When becoming a successful movie director, producer, or screenwriter it is imperative to protect your intellectual property.  Protecting the intellectual property will protect the owner from accusations of stealing others material, and lawsuits. In a recent podcast titled Entertainment Law Podcast Episode 10 Gordon P. Firemark and Tamara Bennett had a discussion about the movie Avatar, director James Cameron and the many people that were trying to sue him for copyright infringement. Avatar was the blockbuster film of 2009 the movies grossed $2.78 billion dollars worldwide.  With the success of this came many lawsuits that accused the makers of Avatar of theft and copyright infringement. The lawsuits are done by people from all over, even a guy in China is saying he wrote the storyline that Avatar used.. According to www.io9.com James Cameron is accused of stealing from 16 different sources. Is it remotely possible James Cameron could have stolen the ideas of 16 people, or that great minds think alike and they all had similar ideas? Art, film, and music influence people to create masterpieces, and creative people may use what they see to create those masterpieces. I believe this is what James Cameron did and made a fortune doing it, but he should have gotten permission from the owners of those intellectual properties before doing so to avoid lawsuits.

Another case that was discussed was an incident that involved Justin Bieber’s manager Scott “Scooter” Braun who could face criminal charges for a riot that occurred at a mall in New Jersey. The crowd started getting wild before Justin Beiber and his manager arrived and the event was canceled. The police informed Scott Braun to log onto Justin’s Twitter page and inform people that the event was cancelled. Scott Braun initially refused, but eventually sent the message out one and a half hour later. There were a number of injuries and six people were hospitalized due the fans getting upset about the cancellation of the appearance. Mr. Braun was charged with second-degree reckless endangerment and second-degree criminal nuisance. Managers have the responsibility of protecting their Artist and the venue has the responsibility of protecting the hundreds, or thousands of fans that will be there to see their favorite Artist. The Fire Marshall and the police should have ensured the fans are not inciting a riot, and if there are fans causing a chaotic scene those troublemakers should be escorted away and the crowd is still maintained safely and with authority. If I manage any Artist I will make sure that all safety measures are in place for my Artist, and there are safety measures in place for the fans because without the fans there would not be any successful so it is important to ensure the safety of the fans also.

The third case that was discussed was the movie The King’s Speech. The American Humane Association was threatening the Weinstein Company, which is the production company and the distributer of the film, because the film used the phrase “No animals were harmed during the production of this film. The American Humane Association says their company trademarks that phrase. Although the movie was made in the U.K. the American Humane Association believes that if a film is going to be distributed in the United States and use that term, it will be confusing to the public if the American Humane Association gave their approval to use the term. If the Weinstein company had used the term “This film is animal friendly” or a term not close to the American Humane Association there would not have been a lawsuit. This case is kind of confusing, but I know if I was going to use another company’s trademark I would get permission to do so no matter where I am filming a movie

Anonymous (2010) The Complete List Of Sources Avatar’s Accused Of Ripping Off. Retrieved on May 25, 2011 from http://io9.com/5460954/the-complete-list-of-sources-avatars-accused-of-ripping-off

Firemark, G. P. (2010) Entertainment Law Update Podcast, Episode 10 – Use the Force, Big Boy, and Watch Out for Beyonce’s Undies. Retrieved on May 26, 2011 http://www.entertainmentlawupdate.com/2010/04/entertainment-law-update-podcast-episode-10-use-the-force-big-boy-and-watch-out-for-beyonces-undies/

Firemark, G. P. (2010) Entertainment Law Update Podcast Episode 11 – Hot News – “Free Scooter!” Cries Justin Bieber. Retrieved on May 26, 2011 from http://www.entertainmentlawupdate.com/2010/05/episode011/

Firemark, G. P. (2010) Entertainment Law Update Podcast Episode 18 –Of Beauty Queens and Foot long Sandwiches Retrieved on May 26, 2011 from http://www.entertainmentlawupdate.com/2011/03/episode-18-of-beauty-queens-and-footlong-sandwiches/

Protection, Protection, Protection… The Way To Stay Lawsuit Free!!!

