The Pitch newsletter is a monthly update of legal issues and news affecting or related to the music, film and television, fine arts, media, professional athletics, eSports, and gaming industries. The Pitch features a diverse cross-section of published articles, compelling news and stories, and original content curated and/or created by Arnall Golden Gregory LLP’s Entertainment & Sports industry team.
“Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.” – Thomas Merton
Industry News
Ramones Legal War: Joey’s Brother Sues Johnny’s Widow, Claims She’s Exploiting Band’s Legacy
There’s a new front in the never-ending legal war between Joey Ramone’s brother and Johnny Ramone’s widow over control of the iconic punk band. In a new lawsuit filed on Aug. 23 in Manhattan federal court, Joey’s brother Mitchel Hyman (better known as Mickey Leigh) accused Johnny’s wife, Linda Cummings-Ramone, of violating federal trademark law by carrying out an “unrelenting quest” to associate herself with the Ramones. As is typical of the nasty dispute between the two heirs (who each control exactly half of the band’s holding company), the lawsuit pulled no punches — calling Cummings-Ramone a former “groupie” with an “insatiable personal desire to shine a spotlight on herself.”
(Source: Billboard, August 26, 2024) [Subscription may be required]
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NFL Players Union Sues DraftKings for Allegedly Breaking NFT Contract
The National Football League Players Association sued DraftKings, opens new tab in New York federal court on Monday, accusing the sports-betting giant of refusing to pay what it owes for using NFL player likenesses on non-fungible tokens. The NFLPA said DraftKings broke an agreement, opens new tab to license the players' name, image and likeness rights by refusing to continue paying licensing fees after shuttering its NFT trading-card business last month.
(Source: Reuters, August 26, 2024)
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Auction House Files Defamation Lawsuit Against Braves Over Hank Aaron Memorabilia
A Texas auction house has filed a defamation lawsuit against the Atlanta Braves after the team sent them a cease-and-desist letter seeking to stop the sale of Hank Aaron memorabilia. Heritage Auctions intended to sell several pieces of Braves memorabilia, including the bases Hank Aaron touched after hitting his record-breaking 715th career home run. The cease-and-desist letter calls into the question the authenticity of the items.
(Source: Atlanta News First, August 21, 2024)
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Michael Jackson Estate Wins Ruling Approving $600M Sony Sale — Over His Mother’s Objections
A California appeals court has issued a final ruling that Michael Jackson’s estate can proceed with a $600 million sale of the singer’s catalog to Sony Music, rejecting objections from his mother that aimed to block the deal. A month after the appeals court issued a tentative ruling against Katherine Jackson, the court finalized that decision on August 21 – ruling that the estate’s executors (John Branca and John McClain) didn’t violate the terms of Michael’s will when they inked the gargantuan deal with Sony.
(Source: Billboard, August 21, 2024) [Subscription may be required]
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10 U.S. States Join DOJ Antitrust Lawsuit Against Live Nation
The U.S. Department of Justice has refiled its historic anti-trust lawsuit against concert promoter Live Nation, with 10 additional states joining the effort to break up the company more than a decade after its 2010 merger with Ticketmaster. The Attorneys General for Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Mexico, South Dakota, Utah and Vermont were added to an amended complaint filed in New York’s Southern District on Aug. 19, bringing the total number of states participating in the lawsuit to 40 total, along with the District of Columbia.
(Source: Billboard, August 19, 2024) [Subscription may be required]
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Isaac Hayes Estate Sues Donald Trump for Infringing Use
Former President Donald Trump and his campaign were sued by the estate of singer-songwriter Isaac Hayes on Aug. 16 for using Hayes' song 'Hold On, I'm Coming' in Trump's rallies and campaign videos without authorization. The suit seeks $150,000 each time the song was used without permission and a disclaimer that the estate has not endorsed the use of any of Hayes' property.
