Media & Entertainment

  • November 19, 2024

    DA Says Trump Sentencing Could Be Delayed Until 2029

    Manhattan prosecutors on Tuesday suggested that President-elect Donald Trump's criminal sentencing could be delayed until after he serves out his next term, but urged a judge not to throw out his conviction over an alleged hush money scheme.

  • November 19, 2024

    Alex Jones Seeks To Stop The Onion From Buying Infowars

    Right-wing media fabulist Alex Jones asked a Texas bankruptcy judge to stop the sale of his Infowars website to satirical news publisher The Onion, arguing that the winning bid violated the court's bidding procedures order.

  • November 19, 2024

    MVP: Dentons' Natalie Spears

    Dentons partner Natalie Spears recently led legal teams that defeated a defamation suit brought by a securities lawyer against Dow Jones & Co. and one of its longtime reporters, successfully defended Netflix and one of its directors in a defamation suit involving the acclaimed series "When They See Us," and helped NBCUniversal and its MSNBC anchors beat a defamation case over a Jan. 6-related news story, earning her a spot as one of the 2024 Law360 Media & Entertainment MVPs.

  • November 18, 2024

    Diddy Calls DOJ's Possession Of His Notes 'Outrageous'

    Sean "Diddy" Combs said Monday that federal prosecutors are in possession of privileged attorney-client materials, including his own written notes, which they're "actively" using to detain him ahead of his trial, a move the hip-hop mogul called "outrageous government conduct."

  • November 18, 2024

    Meta, Netflix Shook Hands On Illicit Streaming Deal, Suit Says

    Meta Platforms and Netflix made an unlawful agreement where the social media giant would cede the video-streaming market to Netflix by hobbling its competing service and the streaming giant would funnel its customers' data to boost Facebook's advertising algorithms, according to a proposed class action filed Monday in Illinois federal court.

  • November 18, 2024

    Backup Bidder For Jones' Infowars Wants The Onion Bid DQ'd

    The Alex Jones-affiliated backup Chapter 7 auction bidder for Jones' right-wing website Infowars asked a Texas bankruptcy judge Monday to disqualify the winning bid from The Onion, a satirical news website, arguing that the bid did not follow the auction procedures.

  • November 18, 2024

    Art Org. Freed From Suit Over Fake 'LOVE' Copyright Claim

    A New York federal judge has freed a visual arts licensing organization from an art publisher's lawsuit accusing it of falsely claiming copyright ownership to late artist Robert Indiana's iconic "LOVE" image and scheming to fraudulently sell licenses for it, saying the publisher's claims didn't pass muster.

  • November 18, 2024

    Will AG-Elect Stick To NC Dems' Playbook, Or Take New Path?

    Incoming North Carolina Attorney General and "TikTok candidate" Jeff Jackson may be the latest in a long line of Democrats to serve as the state's top cop, but questions remain as to how closely he might follow in the footsteps of his powerful predecessors when it comes to issues like pursuing the very social media app that bolstered his campaign.

  • November 18, 2024

    Clemson, Florida State Ask NC Top Court To Toss ACC Suits

    Florida State and Clemson universities urged the North Carolina Supreme Court to toss lawsuits brought by the Atlantic Coast Conference over grant of rights contracts, saying the institutions' sovereign immunities aren't waived just because they've agreed to be members of the conference.

  • November 18, 2024

    Live Nation Says Ticket Buyers Must Arbitrate Antitrust Suit

    Live Nation moved to arbitrate a proposed consumer antitrust class action alleging it monopolizes concert promotions and secondary ticketing services for major venues, arguing in New York federal court Friday the customers agreed to arbitrate any dispute each time they logged in to their accounts or accepted secondary ticket transfers.

  • November 18, 2024

    Full 2nd Circ. Asked To Weigh Sheeran's 'Let's Get It On' Win

    Structured Asset Sales LLC has asked the full Second Circuit to review a panel's opinion that Ed Sheeran's hit "Thinking Out Loud" did not copy Marvin Gaye's classic "Let's Get It On," arguing the panel incorrectly affirmed a lower court's ruling that the Copyright Act of 1909 only protected the Motown song's sheet music.

  • November 18, 2024

    Meta Can Ditch Mike Huckabee's CBD Fake Ad Suit

    Former Arkansas governor and conservative pundit Mike Huckabee can't sue Facebook after an unidentified company posted advertisements implying he endorsed a brand of CBD gummies, a Delaware federal judge ruled Monday, saying he can't prove the social media giant was actually aware the ads were bogus.

  • November 18, 2024

    Texas Judge Suggests Letting Influencers Battle Over 'Beige' IP

    A federal magistrate judge has declared that a "feud between social media influencers" in Texas is the first of its kind in the country, as it's an intellectual property dispute over replicating a rival's "neutral, beige, and cream aesthetic."

