MLRC Entertainment Conference 2022: Written Resources

Session One: True Crime and the Law

• Eriq Gardner, Netflix Stuck Between a Cop and a ‘Murderer’ Lawsuit, Hollywood Reporter (May 27, 2021),
  • Colborn v. Netflix Inc., No: 1: 19-cv-00484 (E.D. Wis. May 26, 2021),
• Askley King, Spotify Faces Defamation Lawsuit Over True Crime Podcast ‘Son of a Hitman’, Digital Music News (Mar. 1, 2021)
  • Parker v. Spotify USA, No. 5:21-cv-00175 (W.D. Tex. Nov. 1, 2021)
• Kristina Davis, Judge orders ‘Fat Leonard’ podcasters to turn over unaired recordings before trial, San Diego Union-Tribune (Dec. 22, 2021)
  • U.S. v. Newland, No. 3:17-cr-00623 (S.D. Cal. Dec. 21, 2021),
• Nate Jones, Jinx Director Andrew Jarecki: No Deal With Police Over Timing of Durst Arrest, Vulture (Mar. 16, 2015)
  • Charles V. Bagli, As Durst Murder Case Goes Forward, HBO’s Film Will Also Be on Trial, New York Times (Apr. 24, 2019)
  • Alex Dobuzinskis, Robert Durst’s attorneys take aim at filmmakers behind ‘The Jinx’ in murder case, Reuters (Aug. 9, 2019)
• Imogen Loxton, True Crime & Punishment: Legal Risks in True Crime Series, Ashurst (Mar. 24, 2020)
• Kami Griffith, Telling the Whole Truth Behind the Mic: Applying the Rules of Evidence to True Crime Podcasts, Kentucky Law Journal Online (April 19, 2021)
• Mikaela Gross, Legal and Ethical Considerations for Your True Crime Podcast, Cowan, DeBaets, Abrahams & Sheppard LLP (Feb. 3, 2020)
• Karissa Key, Internet Sleuths and True Crime: Helpful or Hurtful to Cases?, Pumphrey law (Sept. 29, 2021)
• Greg Myre, How Online Sleuths Identified Rioters At The Capitol, NPR (Jan. 11, 2021)

Session Two: “No Identification with Actual Persons (Living or Deceased) Should be Inferred”: Libel in Fiction

• Eriq Gardner, Why Suits Against Netflix Could Shake Streaming, Hollywood Reporter (Nov. 5, 2021)
• Eriq Gardner, Paramount’s ‘Wolf of Wall Street’ Libel Win Affirmed by Appeals Court, Hollywood Reporter (June 11, 2020)
  • Greene v. Paramount Pictures Corp., No. 19-135 (2nd Cir. June 11, 2020)
• Ron Charles, Alan Dershowitz claims a fictional lawyer defamed him. The implications for novelists are very real., Washington Post (Aug. 6, 2020)
• Eriq Gardner, ‘Hustlers’ Producers Beat Libel Suit by Woman Who Inspired Jennifer Lopez Character, Hollywood Reporter (Nov. 11, 2020)
  • Barbash v. STX Financing, LLC, No. 1:20-cv-00123 (S.D.N.Y. Nov. 10, 2020)
• Eriq Gardner, Netflix Beats Libel Claims from “Panama Papers” Law Firm, Hollywood Reporter (Dec. 23, 2020)
  • Mossack Fonseca & Co., S.A., v. Netflix Inc., No. 19-9330 (C.D. Cal. Dec. 23, 2020)
• Ashley Cullins, ‘Billions’ Battle: Showtime’s Libel In Fiction Win Upheld by Appeals Court, Hollywood Reporter (Feb. 23, 2021)
  • Cayuga Nation v Showtime Networks Inc., 191 A.D.3d 573 (N.Y. App. Div. 2021),
• Ron Hurtibise, GEO Group sues Netflix for trademark infringement over use of logos in ‘Messiah’ series, South Florida Sun-Sentinel (May 29, 2020)
  • Motion to Dismiss, GEO Group, Inc. v. Netflix, Inc., No. 9:20-cv-80847 (S.D. Fla. Aug. 3, 2020),
  • Notice of Dismissal, GEO Group, Inc. v. Netflix, Inc., No. 9:20-cv-80847 (S.D. Fla. May 1, 2021),
• Mary Kate Brennan & Margaret A. Esquenet, Second Circuit Holds that Billions’ Legal Drama Will Stay Only Onscreen, National Law Review (July 29, 2021)
  • Shull v. TBTF Productions, Inc., No. 20-3529 (2nd Cir. July 19, 2021)
• Mike Eckel, A U.S. Play Depicted Khodorkovsky’s Rise, Fall, And Clash With Putin. The Tycoon’s Wife Has Sued For Libel., Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (Dec. 4, 2019)
  • Khodorkovskaya v. Gay, 5 F.4th 80 (D.C. Cir.  2021)
• Gene Maddaus, Ex-Prosecutor Linda Fairstein Can Sue Netflix Over ‘When They See Us’ Portrayal, Variety (Aug. 9, 2021)
  • Fairstein v. Netflix, Inc., No. 1:20-cv-0804 (S.D.N.Y. Aug. 9, 2021)
• Tim Fitzsimons and Diana Dasrath, Former Soviet chess master sues Netflix over ‘sexist’ line in ‘Queen’s Gambit’, NBC News (Sept. 16, 2021)
  • Complaint, Gaprindashvili v. Netflix, Inc., No. 2:21-cv-07408 (C.D. Cal. Sept. 16, 2021),
  • Winston Cho, Netflix Can’t Checkmate Chess Grandmaster in ‘Queen’s Gambit’ Defamation Lawsuit, Hollywood Reporter (Jan. 28, 2022)
  • Gaprindashvili v. Netflix, Inc., No. 2:21-cv-07408 (C.D. Cal. Jan. 27, 2022)