(Source: Law.com, August 16, 2024)
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Judge Whittles Down Artists' Landmark AI Copyright Suit but Keeps Core Infringement Claims Alive
A federal judge trimmed claims against AI-powered image creators accused of ripping off artists’ work but said the artists’ direct copyright infringement theories should be put to the test on summary judgment. His ruling is the latest turn in a high-profile class action brought by a slew of cartoonists, painters and illustrators who say AI startups Stability AI, Midjourney, Runway AI and DeviantArt used their art to train machine learning models Stable Diffusion and AI image generators Dream Up and AI Magic Tools without paying the artists or getting their consent.
(Source: Law.com, August 13, 2024)
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Meta, Universal Music Group to Allow Users to Share Songs on WhatsApp
Universal Music Group has inked a first-time licensing deal with Meta to allow music from the major label’s artists to be uploaded to WhatsApp and shared without violating copyright ownership. The move is part of an expanded global licensing agreement, first signed in 2017, to have UMG artists and songwriters continue placing copyrighted music across Meta’s platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, Horizon and Threads. As part of the agreement renewal, UMG artists and songwriters will receive a slice of advertising revenue from the use of licensed music on Meta creator posts.
(Source: The Hollywood Reporter, August 12, 2024)
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Robbie Robertson’s Family Feud: Inside the Late Rock God’s Inheritance Drama
The matter of Robertson v. Zuccarini has thus snowballed from a family disagreement into an estate battle royale, with crisscrossing lawsuits and flying accusations of avarice and elder abuse. It entangles A-listers from the highest echelons of Hollywood’s music, film and food spheres.
(Source: The Hollywood Reporter, August 9, 2024)
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Journey Band Members’ Dispute Fast-Tracked in Delaware Court
A Delaware judge that he’d try to resolve a deadlock over Journey’s tour management before the classic rock band embarks on the Japanese leg of its tour this autumn. It would be preferable, however, if longtime Journey keyboardist Jonathan Cain and the band’s sole remaining co-founder, lead guitarist Neal Schon, could resolve their dispute without intervention from the Delaware Chancery Court, Vice Chancellor J. Travis Laster said in a telephone hearing.
(Source: Bloomberg, August 7, 2024)
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Marvin Harrison Jr.’s Jersey Reportedly Still Not Allowed to Be Sold by Fanatics
Arizona Cardinals fans haven't had an exciting new rookie star like Marvin Harrison Jr. in a while. And you still might not see any Harrison jerseys at the team's home opener. There has been a dispute between Harrison, the fourth overall pick of the NFL Draft, and the sports merchandising company Fanatics for months. It includes a Fanatics lawsuit against Harrison. Harrison didn't sign his licensing deal with the NFLPA, as practically every other player does upon entering the NFL. That meant his jersey couldn't be sold.
(Source: Yahoo Sports, August 3, 2024)
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AI Firms Blast Lawsuit From Music Giants: ‘Labels See a Threat to Their Market Share’
AI music firms Suno and Udio are firing back with their first responses to sweeping lawsuits filed by the major record labels, arguing that they were free to use copyrighted songs to train their models and claiming the music industry is abusing intellectual property to crush competition. In legal filings on Thursday, the two firms admitted to using proprietary materials to create their artificial intelligence, with Suno saying it was “no secret” that the company had ingested “essentially all music files of reasonable quality that are accessible on the open Internet.” But both companies said that such use was clearly lawful under copyright’s fair use doctrine, which allows for the reuse of existing materials to create new works.
(Source: Billboard, August 1, 2024) [Subscription may be required]
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StubHub Sued Over Deceptive Pricing and Junk Fee Scheme
Washington, D.C.’s attorney general has sued StubHub, accusing it of deceptively hiding mandatory fees and failing to properly explain what they’re for until the end of a burdensome checkout process. The lawsuit, filed in Superior Court of the District of Columbia, details several ways in which StubHub allegedly dupes customers. In what’s known as “drip pricing,” the company advertises an artificially low price to entice ticket buyers and prompts them through a series of unnecessary steps while a timer creates a false sense of urgency. By the time customers are asked to pay, they’re faced with a final price substantially higher than the original due to cryptic “fulfillment and service” fees tacked on without proper explanation that makes it impossible to compare costs with other platforms.