  • November 18, 2024

    Webtoon Brass Hit With Derivative Suit Over Post-IPO Plunge

    Executives and directors of online comics platform Webtoon Entertainment Inc. face a shareholder derivative claim alleging the company went public while concealing that it was seeing minimal growth.

  • November 18, 2024

    FCC's Carr Likely To Test Agency's Ability To Rein In Big Tech

    Brendan Carr's selection as the next Federal Communications Commission chair prompted a wave of plaudits from industry and some dismay from liberal groups, but one thing stands out among experts: He will push to counter what he sees as out-of-control conduct by tech platforms.

  • November 18, 2024

    DC Circ. Skeptical Of Conn. LPTV Station's Market Claim

    A panel of D.C. Circuit judges wondered Monday how a Connecticut television licensee's challenge to the way the government determines which stations qualify for small-market protections squared with the text of the statute, as the Federal Communications Commission argued that the law's clear text dooms the station's bid to base eligibility on census data rather than Nielsen Media Research market data.

  • November 18, 2024

    Diddy Accusers' Atty Buzbee Accused Of Extorting Celebs

    An anonymous public figure lodged a suit in Los Angeles court Monday accusing personal injury lawyer Tony Buzbee of using false rape allegations to "shake down innocent celebrities, politicians and businesspeople" who have even the smallest ties to indicted hip-hop mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs.

  • November 18, 2024

    Ozy Media CEO Turns To 2nd Circ. Over Judge's Investments

    The "atypical" conflict and threat to public confidence in the judiciary created by a New York federal judge's financial investments warrant the Second Circuit stepping in to undo former Ozy Media CEO Carlos Watson's fraud and identity theft convictions sooner rather than later, Watson told the appellate court on Monday.

  • November 18, 2024

    5th Circ. Says Texas County Wrong To Close Court Hearings

    A Fifth Circuit panel has upheld a trial court's ruling that a Texas county improperly blocked the press and public from attending criminal pretrial proceedings known as magistrate hearings, finding that the practice violates the First Amendment and harms the two news outlets and an advocacy group that brought the lawsuit.

  • November 18, 2024

    NBA, Warner Bros. Settle Media Rights Dispute With New Deal

    The National Basketball Association and the parent of Turner Sports have settled a lawsuit accusing the league of breaching its contract with the network through its new $76.9 billion media rights deal, and as part of the agreement, iconic studio show "Inside the NBA" will stay on the air but move to ESPN and ABC when the deal kicks in next season.

  • November 18, 2024

    MVP: Davis Wright's Rachel Strom

    Rachel Strom of Davis Wright Tremaine LLP has been busy this past year making sure a documentary about Wendy Williams would air and successfully representing ABC in a copyright challenge against its popular show "Abbott Elementary," earning her a spot among Law360's 2024 Media & Entertainment MVPs.

  • November 18, 2024

    Supreme Court Turns Down 3 Patent Cases

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to hear three patent cases dealing with patent eligibility, standing to bring infringement suits and the rules surrounding the launch of generic drugs.

  • November 18, 2024

    Justices Reject SC Agency's Appeal Of Google Subpoena

    The U.S. Supreme Court refused Monday to take up a South Carolina state agency's appeal of a Fourth Circuit decision requiring its compliance with a Google subpoena in a case accusing the tech giant of monopolizing key digital ad technology.

  • November 17, 2024

    Trump Names FCC's Carr As New Agency Chair

    President-elect Donald Trump has picked Brendan Carr, the senior Republican on the Federal Communications Commission, as the agency's next chair, selecting a former general counsel of the agency and frequent critic of the current administration to lead the telecom regulator.

  • November 15, 2024

    X Sues To Block Calif.'s New Deepfake Political Ads Law

    X Corp. filed a lawsuit in California federal court seeking to block a new Golden State law aimed at combating artificial intelligence-generated deepfake political ads, claiming the regulation that takes effect in January is unconstitutional and violates Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.

Expert Analysis

  • What Have We Learned In The Year Since Warhol?

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    In the almost year since the U.S. Supreme Court decided Andy Warhol Foundation v. Goldsmith, which was widely seen as potentially chilling to creative endeavors, seven subsequent decisions — while illuminating to some extent — do not indicate any trend toward a radical departure from prior precedents in fair use cases, says ​​​​​​​Jose Sariego at Bilzin Sumberg.

  • Highlights From The 2024 ABA Antitrust Spring Meeting

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    U.S. merger enforcement and cartels figured heavily in this year's American Bar Association spring antitrust meeting, where one key takeaway included news that the Federal Trade Commission's anticipated changes to the Hart-Scott-Rodino form may be less dramatic than many originally feared, say attorneys at Freshfields.

