Entertainment Law in a Nutshell
Author:
Burr, Sherri L.
Edition:
6th
Copyright Date:
2025
18 chapters
have results for entertainment
Chapter 5. Censorship 9 results (showing 5 best matches)
- In conclusion, while all ratings might be considered a form of voluntary censorship, they provide important information to parents. The ultimate goal is to guide parents in making decisions about the content of the entertainment their children experience. The entertainment industry is putting the onus on parents to be the final determinant of what entertainment forms their children see, listen to, surf, and play.
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- These obscenity tests have been applied to numerous entertainment materials as individuals or groups have sought to ban books, films, music, video games, and television programs as obscene. The film, music, television, Internet, and video game industries have responded with self-regulation. They have all enacted voluntary ratings that alert potential purchasers or viewers that the certain material may give offense.
- Although a newer form of entertainment than films, television, and music, interactive video games are equally protected by the First Amendment. Cities are finding their ordinances restricting the sale of video games to minors are running afoul of the First Amendment. Parents experience difficulty in maintaining their suits charging that video games contributed to the death of their children.
- Censorship in the entertainment industry takes many forms as individuals and governments seek to prohibit public exposure to material deemed politically, sexually, or violently offensive. Governments have blacklisted entertainers accused of supporting Communism and enacted mandatory and voluntary ratings codes. Throughout history, individuals and groups have banned and burned books, boycotted films and television programs, and labeled music as containing offensive, brutal lyrics. More recently, groups have targeted interactive games and the Internet for containing distasteful material. For their pains to eliminate the repulsive from public view, censoring groups have often just brought the items and their creators more attention or revenue, or both.
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Chapter 11. Globalization of Entertainment 11 results (showing 5 best matches)
- This internationalization of entertainment is not without detractors, as in some venues, foreign films, television, and other entertainment products have overwhelmed the domestic market. In doing so, they leave little room for local entertainment.
- This chapter addresses issues associated with the ongoing internationalization of the entertainment business and the legal consequences that flow there from. As companies expand their production venues and markets, other countries are feeling the pressure of declining control over local culture.
- This chapter concludes with a discussion of attempts to settle disputes between foreign nations over copyrights and other entertainment related issues.
- Globalization has affected other forms of entertainment as well. The London theater district sends plays to Broadway and vice versa. The 2015 mega hit
- This section discusses the globalization of film and television production, as foreign companies buy U.S. companies and companies like Viacom seek to expand venues for creating entertainment products. As producers seek to trim costs, they are generating films and television shows in places far beyond the traditional venues of California and New York. Several Hollywood producers and studios have shot films in countries like Australia, Canada, India, Japan, and on the continents of Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, and South America.
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Chapter 6. Intellectual Property 26 results (showing 5 best matches)
- Patent protection was used initially in the entertainment industry to protect camera, film, music, and television equipment and other innovations in merchandising. Companies obtain patents on the machines they create to display or perform the entertainment products. The general requirements to obtain a patent will be discussed below.
- Turner Entertainment fought for the right to colorize the film, claiming that as the copyright holder, it was “the author” of the film. The French court separated the economic rights in the film, which were held by Turner Entertainment, from the moral rights, which were held by Huston. The French court enjoined the showing of the film on French television. The court also ordered Turner Entertainment to pay 200,000 French francs in damages and costs.
- Moreover, due to the global nature of the entertainment industry, some U.S. citizens have sought moral rights relief in France. In
- Be it film, books, music, or other entertainment products, the person or entity claiming a joint work must prove that it or they controlled the final output. Without copyright ownership defined by contracts, customs, and statutes, anyone who contributed to the final output of an entertainment product could claim authorship of the film and inhibit its exploitation. The work for hire doctrine resolves problems concerning authorship and copyright ownership.
- The entertainment industry depends on the law of intellectual property to shield its ideas, copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets, and patents from theft. This chapter focuses on the legal protection of ideas and fully realized products like films, books, video games, television shows, and music. Talent may capitalize on their intellectual property rights in a myriad of ways.