(Source: The Hollywood Reporter, July 31, 2024)
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Shocker: UFC Fighters’ $335M Settlement With TKO Rejected by Judge
In a stunning twist, a federal judge has rejected a $335 million settlement between Ultimate Fighting Championship and more than 1,200 fighters suing for wage suppression. “It is hereby ordered that the motion for preliminary approval” of the deal is “denied,” wrote U.S. District Judge Richard Boulware in a court note issued on July 30 of the deal struck by TKO Group — born out of the marriage between UFC and WWE. “A separate written order elaborating the Court’s order and reasoning will issue.” With the denial, the judge set a trial to start on Oct. 28. The two sides could potentially negotiate a new settlement to address concerns from the judge, who has said that payment may be too low, among other things. If UFC lost, it stood to lose more than $4 billion since damages in antitrust cases can be trebled.
(Source: The Hollywood Reporter, July 31, 2024)
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Microsoft, Copyright Office to Lawmakers: Make Deepfakes Illegal
Artificial intelligence seems to be everywhere these days, doing good by helping doctors detect cancer and doing bad by helping fraudsters bilk unsuspecting victims. On July 31, one day after Microsoft said the US needs new laws to hold people who abuse AI accountable, the US Copyright Office released the first part of its report on the legal and policy issues related to copyright and artificial intelligence, especially regarding deepfakes. The government report recommends that Congress enact a new federal law protecting people from the knowing distribution of unauthorized digital replicas, and offers recommendations on how such a law should be crafted.
(Source: CNET, July 31, 2024)
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How the Music Industry Learned to Love Piracy
How do you disassemble a decades-long, multibillion-dollar industry in just a few short years? This was the question at the heart of this summer’s two-part Paramount+ documentary, “How Music Got Free,” which examines the greed and myopia of the music business in the late 1990s and early 2000s, when an assortment of otherwise feckless teenagers and tech enthusiasts finally figured out how to trade songs over the internet. Depending on your perspective, it is either a delightful yarn about the money-changers in the temple getting their due or a long, sad narrative about corporations and consumers banding together to deprive artists of a fair wage.
(Source: The New York Times Magazine, July 31, 2024)
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Warner Bros. Discovery Sues NBA to Secure Media Rights Awarded to Amazon
Warner Bros. Discovery sued the NBA on July 26 as it tries to maintain broadcast rights for a package of live games. "Given the NBA's unjustified rejection of our matching of a third-party offer, we have taken legal action to enforce our rights," the company's TNT Sports unit said in a statement. "We strongly believe this is not just our contractual right, but also in the best interest of fans who want to keep watching our industry-leading NBA content with the choice and flexibility we offer them through our widely distributed WBD video-first distribution platforms — including TNT and Max." The media company seeks to prevent the NBA from awarding the rights to Amazon, whose games package Warner Bros. Discovery tried to match, or aims to win monetary damages.
(Source: NBC Los Angeles, July 26, 2024)
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SAG-AFTRA Calls Strike Against Major Video Game Studios
For close to two years, SAG-AFTRA has been in talks with major video game companies on a new contract agreement that would cover voice and performance capture workers on titles from Disney Character Voices, Activision Blizzard, Electronic Arts, Warner Bros. Games, Insomniac Games and more. Now, at an impasse over artificial intelligence concerns, the union’s chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland has called a strike.
(Source: The Hollywood Reporter, July 25, 2024)
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14 NBA Teams Hit With Music-Use Copyright Infringement Claims by Johnson & Johnson Firm
Nearly half of the National Basketball Association has been hit with copyright infringement claims filed by Beverly Hills firm Johnson & Johnson for their use of several popular songs in videos posted online and in social media. The separate complaints were filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on behalf of Artist Publishing Group, Kobalt Music Publishing America and other plaintiffs holding rights to the songs.