  • Surveying Legislative Trends As States Rush To Regulate AI

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    With Congress unlikely to pass comprehensive artificial intelligence legislation any time soon, just four months into 2024, nearly every state has introduced legislation aimed at the development and use of AI on subjects from algorithmic discrimination risk to generative AI disclosures, say David Kappos and Sasha Rosenthal-Larrea at Cravath.

  • Clemson's ACC Exit Fee Suit May Have Major Consequences

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    Clemson University's recent suit in South Carolina state court against the Atlantic Coast Conference, which challenges the ACC's $140 million exit fee and its ownership of member schools' media rights, would likely have enormous ramifications for ACC members in the event of a definitive court ruling, say William Sullivan and Alex Anderson at Pillsbury.

  • Del. Match.com Ruling Maintains Precedent In Time Of Change

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    Despite speculation that the Delaware Supreme Court could drive away corporations if it lowered the bar for business judgment review in its Match.com stockholder ruling, the court broke its recent run of controversial precedent-busting decisions by upholding, and arguably strengthening, minority stockholder protections against controller coercion, say Renee Zaytsev and Marc Ayala at Boies Schiller.

  • The Future Of BIPA Insurance Litigation After Visual Pak

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    A recent Illinois appellate court decision, National Fire Insurance v. Visual Pak, may have altered the future of insurance litigation under the state's Biometric Information Privacy Act by diametrically opposing a prominent Seventh Circuit ruling that found insurance coverage for violations of the act, say attorneys at Jenner & Block.

  • Tenn. Law Protecting Artists From AI Raises Novel Issues

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    Tennessee recently enacted a law that extends the right of publicity protection to individuals' voices in an attempt to control the proliferation of artificial intelligence in the music industry, presenting fascinating questions about the First Amendment, the fair use doctrine and more, say attorneys at Davis Wright.

  • Consumer Privacy Takeaways From FTC Extraterritorial Action

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    With what appears to be its first privacy-related consent agreement with a non-U.S. business, the Federal Trade Commission establishes that its reach is extraterritorial and that consumer internet browsing data is sensitive data, and there are lessons for any multinational business that handles consumer information, say Olivia Greer and Alexis Bello at Weil.

  • Series

    Whitewater Kayaking Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Whether it's seeing clients and their issues from a new perspective, or staying nimble in a moment of intense challenge, the lessons learned from whitewater kayaking transcend the rapids of a river and prepare attorneys for the courtroom and beyond, says Matthew Kent at Alston & Bird.

  • This Earth Day, Consider How Your Firm Can Go Greener

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    As Earth Day approaches, law firms and attorneys should consider adopting more sustainable practices to reduce their carbon footprint — from minimizing single-use plastics to purchasing carbon offsets for air travel — which ultimately can also reduce costs for clients, say M’Lynn Phillips and Lisa Walters at IMS Legal Strategies.

  • Discord Stock Case Toss Means Little For Fraud Defendants

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    A Texas federal court’s recent dismissal of fraud charges related to a "pump and dump" scheme on Discord is an outlier after the U.S. Supreme Court scrapped the right-to-control theory of fraud last year, and ultimately won't deter the government from pursuing routine securities prosecutions, says William Johnston at Bird Marella.

  • Back Labels In False Ad Cases Get Some Clarity In 9th Circ.

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    Courts in the Ninth Circuit have recently delivered a series of wins to advertisers, making clear that any ambiguity on the front of a product's package can be resolved by reference to the back label — which guarantees defendants a powerful tool to combat deceptive labeling claims, say attorneys at Patterson Belknap.

  • Weisselberg's Perjury At Trial Spotlights Atty Ethics Issues

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    Former Trump Organization executive Allen Weisselberg’s recent guilty plea for perjury in the New York attorney general's civil fraud trial should serve as a reminder to attorneys of their ethical duties when they know a client has lied or plans to lie in court, and the potential penalties for not fulfilling those obligations, say Hilary Gerzhoy and Julienne Pasichow at HWG.

  • Practicing Law With Parkinson's Disease

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    This Parkinson’s Awareness Month, Adam Siegler at Greenberg Traurig discusses his experience working as a lawyer with Parkinson’s disease, sharing both lessons on how to cope with a diagnosis and advice for supporting colleagues who live with the disease.

  • The Merger Cases That Will Matter At ABA Antitrust Meeting

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    While the American Bar Association's Antitrust Spring Meeting this week will cover all types of competition law issues in the U.S. and abroad, expect the federal agencies' recent track record in merger enforcement to be a key area of focus on the official panels and in cocktail party chatter, say attorneys at Freshfields.

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