions of their code. In June 2021, GitHub introduced an artificial intelligence tool called Copilot that provides autocomplete suggestions for computer code. An upcoming version of Copilot, called Copilot X, will even identify software bugs, suggest fixes for them, and write test cases to verify that the software works as intended.
Mess Que Un Club: Barça and the Negreira Case
Alice Zheng
Ask anyone in the world who knows anything about football, and they will recognize the name of FC Barcelona. Barça, which produced such prodigious talents as Johan Cruyff and Lionel Messi, and whose incarnation between 2008 and 2012 is considered by many to be the greatest football team of all time, has consistently been one of the most popular and beloved clubs in the world. But after these years of glory, the club has fallen on difficult times.
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The Right To Do Drag: Drag Queens and Freedom of Speech
Jeff Szulc
Across the country, the free speech rights of drag performers are under attack. On April 1st, Tennessee will become the first state to restrict drag shows in public settings—the new law bans “male or female impersonators who provide entertainment that appeals to a prurient interest from performing in public spaces or in front of minors” (internal quotations omitted). Notably, the word “drag” is not included in the text of the statute—the law uses the more ambiguous term “male or female impersonators,” and classifies these entertainers as a form of adult cabaret, a category that also includes go-go dancers and strippers. Given the constitutional rights at issue with these bans, courts should strike down these new laws for restricting free speech and for being impermissibly vague.
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Welcome to the Show: Minor Leaguers Join the MLB Players Association
Dylan Gaffney
For decades, American professional baseball has been defined by an earnings divide. For the lucky few who make it to the big leagues, generational wealth is there for the taking. As of the 2023 season, MLB’s league minimum salary is $720,000, with the league’s top stars earning up to $43 million per year. But for the thousands of players still struggling to get to the show, life is far from glamorous. In 2022, the minimum salaries for players on minor league contracts ranged from $400–$700 a week depending on league level, or up to $16,100 total over the 23-week season. Players are not paid for Spring Training or any additional offseason responsibilities. In order to make ends meet, players often work multiple jobs in the offseason and live without basic appliances.
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Does Royalty Need to Pay Royalties?
Jared Hopper
Andrew Lloyd Webber’s new musical, Bad Cinderella, opens on Broadway on March 23rd at the Imperial Theater, and it’s already the most talked about show of the season. The show’s marketing has thus far revolved around the title song, which bears a striking resemblance to a song from a prior musical adaptation of the Cinderella story: “In My Own Little Corner,” written by the great duo, Rodgers & Hammerstein. Amongst the many criticisms of the show circulating on social media is a conversation about Webber’s usage of the Rodgers & Hammerstein refrain—is he stealing it, or is it an homage? One would imagine that using a melody from an earlier Cinderella musical would be so obvious to have to be an homage, but regardless of the intention, the question remains: should Webber, Broadway royalty, pay royalties?
Poised to Blunder: An Analysis of the District Court’s Position in Niemann v. Carlsen
Christopher TenEyck
The chess world’s eyes are currently fixed on the Eastern District of Missouri. There, a case is slowly making its way through pre-trial filings. The case involves perhaps the greatest chess player of all time, Magnus Carlsen. Carlsen is being sued for defamation by an upstart American player named Hans Niemann. The facts surrounding the case are relatively salacious, especially in the sometimes stuffy universe of chess.
The Renewed Importance of Creative Intangibles in Media Corporations
Connor Hudson
In our market economy, providing entertainment to a body of mass consumers necessarily involves some nexus where the creative meets and is translated into the commercial. As the amount of content has ballooned, with the ability to create being democratized, the business models that constitute this nexus have shifted toward a direct-to-consumer focus.
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Big Tech May Escape a Narrowing of Section 230 Liability Protections After All
Francesca Huth
Can YouTube be held legally liable for algorithmically recommending videos made by terrorist organizations like ISIS? The Supreme Court heard oral arguments earlier this week in Gonzalez v. Google, which endeavors to answer just that. The case was brought by the family of an American exchange student killed in a 2015 terrorist attack in Paris. Plaintiffs allege that YouTube’s “Up Next” recommendation feature promoted radicalizing terrorist messages that contributed to the Paris attack.
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Lana, How I Hate Those Guys: The Problem with Leakers Going “Off to the Races” on Streaming Platforms
Jack Broitman
Fans and critics alike anticipate the March 24th release of Lana Del Rey’s upcoming ninth studio album, Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean blvd. Whether or not you are a fan, you can’t help but wonder how the release will go. Del Rey has been the victim of various leaks throughout her career, and this album cycle was no different. In addition to asking fans to refrain from listening to leaked music, artists, in theory, have opportunities for legal recourse given their copyright in the tracks or recordings of unreleased music.
If It Quacks Like a Birkin…
Spencer Becerra
Over the past month, the fashion and digital artist communities have been abuzz over the recent jury verdict in Hérmes International v. Rothschild, a trademark infringement case heard in the Southern District of New York. Legal issues aside, the story had much to vouch for it: a high-fashion juggernaut as Goliath, a self-styled cultural critic as David, the world’s most expensive and iconic handbags, and of course Web3. It is likely that these dynamics will reappear as established fashion houses and other retailers fight for relevance and consumer dollars in still-developing online marketplaces.
The Price of a View: Exploring AMC’s New Tiered Pricing Structure
Joanna Brown
Earlier this month, AMC Theatres, the largest movie theater chain in the U.S., announced plans to change their method of pricing tickets. Rather than the one-price-fits-all approach to seating, AMC is rolling out a new model called “Sightline at AMC.” This model will divide the theatre up into “Standard Sightline,” “Value Sightline,” and “Preferred Sightline” price tiers. Value seats, like those in the very front, will be sold at a slight discount, and seats in the middle rows will go for a premium as they afford the best “sightline” of the screen. AMC’s chief marketing officer explained the change as bringing movie theaters in line with other entertainment venues, like Broadway shows, sports games, or concerts, where ticket prices range depending on one’s seat. But should movies be priced like these other forms of entertainment? And moreover, will AMC come to regret this decision?
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Deaccessioning: What is it, Why is it Controversial, and How is it Changing?
Elizabeth Huh
Deaccessioning is when objects and art in museums are permanently and formally removed from the museum’s collections. Museums typically have their own deaccessioning policies, procedures, and principles to make sure that deaccessioning decisions are made with care. Indeed, the Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD), which is an important industry group with members such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, provides guidelines in its “Policy On Deaccessioning” and “Professional Practices in Art Museums” that members must follow. Its deaccessioning policy as of June 9, 2010, and amended on October 2015, stipulates that “[a]quisitions to or deaccessions from the museum’s collection must be guided by well-defined written collecting goals and acquisition and deaccession principles, procedures, and processes approved by a museum’s Board of Trustees or governing body” and that they must comport with AAMD’s policies.
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Cancel Culture or Monetized Engagement?
Elizabeth Edel
“Cancel culture” and the discourse surrounding it in America has brought a new vigorous debate about the state of free speech in the nation. In the past several years, “cancel culture” has become a nearly ubiquitous term weaponized by those who purport to defend freedom of speech, even though the actual cancellations it refers to might realistically be few and far between. The phrase “cancel culture" might strike fear into those in the public eye, but in practice, there are many more examples of people who face merely a “slap on the wrist, [stay] quiet for a bit and then [get] on with their massive success.” Still, TikTok content creators continue to be vetted by brands and the weight of possible cancellation is part of contract considerations for brands working with influencers.
Nike, Bape, and a Showdown Twenty Years in the Making
Henry Raffel
If you tune in to Super Bowl LVII this Sunday, you might just hear Kevin Burkhardt or Greg Olsen quip the age-old adage that “the best defense is a good offense.” Certainly, the NFL’s uniform supplier agrees. Nike is no stranger to filing (and winning) suits against entities producing shoes a bit too close to their trademarks including: Ari Forman’s 2006 “Air Menthol 10’s,” an art project satirizing consumption, Newport cigarettes, and Nike’s Air Force 1; Lil Nas X and MSCHF’s 2021 “Satan Shoes” and “Jesus Shoes,” both altered versions of Nike’s Air Max 97; and Warren Lotas’ 2019 Nike SB Dunks which replaced the iconic swoosh with Jason Voorhees’ hockey mask. These “bootlegs” do not seek to mimic Nike shoes exactly but instead to take those elements and “mold them into something different.”
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Bedtime for Fortnite: The Perils of Being a “Child-Oriented” Online Game
Noah Howard
While video game headlines have been squarely focused on the intense regulatory scrutiny of Microsoft’s record-shattering acquisition of Activision Blizzard, the FTC more quietly upended gaming’s legal landscape through its settlement with Epic Games, Inc. for its Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) violations within Fortnite, a massively popular multiplayer shooting game. Epic will pay a record-breaking $275 million fine after a finding that Fortnite is a “child-directed” online service. The FTC is sending a clear message to video game businesses that they will be expected to comply with COPPA’s provisions, including and especially with its requirements that parents must consent before the company can collect the data of children under thirteen years old. The FTC has also ordered Epic to disable voice chat and text communication within Fortnite for users under age thirteen without affirmative parental consent. Through this sweeping action, the FTC touches upon a fundamental question: when it comes to video games, what counts as being “child-directed”?
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Would You Bank on Banksy? The Rise of Fractional Art Investing
Julia Heckelman
For most people, owning an original piece by Banksy, Monet, or Picasso is unimaginable. The fine art market has long been reserved for those with exorbitant wealth. However, the rise of fractional art ownership has substantially lowered the bar to entry for art investing. While purchasing a fractional share of an art piece is more attainable, being a shareholder in such an asset requires reimagining conceptions of art patronage and traditional investing.
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Miley Can Buy Herself Flowers with 300 Million Streams (and Some for Bruno too)
Margalit Zimand
One unexpected result of Miley Cyrus’ latest hit single is that it brought the concept of music sampling, albeit erroneously, to the forefront of the cultural discourse of the early part of 2023. “Flowers,” which was released on January 12th, has topped the charts and the gossip magazines ever since. This is due in part to a well-founded fan theory that the song is a direct jab at Cyrus’ ex-husband Liam Hemsworth. Contributing to this theory are the blatant similarities between “Flowers” and Bruno Mars’ “When I Was Your Man,” a song rumored to be both a favorite of Hemsworth’s and a song he once dedicated to Cyrus after their first breakup in 2013.
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Is it Free Speech or Isn’t It? (And Why WHO it Protects is All That’s Needed to Answer the Question.)
Ingrid Cherry
Clarence Thomas wants to overturn the actual malice standard articulated in the landmark case New York Times v. Sullivan. He has been pushing for reducing the standard needed to win libel cases for years. He hasn’t been alone in this crusade. Conservative groups have built a strong loathing for the standard, which they deem to be too onerous, a threat from liberal media brandished against their own who chose to “speak out.” Since Justice Gorsuch has joined the Supreme Court, Thomas has not been alone in his cause. While 2022 saw another year where the Supreme Court passed on the opportunity to hear a Sullivan-overturning case, 2023 may be the year the Court challenges the actual malice standard head-on.
Chess Cheating and Defamation Lawsuits
Sebastian Valdez-Oranday
In October 2022, Hans Niemann, a 19-year-old American Chess Grandmaster, filed a $100 million defamation lawsuit against the World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen, Chess.com, and a popular Twitch streamer and top chess player Hikaru Nakamura. Niemann’s lawsuit came in response to the previous month’s events that gave the chess world its biggest shock since Netflix’s The Queen’s Gambit. Niemann and Carlsen were both competitors in The Sinquefield Cup, a prestigious St. Louis chess tournament filled with some of the top chess players in the world. On September 4, 2022, Niemann beat Carlsen in their match during the early stages of the tournament. The next day, Carlsen withdrew from the tournament. During the tournament, Nakamura followed the action live on his Twitch stream and made suggestions that Carlsen likely believed Niemann had cheated during their match, and that Niemann had been banned from playing online chess by the platform chess.com.
Nintendo Continues to Battle an eSports Community Over its Use of Their Video Game
Brian Uhler
For those that read my previous JLA blog post back in October, you’ll remember that Nintendo has had a less than amicable relationship with an eSports community centered around one of their most popular games, Super Smash Bros. Nintendo has been reluctant to allow streaming rights when the Smash Bros. community has wanted to run professional tournaments, and Nintendo has retained a firm grip on its IP rights over its game and how the game may be used. Since the last post, things for the Smash Bros. community have only worsened. On November 29, 2022, the Smash Bros. tournament series “Smash World Tour” announced that it had to not only shut down its end-of-the-season Smash World Tour Championship event which would have taken place in December of 2022, but also its upcoming 2023 Smash World Tour. Smash World Tour’s circuit featured over 6,400 tournaments across the world in 2022, with over 325,000 entrants in total across the tournaments.
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Maybe It’s Time to Stop Crying Over Spilled Soup; An Attempt to Answer Climate Activists’ Query, ‘Art or Life?’
Lily Henderson
In one of the final scenes of Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, Helen, seeking revenge for her sister’s murder, sets flame to billionaire and murderer Miles Braun’s art collection, including his latest acquisition, Leonardo Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa. Director Rian Johnson admitted that in real life, Helen’s rampage would probably not be a “heroic action,” yet in the context of the film, the act appears almost just in relation to the far more tragic destruction, the death of a family member, that underlies Helen’s rage.
Hurdles Faced by E-Sports Development as a Parallel to Traditional Sports
Sebastian Valdez-Oranday
Over the past several years, North American e-sports have transformed from relatively unorganized gaming tournaments to competitive leagues organized and run by some of the biggest video game publishing companies. Publishing company Activision Blizzard responded to the growing popularity around first-person-shooter video games by creating two franchised competitive leagues centered on the company’s Overwatch and Call of Duty video game titles, respectively.
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Review of Oral Arguments in Warhol Foundation v. Goldsmith
Elizabeth Edel
During a year in which the Supreme Court has captured more national attention than usual, the focus paid to what could be a monumental case of fair (or unfair) use has been somewhat muted. In the case, Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. v. Goldsmith, the Justices will make a judgment on the transformation of art and what level of transformation can avoid claims of copyright infringement.
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An Overview of the Potential Legal Troubles from the Twitter Blue Fiasco
Elizabeth Huh
Elon Musk’s ownership of Twitter has been rife with challenges, from the initial revocation of his offer to the sudden layoffs. One notable blip was the new Twitter Blue system. Twitter originally gave out blue check marks to accounts such as official organizations and individuals that it verified to be notable and trustworthy. However, in early November, Twitter launched a new system where users could purchase blue check marks for their accounts through a monthly subscription of eight dollars without Twitter independently verifying the authenticity of the accounts.
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The Evolution and Demolition of the Interior Economic Structure of Talent Agencies
Connor Hudson
When considering that the first “talkie” motion picture debuted just over 95 years ago, it is easy to understand the entertainment industry as one that “to survive, has to reinvent itself every few decades, either by embracing new technology or by rewarding the entrepreneurial energy of younger executives.” Ever the consummate insiders, talent agents have traditionally served as the nexus between the creative and the commercial. Through information gathering, trafficking in relationships, politicking, and garnering leverage to deploy on behalf of clients while navigating the value chain of a company town, agents can counterbalance the disparity in bargaining between creatives and conglomerates
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Advocating for Expanding the Right of Publicity to Children of Mommy-Bloggers
Ingrid Cherry
Mommy-blogging first took off in the early 2000s. In the early days, mommy-bloggers connected with their audiences primarily through their blog (hence the name). These platforms and the creators behind them filled a valuable space in the child-having community. They discussed the good, the bad, and the ugly of being a parent and made topics like postpartum depression, adapting to parenthood, and admitting that there are certain things that their children do that simply annoy them mainstream. While the most successful bloggers amassed large audiences along with lucrative brand and advertising deals, there was a relative amount of privacy that these creators, and relevantly, their families enjoyed. Their work, insulated from the algorithms of Instagram and TikTok, which serve content based on a user’s metadata, needed to be sought out by readers. The written-form style of their content relied more on anecdotes than pictures and videos that might shatter any level of anonymity that their children had left.
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Combatting “Filth for Profit” – The New York State Legislature’s Investigation into the Comic Book Industry, and the Leading Role Played by a Columbia Law School Alumnus
Nathaniel Sans
Much like today, seventy years ago parents and policymakers were alarmed by the content of their kids’ reading material. In Austin, Texas, a “major [Parent-Teachers Association] project” sought to “[get] to the heart of the matter in their study of comic books,” while West Palm Beach’s City Commission considered legislation that would bar the sale of “crime, horror, and sex ‘comic books’” but was dissuaded from doing so when a civic organization worked with local distributors to cease sale of “very objectionable” publications. Closer to home, the Connecticut Parent-Teachers Association established the abolition of “unwholesome comic books” as one of its major goals for the second half of 1954, and in New York, parents investigated and argued against comics through local government and in civil society groups.
303 Creative L.L.C. v. Elenis: How the Court Comes to Terms with a Clash Between Freedom of Expression and Antidiscrimination
Margalit Zimand
In a couple weeks, the Supreme Court of the United States will decide if first amendment protection for artistic self-expression extends to homophobic messaging. This is of course a drastic oversimplification, but hits at the core conflict in 303 Creative L.L.C. v. Elenis. In 2019, the district court for the District of Colorado heard a case brought by Lorie Smith, founder, owner, and sole employee of 303 Creative L.L.C., a graphic design company. Smith had previously designed websites for anyone who hired her, without bias. But she was hoping to enter into a new realm that she feared would make that an impossibility for her moving forward. She wanted to start creating wedding websites and, while she would be willing to create a website celebrating the marriage of an opposite sex couple for a client of any sexual orientation, her religious convictions precluded her from creating a website celebrating a same sex marriage. To be safe, she wanted to publish a statement on her own website stating such.
LIV and Let Live? The Legal and Ethical Implications of an Upstart Pro Golf Tour
Spencer Becerra
In the United States, most sports fans are accustomed to having one league corresponding to each professional sport. Sometimes an upstart will try to disrupt the marketplace, but most lose steam because of insufficient capital and market interest. In the world of professional golf, the PGA Tour and DP World Tour (or European Tour), along with four affiliated major tournaments (i.e., The Masters) have dominated for close to a century. Enter LIV Golf, a professional tour which, thanks to the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund’s backing, can do what no upstart league has before: offer elite players exorbitant contracts and purses that dwarf those offered by the PGA. As a result, several high-profile PGA golfers have signed with LIV, triggering their immediate ban from PGA-affiliated events.
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Houston Astros: Is the Legacy of the 2017 Sign Stealing Scandal Still a Problem in 2022?
Alice S. Zheng
This past weekend, the Houston Astros beat the Philadelphia Phillies to win the 2022 World Series. The unexpected matchup saw elite pitching, come-from-behind victories, and Yordan Alvarez’s 450-foot moonshot in Game 6, which may have finally found its forever home amongst the millions of pieces of space debris orbiting the planet. But amidst the revelries, the specter of 2017 looms large. To many outside of the Houston Metropolitan Area, this marks the team’s first legitimate franchise victory, or at least the only win that isn’t qualified with an asterisk.
