Entertainment & Sports Law

No Permission, No Problem: Gary, Ind., Plans Michael Jackson Museum

You might think Indiana officials would have learned a lawsuit lesson from the Dillinger Museum. After a seven-year litigation saga, tourism officials in Hammond reached an undisclosed settlement with the great-nephew of notorious gangster John Dillinger that permitted the facility to reopen to the public. But now their Gary counterparts…

Jun 3, 2010 10:57 PM CDT

Law Firm Poised to Bank Millions on Peer-to-Peer Prosecution

In the past five months, Virginia-based law firm Dunlap, Grubb, & Weaver has filed suits against thousands of individuals accused of illegally downloading independent films—an operation that could yield the firm and its clients more than $19 million in damages. The enterprising lawyers, under the operative the U.S. Copyright Group,…

Jun 3, 2010 7:18 PM CDT

The Record Business Blues

Note: This month’s CLE, “Seeking Harmony in Music Distribution,” is Wednesday, June 16.

Jun 1, 2010 9:20 AM CDT

Box Mitzvah

What happens when a high-powered New York City lawyer who represents the New York Yankees, a bar mitzvah boy who loves the Bronx Bombers and a boxing promoter all want to use Yankee Stadium on the same day? If you’re thinking this could have the makings of a “brawl in…

Jun 1, 2010 8:50 AM CDT

Talking Heads Singer Sues Fla. Gov, Seeks $1M for Song Use in Attack Ad

A former lead singer for Talking Heads has sued Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, contending that he used the group’s 1985 “Road to Nowhere” song in an online attack ad against Marco Rubio without permission, reports the County Grind blog of the Broward-Palm Beach New Times. He is represented by attorney…

May 25, 2010 11:18 PM CDT

2nd Circuit Steps In, Stays Turnover Order for 600 Feet of ‘Crude’ Raw Footage

A federal judge’s unusual order requiring the filmmaker who created the Crude documentary to turn over some 600 feet of raw footage to Chevron has been temporarily suspended. In a brief order Friday, Judge Denny Chin of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals stayed the subpoena until June 8,…

May 24, 2010 8:22 PM CDT

NFL Fumbles; Unanimous Supreme Court Allows Antitrust Suit over Merchandise Marketing

The U.S. Supreme is allowing an Illinois company to bring an antitrust challenge to the National Football League’s exclusive marketing agreement with Reebok for caps with trademarked isignias. The decision was a defeat for the NFL and a victory for American Needle, the company that lost its contract with the…

May 24, 2010 4:14 PM CDT

3rd Circuit Tosses Lawyer’s ‘Honest Match’ Suit over Patriots ‘Spygate’ Scandal

A lawyer who filed a $184 million suit against the New England Patriots for secretly videotaping the New York Jets hopes the U.S. Supreme Court will hear his case after his court loss on Wednesday. Princeton, N.J., lawyer Carl Mayer had contended the Patriots deprived season ticket-holders of an “honest…

May 20, 2010 12:27 PM CDT

Playwright Cancels Madoff Production, Says Elie Wiesel Claimed Defamation

A playwright has canceled her upcoming production examining the morality of Bernard Madoff, saying her decision was based on a complaint by human rights activist Elie Wiesel. The fictional play, Imagining Madoff, portrays the Ponzi schemer in his prison cell recalling an all-night discussion with Wiesel—an event that never happened,…

May 19, 2010 3:54 PM CDT

It’s Official: NBC Cancels ‘Law & Order’ After 20 Seasons, But Spinoffs Continue

It’s official: NBC announced today that it is canceling the long-running Law & Order legal drama, following unconfirmed reports yesterday that it intended to do so. The news was greeted with particular sadness in New York, where as many as 8,000 people are directly or indirectly employed by the series…

May 14, 2010 6:44 PM CDT

WrestleMania Event & Nude Pic with Veggies Reportedly Are Trouble for GC & Paralegal

A now-former general counsel of World Wrestling Entertainment and a law firm paralegal reportedly have suffered job repercussions over unrelated situations concerning, respectively, a party after a WrestleMania 26 event and a nude photograph with what some observers have assumed to be strategically placed tomatoes sent to a jailed client.…

May 14, 2010 6:01 PM CDT

RIP ‘Law & Order’? NBC Said to Mull Killing Legal Drama After 20 Seasons

One of the longest-running legal dramas ever to air on American television may be about to conclude. Unidentified sources say NBC decided not to continue with Law & Order after the current season, the groundbreaking show’s 20th, according to Deadline Hollywood and the Media Decoder blog of the New York…

May 13, 2010 11:31 PM CDT

Onetime Lawyer for Usher Is Now Collecting Food Stamps

Two years ago, Cliff Lovette was doing legal work for Usher. Now the 54-year-old Atlanta entertainment attorney is practicing law out of his basement and collecting food stamps. At the top of his game, he worked for LeFace Records in Atlanta as senior vice president for business and legal affairs,…

May 7, 2010 11:28 PM CDT

Famed Seinfeld Name Helps Win Copycat Cookbook Claim

Jessica Seinfeld is the wife of celebrity Jerry Seinfeld. So readers of her cookbook, Deceptively Delicious: Simple Secrets To Get Your Kids Eating Good Food, are particularly unlikely to confuse it with Missy Chase Lapine’s The Sneaky Chef: Simple Strategies for Hiding Healthy Foods in Kids’ Favorite Meals, the New…

Apr 28, 2010 9:05 PM CDT

A ‘Dealmaker of the Year’ Leaps from Nixon Peabody to DLA Piper

A Nixon Peabody partner who was once named “dealmaker of the year” is leaving Nixon Peabody along with two other partners to join DLA Piper. The partner, Peter White, has worked on stadium financing for several professional sports teams, including the New York Yankees and the Mets, the National Law…

Apr 28, 2010 1:49 PM CDT