HHR New Media, Entertainment and Technology Group

The Entertainment Consumers Association (“ECA”) has retained Hughes Hubbard and the Brooklyn Law Incubator & Policy Clinic to assist it in submission of an amicus brief to the United States Supreme Court in a case with potentially wide-ranging impact on the video game industry.  The case, Schwarzenegger v. Entertainment Merchants Association, involves a California law that regulates the sale of  video games by imposing a labeling requirement based on content and prohibiting the rental or sale of certain games to minors.  The ECA opposes the Act on the ground that video games are free speech protected by the First Amendment.  Continue Reading »

In a recent, high-profile transaction, the Digital HHR team represented BN Media LLC in its acquisition of Beliefnet.com, the multi-faith and spirituality website, from News Corp.  BN Media’s investors are also backers of Cross Bridge Media, a multimedia distributor of religious and charitable videos, and Affinity4, a marketing services firm focused on assisting non-profits in their fundraising efforts.

The transaction received prominent media coverage, including pieces in The Deal, American Lawyer and The New York Times.

In a previous post, we discussed “The Secure Federal File Sharing Act” (H.R. 4098), a bill introduced in the House that was aimed to improve security in federal computing by barring federal employees and contractors from downloading, installing, or using peer-to-peer (P2P) software absent prior official approval.  The House ultimately passed this bill on March 24, 2010.  On June 14, 2010, Senators Claire McCaskill (D-MO) and Robert F. Bennett (R-UT) introduced a companion bill under the same name in the Senate (S. 3484).  This bill has been referred to the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.  Continue Reading »