… for Reduced Instrumentation: Distilling Wilkofsky
Corey Whitt
The American orchestra is no stranger to the theater of labor conflict. Erupting in the 1960s, the ensembles—Chicago, Cleveland, Boston, and New York among them—have been host to an increasing share of labor disputes over the years, with the most recent San Antonio Symphony clash ending in a complete dissolution of the 83-year-old organization. Orchestras under the baton of Pennsylvania, however, are perhaps some of the most bellicose. The Philadelphia Orchestra has notoriously struck numerous times throughout its history, and in the fall of 2016, they joined the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra in trading the concert hall for the picket line, quieting the cultural export at both ends of the Commonwealth.
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Can Florida and Texas Regulate Content Moderation and User Removal from Social Media Platforms?
Francesca Huth
Large social media platforms have historically had significant freedom to regulate the content disseminated on their sites. First Amendment lawsuits against social media companies are “routinely dismissed” because social media companies are private actors and their “platforms are not public forums.” As a result, social media platforms can choose to filter out comments they categorize as false, harmful, or spam. In May of 2021, however, Florida passed a law severely restraining the editorial purviews of social media platforms.
This Just In: Sixth Circuit Declares Laughter Unconstitutional
Jared Hopper
If you fell for the title of this article, then you might just have fallen for Anthony Novack’s parody of his local police department’s Facebook page. Novack admits that his knockoff “looked like” the real thing, but he insists that “the posts . . . were clearly satire” and that he intended only to mock public officials in creating it. How Novack views his own work, however, will not do much to protect him. The First Amendment undoubtedly protects parody, but whether speech can be classified as such “depends on somebody getting the joke; parody succeeds only by its recognition as parody.” For courts, “somebody” is a reasonable person, but how exactly can we assess whether that person would classify something as parodic within a context like Facebook that is not historically linked to, nor inherently evident as, parody? This jurisprudence begs for uniform guidance from the Supreme Court on this standard as it relates to social media, particularly considering how Facebook parody is shaped over time by those interacting with it, and what lampooners like Novack can do to protect themselves without ruining the punchline.
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Who Owns Yeezy?
Michelle Gery
Fashion history is littered with brands that fell victim to indiscriminate and poorly executed licensing agreements. However, most brands today lack the resources and wherewithal to produce the entirety of their product offerings in-house, so brand collaborations and licensing remain extremely common throughout the industry. When done right, licensing can provide substantial benefits to both the licensor and licensee. However, when these deals go sour, they raise questions about who should maintain ownership of the intellectual property involved. The most recent example of such controversy involves Yeezy, the brand created by Ye (formerly known as Kanye West).
Life After Death: Artistic Control from Beyond the Grave
Henry Raffel
Jane Austen never finished writing Sanditon, but that did not stop others from trying. Austen’s own relatively somber vision for her manuscript, displaced by her passing, found new vistas in the warmer eyes of Alice Cobbett whose continuation added shipwrecks and married off a main character to a man mentioned for the first time on the last page.
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Should Video Game Mechanics Be Copyrightable?
Noah Howard
Video games exist in the bizarre liminal space between art and software. The incredible explosion of this relatively new medium has created unique creative modes and norms that the creators of modern copyright law likely did not imagine. Arguably, the creative core of video games is their mechanics, the means by which player and game interact with each other. Yet game mechanics, unlike the creative labor of other artistic mediums, have consistently been considered uncopyrightable. Though some might assume that this would lead to a stagnant industry full of creators unwilling to take unprotectable creative risks, the reality is a fascinating landscape that is full of as much innovative iterations as blatant copying.
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The Personal Data Collected to Create Spotify Wrapped
Jeff Szulc
I will be the first to admit that I look forward to reviewing my Spotify Wrapped every December. Being presented with an annual summary of my listening habits always feels like a fun insight into my changing music taste and how the year’s events have influenced the songs I listen to. However, like many consumers in the digital era, I sometimes wonder what happens behind the scenes that allows for the creation of a perfectly packaged representation of my year in music.
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It is a Revolutionary Fitness Method, But is it Copyrightable?
Marielena Melero Pardo
Though it initially seems as if exercise would never creep into the domain of intellectual property, a recent controversy has raised the following question: can exercise routines be subject to copyright protection?
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And the Plaintiffs Gonna Sue: Taylor Swift’s Ongoing Copyright Lawsuits
Julia Heckelman
Taylor Swift is no stranger to highly publicized lawsuits. However, in the last few weeks, two of Swift’s ongoing copyright infringement cases, Hall v. Swift and La Dart v. Swift, have captured substantial media attention.
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Price Complexity Finally Attracts Attention as National and Local Policymakers Address Hidden Fees
Alex Lloyd George
Drip pricing, service fees, resort fees, processing fees, facility fees, even “convenience” fees: low price transparency is a problem with a hundred names that takes a thousand small cuts out of the average consumer’s wallet across sectors ranging from hospitality and banking to entertainment and travel. If these hidden costs can be boiled down to a single sentiment, it is the following, “I didn’t sign up to pay for this.”
NY Assembly Bill A3719A: Identifying Art Stolen During the Holocaust
Brendan Goldberg
When I think of art from the Holocaust, I think of pieces like Bedřich Fritta’s Rear Entrance, a work that finds its viewer in a web of silent, yet overpowering despair. In the piece, a lone gate at the rear entrance of the Theresienstadt Ghetto leads one down a path of sorrow, arriving at the inescapable realization of the hidden atrocities that lay only feet inside. It tells a story. However, there is another category of art associated with the Holocaust; those pieces that were stolen from families, the majority of which were Jewish, during the Nazi’s reign.
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Loot Boxes: Virtual Kinder Eggs or Casinos for Kids?
Dylan Gaffney
“Loot boxes” have revolutionized the video game industry over the past decade. Millions of players open these virtual containers in order to receive unknown in-game items ranging from purely cosmetic “skins” to substantive characters and levels. Generally, the particular reward is determined entirely by chance, without player input.
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Copyright Authorship in the Context of the Conceptual Artist’s Studio
Lily Henderson
Earlier this summer a French court dismissed a lawsuit against Maurizio Cattelan, an elusive and sometimes controversial Italian artist known for his works such as La Nona Ora and Comedian. Daniel Druet, Cattelan’s studio assistant tasked with creating the wax portions of the sculptures at issue, sued Perrotin Gallery, Turenne Editions, and Monnaie de Paris for copyright infringement. The assistant alleged that he was the exclusive author of the works, and thus, he deserved accreditation and additional compensation. While Cattelan may have given the initial instructions for the composition, Druet claimed he brought the works to life. However, the court held that Druet did not overcome the strong presumption under French intellectual property code L113-1 that the author is the person whose name the work is exclusively disclosed under, in this case, Cattelan alone. The court also noted the procedural oddity of the case—Druet had not sued Cattelan himself; instead, the artist was impleaded.
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Why Law Schools Should Teach Engineering
Kathan Roberts
An emerging area of legal analysis, corpus linguistics, is introducing new methods of quantitative legal reasoning. Corpus linguistics is the use of computers to analyze a large set of texts in order to understand how a certain word or phrase is used within them. A classic example is to survey 18th century texts to determine the original meaning of “keep and bear arms” at the time the Second Amendment was adopted. Much of the existing corpus linguistics work has been in the areas of statutory and constitutional interpretation, but recent work in trademark law has shown that corpus linguistics can be useful anywhere the law asks questions about language.
Nintendo Clashes with eSports Community Over Streaming Permission
Brian Uhler
When a premier eSports tournament series wanted to livestream its professional tournament of a game released by video game developer Nintendo, Nintendo’s attempt to block the tournament series from streaming the event sparked widespread backlash from the video game community.
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No Longer [a]Migos: Atlanta’s Crackdown on “Black Hollywood” and the Culture that Built the City
Stella Martin
Questions of censorship and freedom of expression are at the forefront of political and legal discourse today. Far right politicians are banning books from Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda to The New Jim Crow. Meanwhile, folks on the left have organized pressure campaigns for publishers and bookstores to drop books by conservatives. The issue is complicated, and often discussed in terms of politics and democracy. However, limitations on freedom of expression are dangerous not only to our constitutional rights, but also to creativity in the arts and entertainment.
Queen Elizabeth II’s Funeral and the Politics of Public Mourning – Is Mourning Performative? Is it Political?
Joanna Brown
Following the death of Queen Elizabeth II on September 8, 2022, the world witnessed an elaborately choreographed memorial service reminiscent of a carefully rehearsed ballet. Military personnel and members of the Queen’s family marched (at a rate of 75 steps per minute, to be exact) from Westminster Hall to the Abbey and then to the Wellington Arch. Military units flanked the coffin, responding to different commands in perfect unison. On command, the coffin bearers lifted, raised high in the air, and returned the coffin back to a carriage or catafalque, all the while solemn faced, “betraying no strain.” Indeed, each second played a role in the ceremony—between moments of complete silence and bombastic renditions of “God Save the King,” of stillness and tiny synchronized movements rippling through the entire procession, one couldn’t help but feel moved, or at a minimum, impressed.
What Happens When NFTs are Stollen?
Julie Min
NFTs—surely, you’ve heard the buzzword. NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, are crypto assets on a blockchain that has unique identification codes that were developed in part to assure that the digital assets would always be traced back to their owners. As “non-fungible,” non-replaceable tokens, NFTs are basically one-of-a-kind trading cards that represent proof of ownership. But what happens if they get stolen?
Downstream Implications of AI Authorship
Christopher TenEyck
The past few years have seen the rapid growth in popularity of artificial intelligence programs designed to mimic human writing. These programs are increasingly effective. For example, a recent study was conducted in which participants were tasked with distinguishing between human and AI authored articles. Even after being explicitly told that half of the articles in front of them would be written by AI, human subjects had only a 52% success rate of distinguishing which articles were written by AI, only a little better than blind guessing. However, the use of language-based AI models is not only limited to populating websites with skimmable articles. AI is increasingly being used by authors to help produce and hone long-form written work. While most authors who use AI employ it as a brainstorming aid or to produce a high-volume of text that the author can edit and refine, recent months have also seen the proliferation of books that have been written exclusively by AI programs.
Disco Pop, Milkshakes, & Future Considerations in Music Sampling
Gabrielle Stanfield
There was no shortage of great music to enjoy this summer as Bad Bunny, Drake, and many other artists, graced our speakers and TikTok feeds with hit after hit. Joining this mix, just in time for August, Queen Bey dropped her highly anticipated seventh studio album, Renaissance. Described as a “disco-influenced pop record,” this musical masterpiece inspired us to dance, sing, and release our stress. Further, Beyonce is praised for the creativity and diversity that went into this project, specifically the stylistic influence of house music, and the recognition afforded to the Black queer spaces in which this genre first gained popularity.
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The Complications of Depicting Tattoo Art in Popular Works
Jake Morgan Rothstein
Adorning the bodies of our favorite musician’s, actors, and athletes, tattoos have become a ubiquitous element of popular culture. However, in 2011, tattoo arts Victor Whitmill shocked the entertainment world when he filed a lawsuit against Warner Bros. for their use of Mike Tyson’s notorious face tattoo in their film Hangover II. In the movie, Ed Helms’ character wakes up after a night of debauchery with an identical copy of Tyson’s famous ink branded on his face. In response, Whitmill, the artist behind the tattoo, filed a suit in the Eastern District of Missouri seeking a preliminary injunction to prevent the film’s theatrical release, despite the studio already having spent $80 million promoting the film. Luckily for Warner Bros., Judge Perry decided the costs to the studio would be too high to allow the preliminary injunction. That being said, despite siding with them on this initial action, she indicated that Whitman would likely prevail in a subsequent copyright infringement suit, calling the studio’s fair use argument “silly.” Unfortunately, the parties ultimately settled the matter through mediation, leaving the question open whether tattoo artists can successfully sue for others using the art they have permanently inscribed on people’s bodies.
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Coachella: Protecting a Music Festival’s Trademark and Brand
Zoe Rosen
The Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival, known as Coachella, just returned after two years. Coachella has become one of the most popular music festivals in the United States since it began in 1999. Headliners from its 2022 lineup include Harry Styles, Billie Eilish, Swedish Mafia House, and the Weekend. It has recently made news headlines regarding how it takes strong legal measures to maintain its brand and reputation. Most notably, Coachella protects its trademark. It has registered for “numerous variations of the Coachella mark” including “Chella, Coachella Valley, [and] Coachella.”
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What can you do if a company you love gets acquired by a company you hate?
Patrcik Ronan
This is a bit of an odd way to frame the question. Obviously, it's hard to say one can "love" a company. But surely one can love the products or brand that a company pushes out. And to say you "hate" a company probably refers more to something somewhat outside the actual company—maybe their CEO, maybe their company culture, maybe specific incidents they've been involved in—than the company itself. Regardless, it's a question many are familiar with, increasingly so with the wave of mergers and acquisitions in the last few years as already massive companies look to get more massive, "synergize", get bailed out, or gobble up the competition.
Personally, I've been asking myself this question with the recent news of two semi-noteworthy acquisitions. First, it was Savvy Gaming Group's (SGG) acquisition of ESL and Faceit for $1.5 billion in January. You probably haven't heard of SGG, but they are a fully owned subsidiary of the Saudi Arabian government's Public Investment Fund. And if you're not super into esports, you probably haven't heard of ESL or Faceit. Once competitors, ESL and Faceit have now merged under Saudi control to be the largest hosts of Esports tournaments and content in the world. They are now practically the ESPN, NFL, NBA, and MLB of Esports all tied into one. If you're a fan of Esports, particularly Counter-Strike, it is now basically impossible to watch the games you love without consuming some form of ESL/Faceit content.
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Inside the NBA's 'Winning Time' Trademark Dilemma
Casey Sandalow
HBO’s hit show, Winning Time, follows the rise of the Los Angeles Lakers dynasty of the 1980s and all the drama that surrounded it. Winning Time uses trademarked logos from the NBA, the Los Angeles Lakers, and other teams without permission. This unauthorized use is especially controversial because “the NBA and the athletes that Winning Time portrays — none of whom are profiting from the series, much less have any creative input — allegedly detest its very existence.”
The NBA has voiced its unhappiness about HBO’s use. Mike Bass, NBA executive and chief communications officer, expressed the league’s disapproval in a March email to The Athletic: “Clearances to use NBA trademarks were not sought or granted and the league objects to any unauthorized use of its intellectual property.” The Lakers noted that they “have no comment as we are not supporting nor involved with this project.” Despite these comments and attitudes, the NBA has not taken legal action against HBO.
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AAMD Should Extend Their Expiring Sanctions Pause on Deaccessioning Art
Celeste Fleetwood
In April 2020, the AAMD (Association of Art Museum Directors) announced a two-year suspension on censures and sanctions from museums using deaccession funds to pay for expenses directly attributable to collection care. The AAMD still does not approve of using deaccession funds for unrelated operating expenses. Pre-pandemic, the AAM (American Alliance of Museums) already allowed its members to use deaccession funds for collection care. Deaccessioning art is not illegal but most art museums have formal policies in place for when it is considered appropriate. New York is the only state with legislation regarding when a museum can deaccession objects. The industry norm is that sales proceeds from deaccessioned art should only be used for the acquisition of new art, but that does not help a museum in desperate need for funding to pay their employees during a pandemic or economic crisis. Deaccessioning can lead to sanctions from the AAMD and a freeze out from the industry during which time the museum will not be loaned exhibits from most, if not all, accredited museums.
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Andy Warhol Foundation v. Goldsmith: SCOTUS to Determine the Proper Test for Transformativeness
Caroline Rimmer
On Monday, March 28, 2022, the United States Supreme Court granted certiorari in Andy Warhol Foundation, Inc. v. Goldsmith. This case concerned a series of silkscreen prints and pencil illustrations created by Andy Warhol that were based on a 1981 photograph of Prince taken by Lynn Goldsmith. Andy Warhol received a license to create one work of art based on Goldsmith’s photograph. However, unbeknownst to Goldsmith, Warhol actually created 15 works based on her photograph (these works are referred to as the “Prince Series”). Goldsmith did not learn of the additional works until they were published in Vanity Fair immediately following Prince’s death in 2016.
How Much Does a Laugh Cost? Comedians’ Rising Demand for Royalty Payments for the Composition of Jokes
Siena Stanislaus
In 2019, Spoken Giants was founded as the first Global Rights Administration Company for the owners and creators of spoken word works—including comedians, podcast authors, speech writers, and others. Like ASCAP does for works of music, Spoken Giants aims to protect public performance, copying, and synchronization of Spoken Word works. In the world of copyright, recording rights (for audio recordings) are separate from composition rights (for the written work). Spoken artists are currently paid in the form of royalties as performers of their audio recordings only.
Dua Lipa’s Latest Copyright Infringement Battles: “Levitating” May Have Been Too Inspired
Saisha Mediratta
In the latest series of musical artists getting sued under copyright, two complaints have recently been filed against Dua Lipa regarding her song, “Levitating.” The first complaint filed in the Central District of California (hereinafter “Complaint 1”) alleges that Dua Lipa copied regae band Artikal Sound Group’s 2017 song, “Live Your Life.” The second complaint, filed in the Southern District of New York, states that the same copied L. Russell Brown and Sandy Linzer’s son, "Wiggle and Giggle All Night." While Dua Lipa has mentioned that her song borrows from an older era of music and has been candid that she took inspiration for her music, neither complaint outlines any direct evident of copying, but instead moves to show a “substantial similarity” between their work and Dua Lipa’s song.
Trouble in Paradise: The Copyright Office Says Artificial Intelligence Cannot Author Art
Sam Moghadam
Last month, the Review Board of the United States Copyright Office affirmed a 2019 refusal to register the two-dimensional artwork titled “A Recent Entrance to Paradise.” The initial application for registration was filed by Steven Thaler in 2018—but what makes the application particularly interesting is that Thaler did not list himself as the author of the work. Rather, he identified the author as an artificial-intelligence algorithm called “Creativity Machine.” Thaler did not merely assert that the work was generated with the assistance of AI, but that it “‘was autonomously created by a computer algorithm running on a machine.’”
“A Recent Entrance to Paradise” is part of a series of images simulating a near-death experience, in which the algorithm reprocesses pictures to create images and text passages representing a narrative about the afterlife. Thaler explains, “Rather than show a neural net pictures (as a big search engine company has) and allow it to replace items in the scene with weird objects deliberately planted by software engineers . . . these systems are exposed to their surroundings, ‘blindfolded,’ and allowed to choose from the myriad self-generated fantasies it [sic] finds most interesting.”
