Entertainment Law Lessons to Behold!

As I was looking for some podcasts on entertainment law, I came across a couple really good ones at www.entertainmentlawupdate.com. The first one I listened to was Episode 17 and it talked about an interesting case, UMG vs. Augusto. This dispute revolved around Mr. Augusto who was taking cut out CDs, which are used for promotional use, and was selling them to third parties. UMG insisted that they were strictly for promotional use only and that they were never truly “given out” which would make them fall under the For Sale Doctrine. This case went all the way to the 9^th Circuit where they ruled that not only did UMG transfer the license but the title as well when they sent these CDs out.

Another interesting aspect to this case was that when the judge ruled, they cited Postal Statute Title 39, US Code 3009; if you get something in the mail that you didn’t order, you get to keep it. I thought this was a great twist ending on UMG’s argument. Whether or not this was the ultimate reason, UMG decided that they will no longer send out promotional CDs anymore and instead direct potential investors and marketers to their website.

Next, I listened to Episode 26 where they were talking about SOPA, the new anti-piracy act that Congress is trying to pass. This bill sounds like it would be a good thing but the fact is, it would allow a lot of online businesses to be unfairly targeted for potential copyright infringement. This bill allows the Department of Justice (DOJ) to stop businesses from collecting revenue from oversea companies who they believe are infringing on copyrights. Whether or not they even are, it doesn’t matter.

A big problem with this is that it lacks due process. Someone can just claim that a site is embarking on copyright infringement and they can get that site shut down. This new bill even offers immunity to claimants from being sued by companies who are found of no fault. This is just ridiculous! A company that is only an online business that solely gets its revenue from Internet sales could be devastated from such a claim.

The last podcast I listened to was about IP law in Rio de Janeiro. They are so backed up with patent applications, a backlog of 8 – 10 years, that they are now doing preliminary examinations before the actual examinations. They are hoping that this will weed out anything that isn’t actually patentable.

The really interesting thing I got from this podcast is that since Rio is hosting the 2016 Olympics, they have enacted the Olympic Act. This law is to curb ambush marketing and they passed it the day that Rio was announced that they would be hosting. This law protects ANYTHING that is trademarked, patented and copyrighted while it is being involved with the Olympics. This includes but isn’t limited to; flags, mottos, logos, anthems, graphically distinctive signs, mascots and emblems. It also protects names; Olympic Games, Para-Olympic Games, Rio 2016 Olympic and Para-Olympic Games, 31^st Olympic Games 2016.