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Chapter 7. Representing Entertainers 22 results (showing 5 best matches)
- An individual trained in the law and who passes the bar possesses advantages if he or she seeks employment in the entertainment industry because they can work as agents, managers, or lawyers. To work in the entertainment industry, it is helpful if the lawyer acquires knowledge about corporate and business law, tax law, labor law, criminal law, family law, contracts, immigration and intellectual property law.
- Among the challenges that lawyers, like Davis, face in representing clients in the entertainment industry is dealing with strong egos. Frank Davis advises young attorneys to seek entertainment law for its career aspects, not its glamorous aspects. He says, “The glamour is superficial. It’s not substantive. And you can’t rely on it for a career.”
- Lawyers specializing in entertainment law can be found around the globe, working in large law firms, small firms, and government offices. Because entertainment law has mostly been created in the United States, these attorneys must also master U.S. intellectual property and contract law. They represent foreign companies seeking to do business
- musical artists, musical organizations, directors of legitimate stage, motion picture and radio productions, musical directors, writers, cinematographers, composers, lyricists, arrangers, models, and other artists and persons rendering professional services in motion picture, theatrical, radio, television and other entertainment enterprises.
- , Wachs and X Management Inc. lost their suit against actor and television host Arsenio Hall. The parties’ personal management contract required Hall to pay 15% of his earnings from all of his activities in the entertainment industry. Despite the contract’s statement that Wachs had not promised to obtain employment or engagements for him, the company did so. Hall successfully sought the return of all moneys collected from him and his employers in connection with his activities in the entertainment industry.
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Introduction 8 results (showing 5 best matches)
- The many players within the entertainment business rely on the law and lawyers to look after their interests. Lawyers who do not understand how the entertainment business works are at a disadvantage when it comes to protecting their clients. It is not enough for a lawyer to read a contract and advise clients on its context if he does not understand the intricacies of the agreement’s special meanings. Clients come to lawyers seeking advice on seemingly incomprehensible legal language. Many smart lawyers make assumptions about entertainment-related issues that are wrong. As a consequence, they bring misfortune to their clients and sometimes to themselves.
- Hollywood is a place, but more importantly an industry based in Los Angeles with national offshoots in New York and New Mexico, and global components around the world. The entertainment business is central to the lives of most Americans and to the United States economy.
- Because of the globalization of the United States entertainment industry, other countries are routinely exposed to U.S. culture. Their citizens often seek to emulate what they read, see on big and small screens, hear on the radio or their smart devices, or play on video game consoles.
- Because of this necessity to understand how the entertainment business works in order to comprehend the law that applies to it, this book’s first four chapters provide an overview of the film, television, music, and video game industries. Chapters 1–4 discuss the process of creating film, television, music, and video game products, as well as the major players who have different interests. These chapters also converse about particularized components of the four businesses.
- Chapter 5 scrutinizes the efforts of entertainers to protect their products from censorship. During the McCarthy era in the 1950s, entertainers had their free speech rights curtailed for political reasons. Other entertainment products have been accused of
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Chapter 4. The Video Game Industry 10 results (showing 5 best matches)
- Video games are the newest form of entertainment to become a multi-billion dollar industry. Indeed, video game sales have become so popular that they sometimes exceed film sales. The 2011
- Sony Interactive Entertainment
- During the later testing phase, a copy of the game is sent to the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB), which assigns one of six ratings as depicted in Table 4-3: Video Game Ratings. The ESRB describes the content of these ratings on its website,
- The games designated as Ao: Adults Only include graphic depictions of sex and/or violence. The RP=Rating Pending designation is placed on titles that have been submitted to the Entertainment Software Rating Board but are awaiting a final rating.
- Once out in the market, video games encounter the same challenges as other entertainment media. They can be censored, have their copyrights infringed, their brand names used inappropriately, and their contracts broken. Indeed, infringing video game activities can be expensive. A federal judge awarded Blizzard Entertainment $3,052,339 in disgorged profits, $85,478,600 in statutory damages, and $63,600 in attorneys’ fees after evidence established that 427,393 users downloaded
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Chapter 8. Credits and Compensation 7 results (showing 5 best matches)
- Credit and compensation issues intertwine in the entertainment industry. Credit accords recognition to the talent who contributes to the final product. Talent is then compensated according to the value of his or her work. This chapter discusses the importance of credit and the intricacies of the compensation system in the film, television, and music industries.
