Entertainment Law and How it Pertains to your Business

This week I had the pleasure of listening to three Entertainment Law podcasts by Entertainment Lawyers, Gordon Firemark and Tamera Bennett. As I listened to these podcasts, I noticed that most of the topics did not directly pertain to the type of business that I would like to start, but the laws are universal when dealing with matters of any entertainment business.

The first podcast I listened to was on 360 deals, rights of publicity, and more (Episode 29). The podcast featured stories about the different types of 360 record deals, digital sales of music versus physical music sales, and several other topics. The topic that really stood out to me was the case involving copyright termination.

Roger Miller was a singer/songwriter in the 60’s. He passed away in 1992 and his family sued Sony over ownership and royalties for his songs. The songs he wrote were released in 1964 because of the first 28 years of copyright. After 28 years, the copyright needed to be renewed and Roger Miller made sure he completed his trademark renewal before it lapsed. The twist in this story is that Miller passed away the last year of the copyright. In order for heirs to get ownership, the author of the copyright must live past the 28^th year of copyright. Higher courts ruled that Sony would possess his music, but the lower courts ruled that the family owned the rights of his music.

Although this pertains to copyrights with music royalties, my company also has copyrights to protect. I will have a company blog and songs available for song selection and if I allow the copyright to lapse, I run the risk of someone claiming the ownership of my music and domain name of my blog.

The second podcast I listened to focused on trademarks. Episode 33 entitled Cease and Desist, but nicely mentions a lawsuit between Eastland Music Group and Mandate Pictures. Eastland Music Group accused Mandate Pictures of trademark infringement. Eastland Music Group has been using the name Phifty50 since 2000 and believed that the movie “50/50” infringed on the trademark of their music company.

They were afraid that Mandate Pictures and Lionsgate Films would tarnish their reputation, goodwill, and would cause consumer confusion. The judge watched the movie about a 27-year-old diagnosed with cancer, and ruled that there was no way the movie would cause consumer confusion for Eastland Music Group’s usage of Phifty50 for business purposes.

The topic of trademarks and trademark infringement pertains to my business because it is a form of intellectual property (IP) I would like to protect. Registering my trademarks with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) will help protect me from the possibility of trademark infringement and dilution.

The last podcast I listened to was entitled Publicity, Politicians, Godfathers, and more (Episode 34). In this podcast, there was an issue of defamation and a lawsuit filed by Steve Wynn against Joe Francis. Joe Francis had incurred a debt at one of Wynn’s Las Vegas Casinos. When Wynn sued Francis to collect the debt, he began receiving threats in and out of court along the lines of “being found in a hole in the desert.” Wynn sued for defamation and was awarded $40 million, which included punitive damages as well.

Defamation does not directly affect my business, but there is a possibility it could happen. Defamation could come from competition or jilted employees. To protect myself and my company from defamation, I could write a clause in my contract that outlines the possible punishment and repercussions if defamation was ever an issue.

I found the podcasts very beneficial to the creation of my company and I hope you found it informative as well. If you did not learn anything from the podcasts I mentioned above, I want you to remember to protect your intellectual property. Once your IP is gone, you may not get the chance to get it back.