Session Three: Hot Topics & Hidden Traps in Clearances

General

• Edward Klaris, INSIGHT: Intellectual Property Rights in the Age of the Streaming Wars, Bloomberg Law (Mar. 9, 2020),
• Dave Davis, The Road Ahead for Music Streaming Licenses, Copyright Clearance Center (May 6, 2019)
• Annie Zaleski, The Do’s & Don’ts of Sample Clearances, Spotify for Artists (Aug. 16, 2019)

Documentaries

• American University Center for Social Media, Documentary Filmmakers’ Statement of Best Practices in Fair Use (Nov. 18, 2005)
• Patricia Aufderheide and Peter Jaszi, Making Fair Use More Client-Friendly: The Set of Principles in Fair Use for Journalism, MLRC Bulletin 2013 Issue 3
• Caty Borum Chattoo and William Harder, The State of the Documentary Field, Center for Media & Social Impact (July 2021) (see fair use data, p. 63)
• Orly Ravid, 8 Legal Tips for Documentary Filmmakers, IndieWire (July 9, 2015)
• Mike Masnick, Appeals Court Can Rule That DMCA’s Anti-Circumvention Rules Are Unconstitutional, Techdirt (Feb. 8, 2022)
  • U.S. Copyright Office, Exemption to Prohibition on Circumvention of Copyright Protection Systems for Access Control Technologies, 83 Fed. Reg. 54010 (Oct. 26, 2018)
  • Green v. U.S. Dep’t of Justice, 392 F. Supp. 3d 68 (D.D.C. 2019)
  • Brief Amicus Curiae of Kartemquin Educational Films and International Documentary Association in Support of Plaintiff-Appellant and Reversal, Green v. U.S. Dep’t of Justice, No. 21-5195 (D.C. Cir. Jan. 19, 2022)
• Van Buren v. U.S., 593 U.S. ___, 141 S.Ct. 1648 (2021)
• Docket & Pleadings, Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. v. Goldsmith, No. 19-2420 (cert. granted Mar. 28, 2022)
  • Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. v. Goldsmith, 992 F.3d 99 (2nd Cir. 2021)

Video Games

• Anna Piechówka, When video games meet IP law, WIPO Magazine (June 2021)
• Christopher Zheng, Updates from the Video Game World: The Copyright Issues of Realistic Gameplay, Center for Art Law (June 22, 2020)
  • AM General, LLC v. Activision Blizzard Inc., 450 F. Supp. 3d 467 (S.D.N.Y. 2020)
  • Solid Oak Sketches, LLC v. 2K Games, Inc., 449 F. Supp. 3d 333 (S.D.N.Y. 2020)
• No Doubt v. Activision Publishing, Inc., 192 Cal. App. 4th 1018 (2011)
• Google LLC v. Oracle America, Inc., 141 S.Ct. 1183 (2021)
• Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Ass’n, 564 U.S. 786 (2011)

Rights of Publicity

• Porco v. Lifetime Entertainment Servs., LLC, 147 A.D.3d 1253 (N.Y. App. Div. 3d 2017)
• De Havilland v. FX Networks, LLC, 21 Cal. App. 5th 845 (2018), cert. den., 139 S.Ct. 800 (2019)
• State Right of Publicity Statutes:
  • Cal. Civ. Code § 3344
  • N.Y. CLS Civ. R. § 50
  • N.Y. CLS Civ. R. § 50-F
  • N.Y. CLS Civ. R. § 51
  • Ind. Code § 32-36-1

