Tag Archives: Entertainment law

Judge Finds Lyrics and Themes “Guns, Money, and Jewelry” Too Commonplace for Copyright Protection



An Illinois judge rejected an infringement claim brought by rapper Gutta, alleging that a song released by hip-hop artist Future infringed his rights. Scott Hervey and Jamie Lincenberg talk about this dispute on this episode of The Briefing.

Watch this episode on the Weintraub YouTube channel here.

 

Continue reading Judge Finds Lyrics and Themes “Guns, Money, and Jewelry” Too Commonplace for Copyright Protection


Top Gun Maverick – Right Into The Copyright Lawsuit Zone



In this episode of The Briefing by the IP Law BlogScott Hervey and Josh Escovedo discuss a copyright dispute, in which the heirs of the author who inspired the movie “Top Gun” claim that the film’s sequel infringes on their copyright to the story.

Watch this episode on the Weintraub YouTube channel, here.


A Spooky Copyright Decision for Producers of Friday the 13th Franchise



As Scott Hervey mentioned on the IP Law Blog, a much-anticipated copyright reversion case involving the slasher franchise, Friday the 13th was decided. In this episode of the Briefing by the IP Law Blog, Scott and Josh Escovedo dive deeper into the lawsuit.

Watch this episode on the Weintraub YouTube channel, here.

Read more about the case on the IP Law Blog, here.


Don’t Film So Close to Me: Can Copyrighted Music Keep Vids of Police Encounters Off The Internet?



In this week’s episode of the Briefing by the IP Law Blog, Scott Hervey and Josh Escovedo discuss recent news stories reporting that police officers played copyrighted music during filmed encounters, ostensibly to keep the videos from being uploaded to the Internet. Scott and Josh discuss how copyright law, the DMCA, and fair use apply to this tactic.

Watch the video of this episode on the Weintraub YouTube channel, here.

Scott’s article on this topic on the IP Law Blog can be read here.

Case discussed: Lenz v. Universal Music Group


Space Erotica Flick Not Infringed by Black Mirror



This week on the Briefing by the IP Law Blog, Scott Hervey and Josh Escovedo discuss the copyright lawsuit over a Black Mirror episode starring Miley Cyrus, the plot of which filmmaker Geoffrey Blair Hajim said was lifted from his film Strange Frame: Love and Sax.

Watch the episode on the Weintraub YouTube channel, here.


What’s In a Name: Clearing Titles for Film and Television



In this week’s episode, attorneys Scott Hervey and Josh Escovedo discuss the process of clearing titles for Film and Television shows. They discuss recent high-stakes litigation around entertainment titles, including Stouffer v. National Geographic Partners LLC, Jon Astor-White v. Daniel Strong (Empire), and the “Honey Badger” case.

Watch this episode on YouTube here.

Watch a previous episode of The Briefing by the IP Law Blog discussing the Empire litigation, here.

Read an article Scott wrote on how the Empire litigation extended the permitted use of third-party trademarks on The IP Law Blog, here.

Read an article on The IP Law Blog about the “Honey Badger” case, here.