Media & Entertainment

Expert Analysis

• What NCAA Publicity Rights Guidance Means For Athletes

  

  Following the recent release of NCAA student-athlete compensation guidelines, it remains unclear how disparate governing bodies will choose to set rules, leaving student-athletes seeking to commercialize their names, images or likenesses through contracts or trademark rights with a confusing mix of incentives and prohibitions, says Radhika Raman of Knobbe Martens.

• How Fed. Circ. May Defer To PTAB In Facebook Case

  

  The appeal of six inter partes reviews in Facebook v. Windy City presents an opportunity for the Federal Circuit to provide clarity on the appropriate level of deference to be afforded holdings of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board's precedent-setting panel, and it may even provide a chance for the U.S. Supreme Court to weigh in, say attorneys at Cadwalader.

• AI Bill Emphasizes Transparency And Consumer Control

  

  The Filter Bubble Transparency Act introduced in the Senate last month is the latest of growing congressional efforts to regulate artificial intelligence, and the first substantive federal bill aimed at curbing companies' algorithmic control of content on internet platforms, say Adam Aft and Yoon Chae of Baker McKenzie.

• 2 FTC Cases Take A Stand Against Online Endorsement Fraud

  

  Businesses involved in e-commerce should take careful note of the Federal Trade Commission's recent cases against Sunday Riley Modern Skincare and Devumi, because until now consumer protection agencies have struggled to govern fake reviews and false indicators of brand value online, says Brad Elbein at Culhane Meadows.

• Where A Litigator's Advice Can Improve Agreement Drafting

  

  Transactional attorneys should consider consulting with litigation counsel when drafting certain contractual provisions — choice of law, choice of forum, attorney fees and others — that could come into play in a broad range of substantive disputes, says Adrienne Koch at Katsky Korins.

• Opinion

  Flat-Fee Legal Billing Can Liberate Attorneys

  

  Replacing hourly billing with flat-fee arrangements, especially for appellate work, will leave attorneys feeling free to spend as much time as necessary to produce their highest quality work, says Lawrence Ebner of Capital Appellate Advocacy.

• Spoliation Rule Remains Ambiguous Despite Amendments

  

  Although the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure were amended to provide a uniform standard of culpability for spoliation, cases with similar facts are still reaching differing results because the rule does not specify how a court should evaluate a party's intent, say attorneys at Pepper Hamilton.

• Taxation Of Student-Athletes: Untangling Law And Policy

  

  In reaction to California’s new law allowing student-athletes to accept paid endorsements, a U.S. senator is introducing legislation to tax athletic scholarships. The ensuing discussion shows that the current tax treatment of scholarships is not well understood, says professor Samuel Brunson of Loyola University Chicago School of Law.

• Opinion

  To Abate Corruption, IAAF Must Change More Than Its Name

  

  The remedy for some very serious, and even criminal, problems currently plaguing the International Association of Athletics Federations — soon to be known as World Athletics — is nothing less than a total change in culture and leadership, says Ronald Katz at GCA Law.

• A Plan For When AI Users' Works Infringe Human Works

  

  To address the question of what happens when a user of an artificial intelligence program creates a work that infringes on a copyrighted work, a new legal code to govern AI works should increase accountability and make enforcement efforts easier to pursue and adjudicate, says Jonathan Purow of Gottlieb Rackman.

• SEC's Fraud Enforcement Shows Quality, If Not Quantity

  

  Over the course of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's recently ended fiscal year, the regulator's Division of Enforcement fulfilled its promise to emphasize quality over quantity in cases alleging misrepresentations of financial performance by covering a wide swath of accounting, disclosure, internal control and auditor independence issues, say attorneys at Perkins Coie.

• EU 'Monopoly' Case Could Be Game Changer For TM Owners

  

  A recent decision from the EU Intellectual Property Office Board of Appeal involving Hasbro's Monopoly game suggests that applying to invalidate a trademark on the ground of bad faith is an advantageous route to prevent brand owners from attempting to use refiling tactics to game the EU trademark system, says Paul Sweeden of Locke Lord.

• 5 Trends Influencing RFPs For Law Firms

  

  Requests for proposals, the standard tool of companies evaluating law firms, are becoming better suited to the legal industry, says Matthew Prinn of RFP Advisory Group.

• Ill. High Court Ruling Shows 3 Trends In Tech Crime Litigation

  

  The Illinois Supreme Court's recent decision in Illinois v. Austin, in favor of protecting state citizens’ privacy rights, may shed light on how crime fueled by technology, such as the distribution of so-called revenge porn, will be addressed and litigated in the near future, says Mark Sableman of Thompson Coburn.

• NPE Cases May Be Contrary To ITC's Mission

  

  Recent cases at the U.S. International Trade Commission, involving the nonpracticing entities Neodron's and Data Scape's seeming attempts to force companies to pay higher patent fees and ban imports, suggest that the ITC may be straying from its core purpose of protecting domestic industries and consumers, says Derek Dahlgren of Rothwell Figg.