Ricardo Cestero

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In late March, Irving Azoff’s company, Front Line Management, sued Guns ‘n Roses front man Axl Rose for nearly $2 million of unpaid fees. Amazingly, this is the third major talent v. manager lawsuit in just the first three months of 2010. First was Sly Stone suing his former manager Jerry Goldstein for allegedly co-opting $50 million in royalties from Sly’s music, likeness and trademark. Then March brought a lawsuit between Lady Gaga and her ex-boyfriend and manager Rob Fusari, and the Axl Rose matter. So, why the sudden rash of manager disputes? Maybe it’s some mysterious plot by entertainment industry executives to reap strife between talent and their representatives. Or maybe the managers’ moons are in Venus and the talent’s moons are in Cancer (whatever that means). But I think there’s a far simpler explanation: given the unique nature of the relationships between talent and their managers, when the talent wants out, the managers are easy targets. Continue reading the full story . . . »

Matt Galsor

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Q: Recently someone claimed to still own the American rights to the Sherlock Holmes stories and threatened to withhold them. What is copyright law as regards a work like this? I used a book published in 1912 by Earl Derr Biggers and made into a play by George M. Cohan in 1913 as the basis for a play of my own, specifically because I thought both would be well into the public domain. Do I need to worry about copyright clearance for something that old? Biggers died in 1933 and Cohan in 1942. Continue reading the full story . . . »