Disney Seeks to Dismiss ‘Muppet Babies’ Reboot Suit
On January 27, 2021, the Walt Disney Company filed a motion to dismiss a copyright infringement lawsuit brought by television writer Jeffrey Scott in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. According to the complaint, Disney “interpolated” the ideas Scott shared with them from his 1984 “Muppet Babies” production bible for their…
Read More
On February 4, 2021, Hip-hop mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs filed a right of publicity lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York against apparel company Global Brands Group and retailer Misguided. According to the complaint, Global Brands Group created and circulated a number of falsified statements and a 40-second advertisement…
Read More
The Oscar-nominated biopic Florence Foster Jenkins about the notoriously awful yet well-intentioned opera singer was released in 2016 to great critical acclaim. Screenwriter Nicholas Martin enjoyed the praise, but his opera singer ex-girlfriend Julia Kogan was less thrilled because she claimed to be Martin’s co-author and deserves credit for the film. Since the movie was…
Read More
On December 31, 2020, New York County Supreme Court Justice Joel M. Cohen delivered an opinion partially denying the motion of summary judgment that AMC Network Entertainment LLC sought in regard to Frank Darabont’s multimillion-dollar lawsuit for breach of contract. Frank Darabont (“Darabont”), the creator of AMC’s hit series “The Walking Dead,” served as the…
Read More
Seeking Arrangement (Seeking.com), a popular dating service that connects men and women who are looking for an arrangement, filed a lawsuit against a competing dating site—Successful Match (SuccessfulMatch.com). Seeking Arrangement alleges that Successful Match appropriated trademarked phrases that the dating service has used on its website for years. The targeted phrases include “mutually beneficial relationships”…
Read More
Just weeks after Neil Diamond filed suit over Trump’s use of his “Rockin’ in the Free World” at rallies, singer-songwriter, and producer Eddy Grant filed suit against Trump and his campaign on September 1, 2020, alleging copyright infringement over the use of Grant’s 1983 hit “Electric Avenue” in a campaign video posted to Trump’s Twitter…
Read More
On October 27, 2020, Playboy Enterprises filed a trademark infringement lawsuit against Fashion Nova, an online retail company, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. According to the complaint, Fashion Nova created and sold a replica of Playboy’s iconic bunny costume “throughout the peak of the Halloween costume season.” In the…
Read More
On October 19, 2020, Judge Otis Wright III for the United States District Court for the Central District of California refused to dismiss musician and producer Tyler Armes’ lawsuit against Post Malone for co-writer credit and publishing royalties on Malone’s song “Circles.” Armes alleged he co-authored the hit composition/sound recording performed by recording artist Post…
Read More
In a March 24, 2020 ruling, a federal judge in the Southern District of New York decided that the court will probably bar jurors from listening to Marvin Gaye’s classic recording of “Let’s Get It On” during an ongoing copyright infringement case against Ed Sheeran concerning his song, “Thinking Out Loud.” In their 2016…
Read More
On May 4, 2020, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit denied Plaintiff’s petition for rehearing and amended and superseded their March 16, 2020 decision in the case of Daniels v. Walt Disney Co., No. 18-55635, 2020 WL 2119396 (9th Cir. May 4, 2020). Denise Daniels claimed that her characters, The Moodsters, were infringed by…
Read More