HHR New Media, Entertainment and Technology Group

The latest in our on-going series of CLE-accredited Webinars will focus on the critical legal and business issues and questions raised by the emerging phenomenon of “TV Everywhere,” a digital platform agnostic solution that promises to enable pay TV subscribers online access to their programming wherever they may consume it via an Internet enabled device. Our team will address topics including:

• Methodologies to authenticate subscribers and the technological burdens of implementing such authentication methodologies;
• Protection of personally identifiable information (PII) of subscribers and controlling access to such subscriber PII;
• Impact of the FCC’s proposed “net neutrality” rules on TV Everywhere initiatives; and
• Potential business models and revenue opportunities for stakeholders, including revenue streams from enhanced subscription fees, premium advertising fees, etc.

The one-hour Webinar will also feature “live chat” functionality to enable viewers to ask questions and comment on the presentation in real-time. Presentation materials will be available for download.

The Webinar will be held on Thursday, March 11th, 2010 from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. EST. To register, click here.

We had recently written about how a dispute over the ownership of certain IP threatened to derail eBay’s proposed sale of Skype.  Reports last week have revealed that Skype and parent eBay Inc. have reached a definitive settlement agreement with Skype’s founders that resolves litigation over the critical GI technology necessary to run Skype and removes the major obstacle that threatened  the $1.9 billion cash deal for Skype.  Under the terms of the settlement, Zennstrom and Friis will join the investor group and in exchange for contributing Joltid’s GI technology, they will receive a 14 percent stake in Skype, effectively regaining part ownership of their creation.  The other investors will hold 56 percent of Skype with eBay to retain the remaining 30 percent.  The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2009.

News reports in recent weeks have revealed how disputes over the ownership of certain critical IP may derail eBay’s $1.9 billion deal to sell a stake in the well-known internet communications company Skype.  In the latest development companies owned by the founders of Skype filed additional lawsuits last week against eBay and its future investors. At the heart of the dispute is the peer-to-peer technology called “global index” (“GI”) that is critical to Skype’s success.  Somewhat surprisingly, the GI technology, which was developed by Skype’s founders, Janus Friis and Niklas Zennstrom, is not owned by eBay or Skype.  Rather it is owned by Joltid Ltd., a company controlled by Friis and Zennstrom.  Continue Reading »

A group of retired players recently filed a class action suit (Dryer et al. v. National Football League) against the NFL claiming infringement and unauthorized use of their identities and likenesses to promote the NFL and sell NFL-related products without compensation.  

This is yet another in a long list of cases brought by former athletes from the NFL, MLB, and NCAA seeking limits on the right to exploit players’ likenesses. In fact, just last year, a number of retired NFL players won a class action lawsuit against the NFL Players Association, arguing that the union conspired with Electronic Arts to use their likenesses in the Madden video game series without proper compensation, in which the retired players earned a $26 million settlement. Continue Reading »

ASCAP is suing AT&T for failure to pay public performance royalties for their sale of musical ringtones. According to ASCAP’s opposition to AT&T’s  recently filed motion, ASCAP rebukes AT&T’s claim that a ringtone is no different than a song downloaded from iTunes and therefore does not require the payment of performance royalties. In response, ASCAP argues that when a ringtone plays to signal an incoming call, the public performance right is triggered in two ways—once when the ringtone is digitally transmitted to the phone (via the streaming transmission/delivery) and again when the song is actually played on the consumer’s phone to the public. According to the filing and a statement released by ASCAP, AT&T, and not the consumer, is then directly liable and responsible for the corresponding public performance royalties because the consumers’ phones are on AT&T’s network, and AT&T controls the entire series of steps that allow and trigger the ringtone performance based on incoming calls. Continue Reading »