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/