Embedding

• Adam Wolek and Brieanne Scully, Is Embedding Social Media Content Legal? Courts Disagree, U.S. Law Week (Dec. 2, 2021)
  • Goldman v. Breitbart News Network, LLC, 302 F. Supp. 3d 585 (S.D.N.Y. 2018),
  • Free Speech Systems, LLC v. Menzel, 390 F. Supp. 3d 1162 (N.D. Cal. 2019),
  • Nicklen v. Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc., No. 20-cv-10300 (S.D.N.Y. July 30, 2021)
  • Sinclair v. Ziff Davis, LLC, 454 F. Supp. 3d 342 (S.D.N.Y. 2020)
  • McGucken v. Newsweek LLC, No. 19-cv-9617 (S.D.N.Y. June 1, 2020)
  • Sinclair v. Ziff Davis, LLC, No 18-cv-790 (S.D.N.Y. June 24, 2020)
  • McGucken v. Newsweek LLC, No. 19-cv-9617 (S.D.N.Y. Oct. 19, 2020)
  • Hunley v. Instagram, LLC, No. 21-cv-03778 (N.D. Cal., Sept. 17, 2021)
  • Hunley v. Instagram, LLC, No. 21-cv-03778 (N.D. Cal., Feb. 1, 2022)
• Jaron Schneider, Instagram Users Can Now Prevent Others from Embedding Their Photos, PetaPixel (Dec. 17, 2021)

Outside of the U.S.

• European Broadcasting Union, Copyright Guide: Practical Information for Broadcasters (Dec. 2021)
• Lucie Guibault, Extended Collective Licensing as Rights Clearance Mechanism for Online Music Streaming Services in Canada, 18 Can. J. L. & Tech. 213 (Nov. 2020)

Session Four: Non-Fungible Tokens: The Most Hollywood Idea of All?

What is an NFT and Should You Care?

• Terry Nguyen, NFTs, the digital bits of anything that sell for millions of dollars, explained, Vox (Mar. 11, 2021)
• Kal Raustiala & Christopher Jon Sprigman, The One Redeeming Quality of NFTs Might Not Even Exist, Slate (Apr. 14, 2021)
• Jonathan Zittrain & Will Marks, What Critics Don’t Understand About NFTs, The Atlantic (Apr. 2021)
• Clive Thompson, The Untold Story of the NFT Boom, New York Times (Aug. 12, 2021),
• Eric Peterson, The Future Of Sports Can Be Changed By NFTs, Virtual Reality, And DAOs, Techdirt (Jan. 13, 2022)
• Chris Fortier, New modes of ownership: From torrents to music NFTs, TechCrunch (Jan. 27, 2022)

Who’s on the Bandwagon?

• Tony Maglio & Reid Nakamura, Fox Is Launching an NFT Company, The Wrap (May 17, 2021)
• Todd Spangler, ‘Space Jam: A New Legacy’: Warner Bros. Is Tossing 91,000 NFTs Featuring Characters, LeBron James Up for Grabs, Variety (July 12, 2021)
• J. Clara Chan, TikTok to Launch NFT Collection With Lil Nas X, Grimes, Bella Poarch, Brittany Broski and More, Hollywood Reporter (Sept. 30, 2021), https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/digital/tiktok-nft-lil-nax-x-grimes-bella-poarch-brittany-broski-1235023340/
• Sarah Perez, ViacomCBS gets into NFTs via a partnership with NFT startup Recur, TechCrunch (Oct. 13, 2021)
• Brian Ng, “Think of it as a Kickstarter tote bag but much, much better”: Dirt, an entertainment newsletter, is funding itself with NFTs, not subscriptions, Nieman Journalism Lab (Oct. 19, 2021)  
• Scott Roxborough, AFM: Why Indie Filmmakers Are Betting on NFTs, Hollywood Reporter (Nov. 2, 2021),
• Sara Fischer, Fox bets big on blockchain, Axios (Nov. 4, 2021)
• Mark Westall, The World’s Largest Record Company creates a Bored Ape NFT Supergroup, FAD Magazine (Nov. 16, 2021)
• Kayleigh Barber, How publishers experimented with NFTs in 2021, Digiday (Jan. 3, 2022)
• Mitchell Clark, The Associated Press is starting its own NFT marketplace for photojournalism, The Verge (Jan. 10, 2022)
• Casey Newton, The day NFTs went mainstream, Platformer (Jan. 20, 2022)
• Kara Swisher, Disney’s Former C.E.O. Gave Me the Exit Interview I Asked for, New York Times (Jan. 27, 2022)

