Month: September 2017

Family wrath runs deep still in ‘Grapes,’ subject not only of Hollywood dreams, drama, but also a $13.15 million verdict

Posted by | Sep 26, 2017 | , , , |

This guest post was contributed by Anne M. Lum, a student in Southwestern Law School’s SCALE program who also is now taking the Entertainment Law and Emerging Web course. When Salinas, Calif., native John Steinbeck chronicled how the economic ravages of the Great Depression led the fictional Tom Joad and his family to flee the Oklahoma Dust Bowl in misguided hopes for a brighter future in the Golden State, who knew the Nobel Laureate also had planted the seeds of a multi-generational legal brawl among his own kin? The latest outbreak of this family feud not only has resurrected...

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For little Cindy Lou, raunchy play is a fair-use parody, judge finds, declining to be writer’s Grinch

For little Cindy Lou, raunchy play is a fair-use parody, judge finds, declining to be writer’s Grinch

Posted by | Sep 24, 2017 | , , , , , |

Although countless children have embraced the notion advanced by Theodor Seuss Geisel, aka Dr. Seuss, that goodness beats in even the darkest heart, playwright Matthew Lombardo didn’t. Instead, he created, Who’s Holiday! his own twisted take on Dr. Seuss’ Christmas classic and its characters, purporting to tell what happened to the Grinch and the adorable little girl Cindy Lou. Lombardo envisions a sad, vulgar fate for Cindy Lou, whom he depicts in middle age as a bawdy, boozing, rhyming single mom with an illegitimate daughter fathered by the Grinch. She has killed him, has done jail time, and is...

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Film marketers hit with $32.4 million verdict, but it’s a bargain: 3 million robo calls could have cost $1.6 billion

Film marketers hit with $32.4 million verdict, but it’s a bargain: 3 million robo calls could have cost $1.6 billion

Posted by | Sep 21, 2017 | , , , |

This guest post was contributed by Natalie M. Reynoso, a second-year Southwestern Law School student who is now taking the Entertainment Law and the Emerging Web course. Although it’s common in Tinsel Town to toss around gobs of cash and to spare no hijinks to promote a studio blockbuster, a small, patriotic, and religious-themed Christmas film has proven to be a bell-ringer for falling out of legal bounds and getting slapped around by a senior federal judge in St. Louis over how it was telemarketed. To hype the Last Ounce of Courage, a Vertias Entertainment film with dismal critical...

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Couple who clip a he-man get a last, fair-use laugh in YouTube ‘reaction’ video tiff

Couple who clip a he-man get a last, fair-use laugh in YouTube ‘reaction’ video tiff

Posted by | Sep 15, 2017 | , , , , |

On the internet, even the most casual conversation can erupt into a flame war — in which, of course, huge satisfaction can be derived from getting the last word. But U.S. District Judge Katherine B. Forrest has offered up more than l’espirit  de l’escalier, settling a recent, nasty copyright infringement battle between some YouTube commentators by accepting a fair-use defense on a “reaction” video. The dispute involved H3H3 Productions, run by Ethan and Hila Klein. They’re partners in marriage, and in YouTube, where they create reaction videos. Their piece on another YouTuber, Matt Hosseinzadaeh, aka Matt Hoss, provoked a sharp reaction. They...

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VidAngel can’t content filter, re-offer studio movies, appellate court affirms

VidAngel can’t content filter, re-offer studio movies, appellate court affirms

Posted by | Sep 12, 2017 | , , , , , |

The U.S. Ninth  Circuit Court of Appeals has affirmed a lower court’s standing order barring VidAngel, from content filtering others’ productions so as to avoid creating“ a giant loophole in copyright law.” Analysts saw the court ruling as a win for Hollywood studios. Disney, Warner Bros. and Twentieth Century Fox had battled VidAngel in recent months over the firm’s naughty behavior, buying single copies of Hollywood films, and then purportedly “cleaning” them of pornography, nudity, and violence, and then offering them through its service to subscribers. A federal judge already had ruled this violated studio copyrights and told VidAngel...

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The Biederman Blog is now ranked NUMBER ONE on Feedspot's Top 20 Entertainment Law blogs (May 2018). It is very exciting to top this list. We are extra proud of number six - Entertainment Law Offices of Gordon P. Firemark. Mr. Firemark graduated from Southwestern in 1992, and is a top entertainment blogger and webinar presenter in addition to being a world class entertainment attorney!

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