- In short, the different components of the entertainment industry compensate their members in a variety of ways.
- This phenomenon happens throughout the entertainment industry. An entertainer who performs well creates demand for his or her services. Television actor Kelsey Grammer began performing the Frasier character on
- Credits roll or blink in and out on screen at the beginning and end of films. Credit refers to the listing of a person’s name next to the function he or she performed in the entertainment project. The “story by” credit indicates the person who developed the story but did not write the screenplay. That credit is denoted as “written by” and may go to one or more people. An ampersand (&) indicates two or more writers who worked together to create a joint work. The word “and” designates two or more authors who contributed to the script after the first author finished the original script. The “script supervisor”
- at 604.] While the judge scheduled the dispute for trial, he made clear how he was leaning in the opening paragraph of his opinion when he used words such as “egocentricity” and “vanity” to refer to Miss. Loren. He indicated that such vanity was “due in measurable part to the adulation which the public showers on the denizens of the entertainment world in a profusion wholly disproportionate to the intrinsic contribution which they make to the scheme of things when seen in correct perspective. For that matter often in disproportionate to any true talent, latent or apparent.” [
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Outline 1 result
Table of Authorities 17 results (showing 5 best matches)
- Author Interview with Bloom, Diane (December 7, 2003), printed in Burr, Entertainment Law: Cases and Materials on Established and Emerging Media, 3rd Ed., (2021), 39
- Author Interview with Brooker, Greg (December 7, 2003), printed in Burr, Entertainment Law: Cases and Materials on Established and Emerging Media, 3rd Ed., (2021), 18, 34, 273
- Author Interview with Davis, Frank, Malibu, California (July 18, 2006), printed in Burr, Entertainment Law: Cases and Materials on Established and Emerging Media, 3rd Ed., (2021), 257
- Author Interview with Eyre, Chris (February 2, 2004), printed in Burr, Entertainment Law: Cases and Materials on Established and Emerging Media, 3rd Ed., (2021), 67
- Author Interview with Frears, Stephen (December 6–7, 2003, printed in Burr, Entertainment Law: Cases and Materials on Established and Emerging Media 345–346 (2017), 248
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Chapter 1. The Film Industry 3 results
- states have sought to pull away some of this entertainment production revenue by adopting incentives to encourage filming in their locales.
- first billion in sales by one day. Tinseltown amazes and excites as it attracts talented people from countries around the world to pursue their dreams. The goal of entertainment law practitioners is to keep aspirations from turning into nightmares.
- The film business comprises a vibrant component of the entertainment industry. On a weekly, monthly and yearly basis, millions of individuals in the United States and abroad flock to view the products produced in Hollywood. The top 2009 film,
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Chapter 3. The Music Industry 3 results
- The assignment clause in contracts, for example, can lead to bands ending with a different recording company if a merger takes place. With the consolidation of the entertainment industry, executives who nurtured a particular band’s career may depart, abandoning them to the mercy of new personnel who may lack interest in their success and want to develop their own discoveries.
- producer 19 Entertainment and its affiliated companies “manipulated” him into accepting jobs, forced him to perform for free for one of sponsors and did not tell him the title of an album before it was announced publicly. Phillips sought to void his agreements with 19 Entertainment. It took Kelly Clarkson, the Season 1 American Idol winner, thirteen years to be free from her contract in 2015.
- The music business encompasses a lucrative, although ever-changing, component of the entertainment industry. It has evolved from shipping physical units of music through albums and CDs to streaming. According to statistica.com, manufacturers shipped 46.5 million physical album units of music in 2019. By contrast, the industry shipped 305.72 million units during just the first half of 2004 [Gallo, Music Sales Sing] and 900 million units in 2000.
