Client Alerts – Page 3

Does America Bomb Academy Award Winners? Ten Things to Learn from Iran’s A Separation

April 1, 2012

Iran is back, center stage…The diminutive president in the ill-fitting suits…The Supreme Leader with the hat and the beard . . . The techs, in lab coat, who are splitting the…ATOM ! What’s missing from this seemingly evergreen news story is a clear sense of what, behind the official façade,

Spike Lee Wins €32 M Judgment vs French Media Giant TF1; Hidden Risks of Financing Auteur Filmmakers

October 17, 2011

On June 21 of this year, a French court awarded Spike Lee and associated plaintiffs a judgment against French media giant TF1 in the amount of €32 million which, at current conversion rates, is approximately US $43 million. The Court ruled that TF1 had wrongfully rejected delivery of Lee’s film

Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?

August 11, 2011

In an integrated production, distribution and broadcast company like ABC/Disney, which division makes the profits?[1] Contestants who appear on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire play to win a million dollars. Now Celador Productions, the show’s creator, has successfully upheld a jury verdict in its favor of more than $319

Ladd v Warner Bros. – Straight-Lining The Package

June 10, 2010

Straight-lining is the practice of allocating a license for a package of films equally across all films in the package. It may be fair and proper in some instances, or unfair and abusive in others. Producer Alan Ladd, Jr. is responsible (with others, of course) for such popular and even

What is Superman Really Worth?

March 10, 2010

Court holds contract price should reflect absence of reversion clause. Can someone who leaps tall buildings in a single bound lose value if sidelined? It’s not often that courts are called upon to place a value on a superhero. And not just any superhero, but Superman himself, the ultimate icon

Weinstein Co. vs Smokewood – Beware What You Argue, It May Come Back to Haunt You

October 10, 2009

The film Push was the big prizewinner at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival. The Weinstein Company (TWC), after aggressive pursuit, thought they had a deal to distribute it. But when, instead, the film was sold to another film company, TWC brought a number of lawsuits, including one against the film’s

Sopranos Litigation Makes The Case For Following Best Practices

January 9, 2008

The final episode of the hit television series The Sopranos aired in June, 2007. The final episode of a five year court battle over the creation and profits of the series, however, didn’t play out until just before this past Christmas.1 Could this costly and distracting litigation have been avoided?

New Fantasy Baseball Ruling May Impact Database Practices Generally

August 8, 2006

Does organized fantasy baseball require a license of Major League Baseball player names and records? In a case involving CDM Fantasy Sports, a federal district court in St. Louis has answered “no”. The Court’s decision potentially may change business practices not only in the fantasy sports industry, but in other

Change of Format Puts American Movie Classics in Breach of Cable Carriage Agreement

July 28, 2005

In the cable television business, there is inevitably tension between networks, which periodically reposition themselves to maintain and build a loyal audience, and cable operators, who seek a variety of programming on their channels to attract different audiences for their systems as a whole. This tension can be faced either