HHR New Media, Entertainment and Technology Group

Turntable.fm is the recently launched online music service that caught the attention of the music industry, music-loving consumers and digital media commentators.  The service enables users to become DJs in a virtual music club divided into multiple rooms, each with enough space for five DJs and an audience of listeners.  The DJs take turns playing songs to the entire room, pulling from a wide catalog that Turntable.fm licenses through MediaNet.  Users then interact with each other, rating the last song played and discussing the music in an in-room chat.  In theory, this interaction guides the flow of the other DJs and helps to shape future music played in the room.

As unique as the service is though, it appears that many of its features were designed and implemented to enable Turntable.fm to operate as a “non-interactive” service under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”), similar to an internet radio station, thus avoiding the need for direct licenses from the music labels.  For Turntable.fm, the distinction could mean the difference between sustaining a viable business or joining a long line of digital music services that were unable to survive because of the burden of paying license fees to the labels.  While it is too early to determine if this strategy will be challenged and/or whether it will ultimately prevail, Turntable.fm’s service clearly raises some unique legal issues. Continue Reading »

The Entertainment Consumers Association gave a shout out to the Firm, including Dan, for assisting in the amicus brief submitted to the Supreme Court in connection with the recent case in which California’s video game law was struck down.   Our detailed post about the case is here.

A recent settlement has spared Warner Bros the potential expense of having to alter “The Hangover, Part II” prior to its scheduled home video release.  However, the underlying questions raised by S. Victor Whitmill, who has a copyright in Michael Tyson’s famous facial tattoo and claims that Warner Bros. infringed that copyright when actor Ed Helms wore a similar tattoo in the film, remain unanswered.  The question of whether a valid copyright can exist in a design inscribed on another person’s body is a novel one for copyright law.  However, while cases involving copyrights in tattoo art may not necessarily be commonplace, the implications of the case illuminate a broader problem for content producers.  As copyright protection expands into previously unrecognized forms of artistic expression, such producers much consider whether the copyright clearance process they have in place is adequate to address potentially novel claims in the future.  Continue Reading »