Ken Basin

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This week, the California Court of Appeal upheld a $3.2 million jury verdict for producer Alan Ladd, Jr. in his profit participation lawsuit against Warner Bros. And if you are neither a Warner Bros. stockholder nor named Alan Ladd, Jr., you may well have yawned and gone about your day (actually, Ladd is rich enough that he may have yawned and gone about his day). But if so, then tsk tsk: the Ladd case is big news for everyone in the entertainment industry, be they talent, producers, studio executives, or the lawyers scrambling for their business. That’s because the Ladd case features two truly rare and precious commodities: a jury verdict and a published decision. Continue reading the full story . . . »

Aaron Moss

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I have a two year old daughter at home that won’t eat. I mean, she’ll eat chocolate chip pancakes, but not chicken, or broccoli, or anything that might actually cause her to grow. If only I’d known earlier that the secret to Alyssa’s healthy eating was putting the chicken and broccoli inside the chocolate chip pancakes. Continue reading the full story . . . »

Dan Nabel

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As anyone who plays video games these days knows, computer-generated representations of real people have become both increasingly commonplace and incredibly realistic. So much so, that a new area of litigation has emerged: right of publicity lawsuits for the unauthorized use of a person’s likeness in a video game.

Right of Publicity Law

The basic idea of the right of publicity is quite simple. Under the laws of most states, a person has the right to control the commercial use of his or her identity or “likeness.” This right encompasses all of a person’s distinctive characteristics, e.g., the sound of a chanteuse’s voice; a basketball star’s former name; or even a race car driver’s distinctive racing car. Traditionally, right of publicity lawsuits have been filed over unauthorized uses of a celebrity’s likeness in advertisements (usually television commercials): Continue reading the full story . . . »

Steve Smith

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The lawsuit between Activision and the founders of Infinity Ward, Jason West and Vince Zampella, over the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare franchise may be a war, but it is anything but modern. It exemplifies the classic, time-honored struggle between the artist and the sponsor who funds the artist’s work. Whether it is the author versus the publisher, the actor versus the studio, the player versus the team owner or the musician versus the record label, the struggle has always been the same. Who is responsible for the success of an artistic enterprise? The artist who created the work or the investor who gave the artist the means by which to create? Continue reading the full story . . . »

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 . . . »