Insights on Media & Entertainment

National Football League (NFL) Hall of Famer Terrell Owens recently filed a lawsuit in Illinois state court against TMZ, accusing the news and media company of unauthorized use of his trademark, GETCHA POPCORN READY.

Well-drafted and enforceable terms of use are an essential risk management tool for any business, particularly e-commerce sellers and online service providers. Despite their importance, however, terms of use are often overlooked or given insufficient attention during digital asset development and management.

On March 25, ArentFox Schiff obtained a renewed preliminary injunction in federal court in Iowa preventing the enforcement of an Iowa law providing for the removal of books from school and classroom libraries.

ArentFox Schiff is pleased to announce that 15 attorneys have been recognized in 2025 Lawdragon 500 Leading Global Entertainment, Sports & Media Lawyers, denoting legal prowess that matches “the imprint of their client’s global reach.”

Sony Music Entertainment and its affiliate record labels have filed a lawsuit against the University of Southern California (USC) for copyright infringement.

ArentFox Schiff LLP is proud to announce that the firm’s Trademark practice and 10 attorneys have been ranked in 2025 WTR 1000 – the World’s Leading Trademark Professionals, the definitive guide for intellectual property (IP) practitioners.

California recently enacted the Protecting Our Kids from Social Media Addiction Act, sparking pushback from online entities who argue the law is an unconstitutional restriction on children’s First Amendment rights and a legislative overreach to regulate social media.

In its ruling in the case Cyril E. Vetter, Et Al. v. Robert Resnik, No. 23-1369-SDD-EWD (M.D. La. Jan. 29, 2025), the US District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana ruled that the US songwriter-plaintiff Vetter recaptured worldwide rights — not just US rights — by exercising his termination rights under Section 304 of the Copyright Act of 1976 (US Copyright Law).

ArentFox Schiff represented international music publisher Wise Music Group in the sale of its Digital Education division to private equity firm Achieve Partners.

OpenAI finds itself embroiled in another major copyright infringement lawsuit — this time in Canada. Similar to cases filed by major news organizations in the United States, a group of Canada’s biggest news and media companies has filed a lawsuit alleging that OpenAI is illegally using the publishers’ copyrighted material to train its GPT large language models (LLMs). Plaintiffs in the case include the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and parent companies representing the Toronto Star, the Globe & Mail, and dozens of national, provincial, and local newspapers.

Partner Marylee Jenkins will attend the Brand Strategy Summit USA on October 8, where she will lead an interview titled “Advancing the Trademark System: A Behind-the-Scenes Look.”

On September 29, California Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed SB 1047, one of the most ambitious efforts yet to establish a comprehensive artificial intelligence (AI) regulatory framework in the United States.

ArentFox Schiff is representing Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins, MacMillan, Simon & Schuster, Sourcebooks, five award-winning authors, The Authors Guild, and two high school students in a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of a Florida law.

ArentFox Schiff is pleased to announce that 135 attorneys have been recognized by The Best Lawyers in America 2025, with two attorneys highlighted as “Lawyers of the Year” and 70 attorneys listed as “Ones to Watch.”

The rise and widespread use of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) continues to have major implications in the entertainment and music industries, particularly in relation to intellectual property.

ArentFox Schiff is pleased to announce that 70 attorneys were recognized as leaders in their field and 23 practices spanning the firm’s litigation, regulatory, and transactional capabilities were ranked among the best in the country in the 2024 edition of Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business.

For copyright infringement lawsuits timely filed by plaintiffs availing themselves of the “discovery rule” — to determine when their infringement claims accrued — the US Supreme Court has issued a decision concerning the extent to which damages are recoverable.

Donald Trump’s motion for a new trial and to set aside the jury’s verdict in his defamation case lacks merit, a New York judge recently ruled.

Disney fired Carano after she posted a series of controversial political social media posts. The multinational entertainment conglomerate’s motion raises an issue of interest for many media and entertainment companies and their talent.

The original frontman of The Guess Who, Burton Cummings, terminated his public performance license agreements in the hope of preventing what he calls a The Guess Who “cover band” from performing the works he penned for the 1970’s band.

ArentFox Schiff is pleased to announce that Partners Ross Charap and Matt Finkelstein were again named Top Music Lawyers by Billboard magazine.

The US Circuit Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit overturned a federal district court’s determination that Netflix made fair use of the plaintiff’s video in the 2020 Netflix show “Tiger King.”

After enjoying several decades of acceptance across many circuit courts, the future of the so-called “Rogers test” is uncertain.

With 2024 underway, our team highlights 10 of the most pressing legal issues facing the media and entertainment industry this year.

Allegations of defamation and conspiracy to defame alone are insufficient to establish the crime-fraud exception and defeat the attorney-client privilege, the Illinois Appellate Court recently held.