Intellectual property
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Monday, September 10th, 2007my good friend Tony Berman has posted a very good article on Copyright Authorship on his Multimedia Entertainment Law Online News blog.
Restaurants sued for playing music without ASCAP/BMI licenses
Thursday, August 23rd, 2007In recent months, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) has sued at least two dozen restaurants around the country for copyright infringement. The claims stem from the restaurants’ playing of music without obtaining a license from the performing rights organization.
ASCAP and its competitor BMI (Broadcast Music International) are the two largest [...]
Copyright and Contract in conflict?
Tuesday, May 29th, 2007Professor Eric Goldman’s Technology & Marketing Law Blog has an interesting article about the simmering dispute over copyrights in photographs of public-domain works of art.
It seems a public interest group recently downloaded scores of photographs from the Smithsonian Institution and posted them on the photo-sharing site flickr. The problem is… the [...]
New Jersey joins the club: passes a “Truth In Music” law.
Monday, May 14th, 2007Did you know that in ten states it’s against the law to impersonate a music band?
New Jersey recently became the tenth state to pass a “Truth in Music” bill. Led by a lobbying effort from vintage singing groups like the Drifters and Sha Na Na, musicians have pushed for legislation making it illegal to use [...]
Non Smoking Ordinances vs. Smoking on Stage
Tuesday, January 30th, 2007Zachary Pincus Roth has written an interesting piece about on-stage smoking in the theatre.
Does the 1st Amendment apply to smoking as a form of “speech”. If the stage directions call for a cigarette, and it’s a significant part of a scene, isn’t a ban on smoking a ‘prior restraint’ on the expression of ideas?
Could [...]