by jburns | Nov 17, 2015 | Copyright
On a long road trip, there seems to be nothing more calming than rolling down the windows and turning up the radio. However, the predominance of commercials on most mainstream radio stations seems to completely disrupt such tranquility. Being interrupted by a...
by jburns | Nov 16, 2015 | Art Law, Copyright, Fashion Law
Banksy, Shepard Fairey, Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat are artists, whose names are creeping out from the underground world of urban street art, passing through the fine art world and entering mainstream culture and its marketplace. An aesthetic that, at one...
by jburns | Nov 9, 2015 | Copyright, Entertainment Law, Labor and Employment, Policy, Unfair Competition
The song “Big Pimpin” by Jay-Z became a nationwide hit in 1999 and reached number 18 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart. [1] The song came under scrutiny in the District Court for the Central District of California and re-opened the issue of moral rights for artists...
by jburns | Nov 8, 2015 | Copyright, Entertainment Law, Labor and Employment, Trademark Law
Each time we turn a year older, our friends and relatives sing “Happy Birthday”. This song is part of the American birthday tradition for millions of people, but companies have paid licensing fees to Warner/Chappell Music Inc. for its use. Warner/Chappell Music...
by jburns | Oct 24, 2015 | Copyright, Entertainment Law, Uncategorized
On October 14th, 2015, Jay-Z and Timbaland appeared in a Los Angeles federal court for copyright infringement regarding a sample used in their 1999 hit, Big Pimpin. This court appearance marked the beginning of the end of an eight-year legal battle, which began in...
by jburns | Oct 22, 2015 | Copyright
YouTube content providers breathed a collective sigh of relief after a landmark decision last month from the Ninth Circuit. The panel held that the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) compels copyright holders to consider whether a particular use is fair before...
