Netflix Sued for Glorifying Suicide in its Series, “13 Reasons Why”
On August 25, 2021, a proposed class action was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, by the father of a 16-year-old girl who committed suicide, claiming that Netflix’s show, “13 Reasons Why” caused hundreds of children to commit suicide and further caused psychological harm to thousands of vulnerable youths…
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On August 16th, 2021, a Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California ruled in favor of a special effects company, and against Disney, on a motion for summary judgement in a copyright infringement dispute. Disney used the special effects company’s technology to animate characters for blockbuster films including Beauty…
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On July 30th, 2021, a Supreme Court for the State of New York, dismissed a breach of contract suit over proceeds derived from the sale of rights in Bob Dylan’s album, Desire. (Note: “Supreme Court” is the designation given to the lowest level state courts in New York). Following its release in 1976, Desire topped…
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Continuously at the center of multiple copyright infringement lawsuits, Canadian singer, songwriter, and record producer, Abel Tesfaye, professionally known as “the Weeknd,” has been the subject of a slew of copyright infringement lawsuits since 2015. Central to these lawsuits are allegations that the Weeknd has illegally copied substantial elements from various music created by others…
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On August 23rd, 2021, the Ninth Circuit reversed a District Court ruling in a dispute between Sirius XM and founders of The Turtles, Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman (“Flo & Eddie”), that has been brewing for years. In 2013, Flo & Eddie sued Sirius XM for copyright infringement on the grounds that Sirius XM “publicly…
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On September 15, 2021, model and former “Bachelor” contestant Hannah Ann Sluss (“Sluss”) sued Procter & Gamble Company, Inc. (“P&G”) for copyright infringement, claiming that P&G is still using her image to sell products, even though its license to do so has long since expired. According to Sluss’s complaint, she licensed one of her modeling…
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On July 21, 2021, writer and producer, Phillip Madison Jones, filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Central District of California against Twentieth Century Fox and Creative Artists Agency (“CAA”) for allegedly stealing a screenplay that he had pitched to them. According to Jones, Twentieth Century’s 2019 film “Ad Astra” entirely…
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On July 12, 2021, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with the United States District Court of the Southern District of New York’s finding that Showtime’s series “Billions” did not rip off a book about the psychology of risk in financial markets. Denise K. Shull, author of the book “Market Mind Games: A Radical…
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On July 30, 2021, a California appellate court ruled that CBS Corp. did not breach its obligations to share its profits with talent agency, Rebel Entertainment Partners Inc. (“Rebel”), when CBS Corp. voluntarily lowered their profits to increase Judith Sheindlin’s (“Judge Judy”) salary to $47 million. In 1995, Richard Lawrence, a show packager who started…
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On July 7, 2021, the California Court of Appeals for the Second District ruled that Disney does not owe royalties to the adult children and heirs of the songwriter behind “The Bare Necessities,” a song featured in “The Jungle Book.” This decision overruled a lower court’s award of over $1 million in damages. The 1963…
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