I Can See Actual Malice From My House: Palin’s Failed NYT Defamation Suit and the Debate Over the Sullivan Standard
David Akst
Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin sued the New York Times Company for defamation in 2017 over an editorial it published that year, “America’s Lethal Politics,” which suggested at one point that there was a “clear” and “direct” link between the 2011 shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords (which killed six others) and an ad run by a political action committee run by Palin a few months before that. The ad showed a map of the US with stylized crosshairs overlaying 20 Democrat-controlled districts the PAC wanted to flip in the 2010 midterms, including Giffords’ district. Shortly after publishing the editorial, the Times issued corrections stating that no such link had been established.
MSCHF’s C&D Grand Prix: Waving the checkered flag on infringement
Annie Seminara
If you’ve had your finger on the sneakerhead culture pulse, you may have heard of MSCHF’s Satan Shoes and Jesus Shoes. If you’re more of a visual arts person, MSCHF’s Medical Bill Art or the Museum of Forgeries might have caught your attention. Maybe you have no idea what I’m talking about. Well, if you’re a corporate lawyer, the art collective behind these genre-defying creations is hoping to change that. In January 2022, MSCHF sought to gain the legal world’s attention with a new project: the Cease & Desist Grand Prix. In doing so, it gave one company an opportunity to demonstrate the importance of tailoring a cease and desist letter for its audience.
Known for its buzzworthy, biweekly releases (or “drops” as MSCHF calls such events), MSCHF (pronounced “mischief”) launched the Cease & Desist Grand Prix as drop #68 on January 24, 2022.
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U.S. Olympic Figure Skaters Sued for Copyright Infringement
Stephany S. Kim
The end to the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics was as agonizing as its beginning was dull. After the lowest-rated opening ceremony in history—one commentator described the ceremony as an “artless, uninspired dud”—the Olympics was clouded with another Russian doping scandal, while the immense pressure that Olympic athletes face came under public attention once again. This is not to say that the Games were without accomplishments: Nathan Chen took men’s figure skating by a storm, Eileen Gu became the first athlete to medal in three different freestyle skiing events, and Erin Jackson became the first Black woman to medal in speedskating at the Olympics, just to name a few. However, against the backdrop of public health disaster and political brinkmanship, the Games just did not deliver the “kind of inspiration” it used to.
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A Racket over a Jacket: Does Lego’s “Queer Eye” Set Infringe a Designer Leather Jacket?
Josh Berlowitz
A $99 toy set could have avoided thousands in litigation costs for Lego. The kerfuffle begins with the world’s largest toy company introducing a toy set starring the Fab Five from Netflix’s Queer Eye. But no one from Lego or Netflix obtained the rights to turn designer clothing worn by the Fab Five on the show into Lego apparel.
Enter James Concannon, a multidisciplinary artist who designed several items worn by the Fab Five’s Antoni on the show, each of which Netflix duly obtained a release for—except the crucial jacket. This copyright-registered leather jacket featured Concannon’s “original artwork, compos[ed] and arrang[ed] . . . to reflect Concannon’s signature style.” Concannon maintains he never granted Netflix a license to display the work—and he “certainly” never licensed the jacket to Lego. But when Lego announced its Queer Eye collab, the Lego Antoni toy was wearing a Lego version of Concannon’s “really iconic leather jacket.” Concannon cried foul.
NCAA Swimming Holds Fast on Transgender Student-Athlete Eligibility, Lia Thomas to Swim at Ivies
Steven Hao
The regulation of transgender athletes at elite levels of competition has seen significant debate, upheaval, and at times, progress, in recent years. In 2021, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) modified its policy on transgender and intersex competitors, a shift that came just three months after the Tokyo Summer Olympics, where the first transgender and/or nonbinary athletes (Laurel Hubbard, Alana Smith, Quinn, and Chelsea Wolfe) represented their countries on sports’ highest stage. The new IOC framework replaced previous policies that originally required athletes to get gender reassignment surgery and later, prescribed limits to testosterone levels.
Koons Lawsuit. Again?!
Amaya Contreras Driggs
Renowned New York pop culture artist, Jeff Koons, who has long built his work around pre-existing images, appropriating, and adapting them into caustic and humorous critiques of contemporary society, is at the center of yet another lawsuit. While he is one of the world’s most celebrated contemporary artists, with record-selling inflatable sculptures, the well-known, yet controversial artist has faced several lawsuits. His disputes have involved art depicting puppies, sandals, children, Garfield, a ballerina, a pig, etc. And now, an adult film set prop, or if I can be more blunt, a sex platform.
Fashion Sustainability Act in New York
Tiffany Kim
The environmental impact of fashion, especially fast fashion, cannot be repeated too often. A quick run-through of statistics: the fashion industry is responsible for 8-10% of global CO2 emissions (4-5 billion tons annually), ~20% of industrial water pollution (79 trillion liters per year), and ~35% of oceanic primary microplastic pollution. Despite all this production pollution, many unsold products go to landfill or is burnt. This is probably not the first time many people have heard these numbers, but the numbers are still shocking and damning.
Zero to NIL in Sixty Seconds: Student-Athletes, Video Games, and the NCAA
Andrew Baim
In July 2013, the NCAA opted not to renew its licensing contract with video game designer Electronic Arts, effectively setting an expiration date on the NCAA EA Sports series. The NCAA assessed too much risk in the deal, following a class action antitrust lawsuit led by former UCLA Bruin Ed O’Bannon, who found his image and likeness in NCAA Basketball 09 without permission or compensation. So long as the NCAA forbade players from obtaining compensation for use of their name, image, and likeness (NIL), while the NCAA profited from their use, the NCAA would be susceptible to such suits ad nauseum.
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How Breyer’s Retirement Affects College Athlete Rights at the Supreme Court
Coby Rabushka
On January 26, Stephen Breyer announced he would be retiring from the Supreme Court. As with the passing or retirement of any Supreme Court Justice, hiding just behind the congratulatory and farewell remarks stand interested parties racing to determine how this development affects their legal aims. One party sure to be acutely aware of the consequences of Breyer’s retirement is the National College Athletics Association (the NCAA). During oral arguments for the watershed case of NCAA v. Alston last March, Breyer identified himself as an NCAA traditionalist, seeing college sports as markedly distinct from professional sports, both legally and in spirit.
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West Elm Caleb: The Right of Publicity and Why Brands Should Stay Away
Noah Klein
Last month, a TikTok user posted video in which she joked about being “ghosted” by a man named Caleb. Despite her video not referring to the now infamous “West Elm Caleb,” her post was quickly inundated with stories from other women in New York City about their terrible experiences with a man named Caleb who works at West Elm. These experiences, which tell the story of a serial dater who allegedly “love bombed” women before sending them unsolicited nudes and ultimately ghosting them, quickly led to “West Elm Caleb” going viral. As is common with any major event or trend on TikTok, brands looking to gain some exposure from the buzz quickly jumped-in with their own commentary. For example, Hellmann’s Mayonnaise tweeted “West Elm Caleb thinks mayo is spicy.”
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Federal Court to Hear NFT Trademark Case Brought by Hermès
Shahab Pournaghshband
This year, major corporations such as Nike, Adidas, Louis Vuitton, and Burberry invested into the NFT space, and it would be no surprise if their peers were to follow. Individual artists, like Mason Rothschild, have also begun to use NFTs as a new medium for their expressive works. Rothschild created “MetaBirkins,” an NFT project of digital art almost identical to the Birkin bag, the highly popular handbag designed by world-famous luxury brand Hermès. MetaBirkins were wildly popular among the NFT community, surpassing $1.1 million in sales and with the most expensive sale at $45,100. Hermès soon after sent Rothschild a cease-and-desist letter for trademark infringement, to which Rothschild claimed fair use and First Amendment defenses. Hermès then filed suit. Fortunately for those of us speculating on the legal treatment applicable to NFTs, Hermès’s recently filed complaint in the Southern District of New York presents a federal court the opportunity to clear up some intellectual property-related uncertainties.
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Cassirer v. Thyssen-Bornemisza: How an Impressionist Masterpiece Became a Choice of Law Nightmare
Jamie Lee
On December 18, the Supreme Court heard arguments for a case involving Camille Pissarro’s Rue St. Honoré, après-midi, effet de plui (1897), a painting that has been the center of a 17-year-long dispute. The work – which Justice Breyer called “a beautiful painting” – was purchased by the Cassirer family directly from Pissarro’s exclusive agent and was later passed down to Lilly Cassirer Neubauer. She held it in her possession until 1939, when she was forced to relinquish it to the Nazis in exchange for $350 (which she never received) and exit visas that she and her husband needed to flee Germany. In 1954, upon Lilly’s attempt to recover the painting, the U.S. Court of Restitution Appeals declared her the rightful owner but had no information on the painting’s whereabouts. She received a $13,000 settlement from the German government, but never waived her right to the painting should it ever resurface.[2] Unbeknownst to the Cassirer family, the painting had made its way to California and was acquired by a German gallery owner who consigned it to the Knoedler Gallery in New York City. It then sold to a St. Louis collector Sydney Shoenberg for his private collection. Upon Shoenberg’s death, it was purchased by Baron Hans Heinrich von Thyssen-Bornemisza in Switzerland. Together with the Kingdom of Spain, the Baron established the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection Foundation in 1993. In a $350 million deal, the Baron sold most of his art collection, including the Pissarro painting, to the Foundation. The collection was housed in a palace in Madrid where the painting remained until the time of this dispute.
Cold Stove: The State of the MLB Lockout
Adam A. Vischio
As a Mets fan, I often enjoy the MLB offseason more than the regular season. The offseason, or “The Hot Stove” as it’s called, brought hope that the Mets might make the right moves and sign the appropriate free agents to bring a championship to New York (it has not happened in my lifetime… yet). The wheeling and dealing at the December General Manager meetings, the exciting trade rumors, and lofty free agent contracts make the MLB offseason a spectacle worth monitoring.
Slate Finance in Film Production: Don’t Go Chasing Waterfalls
Dan Borkin
Although film-specific risk is reduced through the diversification achieved with slate financing, slate finance in its current form is an unfavorable vehicle for investors due to the revenue recoupment practices of film studios. I will use Sony Pictures and Relativity Media’s ’07 Beverly Slate agreement to demonstrate that equal investment does not lead to equal returns, and that a film studio, due to its role as a distributor, is advantaged in the revenue recoupment process.
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Live TV Service in the Age of Streaming
Aileen L. Kim
Radio, broadcast TV, cable TV—and now, streaming services. There was a time when a cable TV subscription was indispensable for anyone owning a TV. However, dominant forms of entertainment have constantly changed over time, and streaming services have become a familiar part of our lives. I did not feel the full force of the change until I learned that Columbia University was phasing out wired cable TV service and switching to a streaming cable TV service for most of its buildings, with the process beginning this fall.
DAOs and Democratization: Endless Utility in the Future of Web3
Shahab Pournaghshband
When Sotheby’s announced that it would be auctioning one of the thirteen remaining copies of the United States Constitution earlier last month, a group of cryptocurrency fanatics created ConstitutionDAO, a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO), in hopes of placing the winning bid. The organization surpassed all expectations and raised a mind-boggling $46 million within a week, receiving donations from 17,437 members. Those interested in joining the DAO could donate Ether in exchange for a token, $PEOPLE, granting them a share of ownership in the Constitution as well as the right to vote on which museum should house it. The movement was inspired by shared underpinnings inherent to web3 (decentralization, blockchain, and cryptocurrency) and the Constitution: democracy, opportunity, and individual empowerment. The effort received significant media attention, exposing millions of Americans and people around the world to the capabilities of crypto and DAOs. A question, however, remains: What exactly is a DAO, and for what purposes may it be used?
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If You Want Something Done, Do it Yourself: With Self-Service Repair, Apple Takes Point on FTC Enforcement
AJ Handler
In November, Apple announced Self Service Repair, a new program that will give customers access to genuine parts and tools to perform repairs on their own Apple devices, beginning in 2022 with the iPhone 12 and 13, and including Mac computers after that. The announcement comes in the wake of a policy statement adopted by the Federal Trade Commission, which in July voted unanimously to enhance enforcement against repair restrictions found to violate antitrust or consumer protection laws. Consumer advocates have welcomed the FTC policy as a win for end users, independent service shops, and the environment. Big Tech firms have long opposed a “right to repair,” citing concerns about consumer safety, privacy, and data security, but Apple’s leadership on the issue could signal a breakthrough for the industry.
SheStoleWhat?
Amaya Contreras Driggs
Fashion lines, 2.7 million Instagram followers, an architectural digest feature, a New York Times best-selling book–--albeit with a dagger--–and a spot on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list. WeWoreWhat (WWW) fashion-and-lifestyle blogger, designer, entrepreneur, and influencer, Danielle Bernstein has surpassed a plethora of milestones at only twenty-nine years old, yet she has a pattern of stealing designs, from small businesses.
Miramax v. Tarantino: Pulp Fiction and NFTs
Caroline Rimmer
On November 16, 2021, Miramax filed suit in California against director Quentin Tarantino. This suit stems from Tarantino’s announcement two weeks prior that he intended to auction off 7 uncut Pulp Fiction scenes as Secret NFTs. These NFTs are “secret” in the sense that they contain “content viewable only by the owner of the NFT.” In the complaint, the attorneys representing Miramax emphasized the fact that Tarantino did not apprise Miramax of his plans. Miramax asserts this is “particularly problematic” because Tarantino assigned nearly all of his rights to the film, including those they allege are necessary for the sale of such NFTs, to Miramax in 1993.
The Premier League’s Owners’ and Directors’ Test Just Failed!
Noah Klein
On October 8th, the Premier League confirmed the takeover of Newcastle United: one of English football’s most historic clubs. Despite ending the historically unpopular 14-year reign of Mike Ashley as owner of the club, the takeover welcomed an authoritarian leader into league’s ranks. This is because the consortium that purchased the club is headed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (“PIF”), which is chaired by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (“MBS”).
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Rerecord(R)ed: On Music Copyright and Taylor Swift’s Decision to Rerecord Her Songs
Saaman Moghadam
Last week, Taylor Swift released Red (Taylor’s Version), a rerecording of her 2012 studio album, Red. It is the second in what will presumably be a six-album series of rerecordings of her early work—and part of a roundabout attempt to regain ownership of her back catalogue. To understand the significance of Swift’s decision to create entirely new recordings of these songs, we must understand both the tricky way in which music copyright functions and the transactional history of Swift’s musical output.
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Benjamin and NFTs: Musings on the Enduring Narrative of Authenticity
Tiffany Kim
In 2021 I learned about non-fungible tokens (NFTs). As someone who was taking Property (Foundation) when the first newsworthy sales of NFTs graced the media, the timing of this learning could not have been any better. What struck me then was the enduring narrative of authenticity in the concept of art, and in extension, in the ownership of art.
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A Potential Change to California’s Recording Industry
Zoe Rosen
For decades, Los Angeles, California, has been home to record labels, management companies, agencies, entertainment attorneys, and artists, creating one of the United States’ main centers for the music industry. However, California State assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez recently proposed legislation that could have a longstanding impact on recording contracts and shape the music industry in California. Earlier this year, she introduced Assembly Bill 1385, known as the Free Artists from Industry Relations (FAIR) Act. If passed, it would which would remove an influential loophole in California’s current labor laws as applied to recording contracts.
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Where are all the Weed Ads? Explaining the Dearth of Cannabis Marketing on Broadcast and Streaming Media
Annie Seminara
This year, New York legalized recreational marijuana use, becoming the 15th state to do so. What does this mean for broadcast and streaming advertisements? How soon can we expect ads for marijuana retailers to punctuate our cable news segments or periodically interrupt that series we are binge-watching on Hulu (because we REFUSE to pay the extra $6.99/month for Hulu No Ads)?
The NBA’s Missing Vaccine Mandate?
Steven Hao
In recent years, the NBA has been lauded for its ability to adapt to crises and leverage its bully pulpit to advance messages of activism. After the onset of the COVID-19 outbreak in the United States in spring of 2020, the league pivoted the remainder of its season to a meticulously crafted “Bubble” held in Walt Disney World, recouping an estimated $1.5 billion in revenue while recording a whopping zero cases of COVID-19 among participating teams. At around the same time, the NBA refused to enforce rules requiring players to stand for the national anthem, as players and coaches around the league kneeled in solidarity with ongoing demonstrations against systemic racism and police brutality.
VARA and Mural Art: Courts Countenance Concealment
David Akst
In 1993, artist Samuel Kerson painted a two-panel mural called The Underground Railroad, Vermont and the Fugitive Slave, on a wall of the private Vermont Law School (VLS), which had commissioned him to do so. Eight feet high and 48 feet across, the mural depicted the violence of American slavery and Vermont’s role in freeing some slaves. The piece was painted directly onto sheetrock, mostly eliminating the possibility of its removal without destruction. That would become a big issue when, after 20+ years of student complaints and the summer of 2020, VLS decided it would no longer display the mural. But VLS also may have known or suspected that the mural would meet the standard of “works of recognized stature” under the federal Visual Artists Rights Act of 1990 (VARA), which largely prohibits the destruction of such works even by their owner during the life of the artist; VLS decided to conceal the mural with a “permanent” wall of acoustic panels.
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Christian Rosa’s Forgery Scheme: A Layout of Forgery Prosecutions
Saisha Mediratta
This past week, the FBI and the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York issued an arrest warrant for Christian Rosa, a once up and coming artist himself of the longstanding forgery scheme of impersonating his mentor Raymond Pettibon’s artwork. A grand jury indicted Rosa on wire fraud conspiracy, wire fraud, and aggravated identity theft for “completing” Pettibon’s four unfinished pieces and contacting buyers to sell these unnamed works. Pettibon’s paintings have valued for over $1million and earned him widespread popularity in the 80s and 90s for his comic book style artwork and his use of pop culture in his artistry. Rosa’s own work has been valued anywhere from $30,000–$300,000 making him a name in the art world himself and enabling him to sell the Pettibon’s forgeries with credibility. The charges all carry sentences from 2–20 years, reflecting the complex nature of prosecuting art forgery crimes under federal statute.
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Is Jason Voorhees Gone for Good?
Stephany Kim
After the “cancellation” of Halloween last year, people are not holding back this season. Haunted houses are scarier than ever, and Halloween parties are more extravagant than ever. But uninvited to these parties is Jason Voorhees, the hockey-masked serial killer from Friday the 13th. In recent years, instead of haunting American movie theaters alongside Michael Myers from the Halloween franchise, Jason has been mired in a legal battle launched by the original screenwriter of Friday the 13th, Victor Miller.
UFC Fighters Try to Level the Playing Field With Antitrust Class Action Suit
Jake Rothstein
In 2014 several former UFC fighters brought a class action lawsuit against Zuffa, LLC (The Ultimate Fighting Championship or UFC), alleging that the organization has maintained monopoly power over the mixed martial arts (“MMA”) market through a pattern of anticompetitive behaviors, in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act. As part of this allegedly anticompetitive scheme, the UFC has incorporated into their contracts an “Exclusivity Clause” to lock fighters into long-term contracts that can be terminated at the organization’s discretion, a “Right to First Offer,” allowing the UFC to match their competitors’ offers to fighters after contract expiration, and an “Ancilliary Rights Clause,” granting the UFC exclusive rights in perpetuity to the likenesses of fighters and “all persons associated” with them for commercial purposes, such as merchandising, videogames, and broadcasts.
