Since taking over Mary Beth Peters as Register of Copyrights in 2011, Maria Pallante has been listening and responding to the concerns of a number of her constituents, particularly those in the music industry, and it most certainly shows. In the last few months, several pieces of work product have been delivered by the Copyright [...]
My associate, John Inniger, does a nice job of covering the basics of the Thicke/Williams litigation against the estate of Marvin Gaye in this LOR post. But since a jury verdict in favor of the Gaye Estate rendered a $7.1M verdict earlier this month, the social media and blogosphere has been abuzz with commentary pro and con on [...]
Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams spent 2013 on the top of the charts with their hit Blurred Lines, but due to allegations of copyright infringement suit leveled by the children of legendary singer Marvin Gaye they also spent much of 2014 in a court proceedings. And did they put on a show. The saga began [...]
You cannot discover new oceans unless you have the courage to lose sight of the shore. As it does every year, this new year marks a new beginning. I plan to continue my Twitter series entitled #creativity, so if you don’t already, follow me there @bshrum, or on any of the social networking platforms. However, [...]
As people say goodbye to the December holidays and begin planning their goals for a new year, many considering starting a new business in order to be their own boss and start down the road to financial independence. So, if you plan on starting up a new venture in 2015, you will likely have questions [...]
Is it time for Congress to draft a replacement for the 1976 Copyright Law? In point of fact, the law was drafted almost half a decade ago now and its last major amendment came in 1998 with the addition of the DMCA. Many argue that the advent of digital technology, driven of course by the [...]
By Samantha Jervey* When Walt Disney decided to personally license the image of Mickey Mouse in 1929, he had no idea that he would start a licensing revolution.[1] This deliberate act made by Walt is what ultimately laid the foundation for his company, thus bringing to life what is now known today as Disney Consumer [...]
By Emily Fitzmaurice Nashville is long overdue for a fresh songwriter like Logan Brill. Since Brill’s freshman release, Walking Wires debuted in late last year, this 22-year-old Knoxville native didn’t lose any momentum in the Country and Americana music scene, scoring tons of accolades from industry and press alike. For example, Brill’s Walking Wires [...]
As an attorney, the majority of my practice hinges on the “devil” in the details, i.e., the minutia of a conversation can make all the difference in a deal or transaction, particularly when I’m trying to draft an accurate contract reflecting that deal. Sometimes, I wish I had the assistance of someone like Lily Tomlin [...]
Yes, I have been on a reviewing kick in the past few months. In December of last year I reprised an old article I had written as “A Day in the Life of a Smartphone Enabled Lawyer, which you can read here. In it, I hinted at the upcoming trend of “wearables” that were about [...]
