Seminar in Entertainment Law

Course No. 603-81

Spring, 2012

Professor Perritt

Room 305

Thursday

4 PM - 5:50 PM

Students and topics

Jonathan Blakley: Goal Tending: An Analysis of the Chris Paul Saga Through the Lens of Antitrust Law

Mario Carlasare: Precipice: A Musician’s Struggle Against The Union

Matt Goldfarb: Contracting With Minors In The Entertainment Industry: A Spotlight on California & New York’s Regulatory Regimes

Candace Hanford: Carson's Web: Agents for injured or disabled talent

Nadia Makki: The Music Industry of Web 2.0: Embracing the Cloud

Denise Martinez: Character Ownership in Reality TV

Katie Wardein: Copyright Infringement: What’s Covering the Cover Band?

Andrew Zeer: No Fun Leage: Negotiating up from the bottom in the NFL

Schedule

First day, 19 Jan.

• read "rules" for papers and criteria for evaluation at the top of the home page: http://www.kentlaw.edu/perritt/courses/seminar/ (before class)
• review list of suggested topics (before class)
• browse seminar papers from earlier semesters (available on this website) (before class)
• introduce selves
• begin selection of paper topics

26 Jan: Hanford, Zeer

2 Feb: Carlasare, Blakeley

9 Feb: Wardein, Martinez

16 Feb: Makki, Goldfarb

23 Feb: Status review (everyone)

1 Mar: Goldfarb

8 Mar: Carlasare - reading of story

22 Mar: Zeer - reading of story

29 Mar: Wardein

5 Apr: Blakley

11 Apr: HHP Brownbag presentation

12 Apr: Hanford

19 Apr: Makki

29 Apr: Martinez

Presentation guidelines

Possible topics (topics are not limited to these)

1. Legal implications of a broadening of distribution channels for video entertainment
2. Application of NCAA disciplinary procedures as due process violations
3. Specific NCAA, NFL, or NBA rules as antitrust violations
4. Raising capital for a music or video project without violating the securities laws
5. Draft a model agreement for collaboration on a video project through crowdsourcing, explaining options
6. Write a script for a narrative or documentary feature on sports or life, and evaluate legal issues
7. Avoiding barriers to redistribution of images of athletic events and facts relating to them
8. Evaluating Hollywood contractual practices, starting with Celador Limited v. Walt Disney Co, 2009 WL 3335357 (C.D. Cal. 2010) [links to most recent documents are on this Westlaw page]
9. Legal theories on behalf of persons leafletting on the public sidewalk outside the venue of a competing production (First Amendment, antitrust, international interference with contractual relations); availability of preliminary injunctive relief
10. Open source software for videogame production
11. Crowd sourcing for videogame, movie, dramatic, or novel creation and production
12. Narrative in videogames
13. How short can a narrative be: limits on the migration of video entertainment to YouTube?
14. Serialization, soap operas, and YouTube
15. Design IP agreements for a crowd-sourced movie
16. Evaluate hypothetical legal disputes involving particular contract language for a stage production or a movie
17. Legal relations among members of a rock band, artistic ensemble, or production company: who owns the IP in songs and recordings?
18. Legal relations among filmmakers: who owns what?
19. When is file sharing among friends and relatives fair use?
20. Legal duties and powers of agents and managers
21. Will video entertainment (movies, TV and video games) follow in the footsteps of recorded music?
22. Evaluate business models for indie moviemaking
23. Efficacy of trademark protection for indie bands and filmmakers
24. Protecting actor "ownership" of characters and roles
25. Impact of bankruptcy of labels and flim producers on entertainers, authors, and others
26. Law and economics of AFM, Actors Equity and other entertainment-union policies towards independents
27. Constitutionality of "anti-bootleg act"
28. Nominative use of trademarks for cover bands
29. Privacy claims against imitators, cover bands, authors/producers of fan-fiction, fantasy football, or videogames
30. Economic and legal evaluation of new forms of intermediation for music and video
31. Legal and business frameworks for micro advertising
32. Evaluation of alternative business-entity forms for theatrical productions, indie movies, and indie bands
33. Legality (under the labor- and antitrust laws) and economic efficacy of collective bargaining by indie musicians with record labels, promoters, and venues