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Jasper Johns and Seventeen-Year-Old Jéan-Marc Togodgue’s Copied Drawing of a Knee
Celeste Fleetwood
Slice, ninety-one-year-old, Jasper Johns’ painting is currently on display at the Whitney Museum of American Art. The painting drew inspiration from a 1986 star map, Slice of the Universe, sent to Johns by astrophysicist Dr. Margaret Geller and directly copied seventeen year old Jéan-Marc Togodgue’s drawing of a knee without the teenager’s permission or knowledge.
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Rosemary’s Baby Saves Your Local Theater
Dan Borkin
At this year’s Code Conference, Ari Emanuel, CEO of Endeavor, was asked if he believed movie theaters will continue to exist. The interviewer echoed a popular sentiment, that the theater business had a terminal illness. Sooner or later, theaters, like tears in rain, would become a memory, fully replaced by direct-to-consumer streaming services.
The Risk of Profit-Participation Contractual Terms: “Black Widow” Suit, a Warning
Andrew Baim
On September 30, Scarlett Johansson and Disney settled a dispute alleging Disney breached its employment contract on the film “Black Widow” by sabotaging the film’s theatrical release. On the heels of this controversy, it is important to note the competing contractual and corporate obligations that sparked it, and how other film companies should take note moving ahead.
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Bugs, Bans, and Bets: The Imperfections of the Esports Integrity Commission
Patrick Ronan
Esports—a blanket term for the vast and diverse ecosystem of professional gaming—are expected to generate over $1 billion in revenue for the first time this year. Such financial growth (and the venture capital interest it has spurred) increases the stakes for the competition underlying the industry and, like any other professional sport, requires a robust system to ensure the integrity of professional matches. Enter the Esports Integrity Commission ("ESIC"), an independent regulatory commission formed in 2016 that oversees member events across several different esports titles.
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Is The Bad Art Friend Entitled to a Fair Use Defense?
Casey Sandalow
The kidney story has taken the online world by storm. Somehow unrelated to Squid Game, a recent New York Times article details the ongoing saga of social tension and legal warfare between Dawn Dorland and Sonya Larson, two Boston-area writers who have achieved varying degrees of literary success. This twisty tale has the makings of an excellent mini-series: kidney donation, accusations of plagiarism, private gossip made public, white savior narratives, and an exclusive group called the “Chunky Monkeys.”
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Real Life Endgame? Disney’s Fight to Retain Copyright Ownership of Marvel Characters
Siena Stanislaus
On September 24th, 2021, Marvel Characters, Inc. (“Marvel”), a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company, filed a complaint with the District Court for the Southern District of New York against artist Lawrence Lieber’s attempt to reclaim copyright ownership over several widely known Marvel characters. Lawrence Lieber, also a writer and the brother of famous Marvel contributor Stan Lee, sent six notices of termination to Marvel between the months of May and August of 2021. These termination notices argue that according to the Copyright Revision Act of 1976, Lieber has a right to terminate grants of transfer or license prior to 1978 of “works authored or co-authored by Lieber,” specifically works published by Marvel between 1962 and 1964.
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How the Premier League's VAR’s Strict Standard of Review Limits its Potential
Coby Rabushka
When the English Premier League introduced the Video Assistant Referees (VAR) system in November 2018, soccer fans across the world rejoiced. In a sport like soccer, where low-scoring matches are the norm, winning or losing the match often turns on referee decisions that are made in an instant. The error may be an incorrect offsides call, a phantom foul that was awarded a penalty kick, or a plainly obvious, but missed, handball. And for decades, suffering teams were powerless in the face of these errors. Many postured, and still argue, that over the the course of a season, the bad luck of incorrect referee decisions will ultimately “even out.” But for teams that had their season end because of a bad decision, this reasoning seemed like a deficient consolation.
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Did the Second Circuit Really Call Andy Warhol “Derivative”?
Joshua Berlowitz
Andy Warhol has been called “the most important Western artist overall of the second half of the twentieth century” who “transformed both the appearance of art and the behavior of artists.” Nevertheless, in Andy Warhol Found. for the Visual Arts, Inc. v. Goldsmith, the Second Circuit held that (at least some of) Warhol’s works were not only not “transformative” but nearly “derivative”—about as “pejorative” a term as any that can be used to describe art. What gives?
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Already Opting Out of the CASE Act? An Overview of the Copyright Claims Board and Recent Concerns Post-Arthrex
Adam Vischio
Step into the shoes of a graphic designer. You operate a website where you sell your artwork and various items featuring your designs. Now, one day, you see a host of shirts and posters on Etsy using your catalog without permission and profiting off your labor. What is your recourse? Is it worth spending tens of thousands of dollars to bring a copyright infringement case? Probably not because you may not even find an attorney willing to take on your case.
“It’s a Crossover!” WandaVision and the IP Ramifications of Disney’s 2019 Acquisition of Fox
Alison Robins
*spoilers for WandaVision through episode 6*
The most Marvel-obsessed viewers of WandaVision (on Disney+) may not have been shocked to see Pietro Maximoff, titular character Wanda’s dead twin brother, show up at the end of episode five, but it is doubtful that any of them expected the silver-haired speedster to be actor Evan Peters.
They may have not seen it coming because until less than two years ago, it couldn’t have happened.
Japan Mulls Reforms to Clarify the Relationship Between Copyright and Cosplay
Rameez Anwar
The Japanese government is currently mulling new changes to the country’s copyright laws that “could change cosplay forever.” Popular anime streaming website Crunchyroll reports that the new rules are intended to “regulate copyright disputes between cosplayers and IP owners” as a means to promote the country’s “Cool Japan” strategy and to “promote cosplay overseas with anime fans in a ‘positive way.’”
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Black Women are Breaking Glass Ceilings in the NFL and MLB
David Alexander
Lately Black women have been on all of our screens – television, computer, or mobile. Whether its Kamala Harris becoming the first Black and South Asian woman to become Vice President of the United States, National Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman delivering an address at this year’s Presidential inauguration, or Rosalind Brewer becoming the third Black woman to helm a Fortune 500 company as CEO, it is clear that Black women are finally being elevated to the positions they’ve long fought for and deserved. Yet, while these women have dominated the limelight across television talk shows and online media outlets, there are two Black women who have also achieved a series of firsts in the world of sports who deserve a moment of appreciation.
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The Future of Newcastle United and Antitrust Law in Sports
Ahmed Imam
In the midst of a global pandemic, the summer of 2020 was bleak. For others, however, namely fans of Newcastle United FC, one of the biggest and most storied soccer clubs in England, the summer seemed like the light at the end of a tumultuous 12-year tunnel. Indeed, it was in April that the news first broke out that the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund, the Kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund, reached an agreement with current Newcastle owner Mike Ashley to purchase the club for a reported $407 million.
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Basketball is back, but at what cost?
Shannon Morgan
On January 12, 2021, the United States had 229,712 new COVID-19 cases and set the record for the most COVID-19 deaths in a single day with 4,406 deaths. On this same day, the National Basketball Association (“NBA”) announced its new COVID-19 protocols in light of a rise in NBA related cases. The new protocols restricted players to their homes, unless attending “team-related activities at the team facility or arena, exercise, or perform[ing] essential activities, or as a result of extraordinary circumstances,” mandated that pre-game meetings last no more than 10 minutes, limited player interactions to “elbow or fist bumps,” and more. Prior to the new protocols, the NBA’s original COVID-19 rules left the Philadelphia 76ers with only seven healthy players for one of their games, and now the league is considering adding more players to team rosters because the new protocols have led to numerous absences and postponements. The new protocols exemplify how the NBA continues what seems to be an uphill battle against COVID-19. However, at a time when COVID-19 continues to spread wildly in the U.S. and the NBA’s solution is to add protocols and players, which increase risks, why is basketball still being played and at what cost?
Whose Collective? Questions Abound as Mechanical Licensing Collective Goes Live
Rameez Anwar
The Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC) was established by the Music Modernization Act (the “Act”), a landmark and labyrinthine piece of legislation. The Copyright Office has dubbed the Act “the most significant piece of copyright legislation in decades” that “updates our current laws to reflect modern consumer preferences and technological developments in the music marketplace.” The Act is divided into three titles. The MLC is the centerpiece of Title I—Musical Works Modernization Act. The MLC is a nonprofit Mechanical Rights Organization responsible for “[issuing] and [administering] blanket mechanical licenses to eligible streaming and download services (digital service providers or DSPs).” The MLC is also responsible for collecting the royalties derived from those blanket licenses and disbursing the royalties to the appropriate songwriters, composers, lyricists, and music publishers.
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Giuliani, Borat, and the Art of Legal Satire
Marcus Hunter
As former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani appears to literally melt under the growing pressure of pursuing baseless election lawsuits on the Trump campaign’s behalf, it’s easy to forget that late last year he was embroiled in an entirely different scandal. In late October, Giuliani appeared in a light most charitably described as unflattering in the sequel to Sacha Baron Cohen’s Borat. After an interview with Borat’s teenage daughter (played by twenty-four-year-old actress Maria Bakalova), Giuliani retreats to a hotel room with her, appearing to begin removing his pants before Cohen bursts in to the rescue. Giuliani denies he was doing anything inappropriate in Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, but if he wishes to bring suit against Cohen he will fight an uphill battle. Many have sued Cohen for his Borat capers, but none successfully. This is likely due to the legal team advising him along the way and reinforcing his satire with ironclad releases and waivers supplemented by careful study of First Amendment protections and state law, from anti-SLAPP statutes to recording consent rules.
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Nintendo Has “No Choice” But to Stop Fans Playing Their Games? #FreeMelee and Fair Use in Online Gaming
Alison Robins
We are all trying to make do and figure out ways to socialize in this age of pandemic. From Fortnite to Among Us, everyone from your teen cousin to members of Congress appears to be online gaming. Yet, one company that should be loving this attention has gone the other way and asked its users to stop: Nintendo. Nintendo recently sent a cease-and-desist demand to the organizers of an online tournament centered around one of their properties, Super Smash Bros. Melee (“SSBM”).
Drake Can Have His Pound Cake and (Fairly) Use it Too
Dola Adebayo
“Only real music’s gonna last. All that other bullsh** is here today and gone tomorrow…”
Earlier this year, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a major decision holding recording artist Aubrey “Drake” Graham’s sampling of Jimmy Smith as fair use.
When it comes to sampling in music, artists and producers must go through a structural process of obtaining licenses to incorporate other works into their own. There are normally two licenses that are required for a sample clearance: the license for the original musical composition (i.e. sheet music) and the license for the original sound recording.
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The NBA’s Amended Collective Bargaining Agreement Gives the Best Advantage to the Worst Teams
David Alexander
The NBA and the player’s union agreed to an amended collective bargaining agreement (“CBA”) early last week, following the conclusion of the 2019-2020 season in October. Both parties were forced to barter over and arrive at an amended agreement well before the expiration of the current agreement because the 2019-2020 season had been unexpectedly prolonged due to Covid-19. While the 2019 NBA season started on October 16th and ended on June 13th, this year’s season ended on October 20th, nearly a week after the 2020 season should have started. Instead of simply moving next season back nearly a full calendar year to align with the usual schedule, the 2020-2021 season will begin December 22nd, a little before this post goes live on the JLA Beat. In an effort to return to a more typical timeline next season (i.e. the 2021-2022 season) and reduce travel, both parties agreed to reduce the number of games in the season from 82 to 72. Yet although this agreement seems to favor the players by reducing the number of games played (and retaining the same salary cap and luxury tax as last year), this amended CBA creates stark imbalances in terms of team preparation and gives the worst teams from last year the best chance to succeed.
All Songs Are Derivative Works: Copyright and the Reality of Music Composition
Gersham Johnson
Songwriters across the country likely breathed a sigh of relief in response to Led Zeppelin’s recent victory in the Supreme Court. The Court’s decision to deny certiorari and curtail an infringement suit—in a case holding that the band’s legendary 1971 song “Stairway to Heaven” did not infringe Spirit’s song “Taurus”—comes after a tidal wave of copyright infringement litigation that has led some songwriters to seek insurance for fear of facing crippling liability. But while courts may have begun putting the brakes on excessive music infringement claims, copyright law itself may continue standing in the way of musical progress.
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Rule 50: Protecting the Integrity of the Olympics or Infringing Upon Freedom of Expression?
Shannon Morgan
Ever since Colin Kaepernick famously sat during the national anthem in 2016, athlete activism has been taken to new heights. From the National Basketball Association (“NBA”) and Women’s National Basketball Association (“WNBA”) putting the Black Lives Matter movement at the forefront of their respective summer seasons, to the National Football League (“NFL”) launching their voting initiative, “NFL Votes”, to Naomi Osaka donning seven masks with the names of Black people whose lives have been tragically taken away, in 2020 athletes and leagues more than ever are using their platform to advocate for a better, more equitable society for all. Therefore, at a time when it seemed like the sports world was embracing athlete activism, it came as an unwelcome surprise when the International Olympic Committee (“IOC”) issued guidelines earlier this year that prohibit certain acts of protests and demonstrations at the Olympic Games.
Developer’s Final Strike at Graffiti Artists is Brushed Aside by the Supreme Court
Alexandra Weissfisch
Graffiti art plays a meaningful part in the art world. The graffiti art movement has relatively recently become widely accepted for its vibrant, stylistic, and creative nature. Nonetheless, graffiti artists continue to stand on uncertain grounds in the legal world, and tensions between graffiti and street art and property owners have become commonplace. These legal tensions have been somewhat eased by the Supreme Court’s recent rejection to hear the 5Pointz case.
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Street Art: The Complications of Copyright
Gillian Wei
Earlier this year, 23 prints created by the iconic street artist Banksy, sold at Sotheby’s for a collective amount of 2 million GBP. Professional artists are increasingly wandering out of their studios and turning to brick walls, blank billboards, and even the backs of delivery trucks as canvases for their work. As the line between fine art and street art becomes increasingly blurred, an important question arises: should the legal treatment of graffiti be reevaluated?
Diet Prada and the Court of Public Opinion
Lilian Klatskin
The billion-dollar fast fashion industry, which churns out on-trend items at low price points, takes ample creative influence from established designers in order to keep up with ever-changing tastes. Indeed, it has “democratized luxury trends for everyday shoppers (who now have the option to dress like their favorite influencers.)” As a result, the industry is often criticized on intellectual property grounds.
#BootyforBiden: A Social Media Influencer May Have Violated Election Laws
Stacy Okoro
The stakes of the upcoming 2020 election are undoubtedly high, and have many on edge for a variety of reasons. A foreseeable result has been that politicians, celebrities, influencers, and other public figures have amplified their voices on a variety of platforms to encourage people, and especially young people, to vote. The precarious combination of COVID lockdowns, social media, and the rise of the promoting of OnlyFans led one YouTube influencer, Tana Mongeau, to offer nudes to those OnlyFans subscribers who were able to prove that they voted for Joe Biden. In her now deleted tweet, Mongeau tweeted “if u send me proof u voted for Biden I’ll send you a nude for free #bootyforbiden,”and linked her OnlyFans account to her 2.4 million Twitter followers.
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Publishers Take Internet Archive to Court Over Open Library
Anne Power
In June 2020, four of publishing’s “Big Five” filed suit against the Internet Archive (“IA”) for copyright infringement. The suit was indirectly in response to IA’s National Emergency Library (“NEL”), a digital library that Brewster Kahle, IA’s eccentric billionaire founder, had established several months earlier to help students, educators, and researchers access digital versions of the print materials made inaccessible by the COVID-19 pandemic. The NEL was an expansion of IA’s Open Library, which had been loaning out digital scans of books for years. The NEL, however, did away with the Open Library’s waitlists in order to make any book available to any reader whenever they wanted. Kahle promised the library would be open until the crisis was over or until June 30, 2020, whichever came first.
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The (Rap) Battle for Free Expression
Congrui Lin
When Jamal Knox was 19, he was sentenced to 2 to 6 years in prison for witness intimidation and making terroristic threats. The only source of these threats? His rap lyrics, which included lines such as “let’s kill these cops ‘cause they don’t do us no good,” were not meant to be read literally and were written as part of his stage persona. This case serves as an example of the myriad ways in which legal treatment of rap music has infringed on First Amendment rights of artists.
Green Bonds — the Fashion Industry’s Newest Must-Have
Farouk Al-Salihi
With the leaves turning, the days shortening, and park days remaining the go-to for COVID-conscious socializing, there has been no better time for my green corduroys. They are a deep moss green — venturing into hunter or even artichoke depending on the lighting — and really the only item of clothing I want to wear when I check the morning forecast. Green, I am happy to announce, is the color of the season, and it would seem that I am not the only one who has come to this conclusion. The latest spate of digital and analogue runway shows has incorporated green to a varying degree but two major fashion houses have aligned with my personal declarations in the most exciting and evocative part of the fashion world: corporate finance.
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James Charles: Copycat or Copyright Lawsuit in the Making?
Mona Mosavi
James Charles is no stranger to online criticism. The 21-year-old media sensation first rose to fame as a YouTube beauty vlogger, and today, he is a makeup mogul with his own makeup line for Morphe Cosmetics. None of this came without controversy, especially last year when James accused Wet N’ Wild of ripping off his Morphe eyeshadow palette. Recently, the brand Teddy Fresh has raised accusations against James of ripping off the sweatshirt designs of Hila Klein, one half of the husband-wife Youtube duo H3H3. Both James and Hila designed color-blocked sweatshirts and released them this year, leading to the following accusations against James.
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Food Trademarks: Cronut®
Yvonne Zhu
Fluffy dough covered in a sweet glaze, it is difficult to dislike even the description of a good doughnut. Surely, the same thing can also be said of Chef Dominique Ansel’s ingenious Cronut®. Although the Cronut is much less ubiquitous than its doughnut relative, the pastry has been wildly popular ever since its debut. From the omnipresent Dunkin Donuts to specialty doughnut shops, New York City has a high concentration of doughnut outlets. However, the NYC location of Ansel’s bakery is the only place that offers the Cronut®.
Your Skin, My Right: Unimaginable Consequences of Giving Tattoos Full Copyright Protection
Jiajun Lu
Tattoos are commonplace among Americans, and especially millennials. According to a 2017 research by the Pew Research Center, 38 percent of 18- to 29-year-old Americans have at least one. While many people get tattoos of simple designs, a significant amount of people, particularly celebrities and athletes, have incredibly complex tattoos that can be considered original works of visual art, protected under copyright law. However, unlike most forms of visual arts, tattoos are placed on human skin. The question then arises – who owns the copyright to that artwork, the tattoo-er or the tattto-ee? And if tattoos can be copyrighted, do tattoo artists also get moral rights to their work? What would be the consequences of granting full copyright protection of tattoos?