(Source: Law.com, July 23, 2024)
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Prime Hydration Accused of Infringing on Olympic Trademarks With Kevin Durant-Featured Bottle
The United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee has accused Prime Hydration of violating exclusive Olympic trademarks, allegedly using Olympic-related terminology and marks on product packaging, advertising and promotions featuring professional basketball player Kevin Durant.
(Source: Law.com, July 22, 2024)
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Grammy Winner Facing Lawsuit Over Weed Deal Gone Bad
Etheridge Farms was owned by the Grammy winner, her wife Linda, and Josephine and D’Angelo Roberto. The quartet was introduced by friends in Northern California and eventually partnered to capture the first non-retail cannabis license in Santa Cruz, Calif. By 2019, the singer stopped promoting the brand shortly after its first press push. That wasn’t the only agreement she fell back on, according to a legal petition filed by the Robertos on July 9th. The petition claims that the Etheridges have not followed through on their business agreement in various ways. The Come to My Window singer agreed to pay the farm rent. After she failed to do so, the farm was forced to move from the address connected to its hard-to-earn license. The situation threatened the business license, which the Robertos claim has now captured their life savings.
(Source: GreenState, July 22, 2024)
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Fans File Lawsuits Over Copa América Final Chaos, Seek Over $100K
Multiple lawsuits have been filed by fans against South American soccer's governing body CONMEBOL and the operators of Hard Rock Stadium in the wake of the chaos surrounding the Copa América final. The complainants claim that they purchased tickets for the final but that crowd control issues prevented them from entering the stadium. Each suit is seeking over $100,000 in damages.
(Source: ESPN, July 19, 2024)
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Kanye West Hit With Copyright Infringement Suit by DJ Khalil
Kanye West has been hit with a copyright infringement suit filed by DJ Khalil and three other artists over use of their work on his 2021 album “Donda. The complaint alleges West used the plaintiffs’ composition as the “heart, melody and soul” of two songs, “Hurricane” and “Moon,” even though authorization for its use had been denied. “In the face of this rejection, rather than simply forego using the work or discontinue using the work, defendants decided to steal it and continue to use it without permission,” according to the suit. “In an act of blatant brazenness, descendants even credited the artists as songwriters and producers on both ‘Hurricane’ and ‘Moon.’”
(Source: Law.com, July 18, 2024)
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Georgia High School Athletes Can No Longer Earn Money From NIL Collectives
The Georgia High School Association (GHSA) will no longer allow high school athletes to earn money by using their name, image, and likeness (NIL) from a club or collective. The change was made after the GHSA held a meeting with its board of trustees. The group voted to amend the rules to prevent NIL clubs and collectives from allowing athletes to profit at the high school level. Going forward, if an athlete is caught earning money using NIL from a club or collective, they could possibly lose their eligibility to play sports at their respective high school. The only exception to the new amendment is that athletes can publicize their name, image and likeness, but it cannot be associated with the school, its logos, facilities or video footage that relates to it.
(Source: 11Alive, July 18, 2024)
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UNC Tennis Star Seeks Injunction in Suit Against NCAA Over Prize Money
University of North Carolina tennis player is seeking a preliminary injunction against the NCAA in her lawsuit over students’ access to prize money. At stake in her case is nearly $49,000 for a third-round finish in the 2021 US Open. Reese Brantmeier’s lawyers filed a motion Tuesday in US District Court seeking the injunction. The court document estimates the injunction could affect more than 100 current student-athletes.
(Source: The Carolina Journal, July 3, 2024)
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Guess, Macy's Settle IP Suit Over Artists' Graffiti Work
Guess Inc. and Macy's have settled a copyright action lodged by three prominent graffiti artists who accused the companies of exploiting their names and donning their work across T-shirts without permission, the parties told a California federal judge on July 30.
(Source: Women's Wear Daily, January 17, 2024)
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Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.
—
Edgar Degas