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Chapter 9. Entertainment Contracts 6 results (showing 5 best matches)
- William Shakespeare’s plays are in the public domain, which means any film, television, or theater company may reproduce or perform them without acquiring a contract, paying fees, or seeking permission. If, however, an entertainment company wants to perform a play that is protected by copyright or hire an actor, author, director, or other personnel, the company must seek permission, which is manifested in a contract.
- All contracts in the entertainment industry should contain answers to the classic questions of who, what, when, where, and how much. Contracts may be oral or written, implied or expressed. The contractual terms should serve to guide the parties in their business interactions.
- Major conglomerates with movie, television, music, game, and other entertainment divisions have swallowed up many independent publishers. Highly connected publishers may seek film and television rights that they can shop to one of their divisions. Authors who consent may obtain a quicker sale, but perhaps with less revenue than if their agents sell these rights separately. Several New York literary agents, for example, maintain connections with Hollywood agents to service their author clients in this manner.
- Written contracts endeavor to spell out precisely what is expected of the parties involved. Oral contracts are also a staple of the entertainment industry. Personal service contracts have always raised problems, particularly the question of when holding someone to a contract may run afoul of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, which prohibits slavery. Nevertheless, entertainers do back out of deals. Sometimes, they are better off honoring a commitment than welching on a deal, as they may be sued and forced to pay tremendous damages if someone has relied on their commitment. Some entertainers discover, to their detriment, that they are bound by their oral agreements once another party has acted to secure financing based on the expectation that actors’ words are their bonds.
- When POD publishers sell books through an Internet reseller, like Amazon.com, authors receive a reduced royalty. Amazon.com has become a billion-dollar corporation by reselling new and used books, and other entertainment products, at discounts through its website. Jonathan Miller, the author of
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Table of Cases 19 results (showing 5 best matches)
Chapter 2. The Television Industry 4 results
- .] Programming was limited at a time when radio was the most popular form of entertainment. It wasn’t until the 1950s that television came into its own, helped along by the popularity of
- BET, Black Entertainment Television, or Univision, a popular Spanish network.
- Wright v. Sony Pictures Entertainment, 394 F.Supp.2d 27 (Dis. D.C. 2005)
- Campoverde v. Sony Pictures Entertainment, 2002 WL 31163804 (S.D.N.Y. 2002)
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Chapter 10. Celebrity Status 4 results
- Some individuals who achieve wealth through the entertainment industry give away their money. According to lawyer turned television mogul Jim Rogers, “Once you’ve passed the buying and accumulating stage and you’re not interested in pursuing contests of adding more commas and zeroes to your financial statement, all that’s left is to give it away.” Rogers says there “is no greater feeling than the joy that flows from giving.”
- at 936.] The court found that Rush’s artwork was “entitled to the full protection of the First Amendment. . . . Through their pervasive presence in the media, sports and entertainment celebrities have come to symbolize certain ideas and values in our society and have become a valuable means of expression in our culture.” [
- , the United States Supreme Court considered whether the First Amendment trumped the right of individuals to a commercial stake in their images. The court said it did not because the “human cannonball” entertainer was not seeking to enjoin the broadcast of his performance as news; rather, he simply wanted to be paid for it as entertainment. In this instance, the television had broadcast a film of Zacchini’s entire 15-second act. The Supreme Court found this broadcast infringed Zacchini’s right of publicity, and was not immunized by the First Amendment.
- Laws v. Sony Music Entertainment, 448 F.3d 1134 (9th Cir. 2006)
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- Publication Date: November 18th, 2024
- ISBN: 9798892093118
- Subject: Entertainment Law
- Series: Nutshells
- Type: Overviews
- Description: This compact reference gives a big picture overview of the intellectual property, contract, publicity, estate planning, and First Amendment issues that contribute to the field of entertainment law. Professor Burr also addresses specific legal issues that arise in the film, music, television, and videogame industries, including the potential impact of AI: Artificial Intelligence on creative output. This Nutshell is ideal as a secondary text to accompany any entertainment law casebook, as the primary text for a seminar, or as background information for someone requiring an overview.