The NFL Off-season in the Age of Coronavirus: How “The Shield” Has Dealt with Two COVID-19 Related Legal Issues
Alon Elhanan
When historians look back on April of 2020, the NFL Draft will not likely be top of mind. But, is there a better microcosm of the strange times we live in than the following statistic? On April 23rd, 2020, over 15.6 million people (a 37%+ increase over 2019) watched a glorified version of kids picking teams on the playground. Other than some nervous pacing (from both fans and team officials), there was no active or sporting movement of any kind. Viewers simply watched NFL General Managers and Coaches evaluate and prioritize talent from their couches. During a time in which many Americans are missing sports and its role in entertaining the masses and fostering human connection, the NFL temporarily provided respite and gave fans something to obsess over.
12(B-flat)(6): Pre-trial Assessment of Scene a Faire in Musical Composition Copyright Infringement Cases
Jeremy King
Music copyright cases are strange beasts. With slight variations by circuit, the general inquiry is whether an ordinary listener would think the two songs sound similar. This seems simple enough: play two songs for a jury of laypeople and ask them if they think they sound similar. However, since pop music typically deserves a thin copyright and therefore contains many unprotectable elements, these trials can easily turn into battles over the credibility of dueling experts rather than, as the Second Circuit’s test articulates, whether the “ordinary observer, unless he set out to detect the disparities, would be disposed to overlook them, and regard [the] aesthetic appeal as the same.”
COVID-19's Impact on the NBA Salary Cap
Jimmy Cao
On March 11, 2020, the Utah Jazz were scheduled to play the Oklahoma City Thunder in what was supposed to be a routine regular season NBA game. But with literal seconds before the opening tip-off, the Thunder’s director of medical services sprinted onto the court in dramatic fashion to inform the referees of a bit of news that would send the sports world into purgatory: Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert tested positive for COVID-19.
National Emergency Library: Infringement or Fair Use?
Joshua Samuel
COVID-19 has certainly done a lot to change the world that we live in. But how has it affected copyright law? In light of the global pandemic, an organization called the Internet Archive has made 1.4 million books free to download off of their website through a service they call the National Emergency Archive. Despite the name, anyone in the world with Internet may access it. This resource will be open until at least June 20, 2020, or whenever the national emergency in the United States is declared over. Patrons have the ability to check out a book for a 14 day period, but they may continue to check out the book as many times as they like. Under normal circumstances, the Internet Archive only loans out a limited number of books at a time, and people are put on a waitlist to use books that are already checked out, much like a normal library. However, people may now access any of these books for as long as they like until the crisis is over.
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Can Baseball Make the Best of a Crisis?
Matthew Beckwith
At the end of last month, Major League Baseball and the Major League Players Association (MLBPA) reached an agreement to avoid any potential litigation around the suspension of the season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This agreement helped to avoid a major conflict between the league and the players union in the midst of a public health crisis, but it also could signify a positive shift towards a more pragmatic perspective by both sides in advance of negotiations for a new baseball collective bargaining agreement (CBA) next year. The current CBA is set to expire on December 1, 2021, and while they were expected to be contentious, the current situation may allow baseball to pivot away from its ongoing problems.
Can Museums Prevent their Visitors From Taking Photos and Posting them? – Between Open Policies and Recent Case Law
Guest Author: Fabienne Graf (LL.M. candidate at Duke University School of Law)
Recently, while reminiscing of past in-person strolls through art exhibitions and museum experiences, many of us may scroll through snaps or stumble upon posts online. Against this backdrop, the question whether or not museums can legally prevent their visitors from taking photos and posting them on the Internet remains as topical as ever. This question cannot be answered with a bright-line rule. Albeit a global phenomena, the evaluation of whether or not to uphold photography bans is set against differing cultural and legal norms.
Private Lives Public Spaces: Finding A Hidden Gem at the Museum of Modern Art
Hillary Hubley
MoMA reopened in fall 2019 with an onslaught of new exhibits and programming. Visitors leapt at the opportunity to see more art in new places, crowding many of the new galleries and admiring the accompanying curatorial choices. However, one exhibit was consistently left unvisited. Over the handful of visits I paid to the museum since its reopening, I was always guaranteed solace in the subterranean “Private Lives, Public Spaces” exhibit.
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The Legality of Bachelor Drama
Sara Weiss
Yet another season of the Bachelor has come to a close, and this one really may have been the most dramatic season yet. As a quick recap (spoiler alert), Madi, one of the bachelor’s final two girls, broke up with Peter, the Bachelor, on their final date in Australia. Peter proposed to the other finalist, Hannah Ann. Peter and Hannah Ann were engaged for a whole month before Peter ended their engagement in front of dozens of cameras due to his unresolved feelings for Madi. Peter and Madi maybe got back together on After the Final Rose. Peter’s mom, Barb, made her negative opinions about Madi made known very publicly on live national TV. Then two days later, Peter and Madi officially broke up. All of this within four hours of beautifully crafted reality television. Not the happiest ending for our Bachelor Peter, who will go down as one of the most indecisive bachelors in Bachelor History.
68 Billion Melodies
Peter Cramer
Last summer, a California jury found that Katy Perry’s 2013 hit “Dark Horse” infringed “Joyful Noise,” a 2008 song by rapper Flame, despite the defendant’s claim to never have heard “Joyful Noise” before and the relative simplicity of the disputed element of the song. The suit was part of a current wave of claims against pop stars by lesser-known artists, such as rapper DOT’s suit against Ariana Grande, claiming her song “Seven Rings” copies the chorus of his song “You Need It I Got It.” These suits have caused widespread fear in the music industry, even forcing some well-intended songwriters to purchase insurance or even not release songs they worry are too similar to others that they discover after the fact.
Don’t Put That on a T-Shirt: Online Artists Incite Infringement to Stop Infringement
Alec Fisher
Online visual artists tired of having their artwork reproduced and distributed on online T-shirt websites without their authorization have resorted to a new tactic to prevent infringement of their work: gaming the algorithm to induce these sites to commit copyright infringement.
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Are We Running Out of Beats?
Warren Chu
Copyright law was designed to protect artists and their creations; one was able to utilize the law in order to ensure that their valuable intellectual property was not stolen or used without attribution. These days, popular artists have begun to see copyright infringement as a weapon waiting to be used against them. From the 1976 case against George Harrison to the 2013 suit against Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams for Blurred Lines, artists have found themselves increasingly on the defense against lawsuits for infringement. For some in the industry, whether these songs are even similar enough to constitute infringement remains an open question, but the cases continue to be decided by juries of average listeners befuddled by copyright tests for infringement.
The ‘Carlton’ and Copyrighting Choreography
Claudia Kassner
Even those who weren’t regular viewers of the 1990s sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel Air would be likely to easily recognize the exuberant dance of one of its main characters, Carlton Banks – and probably few could see the familiar swinging of the arms and swaying of the hips without Tom Jones’s “It’s Not Unusual” invading the mind. Yet last year, the Copyright Office deemed “The Carlton” not worthy of copyright protection
Cultured Kimchi: Protections for Foodstuffs through UNESCO’s Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage
Timothy Chung
It’s a good time to be a kimchi-eater. Over the last decade, kimchi has been touted as a Korean superfood and generous bestower of longevity. In 2013, the spicy and deliciously pungent fermented cabbage also attained international recognition when South Korea’s tradition of kimchi-making—gimjang (김장)—made UNESCO’s Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage. In doing so, kimchi was elevated from stinky peasant food to a cultural asset deserving of celebration and protection by the international community—the same honors and protections that were given to the French gastronomic meal when it made the list three years prior. What honors and protections you ask? For one, List recognition means that the element in question is deemed a vital cultural asset of a community, and worth preserving and celebrating on a national, if not international, scale.
“I’d Let You Had I Known It / Why Don’t You Say So?” – Intellectual Property and TikTok
Carina Devairakkam-Brown
For those of us who may not know or care to understand, TikTok is a social media app that functions somewhere along the spectrum between Instagram stories and Vine. It is a video-sharing platform comprised of dance trends, challenge videos, short form comedy, “life hacks” and DIY instructional videos. TikTok also trades on shared audio. Users record videos of themselves and sometimes others lip syncing to popular sound clips, which are fair use for any user under TikTok’s Terms of Service. Users are even encouraged to use audio in this manner – at the bottom of every video, there is a link to the original source of the audio in the clip (even if the source is the immediate video). While this sharing of common video elements makes for a fun and collaborative social media experience, it also opens the door for widespread propagation of intellectual property infringement in a way that’s almost novel in the social media space.
INDIGNATION
Kate Garber
Intellectual property is entertaining.
The evidence? Television—where references to IP are not only included as plot points (e.g., a patent dispute in The Good Wife allows the show to include Christian mediation, which then presents an opportunity for Alicia to connect with her daughter), but are also included to address IP law directly. We actually see this pretty frequently in animated shows for adults, which, now that it has been mentioned, you will definitely start noticing. I present some examples below, not only to show that IP is entertaining, but also because, in general, the representation of IP on television is significant: (1) It shows us how these creators feel about the relative strength of IP rights, and what they believe the law currently is; and (2) viewers who don’t otherwise encounter IP law will absorb any “facts” that are regularly presented, whether those facts are correct or are common misconceptions.
Envisioning a New Cultural Landscape: Slow and Not-So-Steady Progress in the Bronx and Upper Manhattan
Andrew Toporoff
In early February, reports emerged that developers partnering with New York City’s major league soccer team, New York City Football Club ("NYCFC"), had reached a non-binding agreement with the city and the New York Yankees, which are part owners of NYCFC, to build a new home stadium for the club in the South Bronx. Devised with significant input from the community, the proposed $1 billion-dollar project, anchored by the stadium, would also entail affordable housing (one of the developers, Maddd Equities, has built and owns about 3,000 affordable housing units in the Bronx), a hotel and retail stores, and a school. A permanent home for NYCFC would be a relief to the club and its supporters. Since its inception as a joint venture between the Yankees and City Football Group, a holding company led by a member of the royal family of Abu Dhabi, NYCFC has played its home games at Yankee Stadium, but scheduling issues have frequently displaced games to other nearby locations. On February 26th, as Yankee Stadium underwent its winter preparations, NYCFC defeated a Costa Rican side in a “home” contest played in New Jersey, at the stadium of the club’s rival. Despite it being a major tournament game, a large number of fans protested the alternative venue by boycotting. If approval and construction move forward without delay, a new home stadium could see its first games in 2024.
Copyright: A Solution to Revenge Porn?
Chinyere Obi
What about copyright protection for people’s nudes photos? In other words, would one be able to copyright their own bodies? The easiest answer is probably no. One can reach this result by viewing the subject matters protected under copyright such as “literary works,” “motion pictures,” and “sound records.” This relates back to the legislative intent of the statute rooted in the Constitution granting Congress the power “to promote the progress of science and useful arts by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive rights to their respective writings and discoveries.” Thus, on its face, it would go against legislative intent to start allowing people to copyright their own bodies. However, there is a growing trend of people, mostly women, who are now registering their breasts and genitals with the U.S. Copyright Office as a way to combat revenge porn.
Are the Times A-Changin’?: DOJ Considers Terminating Decades-Old Music Licensing Consent Decrees
William Reed
For nearly 80 years, songwriters and composers have monetized their exclusive right to the public performance of their works through licenses administered by Performance Rights Organizations (“PROs”). In 1941, the Department of Justice entered into consent decrees with ASCAP and BMI, the two largest PROs, after the DOJ brought litigation alleging antitrust violations. In 2019, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) opened a review of the continued viability of the consent decrees, which have been modified only minorly since their creation. The rise of digital streaming and shifts in the power of various industry players has transformed music performance and consumption and sparked calls from the PROs and music publishers that the consent decrees are no longer necessary to maintain the strength of the market.
The (Legal) Challenges of New York Fashion Week
David Leys
There are several (legal) challenges during NYFW. First, many designers skip NYFW due to the evolution of the fashion industry and the targeted customers. Second, the use of the name “NYFW” is subject to litigation when third parties use it without the permission of the owners of the name. Third, the theft of ideas and the sale of counterfeit goods at Canal Street and Midtown during NYFW threaten economic opportunities and financial stability of the fashion industry. Indeed, the live nature of NYFW can pose an increased risk to brands to be quickly copied by cheapest brands and sold at a lower price. This explains why designers tend to display and sell “a ready-to-wear” version of their lines directly to customers during NYFW. It becomes too costly for fashion companies to track infringers between the creation of the item for the runway at NYFW and the sale of the item six months later in a retail store. As a consequence, creativity and sophistication of the fashion items during NYFW decrease significantly.
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Bad Guy? Music Video Director Dave Meyers’ IP Skirmishes
Claudia Kassner
Director Dave Meyers’ name is attached to some of the most popular and iconic music videos of the past few decades. One of those most recent music videos includes Billie Eilish’s “bad guy,” which grabbed the public’s attention this past summer with its bright color and bizarre energy and was instantly recognizable, popular, and parodied. But soon a reddit thread formed that questioned the artistic integrity of the video’s striking visuals. The allegations in the reddit thread (including that the video is a “clear recreation” of Toilet Paper magazine’s photos) raise interesting questions about the relationship between music video visuals and other art media, particularly in an era where artwork circulates through social media. Particularly questions regarding high-profile and repeat offenders—Dave Meyers has faced these kinds of allegations before.
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Righting a Decades-old Wrong: FBI Art Crime Team repatriates over 450 Haitian Artifacts
Samantha Smart
On February 14, 2020, the FBI’s Art Crime Team announced the repatriation of over 450 cultural and historical artifacts to the Republic of Haiti. The repatriated artifacts represent the continued efforts of the FBI to return some of the 42,000 items that agents discovered on an Indiana farm in 2014. After receiving a tip alleging possession of human remains, the FBI Art Crime Team stormed the home and amateur museum of then 90-year-old Donald Miller. The agents were astounded by what they found.
Rights of Publicity for College Athletes: Will Congress Get Involved?
Zachary Gross
On Tuesday, the United States Senate Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Manufacturing, Trade, and Consumer Protection held a hearing about whether college athletes should be allowed to gain compensation from the use of their names, images, and likenesses (“NIL”). The senators present were broadly receptive to allowing college athletes to gain compensation from NIL rights, but many expressed reservations and uncertainty about how to move forward.
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Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org: When are a state government’s official annotations truly “official”?
Matthew Loy
Two lawyers on opposite sides of the recently-argued Supreme Court copyright case Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org visited Columbia earlier this month to talk about their positions. The discussion gave librarians, faculty, and students a window into the thinking of both sides as they await the Court’s decision in a matter with implications for both advocates of open access to government information and the legal publishing industry.
Intellectual Property: The Real “Final Game” in Westworld
Kate Garber
In television, intellectual property is periodically the subject of an episode or even a show (e.g., the patents in Orphan Black). Sometimes it is referred to off-handedly, but often incorrectly (e.g., “a ‘Tur-turkey-key’—copyright pending”). Westworld is a rare case where intellectual property is a subtle underlying theme and where, whether intentionally or not, each passing reference holds real meaning.
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When Restoration is Destruction
Benjamin Feiner
In 2018, the famous street artist Banksy shocked the art world by partially shredding his own painting, Girl with Balloon. The painting was put up for auction at Sotheby’s London and sold for over $1.3 million. However, unbeknownst to Sotheby’s, the buyer, and onlookers, the frame of the painting was rigged with a paper shredder. Seconds after the drop of the gavel to announce the winning bid, the painting began to slide downwards, out of the frame, as part of the painting was sliced into vertical strips. Nevertheless, the buyer confirmed the sale, and the new, partially-destroyed work became known as Love is in the Bin. Since the incident, there has been some speculation about the legal effect of the shredding if the buyer had decided not to purchase the work. However, perhaps an even more interesting (and slightly less hypothetical) legal question arises if a future owner of the work attempts to restore it to its original condition.
Robot Orchestras: They’re Here
Joshua Samuel
Back in the wee days of my undergraduate education, before I sold my soul to the devil and went to law school, I studied music composition. Unfortunately, it is incredibly difficult for an undergraduate composition student to get one of their pieces performed by human musicians. In lieu of a real orchestra, I used an artificial intelligence-based note playback software called NotePerformer to perform my pieces for me. Then I posted some of them on Youtube. Now I wonder if that was legal.
Sell the House, Sell the Car, Sell the Art? Thinking About Art Collections in Divorce after Macklowe
Andrew B Toporoff
It is said that the art market is driven by three D’s: death, debt, and divorce. A recent example of this principle also illustrates the extraordinary discretionary power of judges to award property in divorce. The acrimonious divorce between billionaire developer Harry Macklowe – whose properties include the GM Building and 432 Park Avenue – and his ex-wife of fifty-seven years, Linda, had provided steady tabloid fodder owing to Harry’s courtroom spouse jokes and public displays of love for his new wife (see here), and to Linda’s obstructive actions with respect to her interest in 432 Park (see here) and her alleged rejection of a rumored 1 billion dollar settlement offer. Yet the parties’ spiteful shenanigans were dwarfed in the headlines the moment Justice Laura Drager, who has recently retired but presided over the case, issued an opinion ordering Mrs. and Mr. Macklowe to sell and split the proceeds of an estimated 700 million dollars of art which they had amassed together. The Macklowe collection consisted of 165 pieces of modern and contemporary art by the likes of Picasso, Warhol, Alberto Giacometti, Willem De Kooning, Roy Lichtenstein, Mark Rothko, Cy Twombly, Gerhard Richter, and numerous others. Now, pending the appointment of a “receiver” to handle the sale, the works will be disposed of in the near future either by private sale or auction.
Trademarking “THE”: Is the Backlash Worth the Effort?
Ben Feiner
In recent months, sports-related trademark applications on both sides of the Atlantic have produced a flood of sardonic criticism. In England, an effort by the soccer club Liverpool FC to trademark the word “Liverpool” was shot down by the government’s Intellectual Property Office due to the obvious “geographical significance” of the word, following criticism of the application by the city’s mayor and the team’s own fans. In an even more absurd application, The Ohio State University attempted, and failed, to trademark the word “THE” (i.e. the article in its official name). In response, the rival University of Michigan jokingly suggested trademarking “of” and Ohio University pointed out their own position as “THE first university in the state of Ohio.”
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Piracy, Hypocrisy and the Supreme Court: Allen v. Cooper and Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org Inc.
Peter Cramer
In 1717, the infamous pirate Blackbeard was entering Beaufort Inlet, on the coast of North Carolina, in his flagship, Queen Anne’s Revenge, when the ship ran aground and sank. Ironically, 300 years later, the pirate vessel would itself become the subject of piracy. In the 1990s, the wreck was discovered, and Frederick Allen documented the salvage efforts, registering his photos and videos with the U.S. Copyright Office. In 2013, North Carolina’s Department of Natural and Cultural Resources began using this media—without permission—on its website. When Allen complained, the state legislature passed a law that attempted to retroactively place his work in the public record.
