Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Get into the holiday spirit with a look at some of the most unique Christmas patents ever filed. From Santa detectors to upside-down Christmas trees, Scott Hervey and Jamie Lincenberg explore festive inventions that add a little extra cheer to the season on this episode of The Briefing.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
The Terrifier franchise is one of the most unlikely independent horror success stories of the last 25 years. But a new lawsuit challenges how the first film was made and raises serious questions about performer consent and on-set protections. In this episode of The Briefing, Weintraub Tobin partners Scott Hervey and Matt Sugarman break down actress Catherine Corcoran’s lawsuit against the film’s producers and what it reveals about SAG-AFTRA requirements for nudity and simulated sex scenes.
Continue reading Nudity Riders, Consent, and the Terrifier Lawsuit: What Producers Must Know
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Did Coca-Cola cross the line by using a Johnny Cash soundalike in its nationwide “Fan Work is Thirsty Work” campaign? In this episode of The Briefing, Weintraub Tobin attorneys Scott Hervey and Richard Buckley unpack the Cash estate’s lawsuit and what it reveals about the evolving law of soundalikes.
Continue reading The Man In Black v. Coca Cola: The New Soundalike Showdown
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Creators, beware: just because it’s online doesn’t mean it’s fair game. In this episode of The Briefing, Scott Hervey and Richard Buckley break down one of the most misunderstood areas of copyright law—fair use.
Continue reading What Is Fair Use and Why Does It Matter? (Featured)
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
In this episode of The Briefing, Scott Hervey and Richard Buckley break down Campbell Soup Co. v. Campbell for Congress, the lawsuit over a political candidate’s “Soup4Change” slogan and AI-generated soup can design. They cover the backstory, the trademark and First Amendment arguments, and how the Hershey case may influence the court’s view of political campaign branding. Tune in for a clear look at where trademark law meets political speech.
Watch this episode on YouTube.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Disney faced a copyright lawsuit over the use of MOVA facial-capture software in Beauty and the Beast. A jury found Disney vicariously liable, the district court threw out the verdict, but the Ninth Circuit has now reinstated it. In this episode of The Briefing, Scott Hervey and Tara Sattler discuss:Continue reading Studios Beware: The Danger of the Beauty and the Beast Copyright Decision
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
The Anthropic settlement shows just how costly copyright missteps can be in AI development. Anthropic has agreed to a $1.5B settlement after a court found that keeping a permanent library of pirated books was not fair use—even though training its AI model on those same works was.Continue reading Anthropic Settles AI Training Case for $1.5 Billion +
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
From podcast names to iconic sounds, trademarks shape the entertainment world. In this episode of The Briefing, Scott Hervey and Richard Buckley break down what trademarks are, how to get one, and why creators must protect their brand. A must-listen for anyone building a name in entertainment.Continue reading Trademark Basics – Protecting Names, Logos, and Brands in Entertainment
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
In a major win for Meta, a federal court recently dismissed a lawsuit brought by prominent authors who claimed their books were illegally used to train the company’s LLaMA models. But the ruling doesn’t give AI companies a free pass—it reveals the roadmap for how a better-prepared copyright plaintiff could win next time.
In this episode of The Briefing, Scott Hervey is joined by his partner Matt Sugarman as they break down:
Continue reading The Wrong Argument – Why Authors Lost Against Meta and What Comes Next
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
A federal judge has ruled that training Claude AI on copyrighted books—even without a license—was transformative and protected under fair use. But storing millions of pirated books in a permanent internal library? That crossed the line.
In this episode of The Briefing, Scott Hervey and Tara Sattler break down this nuanced opinion and what this ruling means for AI developers and copyright owners going forward.
Watch this episode on YouTube.
Continue reading Anthropic, Copyright, and the Fair Use Divide