24 Jul, 2024 10 Myths Every Documentary Filmmaker Should Know By Melissa Georges The world of filmmaking abounds with misconceptions, perhaps most significantly in the documentary film realm where filmmakers must...
13 Nov, 2023 The Generative AI Journey Continues By Brian Murphy When it comes to tech powered by generative AI, we are on the verge of a Cambrian Explosion, a period during which we can expect an...
30 Aug, 2023 Can Trump Sue Over The Use Of His Mug Shot On Merchandise? By Edward H. Rosenthal Donald Trump claims he never heard the term "mug shots" before his arraignment last week in Atlanta. He says that "they didn't teach me...
04 Apr, 2023 Cops Sue Afroman Alleging "Lemon Pound Cake" Violates Their Right of Publicity By Brian Murphy In Saturday Night Live's cold open last weekend, the newly indicted Donald Trump (played by James Austin Johnson) announced his latest...
03 Apr, 2023 Another Court Rejects Claims That The Sale of Subscriber's Personal Information Violates Right of Publicity Laws By Edward H. Rosenthal In January, my esteemed colleague Brian Murphy posted about a case that raised the question whether the sale by a publisher of mailing...
22 Jan, 2023 SDNY Holds That New York's Right of Publicity Law Is Not An Intellectual Property Right and Therefore is Subject to Section 230 Immunity By Edward H. Rosenthal This past week, Judge Jesse M. Furman of the Southern District of New York ruled, in what he called a case of first impression, that a...
17 Jan, 2023 Can The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City Teach Us Something About Right of Publicity Law? By Brian Murphy The "Real Housewives" franchise is one of my guilty pleasures. Why do I devote so much time to a bunch of exhibitionists who are thirsty...
03 Nov, 2022 New York Post-Mortem Right of Publicity Update: Here is a List of the Registered Dead People By Edward H. Rosenthal For many years, there was a lively debate in New York as to whether the state should extend protection for an individual's right of...
18 May, 2022 Hopelessly Devoted to Fair Use: District Court Holds that Vape is Parody of Grease By Brian Murphy Sketchworks Comedy is the producer of Vape, a play advertised as a "millennial parody" of Grease. (You can watch Vape's trailer here.)...
29 Jan, 2022 Lil Yachty hits music NFT platform Opulous with trademark and right of publicity suit By Jeremy Goldman On January 27, 2022, rapper Lil Yachty filed a complaint against Opulous and its founder in the U.S. District Court for the Central...
12 Dec, 2021 An End-of-Year Update: Borat, Liebowitz, the Houston Astros and the Vineyard Porn Case By Edward H. Rosenthal As we approach the end of 2021, here is an update on a few of the cases and matters I have blogged about over the past year or so. In...
28 Sep, 2021 Third Circuit Finds No Section 230 Immunity From State Right of Publicity Claims By Nicole Bergstrom In a split from the Ninth Circuit, the Third Circuit ruled recently in Hepp v. Facebook, Inc., that Section 230 of the Communications...
27 Sep, 2021 Another Failed Stunt: Court Dismisses Evel Knievel Brand Owner’s Claims Against Disney in Toy Story 4 Lawsuit By Kimberly Maynard Duke Caboom, the stuntman character in Disney’s Toy Story 4, may have been inspired by 1960s real-life daredevil Evel Knievel or by the...
19 Jul, 2021 Meme is (Fake) Newsworthy By Nicole Bergstrom You may recall this heartwarming video of two toddlers, one black and one white, running into each other's arms on a New York City...
13 Jul, 2021 Borat's Subsequent Litigation Lawsuit By Edward H. Rosenthal Sacha Baron Cohen is no stranger to litigation. The creator of the Borat, Ali G and other characters has been sued on several occasions....
09 Jul, 2021 It’s My Party And I’ll Sue You If I Want To: The Reagan Foundation Sues Over Use Of Marks On Trump-Supporting Website By Glenda Dieuveille Over the last year, journalists have written about the Republican party’s “identity crisis”—should Republicans walk away from Donald...