Video Streaming and Consumer Privacy: Legislators Questioning the Notice-and-Consent Regime
Zachary Gross
Privacy law governing video service providers’ disclosure of viewers’ video consumption has long operated under a regime focused on consent: so long as the consumer checks a box, video service providers may freely disclose information about that consumer’s viewing habits to any entity whatsoever. This consent-based regime is the result of the Video Privacy Protection Act (“VPPA”), a relatively obscure 1988 statute passed after a video rental store clerk leaked Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork’s video rental history to an enterprising reporter. Aghast at this privacy violation, Congress quickly passed the VPPA, which prohibits video providers from disclosing consumers’ video-watching records, subject to certain exceptions.
Halloween Costumes and Copyright Infringement: The Third Circuit Weighs In
Alec Fisher
Picking out a Halloween costume can be difficult. Will other partygoers end up wearing the same thing? Is this pop culture reference too played out? Will anyone even get my homage to my favorite 19th century Scandinavian philosopher? These days, we can add a new question to the list: Is my costume a copyright infringement?
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Atlanta: a Top-Notch Location for the Film and Television Industry
David Leys
People may often ignore that Atlanta is one of the top three busiest film and television production centers in the United States. Atlanta is even called the “Hollywood of the South or Y’allywood.” Every year, Georgia generates billions of dollars thanks to hundreds of film and television productions. Georgia is home to many prominent studios such as Pinewood Atlanta Studios, Eagle Rock Studios, EUE/Screen Gems and Tyler Perry Studios. Moreover, many major films and television series have been shot in Georgia, namely the “Hunger Games: Catching Fire,” “Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues,” “The Walking Dead,” “Sleepy Hollow” and “Ant-Man.” In addition, more than 30 film festivals are organized in Georgia every year. The most important film festival is the Atlanta Film Festival with more than 1,800 submissions from all over the world and an audience of 25,000 people.
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"Make the Music Flow" - Metall auf Metall and the Future Copyright
Dario Henri Haux
The broad variety of music that exists today has been shaped by different sound artists, musicians, and composers over the past centuries. These artists have influenced their peers and inspired each other. In the digital age, it is not only musicians but a plethora of "Produsers" who use, share, study and modify different forms of digital content. This results in legal issues, especially in the field of copyright law. Although some musicians have shown a great willingness to promote the advancement of music for free, many take free use for granted. This leads to an increased number of lawsuits in this field and challenges various basic assumptions of copyright law.
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Top Ten Art Thefts
Samantha Smart
Everybody loves a good heist movie, but few know about the real-life art heists that serve as their inspiration. The ten thefts below are examples of some of the most notorious and movie-worthy heists of all time.
MoMA’s Reopening and New Look
William Reed
New York’s famed Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) officially reopened on Monday, October 22nd after a $450 million renovation that added 47,000 square feet to the heavily trafficked museum. The expansion, masterminded by architecture firms Diller Scofidio + Renfro and Gensler, puts the museum among the seven largest museums in the U.S. Some of our Journal of Law & the Arts (JLA) staffers attended the press preview for a sneak peek at the sprawling new space, fresh rehang, and bold philosophical makeover.
Taking a DNA Test on Pop Music: Lizzo’s Long Year of IP Disputes
Matthew Loy
The recording artist Lizzo has had a busy year. She released a best-selling album, launched an international tour, and is hotly tipped as a contender for multiple Grammy nominations later this month, including Best New Artist. On top of all that—and perhaps this is the true sign of a musician on the rise—Lizzo has found herself embroiled in several IP disputes, each of which showcases nuanced questions about musical creativity and credit.
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Internet: The Friend and Foe of Musicians’ Legal Rights
Sara Weiss
The now infamous feud between Taylor Swift and Scooter Braun thrust the legal concepts of ownership and copyright into popular culture. The conflict boils down to a fight between recording labels and musicians over ownership of the musician’s master recording. In line with the recording industry’s customary practices, Swift contracted away the rights to her masters to the record label, the record label was then sold to Braun, and, as a result, Braun assumed the rights to Swift’s master recordings. Although prior to the sale of the record label Swift had attempt to regain possession of the rights to her masters, she rejected the contractual offers from the recording company that would permit her to buy or earn back the rights and walked away from her rights to the master recordings.
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The CASE Act and Streamlining Copyright Remedies for Independent Artists
Carina Devairakkam-Brown
On Tuesday, October 22nd, the House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly in favor of a measure that would effectively create a small claims court within the Copyright Office. This bipartisan legislation has seen broad support from various artists’ guilds and non-profit organizations, including The Authors Guild, the International Authors Forum, The Copyright Alliance, and the Songwriters Guild of America. These groups and many others have long called for similar reform, and would argue that the CASE Act is long overdue. However, The CASE Act has received opposition, perhaps most notably, from the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), who argue that the average individual Internet user maybe exposed to risk of incurring hefty costs for merely sharing an article or photo.
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Hide Your Face, Hide Your Instagram Because Paparazzi Out Here Extorting Your Right to Publicity!
Chinyere Obi
I always tell my friends that I never want to be famous. If, by a strange stroke of luck, I achieve overnight fame I would either pull a Daft Punk and cover my face with a helmet or a Gorillaz and animate myself. Though some may find this histrionic, there are some real legal implications as to why one should be cautious with their identity. In particular, the issue of paparazzi exploiting celebrities’ right of publicity by using their own images against them. This is becoming increasingly apparent with the rise of social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Tik Tok, etc. where the more celebrities post about their private lives, the more opportunities there are for fans (and foes) to use their images.
What’s Next? The Aftermath of California’s Passage of the Fair Pay to Play Act
Alon Elhanan
On September 30th 2019, next to Lebron James, Diana Taurasi, and other sports stars on James’ multimedia platform, The Uninterrupted, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law SB-206: The Fair Pay to Play Act. The bill, the first of its kind to be passed on the state level, allows student athletes to be compensated for the use of their name, image, or likeness rights (NILs) beginning in the year 2023. The bill implements this by prohibiting any organization with authority over intercollegiate athletics (such as the NCAA) from disqualifying a student-athlete or university from competition on the basis of a student-athlete’s NIL compensation. In addition, the bill bars any university from revoking a student-athlete’s scholarship because the student makes money off of their NILs or hires a state-certified agent to represent them in negotiations for those rights. While the bill represents a significant step in the liberalization of economic opportunity for college athletes, it still explicitly bars a school from paying a student-athlete for their services beyond the value of a scholarship, limits the student-athletes’ NIL opportunities to those not in conflict with any of their teams’ contracts (i.e. Adidas vs. Nike sponsored gear), and requires athlete’s agents to be licensed in the state of California.
So, now that this potentially momentous realignment of economic interests and legal rights in collegiate athletics is upon us, what’s next? Below are five responses to the bill’s passage I will be keeping an eye on to help predict how the rest of this saga will continue to unfold.
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Copyright Misappropriation and Impeachment: A Recipe for Twitter Gold
Nia Joyner
If you needed any more proof that we are living in the Twilight Zone, try this on for size: Nickelback, the Canadian rock band, has entered the mainstream Trump Impeachment debate against President Donald Trump. The President has engaged in several social media campaigns to mount his defense. One of them employs Nickelback’s 2005 hit “Photograph”. In the original music video, frontman Chad Kroeger holds a framed photograph of himself and his music producer as the song plays in the background. In the version of the video tweeted by President Trump, Kroeger holds a photograph of Joe Biden, Hunter Biden, and a man labeled “Ukrainian gas exec”. However, the video was removed and replaced with a notice that reads, “This media has been disabled in response to a report by the copyright owner.''
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The Parody Artist Is Present
Hillary Hubley
Comedian Nathan Fielder is known for pushing buttons and boundaries. His Comedy Central show, Nathan For You, is a cult classic beloved by many for its wacky and often cringeworthy humor. The show’s premise is simple. Fielder, a graduate of “one of Canada’s top business schools with really good grades,” endeavors to help struggling small businesses in LA by offering them one gamechanging idea. These ideas are without exception patently ridiculous, and often legally ambiguous. Fielder’s understanding of the law seems to extend solely to the protections it provides against getting sued, and will at times go to great lengths to indemnify himself and the business he is helping. In the show’s most watched episode - Dumb Starbucks - Fielder uses “parody law” as this shield.
Voiding Guaranteed Money for Conduct?
Warren Chu
The NFL is the only major American sports league that doesn’t fully guarantee their contracts. As a result, the amount of guaranteed money in a contract is everything. After all, the risk of injury is higher, players’ careers are generally shorter, so every player wants to maximize exactly how much they will be guaranteed to receive. Is there a way to make a distinction in contracts for voiding guarantees when someone commits a horrendous felony versus when someone is suspended for getting into an argument with a coach? It seems obvious that there should be, but organizations are content to keep it as vague as possible to continue to maintain the already incomparably high level of power they have over their athletes’ contracts.
Dancing Sushi and Teppanyaki Chefs – a Backdoor for Food Copyrights?
Timothy Chung
It turns out that most recipes are not eligible for copyright protections under Publications Int'l, Ltd. v. Meredith Corp, nor are most dishes eligible as “food sculptures” under Kim Seng Co. v. J & A Importers, Inc. From Eric Ripert’s signature White Tuna-Japanese Wagyu (of Le Benardin fame) to your mother’s homemade kimchi-jjigae, suffused with salinity and peppery maternal affection, case law has ruled these undeserving of copyright protections. Poor mom—I know—but don’t let all that noise distract you from focusing on the real victims here: teppanyaki and sushi chefs. Their craft of producing food and performances is surely most worthy of creative protection, yet copyright law has no remedy for them. However, lucky for all the IP protection-deprived sushi chefs and teppanyaki grillers of this great nation, I might have discovered a workaround for finding the protections they never knew they needed: choreography copyright.
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The Battle for Spidey’s Rights
Cole Beecher
The Marvel Cinematic Universe. A universe that we have all come to love and enjoy. A universe currently made up of 23 captivating movies, each adding more and more to the storyline of beloved superheroes like Iron Man, Captain America, Black Panther, and more. However, the creation of this wonderfully coherent superhero story has not been without complications. I am sure that many who have seen these movies would agree with me in saying that one of the most impressive facets of these films is their cohesion and how every action or detail in one of the many movies seems to have some kind of consequence or significance in another one of the 23 movies. Each plot line and detail feels so intentional. Yet, one unintentional conflict that the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) did encounter was the rights for Spider-Man.
Tatt-2K: Skin in the Game
Jeremy King
Of recent note to fans of sports, art, and video games is the saga of controversy regarding the increasingly realistic depictions of players’ tattoos in video games such as the NBA 2K and Madden franchises. Several suits have been filed and settled regarding NFL players in the Madden franchise and UFC fighters depicted in the UFC franchise, to the point where for several years Electronic Arts intentionally avoided inclusion of player tattoos, even as graphical capabilities were increasing. Ironically, the one NFL player whose tattoos were depicted in Madden 15 (released in 2014) was Collin Kaepernick, who obtained permission from his artists. 2K Entertainment, on the other hand, has been going to painstaking lengths to ensure the tattoos they depict on certain players are as realistic as possible since 2013. So, what’s the law and what should it be?
California’s Fair Pay to Play Act—A Victory for Student-Athletes?
Jimmy Cao
On September 30, 2019, California Governor Gavin Newson officially signed the Fair Pay to Play Act, which prohibits California colleges from preventing student-athletes from profiting from their “name, image or likeness.”This is a landmark moment in collegiate athletics. Current NCAA regulations prohibit student-athletes from receiving such compensation. While the Act does not come into effect until 2023, this historic event occurs in the middle of a national debate—is the NCAA’s current policy against student-athlete compensation unfair to the student-athletes who contribute so much value to their respective schools and the NCAA?
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Social Media Companies, Politics, and Self-Regulation: A Free Speech Problem?
Matthew Beckwith
Facebook and YouTube announced last week that they would not take down politicians’ posts that violate their community standards, in anticipation of the upcoming 2020 elections. Facebook stated, and YouTube echoed, it will only remove candidate’s posts when the company determines the content has the potential to incite violence or poses a safety risk outweighing its public interest value. Twitter, however, has announced its intention to flag and de-emphasize tweets from politicians that break its content rules. What should we make of this self-regulation?
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@ Me Next Time: Photo Controversies at The Vessel
Julia Ambros
As professional photographers and influencers flocked to the Vessel in Hudson yards this March, they realized something strange written on the Vessel’s website: the Vessel would own all their carefully planned-out Instagrams. The Vessel is New York’s latest soon-to-be-landmark, featuring 154 intricately interconnecting flights of stairs, comprised of almost 2,500 individual steps.
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Implementing the Music Modernization Act: Special Considerations for Promulgating Rules on Pre-1972 Ethnographic Sound Recordings
Mari Hulbutta
The purpose of the blog post is to summarize the recent administrative actions involving the U.S. Copyright’s implementation of the 2018 Music Modernization Act’s provisions for pre-1972 sound recordings. In addition, it is the goal of this post to facilitate understanding of the Act’s implications for Native Americans.
The History of Ius Praedae And Its Decline
Giuditta Giardini
On January 17, 2019, France announced that it was creating a task force for the restitution of Nazi looted artworks in compliance with the EU Parliament Resolution to Identify and Recover Looted Art. The country’s president, Emmanuel Macron, has also commissioned a study aimed to repatriate artworks stolen years ago from France’s former colonies. Neither of these recent developments is particularly surprising; today, the principle of restitution of stolen, illegally traded, imported or exported art has been codified in many international law treaties to the point of becoming a principle of customary international law (Barakat case).
Promotion and Relegation Would Be Bad for American Soccer Right Now
Angelo Angelino
Perhaps too often in sports we focus on best of the best. Viewership skyrockets during playoffs and finals as consumers want to see someone win something tangible. But what about the worst teams? What about the 0-16 Cleveland Browns (2017), the 119-loss Detroit Tigers (2003), or the 2014-2015 Philadelphia 76ers squad that was being compared to the college basketball Kentucky Wildcats? At best, after a certain point in the season where their historically dreadful fate was sealed, these terrible teams simply provided something for fans to laugh at, and public attention shifts towards the teams competing for a championship. To quote Reese Bobby, father of the great Ricky Bobby, “if you ain’t first, you’re last”, and that is certainly the sentiment that best encapsulates American sports culture.
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Legal Drama Surrounding “To Kill a Mockingbird”
Cassandra Gizzo
Anyone familiar with Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird knows the plot is centered on legal drama. Currently, there is a stage adaptation of the novel telling the same legal story of the trial of Tom Robinson. While the play is centered on the trial, the play is also surrounded by its own legal issues. Before production began, the Harper Lee estate sued the screenwriter of the play, Aaron Sorkin. More recently, the producer of the Broadway production has shut down a UK and Ireland tour of To Kill a Mockingbird and threatened suit to small community theater productions.
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Miley Cyrus “Can’t Stop” This Copyright Infringement Suit
Brandon A. Zamudio
In some respects, imitation can be the sincerest form of flattery. But among songwriters, imitation can also be the surest route to a lawsuit. One of the most prominent music copyright cases today has ensnared pop star Miley Cyrus.
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Caveat Emptor?: The Proliferation of Pollock Forgeries in the Art Market
Anne Mosley
“You have been warned,” an International Foundation for Art Research (IFAR) article exposing a recently-identified Jackson Pollock forgery concludes. But haven’t we already?
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Learning The Felony-Murder Rule from The Good Wife
Rebecca Fishbein
Watching the TV show The Good Wife is actually a pretty effective way to learn some criminal law. Although it definitely presents a simplified version, a compelling drama making concepts manifest as “real world” situations can help people understand on a deeper level than any classroom could.
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Andy The Appropriator: The Copyright Battles You Won’t Hear About at The Whitney’s Warhol Exhibit
Kate Donohue
“Andy Warhol—From A to B And Back Again” opened at The Whitney Museum of American Art on November 12, 2018. The retrospective exhibit includes 350 works that span three floors of the museum. The exhibition, which is considerably larger than the typical feature at The Whitney, has been a rousing success. It’s gotten rave reviews in The New York Times and The New Yorker and has become one of The Whitney’s most well-attended exhibits of all time.
Why Is Bryce Harper Still a Free Agent?
Virginia Boies
As the rumor mill continues to buzz around Major League Baseball’s off-season deals, one name persistently comes up: Bryce Harper. Even before the Washington Nationals’ 2018 season ended, Harper’s name splashed headlines that speculated on where he would be playing next and for how much. But now it is February and Harper remains unsigned. Whether the absence of a deal so far is due to clubs’ desire to appear uninterested, complications with a potential salary bubble, informal collusion among the clubs, or Harper’s indecision is any outsider’s guess. Harper’s cryptic tweet on February 3, 2019 that simply said “Loading…” restarted the sports media speculation that a deal is imminent. With spring training just around the corner, exasperated baseball fans will likely have a Harper decision soon.
RBG on the Big Screen
Michelle Lappen
Taken together, the documentary RBG that came out last summer and the biopic On the Basis of Sex which was released this winter further cemented Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s status as a pop culture icon. In an interview on the podcast Amicus with Dahlia Lithwick, Daniel Stiepleman, the screenwriter of the latter and Ginsburg’s nephew, commented on the odd phenomenon of strangers wanting to take pictures with his 85-year-old “bubby.”
Who Owns Cultural Data of Destroyed Art?
Giuditta Giardini
The 3D reconstruction of the city of Palmyra, a digitized copy of the Brazil national museum, new media art products, Google Cultural Institute’s collection and Object IDs have something in common: they are all “cultural data.” More than 2 billion people in the world create “digital culture” by simply sharing photos, videos, and links or writing posts, articles, and comments. At the same time, analog culture is taking to the cybersphere, from the Gutenberg Project, the first project to digitize books and archives, to the latest EU online cultural platform, Europeana, which counts 2,165,191 digitized works. The digitization of cultural heritage of the last 20 years has opened the doors to innovative conservation processes allowing the study of the past through the use of computational methods already used for big data.
Monkey See, Monkey Type: Considering The Infinite Monkey Theorem and The Future of Copyright
Nikita Lamba
Indulge me, for a moment, in a thought experiment based on a famous thought experiment:
You may, through your various literary or philosophical exploits (or perhaps, a dalliance with the work of Douglas Adams), have come across something known as the Infinite Monkey Theorem. There are all sorts of mathematical proofs and statistics and theories of probability accompanying the Theorem, but the core of the idea is really quite simple: an infinite number of monkeys randomly hitting keys on typewriters over an infinite amount of time will eventually produce the complete works of William Shakespeare.
Moral of the Stories? Hire a Lawyer.