When starting, and managing a business it is important to ensure you are protected in every aspect of the business. It’s important to protect your name, your trademark, your patent, and copyright your work. You must also ensure you are not stealing anyone else’s work, trademark, or using anything close to their name. By ensuring you are straight with all of these aspects your company will not endure the process of being sued by people or other companies. I have learned of three legal concerns that I need to take care of before starting my career in the entertainment industry. These are a few real life examples the three legal concerns.

Getting Permission To Use Work

In 2007, a British soul singer named Des’ree sued Beyonce Knowles for failure to get permission to semi-cover the song “I’m Kissing You” and Beyonce used her version of the song on her deluxe version of the B’Day album. The lawsuit claimed that representatives from Columbia records tried but failed to finalize a deal to get clearance on the song (Diver, 2007). In this lawsuit Des’ree was looking for the distribution of the song to be stopped and $150,000 in damages.

Here is a video of the two singing the song:

As a screenwriter and director wanting to start my own production company I must ensure that I obtain permission before I rewrite a screenplay, or use a song in my film. This agreement must be obtained in writing before I begin to do any work.

Trademark Infringement

Lady Gaga is suing a company called Covent Garden for wanting to sell ice cream made with human breast milk and calling it Baby Gaga. The legal documents that were drawn up by Lady Gaga’s lawyers states that the product is nausea-inducing and intended to take advantage of her reputation and goodwill. The company is also accused of riding the coattails of Lady Gaga because they used a waitress dressed like the pop star to serve the product (Trademark Infringement, 2011).

 When reading about this case it makes you wonder what can you trademark, and it seems like you can trademark anything from web pages, packaging, décor, even the color you use in your logo. New companies must be aware of other company trademarks to ensure they do not copy their trademarks.

Breach of Contract

Jack Nicholson sued producer Mark Canton for a $1.2 million loan that was done in 2002. Mr. Canton took out a 1.5 million dollar loan with City National Bank for 1.5 million. The Mr. Nicholson agreed guarantee and also pledged certain collateral to ensure repayment (Belloni, 2009). When the due date came for the loan Mr. Canton could not pay, and Mr. Nicholson paid the bank loan for Mr. Canton and entered and agreement with him to repay Mr. Nicholson by July 2008 plus 8% interest (Belloni, 2009).  As of September 2008 Mr. Canton has only paid $1,781.27 and the remaining balance is $1,200,000 in principal and $48,000 in interest. The deal also includes that Mr. Canton is to give Mr. Nicholon 50% of any producing fees or profit participation fees he receives. Mr Canton still has not lived up to any of his promises, which is why Mr. Nicholson is suing him.

It is important to never breach any contracts because you may have to pay back more than what you owe.  Breaching contracts is not only wrong, but also unethical in the business world. When a contract is drawn up, all of the details are expected to be met in a timely manner. Although life occurrences do happen, it is not the norm. These occurrences should not happen consistently.

Anonymous (2007) Dueling Divas- Beyonce and Des’ree http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlGi5VX7SmA

Anonymous (2007) Trademark Infringement: Lady Gaga Sues Covent Garden Shop Over ‘Baby Gaga’ Flavour Human Breast Ice Cream Retrieved on May 3, 2011 from http://fashionentlaw.com/music-law/trademark-infringement-lady-gaga-sues-covent-garden-shop-over-‘baby-gaga’-flavour-human-breast-ice-cream/

Belloni, M. (2009) Jack Nicholson Sues Producer Mark Canton To Collect $1.2 Million Loan http://reporter.blogs.com/thresq/2009/04/jack-nicholson-sues-producer-mark-canton-to-collect-12-million-loan.html

Diver, M. (2007) Des’ree versus Beyonce: Cover Was Never Cleared. Retrieved on May 3, 2011 from http://drownedinsound.com/news/1881557