The nearly two-year legal saga between television host Tavis Smiley and PBS appears headed for its final chapter next month when the parties face off in trial. Central to the dispute is the meaning and scope of the morals clause in Smiley’s contract with PBS. PBS terminated its 14-year partnership with Smiley in 2017 for
Redbox, Disney Settle Download Code Litigation
DOJ Announces Move to Terminate Paramount Consent Decrees, Let Studios Back Into Exhibition
In a move that could upend the US theatrical exhibition landscape, the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice has announced that it will seek court approval to terminate the Paramount Consent Decrees.
The Paramount Consent Decrees went into effect in 1948 following the decision of the Supreme Court in United States v. Paramount Pictures
Law Enforcement Training Company Seeks To Interrogate Netflix After “When They See Us” Series Blames Company For Encouraging False Confessions
Netflix’s original series “When They See Us” was released in May of this year and portrayed the prosecution of five teenagers of color who were wrongfully convicted of raping a white woman in Manhattan’s Central Park in 1989. The series depicts the detectives and police abusing the teens, isolating them from their parents, and subjecting
Lanham Act’s Prohibition of Immoral and Scandalous Marks is Officially “FUCT”
The U.S. Supreme Court this week officially pulled the plug on the Lanham Act’s prohibition on the registration of trademarks that comprise “immoral” or “scandalous” matter on First Amendment grounds. The prohibition, found in Section 2(a) of the Act, was already on life support after the Court’s
App Store Purchasers Entitled to Bite at the Antitrust Apple, Says Supreme Court
The United States Supreme Court decided this week that purchasers of apps through the Apple App Store have standing under federal antitrust law to bring a class-action lawsuit against the tech giant.
The Sherman Antitrust Act makes it unlawful for any person to “monopolize, or attempt to monopolize, or combine or conspire with any other
Comic Relief! “Stolen Joke Case” Settles Weeks Before Trial
After almost four years of litigation between TBS late-night talk show host Conan O’Brien and comedy writer Alex Kaseberg over five jokes Kaseberg alleged Conan and his writing team stole from Kaseberg’s Twitter feed, the clashing comics finally reached a settlement. Though the terms of the agreement
Court Kicks Joke Experts Off Stage As “Stolen Joke Case” Heads for Trial
The cast list for the upcoming trial between TBS late-night talk show host Conan O’Brien and comedy writer Alex Kaseberg just got shorter as District Court Judge Janis Sammartino dropped the curtain on Kaseberg’s two expert witnesses. Kaseberg intended to team up with David Barsky, a mathematics
Winter Is Coming: Writers and Agents Hunker Down for a Battle of Attrition
This is an update on my blog post regarding the face-off between the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and the major talent agencies, through the Association of Talent Agencies (ATA).
To summarize–OMG!! 
The WGA issued an ultimatum requiring the agents to sign their Code of Conduct forswearing package commissions. This is the practice by which
Celebrity Plaintiffs Alleging “Fortnite” Publisher Stole Their Dance Moves Face the Music and Dismiss Claims
Rappers Terrence “2 Milly” Ferguson and James “BlocBoy JB” Baker, influencer Russell “Backpack Kid” Horning, and actor Alfonso Ribeiro (best known for his role as “Carlton Banks” in the sitcom “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air”) have dismissed their claims against Epic Games for allegedly infringing their signature