The context may differ, but the joke is always the same: there are too many lawyers, and what are they good for, anyway? After all, lawyers are nothing more than ambulance chasers and sharks and defenders of multi-billion-dollar corporations…right?
Jim Acosta’s First Amendment Defense
David A. Fischer
On November 7, the day after the midterm elections, the President held a press conference. In an average administration, that statement could evince a real snoozer. The press conference could yield a few interesting tidbits, but it would more likely be filled with carefully-calibrated, spin-doctored gobbledygook that would attract the considered attention of self-described “politics junkies.” As anyone who has passed the proverbial electronics store window filled with blaring televisions (a ubiquitous experience centered around momentous occasions, if you believe most action films) could tell you, this is not a normal time.
Fake Meows: The Comforting Influence of Pets Getting Political
Anton Nemirovski
It almost doesn’t bear repeating that Fall 2018 has been an exciting yet stressful time for many of us. We’re law students, so this will partly be related to school, as clubs, journals, clinics, and classes fill out much of our schedules. But there’s also that other Thing. The Thing that may not take up as much time as a hundred pages of casebook reading, but that’s a source of continual, intangible stress about the direction of the country. Sure, much about the 2018 midterms excited me, but the aftershock of the last election and the sheer relentlessness of the last two years had dovetailed together. My fall was hectic enough, and Nate Silver’s projections weren’t enough to soothe moments of politically induced anxiety.
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We Swear This Is The Legal History of Halloween
Max Fiest
Halloween is here, and it’s one of our favorite holidays at JLA. So, in order to celebrate we thought we’d take you back to where it all began, and tell the fascinating story of…The Legal History of Halloween.
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Assessing the Music Modernization Act
Dolapo Akinkugbe
In the current digital age, the way we create and consume content is quickly changing, so much so that the law at times has a hard time keeping up. Recent developments have helped to bring some more balance between the service providers and the artists, but there is still much work to be done. The Music Modernization Act (the “MMA”) is a big step in the right direction, but even within this Act there is room to provide more protection and fair compensation to the artist.
Stravinsky’s “The Soldier’s Tale” Steals Souls at Carnegie Hall
Daniel Clark
Stravinsky is perhaps classical music’s most celebrated stylistic chameleon. Whether it be revolutionary modernism in The Rite of Spring, sweeping romanticism in The Firebird, or sparkling neo-classicism in The Rake’s Progress, every genre Stravinsky touched, he mastered. It is in his smaller works, however, where Stravinsky demonstrates a subtler, but equally virtuosic, ability to exploit the beauty in the interstices between styles. In no piece is this more on display than in The Soldier’s Tale, a part-play, part-ballet, part-instrumental suite celebrating its centennial this year.
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“Capturing the Flag” Shows Just How Hard Voting Can Be
Elizabeth Levin
“Capturing the Flag” is an enlightening and inspiring new documentary from Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Anne de Mare that illustrates some of the ways in which voter suppression occurs in America and how the efforts of ordinary citizens can make a difference in ensuring that people are able to vote.
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A Gamer’s Review of CryptoKitties
Alex Kim
“Bonjour! I’m x66x. All you need to know about me is I hate macaroni casserole with a passion. I’m on a new diet that consists of salad and sausage links,” reads my kitten’s profile. Fortunately for “x66x”, it inherited its likeness from one of its androgynous parents “10”, from whom it inherited its love for sausage links. I refer to my adorable kitten as “it” to avoid being gender normative, because just like its parents, “x66x” is neither male nor female; it is simply a Gen 2 kitten with sleek, beautiful “sphynx” fur.
“The Most Perfect Album”: A Musical Take On The Constitution’s Amendments
Rachel Horn
It occurred to me earlier this semester, when a professor put on “Cabinet Battle #1” to school us on the beginnings of the federal tax system, that Hamilton must have been the best thing ever to happen to legal scholars. As an unabashed fan of the musical, I get it — but alongside the seemingly ageless Schoolhouse Rock, Hamilton’s had to do a lot of heavy lifting as our go-to device for zazzing up American legal history with a song.
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A Chat with RBG Director/Producer Betsy West
Zach Blumenfeld
At age 85, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is ready for her closeup. It’s probably safe to say that never in history has a sitting member of the Supreme Court become so ingrained in the popular zeitgeist.
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Critical Corner — CANDY JAR Teaches Robots To Love
Zach Blumenfeld
[Note: This review contains heavy spoilers for the Netflix original film Candy Jar.]
I’ve often mused that Columbia Law School feels more like high school than college. We have lockers; there’s an annual basketball game in a gym with a pep band; we go to Law Prom each March; there are few enough people that there are no secrets; and, at least during 1L year, the pressure to succeed can wreak havoc on even the most resilient psyche.
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New York Judge Tosses Dealer’s Lawsuit Against Agnes Martin Authenticators
On April 5, a New York State Supreme Court judge dismissed an art dealer’s lawsuit against authenticators of the works of the abstract painter Agnes Martin, rejecting claims that the defendants’ authentication decisions intentionally sought to cause the dealer harm.
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Critical Corner – The Post: Hollywood’s Statement on Press Freedom
Chibundu Okwuosa
It’s fair to say that Steven Spielberg’s The Post, starring Meryl Streep as Katharine Graham alongside an all-star cast, was well-received this awards season. The movie received a string of nominations for various awards including the Academy Awards and the Golden Globe Awards. Set in the early 1970s, the film tells the true story of the journalistic struggle between The New York Times and The Washington Post to publish the Pentagon Papers, a lengthy series of classified documents detailing the United States government’s involvement in the Vietnam War.
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Battle over Anastasia Continues in SDNY
On April 3, United States District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein of the Southern District of New York denied summary judgment moved for by the creators of the Broadway musical Anastasia. This is the most recent step toward trial in this copyright dispute over the musical, which is based on the rumored life of Anastasia, daughter of Russian Tsar Nicholas II.
Critical Corner – #ShutUpAndDribble
Beneel Babaei
Fireworks, barbecue, red, white, blue, stars, stripes – many things have long been emblematic of the Fourth of July; for basketball fans everywhere, however, Kevin Durant’s decision to join the Golden State Warriors in free agency, penned in a now infamous article for The Players’ Tribune entitled My Next Chapter on July 4, 2016, is perhaps equally characteristic of the date. His decision shocked the conscious of the sports world, sending ripples across every form of media one could think of for months, years even, to come.
Critical Corner – Was T’Challa’s Reclamation of the Wakandan Throne Legal?
Patrick Waldrop
In the immensely successful 2018 documentary film, Black Panther, the world received a surprisingly candid and close look at the country of Wakanda. The film follows the newly-crowned king, T’Challa, as he rises to power and struggles to solidify his hold on the throne. Soon after T’Challa’s coronation, a U.S. citizen named Erik Stevens arrives in Wakanda, reveals that he is actually the son of N’Jobu, brother of the late King T’Chaka, and challenges T’Challa to ritual combat for the throne. After Mr. Stevens appeared to win the challenge and was crowned king, T’Challa eventually returns to continue the challenge and seemingly secures the crown upon Mr. Stevens’s death. Because we possess such little knowledge of the laws of Wakanda,it is unclear how much of the final challenge is legal process and how much of it is simply a military coup. Scenes from the movie provide clues as to the overall process of succession, how one could accede the throne, and how such ascension may be threatened.
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Critical Corner – “What Do You Meme?”: A Fair Use Analysis
Max Offsay
On my first night home for spring break I was hanging out with my siblings and one of them brought out a game I hadn’t played before called, “What Do You Meme?” Seeking to combine the gameplay of the popular party game “Card’s Against Humanity,” with the Internet sensation of memes, “What Do You Meme?” is a game created by Elliot Tebele, better known by his Instagram handle @FuckJerry. The game is very simple. There are two kinds of cards: picture cards, which include pictures associated with a popular meme, and caption cards, which include actual captions that Tebele has posted on his famous Instagram account. For each round, one of the players serves as the judge and chooses a picture card. The rest of the players then submit whichever of the caption cards in their hands that they think the judge will find the funniest in relation to the picture.
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Ousting Weinstein Couldn’t Save His Company: The Weinstein Company Files for Bankruptcy
In the aftermath of at least 80 sexual harassment claims against its co-founder and former co-Chairman, the Weinstein Co. (“TWC”) filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on March 19 and intends to sell the assets of its production studio.
“Blurred Lines”: Reexamining the Scope of Copyright Protection in Musical Compositions
On March 21, a split panel for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld a jury verdict finding that 2013 chart-topper “Blurred Lines” infringed the copyright in Marvin Gaye’s 1977 classic song “Got to Give It Up.” The panel decided the case, Williams v. Gaye, on relatively narrow procedural grounds, but Judge Jacqueline H. Nguyen warned in her dissent that the decision “establishes a dangerous precedent that strikes a devastating blow to future musicians and composers everywhere.”
PASPA: Awaiting the Supreme Court Decision on Sports Betting
Much to the disappointment of many in the sports and wagering industries, the Supreme Court failed to issue a decision regarding New Jersey’s appeal of the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) this month. Passed in 1992, PASPA bans sports gambling in the United States by prohibiting state governmental entities from sponsoring, advertising, operating, promoting, licensing or authorizing any betting, gambling, or wagering scheme based on amateur or professional athletic events. However, the Act includes exceptions for Nevada, Delaware, Montana and Oregon, which already had legal sports wagering at the time the Act was passed and are therefore grandfathered in. A ruling in the case at issue, Murphy, et al. v. NCAA, could effectively open the doors to legalized sports gambling in the United States.
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Critical Corner – Dunder Plunder: The Law School Hypo of Michael Scott & Prince Family Paper
Will Cobb
Through seven seasons of flirting with and often crossing the line when it comes to office antics, Michael Scott is remembered by many as one of the most complex, flawed and in the end lovable characters in television history. His 152 episodes as Regional Manager of Dunder Mifflin Scranton brought us not only some of the best sitcom television of all time, but also a series of potential liabilities long enough to keep a team of in-house counsel occupied for years.
‘The Shape of Water’ Gets Hit with a Copyright Infringement Suit
The Oscar nominated film that has critics buzzing, The Shape of Water, made headlines last month for another reason. On February 21, the estate of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Paul Zindel filed a copyright infringement lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Central District against Fox Searchlight, Guillermo del Toro, and others associated with the film. The Zindel estate argues that The Shape of Water, a fantasy/science fiction love story that was nominated for 13 Oscars, is a “rip-off” of a 1969 play by Zindel called Let Me Hear You Whisper.
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Critical Corner – Brand Protection at the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Games
S.D.N.Y. Ruling in Goldman v. Breitbart: An Embedded Tweet May Constitute Copyright Infringement
On February 15, 2018, the Southern District of New York handed down a ruling in Goldman v. Breitbart finding that a webpage publisher who embeds a tweet containing a copyrighted photo is “displaying” the photo within the meaning of the Copyright Act and, in the absence of authorization, is violating the owner’s exclusive display rights. If allowed to stand, this ruling could dramatically increase publishers’ liability for the widespread practice of embedding tweets.
Critical Corner – The Square, Logan Paul, and Controversy in Today’s Media Environment
Sami Cleland
In The Square, winner of 2017’s Palme D’or at Cannes, director Ruben Östlund skewers the contemporary art world in a sprawling satire that assaults the conscience (or lack thereof) of the cultural elite. This elite naturally includes much of the film’s audience, from those who cheered the film on at the Cannes Film Festival where it first made its mark, to US audiences who watch the Swedish-language film as a result of its notoriety and, more recently, its nomination for best foreign film in the 2018 Academy Awards.
The Fight to Keep Rockwell (& Others)
On January 16, 2018, members of the Berkshire Museum appealed the Berkshire Superior Court’s dismissal of their request to enjoin the museum’s proposed sale (deaccession) of 40 works of art. The museum’s members liken their position to shareholders of a for-profit corporation and argue that they have standing to sue the museum for an action violates the museum’s governing charter.
Netflix, Amazon, and Hollywood Studios Sue Streaming Device, the Dragon Box
On January 10, 2018, Netflix and Amazon joined with several major Hollywood studios, including Columbia Pictures, Disney, Paramount, 20th Century, Universal Pictures, and Warner Bros, to file suit against Dragon Media for allegedly inducing and facilitating copyright infringement through their streaming device, the Dragon Box.
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Critical Corner – Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney (3DS Video Game Review)
Jordan Fricks
Long before I knew anything about personal jurisdiction or mens rea, I played video games. It has always been, as they say, “my thing.” We did not have much in the trailer I grew up in, but the Sega Genesis that sat on our entertainment center the day I was brought home from the hospital ensured I would at least be exposed to the world of gaming.
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Seizure of Looted Antiquities from Billionaire’s Home
Investigators seized looted antiquities from the home of hedge fund manager and philanthropist Michael Steinhardt in early January. Having collected antiquities for three decades, Steinhardt is considered “one of the most prolific American buyers of ancient art.” He is a dedicated supporter of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which named one of its Greek art galleries the Judy and Michael H. Steinhardt Gallery. In this seizure, at least nine items were taken from his private collection, including a terra-cotta flask from the fourth century B.C. and Proto-Corinthian figures from the seventh century B.C. According to the search warrants, these pieces were purchased within the last 12 years for a total cost of $1.1 million and there is a possible charge of possession of stolen property.
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Spotify Rings in 2018 With Another Lawsuit
Spotify, a digital music streaming and downloading service, faces another copyright infringement allegation in a series of lawsuits brought by music publishers and songwriters. On December 29th, 2017, Wixen Music Publishing, Inc., an independent music publisher formed in 1978, filed a complaint in California federal court, alleging that Spotify willfully infringed the copyrights of a list of musical compositions. Wixen identified approximately 10,784 musical compositions and seeks a total statutory award of at least $1.6 billion.
Justices Question Adjudication of Patent Rights
In late November this past year, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in Oil States Energy Services v. Greene’s Energy Group, a case whose outcome may affect both the core of the patent system and the administrative state, writ large. The Court granted certiorari to answer the following question: “May the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (the “Board”), an administrative law body, extinguish patent rights in an inter parties review proceeding, or is the patent owner entitled to a jury trial before an Article III court?” The petitioner-patent owner, Oil States, argues that the system of inter parties review by the Board violates Article III of the Constitution by vesting the authority to adjudicate claims involving private rights in a non-Article III court. On the other hand, Greene’s Energy argues that administrative scheme is perfectly constitutional, as the adjudication of patent rights in front the Board is an example of a “paradigmatic public right.”
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Disney Sues to Stop Redbox from Selling Digital Download Codes
On November 30, the Walt Disney Company filed a lawsuit against Redbox, alleging that Redbox has been illegally selling digital download codes for Disney, Lucasfilm, and Marvel films. Disney’s complaint lists claims of copyright infringement, breach of contract, tortious interference with contract, false advertising, and unfair competition. It is seeking an injunction to prevent Redbox from selling the codes, profits from sales, and damages of up to $150,000 per title.
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“Lose Yourself” a Lawsuit: Eminem’s Win and Warning to other U.S. Based Music Producers
The New Zealand High Court rendered a decision in favor of Eminem’s publishing company, Eight Mile Style, LLC, on October 25, 2017, holding that New Zealand’s National Party committed copyright infringement when they used a tune similar to Eminem’s “Lose Yourself” in a campaign advertisement. Finding substantial similarities between the music in the ad and the original song, the High Court awarded $415,000 in damages to Eight Mile Style.
Critical Corner – Review of Law & Order True Crime: The Menendez Murders & the True Crime
Will Kuzma
In a bid to jump on the recent popularity of the true crime genre and to revive the now-languishing Law & Order franchise, NBC launched Law & Order True Crime: The Menendez Murders this September. Following in the footsteps of last year’s The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story, Law & Order True Crime chose an infamous 90’s murder story for its debut season. While its premise and branding scheme are similar to The People v. O.J. Simpson (whose title is also a callback to another successful franchise: creator Ryan Murphy’s other FX series American Horror Story), Law & Order True Crime stumbles more than its contemporary to tell a compelling story and fails to stand out in the already-crowded prestige drama genre.
New York Jury Grants a Win to 5Pointz
Is graffiti protected by law? Earlier this November, a Brooklyn jury in the Eastern District of New York answered in the affirmative, and found that real estate developer Jerry Wolkoff violated the Visual Artists Rights Act of 1990 (VARA) when he demolished the well-known New York City “graffiti mecca,” 5Pointz.
Shifting liability to the ISPs of Absentee Defendants
On October 12, 2017, the Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA) filed a brief as amicus curiae in a trademark and copyright infringement case, American Chemical Society v. Sci-Hub. Sci-Hub is a website that hosts research papers and make them available for free, and ACS holds the copyright to some of the research papers available on Sci-Hub. ACS filed the case on June 23, 2017, seeking damages to the effect of $4.8 million and relief against the Defendant “and all those in active concert or participation with them.” According to Magistrate Anderson, “those in active concert and participation” include search engines, domain name registries and Internet Service Providers (ISPs). ACS also moved for default judgment against Sci-Hub because despite service through various publications and social media, Sci-Hub has chosen not to appear in Court.
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Critical Corner – JLA Staffers Review Marshall Film
Kyle Tuckman, Warren Loegering
Marshall, starring Chadwick Boseman as Thurgood Marshall, is an incredible film about one of the first cases taken on by Thurgood Marshall in 1941. The movie captures the early years of Marshall’s career as one of the first attorneys for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Writers Michael and Jacob Koskoff and Director Reginald Hudlin highlight how Thurgood Marshall’s illustrious legal career is even more impressive than one might realize due to the severe racist and anti-Semitic climate that impeded his ability to litigate effectively.
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President Trump, Twitter and the First Amendment
Lawyers from the Department of Justice have moved for summary judgment in a lawsuit brought by critics who were blocked by President Trump on Twitter. In its motion filed October 13th, the DOJ claims that the President’s personal account is not a public forum for First Amendment purposes. The lawsuit, brought last July by the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia and seven individual Twitter users, claims that blocking the users from following President Trump’s account constitutes a viewpoint-based restriction on their participation in a public forum.
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Forever 21 Accused of Copying…Again
Fashion retail giant Forever 21 is being accused again of copying, this time by Word, a woman-owned branding agency based in Los Angeles. Word claims that Forever 21 copied their “Creator Shirt,” which features the word “woman” written in nine different languages.
Since Word posted about the similar design on Instagram, Forever 21 has taken down the shirt and released a statement that the product, bought from a third party source, did not have trademark or IP protections at the time of purchase. While no legal action by Word seems to be impending this time, Forever 21 has been facing other legal turmoil involving intellectual property rights.
How the Dr. Seuss Estate (Almost) Stole Christmas
In an opinion filed on September 15, 2017, Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein of the Southern District of New York held that a comedic play parodying Dr. Seuss’ “How the Grinch Stole Christmas!” qualifies as fair use.
