There appears to be a slight ripple of a trend among courts to take a stricter look at the evidence being presented by the RIAA in its crusade against digital downloads, based primarily on the evidence of user names and IP addresses assembled by their expert consultants, MediaSentry. In the RIAA's case against Jeff Dangler, [...]
Earlier this week, Tom Baldrica, vice president of marketing at Sony BMG, announced that Heather McBee has been promoted to vice president of digital business. McBee, who has been with the label for 14 years, was formerly senior director of that department. Baldrica said in a prepared statement: "I'm so proud of this promotion. Heather [...]
On August 16, 2007, Doe No. 28 in the RIAA's action captioned Virgin Records America, Inc. et al. v. Does 1-33 filed a motion to squash the subpoena issued to the University of Tennessee on the grounds that, one, it was unreasonable on its face and, two, it violates his rights under the Family Educational [...]
Section 101 of the United States Copyright Act defines work for hire at as follows: (1) a work prepared by an employee within the scope of his or her employment; or (2) a work specially ordered or commissioned for use as a contribution to a collective work, as a part of a motion picture [...]
The "Star Power" theory of damage reduction in copyright infringement actions Most consumers instantly recognize brand names such as Coca-Cola®, Nabisco®, Frito-Lay®, and Sony®. As a result of their prior purchasing experience with these brands, a consumer is much more likely to purchase a new brand of cookies bearing the Nabisco®® label than they are [...]
This article originally appear in the print edition of Law on the Row, Volume 2, Issue 1 on September 9, 2002. Imagine two musical works written in a minor key using a standard jazz progression such as I-IV-II-V. Further imagine that Work B is alleged to be an infringement of Work A. The author of [...]
In a blow to the Recording Industry Association of America, U.S. District Court judge Michael Davis ruled yesterday that the infamous president of the RIAA, Cary Sherman, could not testify in the trial of accused music-sharer Jammie Thomas because "nis testimony would not be relevant," despite the arguments of Plaintiff’s attorney, Richard Gabriel, that Sherman's [...]
By James H. Harris III* More than just occasionally, entertainers adopt stage names. They do so because they believe the new name will add a luster and specific identity to their careers. Thus, Harold S. Jenkins became Conway Twitty. A stage name, of course, is a type of mark that an entertainer uses to identify [...]