Intellectual Property Issues

• Brittany Martin, Thinking of Buying or Minting an NFT? Here’s What You Need to Know, Los Angeles Magazine (Mar. 22, 2021)
• Awani Kelkar, Non-Fungible Tokens And Copyright Law: A ‘Nifty’ Dilemma, Bloomberg | Quint (Apr. 15, 2021)
• Jacob Kastrenakes, How many layers of copyright infringement are in Emily Ratajkowski’s new NFT?, The Verge (Apr. 24, 2021)
• Lucas Matney, Blockchain startup S!NG wants creators to lean on NFTs to protect their intellectual property, TechCrunch (Apr. 26, 2021)
• Harrison Jordan, No, NFTs aren’t copyrights, TechCrunch (June 16, 2021)
• Jonathan Schmalfeld, Copyright violations could crash the NFT party, Fortune (Aug. 4, 2021)
• Matthew Gault, Someone Made a Pirate Bay for NFTs, VICE Motherboard (Nov. 18, 2021)
• Nimrod Kamer, Polka-dotted Crocs and the war over copyrights in NFT art, Fortune (Nov. 22, 2021)
• Kevin Collier, NFT art sales are booming. Just without some artists’ permission., NBC News (Jan. 10, 2022)
• John Biggs, Web3’s early promise for artists tainted by rampant stolen works and likenesses, TechCrunch (Jan. 27, 2022)
• Eamon Barrett, An IP lawyer explains what counts as NFT theft when ‘stealing’ is as easy as right-click and save, Fortune (Feb. 4, 2022)
• NFT marketplace suspends most sales, citing ‘rampant’ fakes and plagiarism, Reuters (Feb. 13, 2022)

Lawsuits and Threats

• Blake Montgomery, Basquiat’s Estate Shuts Down Troll NFT Auction, Daily Beast (Apr. 28, 2021)
• Eriq Gardner & Ashley Cullins, NFT Auction of Jay-Z’s “Reasonable Doubt” Album Halted by Judge, Hollywood Reporter (June 22, 2021)
  • Complaint, Roc-a-Fella Records, Inc. v. Dash, No. 1:21-cv-05411 (S.D.N.Y. June 8, 2021),
• Eugene Volokh, NFT Law: “Non-Fungible Token” Makes Its Appearance in a Case, Volokh Conspiracy (Nov. 16, 2021),
  • Playboy Enterprises Int’l v. www.playboyrabbitars.app, No. 1:21-cv-08932 (S.D.N.Y., Nov. 13, 2021),
• Kal Raustiala & Chris Sprigman, Tarantino vs. Miramax — Behind the NFT ‘Pulp Fiction’ Case, and Who Holds the Advantage, Hollywood Reporter (Nov. 24, 2021)
  • Frank Pallotta, Quentin Tarantino will sell 7 never-before-seen clips from ‘Pulp Fiction’ as NFTs, CNN Business (Nov. 2, 2021)
  • Complaint: Miramax, LLC v. Tarantino, No. 2:21-cv-08979 (C.D. Cal. Nov. 16, 2021)
  • Ernesto Van der Sar, Tarantino’s NFT Auction Goes Ahead Despite Miramax Copyright Lawsuit, TorrentFreak (Jan. 5, 2022), https://torrentfreak.com/tarantinos-nft-auction-goes-ahead-despite-miramax-copyright-lawsuit-220105/
• Hermès sues Metabirkin NFT creator: ‘Art is art,’ law professor says, Yahoo! Finance (Jan. 20, 2022),
  • Complaint, Hèrmes International v. Rothschild, No. 1:22-cv-00384 (S.D.N.Y. Jan 14, 2022),
  • Lance Koonce & Louise Carron, The Art of the “Real”: When Commerce and Creativity Clash in the World of NFTs, Who’s Left Holding the Bag?, International Forum for Responsible Media Blog (Jan. 20, 2022)
• Nancy Dillon, Lil Yachty Files Suit Accusing NFT Seller of ‘Maliciously’ Using His Likeness to Raise Millions, Rolling Stone (Jan. 27, 2022)
  • Complaint, McCollum v. Opulous, No. 2:22-cv-00587 (C.D. Cal. Jan. 27, 2022)
• M. Moon, RIAA goes after NFT music website HitPiece, Engadget (Feb. 5, 2022)

Money Laundering & Other Criminal Activity

• Connie Loizos, As more artists and musicians turn their attention to NFTs, so, likely, do money launderers, TechCrunch (Mar. 25, 2021)
• Gavin Phillips, How Are NFTs Used for Wash Trading & Money Laundering?, Make Use Of (Jan. 17, 2022)
• Joseph Cox, This NFT on OpenSea Will Steal Your IP Address, VICE Motherboard (Jan. 27, 2022)
• U.S. Department of the Treasury, Study of the Facilitation of Money Laundering and Terror Finance Through the Trade in Works of Art (Feb. 2022)