Copyright Lawsuit Hits Top-Rated TV Show “Empire”

Ron Newt, author of “Bigger than Big,” filed suit in April against 20^th Century Fox for breach of implied contract and copyright infringement. The poorly drafted summons and complaint was not taken seriously by Fox until it was recently amended by Newt’s new legal team. The amended complaint is now alleging $10 million in damages and has been edited sufficiently, to warrant a response from 20^th Century Fox.

By way of background, Newt authored “Bigger than Big”, a book, screenplay and DVD documentary …

October 13, 2015 Advertising

The Power of Endorsement Deals: Is Equity the New Compensation?

Professional athletes are becoming brands; walking, talking brands. Their success on the playing field adds value to their brand. Ultimately, companies want to use the athlete’s brand to sell their product; this gives birth to an endorsement contract. Companies pay huge sums of money for athletes to promote their products. The more powerful an athlete’s brand is, the more money a company is willing to pay to get their products in that athlete’s hands. Athletes earning potential in the endorsement arena is limitless; simply the …

September 23, 2015 Copyright

Don’t Play with Playboy

Unbeknownst, rapper Azealia Banks was supposed to appear in the April 2015 edition of Playboy. That was until Mediatakeout.com LLC illegally stole and leaked nude photographs taken specifically for the 2015 edition to the media. Additionally, Media Takeout altered the photographs with a watermark: “MEDIATAKEOUT.COM.” According to a Summons and Complaint that was filed by Playboy International Enterprises in Federal Court, Playboy is suing up to $150,000 for each copyright infringement, as well as $25,000 for each photo violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act …

September 11, 2015 Boxing

Is Mayweather’s Undefeated Record Potentially Subject to a TKO Loss?

A Quick Look at the Potential Fall-Out from the Revelation that Floyd Mayweather, Jr. Used a Banned IV Following His Weigh-In for the Super Fight with Manny Pacquiao

In the build-up to his upcoming September 12, 2015 bout with Andre Berto, much has been made about undefeated, multi-division world champion Floyd “Money” Mayweather, Jr., now 48-0 (26 KOs) being able to tie the legendary heavyweight champion Rocky Marciano’s 49-0 pre-retirement record with a victory. If he does, Mayweather has indicated that he too will retire …

August 27, 2015 NFL

St. Louis City Court Rules: No Public Vote Required for St. Louis Stadium Plan Funding

The future of the NFL in St. Louis is a story we’ve covered before. Now, as Stan Kroenke’s Los Angeles Stadium development begins to take flight, the proponents of the St. Louis Stadium plan received some positive news.

On August 3, 2015, St. Louis Circuit Court Judge Thomas Frawley ruled; City ordinance 66509, codified as Chapter 3.91 of the Revised Code of the City of St. Louis requiring a public vote to use public money for a stadium is too vague and thus. …

July 24, 2015 Contract / NFL

Marcus Mariota – Conflict Inevitable in Contract Negotiation

In 2011, the National Football League and the National Football League Players Association reworked their collective bargaining agreement, which brought a major change to the structure of rookie contracts. Gone were the days of massive dollars for players yet to play a down in the NFL. In their place: structured, cookie-cutter deals that have a fixed compensation value based on which slot in the draft the player is selected. Every contract is for the same length of time as well. The goal was to streamline …

July 9, 2015 Celebrities

In Hot Water: Tom Selleck Accused of Stealing Public Water

On Wednesday, July 1, the Calleguas Municipal Water District filed a complaint asserting that Tom Selleck and his wife, Jillie, transported water from the Calleguas district to their ranch. This would violate a water ordinance that bars water conveyed by Calleguas to be delivered or sold outside of its district boundaries.

Additionally, the complaint states that the district hired a private investigator. The investigator witnessed a commercial truck filling up a tanker with water from a public fire hydrant in Thousand Oaks and then deliver …

June 23, 2015 NFL

Brandon Spikes Now Unemployed, Facing Criminal Charges

After a mysterious scene on a Boston highway, Brandon Spikes finds himself without a job and facing criminal charges. At around 3:20 a.m. on June 7, Massachusetts State Police responded to an abandoned vehicle on I-495 in Foxborough. The vehicle had significant front-end damage and was left in the median. A roadside assistance operator informed the police that the driver of the vehicle had reported hitting a deer. There was neither a deer nor a driver present at the scene. The abandoned vehicle was …

June 2, 2015 Litigation

U.S. Supreme Court Rules Facebook Threats Not a Crime

On Monday, June 1, 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the conviction of Anthony Elonis, a man convicted for making threats on Facebook against his estranged wife. He originally received a 44-month sentence from a Pennsylvania Court for the online threats, but U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts disagreed, saying there wasn’t enough to support the conviction.

Of importance in the ruling was that Elonis wrote under a pseudo name: “Tone Dougie.” He argued that his social medial postings were stylized as rap …

June 2, 2015 Litigation

U.S. Supreme Court Rules Facebook Threats Not a Crime

Of importance in the ruling was that Elonis wrote under a pseudo name: “Tone Dougie.” He argued that his social medial postings were stylized as rap …