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New Bill Might Politicize US Copyright Office: Register Of Copyrights to be a Presidential Appointee
With a search for the next Register of Copyrights currently underway, a bill introduced in Congress on March 23, 2017, would let President Donald Trump make that appointment, rather than Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) and Ranking Member John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.) introduced the “Register of Copyrights Selection and Accountability Act of 2017” (H.R. 1695), which would give the President the power to appoint the Register of Copyrights for a 10-year, renewable term, subject to Senate confirmation. The President would also have the power to fire the Register at any time. Currently the Register of Copyrights is appointed by, and serves at the sole discretion of, the Librarian of Congress, who oversees the Copyright Office.
Red Gold or red gold? 9th Circuit Allows Trademark Claim on Jewelry Color
The Ninth Circuit is allowing a lawsuit over trademarks on the jewelry color term “red gold” to continue after rejecting the lower court’s grant of summary judgment.
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China Says It Followed Law in Approving 38 Trump Trademarks In ‘Unusually Quick’ Fashion
China has greenlit 38 Trump trademarks that contain English and Chinese variations on the name “Donald Trump.” Although China stated that it followed the law in processing the applications, some experts in the United States and beyond view the pace as “unusually quick,” and raised fears of political leveraging.
Steele Pleads Guilty to Predatory Prenda Porn Scheme
On Monday, March 6, attorney John Steele pled guilty to multiple conspiracy charges for his role in a massive scheme in which he and his partners used fraudulent copyright infringement settlements to extort money from pornography viewers.
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“Immigration Clauses” in SXSW’s Artist Performance Contracts Cause Outrage
The presence of “immigration clauses” in artist performance contracts for the Austin, Texas festival South by South West (SXSW) has prompted criticism and protests by the musicians scheduled to perform.
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European Court Upholds Privacy Rights for Celebrities
A decision last month by the European Court of Human Rights found that Spanish journalists infringed upon Mexican Singer Paulina Rubio’s privacy rights by publishing information about her private sex life, reversing a nearly decade-old decision by the Spain Supreme Court.
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David Bowie’s Ex-Manager Unable to Elude his $9.5M Judgment
A New York judge has ruled that Anthony Defries, David Bowe’s former manager, is still responsible for paying the $9.5 million judgment against him from 2012.
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Ex-ESPN Tennis Analyst Volleys Wrongful Termination Suit
Ex-ESPN tennis analyst Doug Adler is suing ESPN for wrongful termination after being fired for on-air comments about Venus Williams during the 2017 Australian Open.
The analyst sparked controversy when he described Williams as having a “gorilla” style of play. Adler, however, contends that he used the term “guerilla,” in reference to Williams’ aggressive playstyle.
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Fake Art? Richard Prince Disavows Portrait of Ivanka Trump
Appropriation artist Richard Prince is involved in yet another dispute over his New Portrait series. As the JLA Beat previously reported, this series of paintings based on Instagram screenshots with Prince’s own comments has been subject to scrutiny for potential copyright infringement. The most recent controversy, however, involves moral rights.
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Virtual Reality Infringement Lawsuit Ends in $500 million Damages
ZeniMax Media LLC was recently awarded $500 million in its trade secret and copyright infringement case against Facebook Inc. stemming from Facebook’s purchase of Oculus.
ZeniMax had requested $2 billion in damages and $4 billion in additional punitive damages from its claims that Oculus improperly appropriated key pieces of software, before Facebook purchased the virtual reality company in 2014.
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Recent M&A Transactions Involving Big Data Prompt Worldwide Antitrust Concerns
Recent large-scale transactions involving Big Data, like AT&T’s $85.4 billion merger deal with Time Warner – approved by Time Warner shareholders February 15 – and Microsoft’s roughly $26 billion acquisition of LinkedIn last year, have prompted worldwide concern amongst antitrust professionals. among some academics and policymakers.
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Marvel CEO’s Litigation Quagmire Adds to DNA-Property Debate
Following years of bitter controversy and a string of lawsuits, a Florida judge recently allowed the reclusive Marvel CEO Isaac ‘Ike’ Perlmutter and his wife to move forward with a claim of conversion of their DNA. By allowing the case to move forward, the judge ostensibly allowed the question of whether DNA is to be considered ‘property’ for purposes of the lawsuit to proceed.
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Post-Executive Order, White House Seeks Access to Social Media
The controversial January 27 executive order from President Donald Trump banning travel from seven Muslim-Majority countries will likely intensify screening the social media accounts of foreign visitors traveling between those countries and the United States.
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Ninth Circuit: Media Shifting is Kare-Okay Under the Lanham Act
The Ninth Circuit, in an issue of first impression, last month dismissed a trademark infringement claim on the grounds that “media-shifting,” or ripping, in the karaoke industry does not concern a “relevant” material good protected by the Lanham Act.
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Motion to Dismiss Denied in a Copyright Infringement Case Over “Anastasia” Musical
A New York judge has denied a motion to dismiss a copyright infringement suit against a new Broadway musical adapted from the 1997 animated film “Anastasia.”
The heirs of playwright Marcelle Maurette sued playwright Terrence McNally in December over the planned musical, alleging that the show is plagiarized from Laurette’s 1952 play titled “Anastasia.” Maurette’s play, the 1997 film, and the Broadway show are each based upon the same historical story of Anastasia Romanov, daughter of Tsar Nicholas II.
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The Use of Athletes in Video Games: Right of Publicity Unclear
On January 11, former pro wrestler Lenwood Hamilton brought suit in a Pennsylvania federal court against video game developer Epic Games, publisher Microsoft Studios, and former wrestler Lester Speight, for allegedly using his voice and likeness in the “Gears of War” video game series. Hamilton’s suit is the most recent in a series of long-running controversies regarding the use of celebrity likenesses in video games.
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Instagram “Appropriation Artist” Sued for Copyright Infringement – Again
“Appropriation” artist Richard Prince, known for his controversial Instagram photo series, has been sued again on claims that he unlawfully reproduced a photographer’s copyrighted work.
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Second Circuit: MP3Tunes on the Hook for DMCA Violations
The Second Circuit has reinstituted a jury verdict for nearly $50 million in the long-running litigation between MP3Tunes, the discontinued online music service, and a group of record companies. In a landmark ruling on October 25, the Circuit reversed the trial court’s determination that MP3Tunes was largely protected by a provision in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).
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“Pollos Hermanos” Artist Sues Sony for “Breaking” Copyright Bad
The artist who created the iconic logo for Los Pollos Hermanos, the fictional chicken restaurant on the popular AMC TV show “Breaking Bad,” is suing Sony Pictures for using the logo to sell merchandise without permission.
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FCC Adopts New Data Privacy Rules for Broadband Internet Service Providers
On October 27, 2016, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) passed rules regarding increased data privacy for customers of broadband Internet Service Providers (ISPs). The FCC says that these rules intend to provide ISP consumers with more meaningful choices on how their data is used, while also improving their data security and pushing ISPs to be more transparent about how they use consumers’ data.
A July 2015 survey shows that 19 percent of Internet-using households reported that they had been affected by an online security breach, identity theft, or other malicious activity during the 12 months prior to the survey.
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The Beatles’ Apple Corps Can’t Work It Out with Sid Bernstein in Copyright Lawsuit
A federal case filed in September pits The Beatles’ Apple Corps LTD against The Beatles’ late promoter over the copyright ownership of concert footage from the band’s famous performance at Shea Stadium in 1965.
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McArtist? Dash Snow Estate Defends Artist’s Legacy in Copyright Infringement Suit Against McDonald’s
Ongoing questions about the application of intellectual property protections to graffiti tags are set to be discussed by the Central District of California, after a graffiti artist’s estate sued McDonald’s for copyright infringement.
The lawsuit, filed October 3, 2016, centers around the alleged use of a tag by Dash Snow. Snow, who died in 2009 at the age of twenty-seven, was a controversial New York-based artist known for his graffiti, explicit photography, and adamant anti-commercialism. Among his known works was his tag, “SACE,” which Snow was known to spray-paint in bubble letters around New York City.
Trump Campaign Sued in Chicago Over Use of Skittles Photo
A British photographer has filed a copyright infringement suit against Donald Trump’s campaign in the Northern District of Illinois, after a controversial tweet from the son of the presidential candidate utilized his photograph.
David Kittos alleged that Trump’s campaign used his copyrighted photograph of a bowl of Skittles, without authorization, as part of a meme targeting Syrian refugees.
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No Love Between Jewelry Giant and Wholesaler in Engagement Ring Suit
On September 29, following two years of litigation, a Manhattan federal jury handed down a $5.5 million verdict in damages against Costco Wholesale Corp., along with an additional $8.25 million in punitive damages, for infringing jeweler Tiffany & Co.’s registered trademark “Tiffany.”
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Supreme Court to Hear Lanham Act Constitutionality Challenge, Granting Cert for THE SLANTS, but Denying for the Redskins
The Supreme Court will decide this term upon the constitutionality of the disparagement provision of the Lanham Trademark Act, after it granted certiorari last week in the case of Lee v. Tam.
The disparagement provision of the Lanham Act, 15 U.S.C.S. §1052(a), prevents the registration of “scandalous, immoral or disparaging” marks, specifically those that “a substantial composite of the referenced group” perceive as disparaging. Under §1052(a), the Patent and Trademark Office rejected musician Simon Shiao Tam’s application for trademark of his band’s name, THE SLANTS, on the ground that the name was racially pejorative. Tam argues that the denial of his trademark is a violation of his first amendment rights. The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit agreed, vacating the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board’s decision that “THE SLANTS” was unrecognizable under the Lanham Act. The Federal Circuit found that the law denies legal rights to trademark owners and the denial view is viewpoint-based, dependent on the opinions of the referenced group.
Navajo Nation and Urban Outfitters Reach Settlement Over Trademark Rights
The Navajo Nation settled with Urban Outfitters on September 29, 2016, reaching an agreement resolving issues of trademark and false sponsorship caused by the retailer’s use of the name “Navajo” and “Navaho” in its goods. The case was heard in New Mexico federal court and had been for trial on January 3rd before the parties ultimately reached an agreement during a settlement conference. Financial details of the deal are not currently available, although both parties will issue a joint press release when the specifics have been resolved.
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Whose Painting is it?
Scottish artist, Peter Doig, was recently accused of tortious interference for claiming that a work attributed to him was not in fact painted by him. Doig’s denial of ever having painted the work is the subject of a suit brought against him by Plaintiffs Robert Fletcher and Bartlow Gallery Ltd. Fletcher, the present owner of the work, claimed that Doig sold him the painting for $100 and that he watched Doig paint the piece when he was in jail. Fletcher filed the suit in 2013 after he attempted to auction off the painting as a work of Doig’s. For Fletcher, this is a serious matter—although Doig’s work usually sells for $10 million a piece, the painting in Fletcher’s hands is worthless without any authentication that it was painted by Doig.
Media Organizations Sue FBI for Information on iPhone Hacking Tool
The Associated Press, Vice Media LLC, and Gannett Co., the parent company of USA Today, sued the FBI on Friday to seek records of the FBI’s contract and transaction with a vendor who unlocked an iPhone in last year’s investigation of the San Bernardino shooting.
In their complaint, the plaintiff media organizations argue that the amount of public funds the FBI considered appropriate to allocate for the tool, and the identity and reputation of the vendor, are necessary for proper public oversight of the government. Furthermore, the plaintiffs assert that there is no legal basis for the FBI to withhold the information.
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Texas Congressman Pulls Rabbit out of a Hat: Introduces Legislation to Recognize Magic as a National Treasure
On March 14th, Texas congressman Rep. Pete Sessions introduced a House resolution that, if passed, would officially recognize magic as “a rare and valuable art form and national treasure.” The proposed bill cites the impact of magic on both technology and broader arts & culture, and references famous American magicians Harry Houdini and David Copperfield.
Meet DC Comics’ Newest Character: The Bat…mobile
On March 7, 2016, the United States Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal of the Ninth’s Circuit’s decision declaring replicas of the Batmobile an infringement of DC Comics’ intellectual property.
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Sketchers Website Adds to Consumer Confusion Over “Knockoff” Adidas Stan Smiths
On February 12, the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon enjoined Skechers from selling three styles of shoes until the court deals with Adidas’ trademark and trade dress infringement claims. Although Adidas has not registered their designs for trademark, the court found that their trade dress was sufficiently distinctive to be protectable. Skechers announced their intent to appeal the ruling “in order to ensure that our footwear designers retain the freedom to use common design elements that have long been in the public domain,” but the court was concerned with more than common design elements. Skechers appeared to intentionally be creating as association between their shoes and an iconic Adidas’ design.
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Monkey’s Copyright Claim Dismissed
As has been long expected, a California federal judge dismissed a copyright infringement suit brought on behalf of a monkey. Naruto the macaque swung into the spotlight in 2014 when he took a photo of himself using a camera that had been set up by British nature photographer David Slater. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) brought suit against Slater for publishing the photo in a book, claiming that Naruto was the rightful author of the photo, and copyright ownership belonged to the macaque.
Fox’s ‘Empire’ Grows Stronger
Shortly after Twentieth Century Fox Television (“Fox”) debuted its hip-hop drama called Empire, a record label named Empire Distribution sent them letters claiming a trademark violation for the use of their name. Initially, Empire Distribution asked for one of two payment options to make the lawsuit go away- $8 million or $5 million compensation plus guest spots on the show. Further, Empire Distribution alleged that its reputation was being ruined by its association with the show, due to the show’s “portrayal of a label run by a homophobic drug dealer prone to murdering his friends.” In March 2015, the real legal battled began when Fox sued Empire Distribution in hopes of safeguarding its intellectual property rights related to Empire.
Google Books Lawsuit Makes its Way to the Supreme Court
The question of the legality of Google Books, which has been in dispute for over a decade, may make its first appearance in the Supreme Court after plaintiffs petitioned for cert in December.
The Authors Guild, a national professional and advocacy organization for writers, challenges Google’s book-scanning project. With Google Books, the internet conglomerate scanned millions of books, making “snippets” available for researchers to search through volumes. The Authors Guild argues that Google Books violates fair use.
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Knoedler Masterworks Forgery Case Sees Action in the Southern District of New York
On October 9, Judge Gardephe in the Southern District of New York ruled on motions for summary judgment in an action stemming from the infamous Knoedler forgery case. From 1994 until 2009, an independent dealer Glafira Rosales provided Knoedler Gallery – through Knoedler’s director of contemporary art Ann Freedman – with 32 forgeries of prominent modern artists. Among the fake works sold to now-disgruntled collectors were alleged “masterworks” by Pollock, Rothko, and Motherwell. The case has involved multiple lawsuits, three of which have settled to date.
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No Copyright for “Hot Yoga” Poses, Ninth Circuit Holds
Bikram Choudhury, a Hollywood yoga instructor, claimed that another yoga studio, Evolation Yoga, had infringed on his copyright to a sequence of yoga moves. Choudhury’s “hot yoga” classes were conducted in a room heated up to 105 degrees, and he had been charging a licensing fee and making specific requirements to those wishing to use his set of moves. In a decision on October 8th, the Unites States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court’s decision to grant Evolation’s motion for summary judgment, holding that Evolation had not infringed on Choudhury’s copyright because Choudhury had no valid copyright. Specifically, the Court categorized the yoga moves as an idea promoting health, not an expression. Thus, the Court held, the sequence of yoga moves was not entitled to copyright protection as a compilation or a choreographic work.
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Google Books Search Function is a Fair Use of Books, Second Circuit Holds
Google Books is an online service that allows users to search for specific words in over 20 million books and view short excerpts from those books without the author’s permission. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit held on October 16 that this search function is protected under the doctrine of fair use, affirming the 2013 district court decision in Authors Guild v. Google, Inc.
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Full Trans-Pacific Partnership Text Revealed, Includes Extensive Intellectual Property Provisions
On November 5, the Obama Administration released the full text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement to the public. This twelve-nation trade agreement has been under negotiation for years, with most of the specific provisions kept from the public eye. The completed deal now faces an uphill battle obtaining Congressional approval in the United States.
FS Drama: The Ongoing Assault on Daily Fantasy Sports by New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman
Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) operators have been increasingly embroiled in challenges to the legality of their services over the past few months. Perhaps none of these challenges is more significant than the one levied by New York state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, whose office has deemed DFS to be “plainly illegal”–“nothing more than a rebranding of sports betting.”
New App “Peeple” – “Yelp for Humans” ?
In a new app, users will be able to rate people, much like one would rate a restaurant, car, spa or hair salon. Peeple co-founder and CEO Julia Cordray described the original vision for the app as a safe place for people to manage their online reputation and easily investigate other people’s characters. The app was critically received upon its announcement in September 2015. Objections were made to the proposed five-star rating system, user inability to delete reviews, potential for bullying, and generally to the assignment of value in such a way to a person.
Register of Copyrights: Copyright Royalty Board Should Listen to Pandora’s Music Box
Register of Copyrights Maria Pallante has publicly sided with Pandora Media Inc. in an opinion stating that the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) should hear Pandora’s argument regarding its lower royalty rate payments. Pallante stated that she agreed with the company that the CRB could set Pandora’s rates based on the company’s direct licensing deal with Merlin, a digital rights agency representing over 20,000 independent music labels and distributors.
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A “Happy Birthday” for All?
After 80 years, Chief Judge George H. King of the Central District of California has effectively released the lyrics to the song “Happy Birthday to You” into the public domain. The case was brought by Rupa Marya, a leader of an alternative band who recorded their arrangement of “Happy Birthday to You” at an April 2013 live performance in San Francisco, CA. After its performance, the band was subsequently slapped with a $455 mechanical license fee for using the song. Defendant, Warner/Chappell Music, is a multinational music publisher that administers copyrights on behalf of major artists like Beyoncé and Eric Clapton.
3rd Circuit Strikes Down New Jersey Law Authorizing Sports Betting
On August 25th, 2015, New Jersey’s legislative attempt to permitsports betting failed in the 3rd Circuit. In a 2-1 decision, the 3rd Circuit found that the state law allowing sports betting at casinos and racetracks violated the federal Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 (PAPSA).
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CLS Professor Tim Wu Defends FCC Net Neutrality Rules in Amicus Brief
Earlier this year, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released its ruling for an Open Internet, which reclassified broadband providers as telecommunication services, as opposed to informational services. As a result, the FCC has broad authority to regulate and prevent broadband providers from blocking or degrading Internet traffic in order to prioritize other traffic. Following the ruling, the United States Telecom Association (USTelecom), an industry trade group representing telecommunications and broadband providers, responded by filing a lawsuit in the D.C. Circuit, in which it claims such rules are arbitrary and capricious.
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The History of Ius Praedae And Its Decline
In 2013, Fox News Network (“Fox News”) filed suit against TVEyes, Inc (“TVEyes”). TVEyes is a “media monitoring service” that records the content of more than 1,400 television and radio stations. For $500 a month, TVEyes subscribers have access to a searchable database containing such content. Subscribers can view transcripts, create keyword alerts, view and download high-definition video clips, and “live stream” television content.