Creative Artists Agency and William Morris Endeavor are two of Hollywood’s top talent agencies. They are currently being sued in federal court in the Southern District of New York by a man named Justin Samuels, who is arguing that he was denied work by the two companies based on their racially and sexually discriminatory practices. But was he […]
Large internet copyright infringement lawsuits have been filed in 2011, and not all of them relate to movies consumers pay to see at the theaters. In fact, pornographic film studios are suing downloaders with regularity this year, creating a new revenue stream out of lawsuit settlements. Sometimes it is worthwhile for accused infringers to settle […]
There is nothing wrong with providing legal services to retired National Football League (NFL) players. In fact, many retired NFL players have good claims for benefits and deserve representation by competent attorneys. However, if an attorney provides legal services in such a case involving payment through the NFL pension and disability plan, he/she should not […]
The Online Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation Act (OCILLA), also known as DMCA 512 was passed in 1998 as part of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). OCILLA is also known as the “Safe Harbor” provision in the DMCA, which shields internet service providers (ISPs) from being forced to pay any monetary damages as a result of […]
In order for a copyright holder to get personal information of someone whom is considered to be illegally infringing the copyright, the copyright holder likely must subpoena the infringer’s internet service provider (ISP). The person accused of infringing activity has the right to file a motion to quash the subpoena; however, the accused infringer will […]
Generic top-level domains (gTLDs) include .com, .net, .org, .edu, and other variations in what is considered to be the back-end of a domain name. In 2000, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) introduced .aero, .biz, .coop, .inof, .museum, .name, and .pro. Then, in 2005, .cat, .jobs, .mobi, .tel, and .travel were added […]
Ever since domain names have been open for public registration, domain owners have been guilty of cybersquatting on other peoples’/companies names. Some cybersquatting cases are more clear than others. If I register the domain name BurgerKing.com, it is unlikely that I can defend it by showing a legitimate use for owning the URL. However, if […]
The most active group of movie producers in the realm of litigating apparent copyright infringement in 2011 seems to be producers of pornographic material. I have no hard evidence that this is the case, but from the sheer amount of cases I hear about, including some demand letters that clients have brought to my attention, […]
Download a copyrighted movie using the popular downloader BitTorrent? That action is considered copyright infringement. Movie studios are becoming increasingly active in protecting their copyrights, requesting courts to approve their subpoenas on internet service providers to find out the personal private information about people who are supposedly tied to IP addresses of infringers. Movie studios […]
In January 2011, the National Football League Players Association (NFLPA) released a report titled, “Dangers of the Game of Football.” In the report, the NFLPA wrote that injuries went from 3.2 per week to 3.7 per week in 2010. Further, 63% of NFL players were injured during the 2010 season compared to a 59% average […]