Steinbeck Family Battle Appealed to Supreme Court

On March 10, 2020, John Steinbeck’s heirs filed an appeal to the United States Supreme Court concerning a decades-long battle over creative rights to the author’s literary works. In taking up the fight, the California Society of Entertainment Lawyers (“CSEL”), a non-profit organization of attorneys representing creative professionals in the entertainment industry, also submitted an amicus…

On April 24, 2020, a leading personal injury law firm in Southern California brought a suit against a rival firm based in Beverly Hills for stealing and misusing its registered “Sweet James” trademark online. In the complaint filed with the United States District Court for the Central District of California, plaintiff Sweet James LLP accused…

In yet another casualty for creative professionals in 2020, on May 28, 2020, United States District Court Judge John F. Walter of the Central District of California dismissed a filmmaker’s copyright infringement lawsuit against Apple and M. Night Shyamalan in connection with the Apple TV+ series, “Servant.” Notwithstanding overwhelming similarities between the two works at…

On May 29, 2020, New York State Court Judge, Robert D. Kalish, tossed retired professional baseball star Lenny Dykstra’s defamation suit against former teammate, Ron Darling, finding that an unsavory depiction of Dykstra in Darling’s recent book couldn’t further besmirch Dykstra’s “already tarnished reputation.” In July 2019, Dykstra filed and in September 2019, later amended…

Bruce Brown, the distinguished filmmaker known for capturing the sport of surfing, is suing Footlocker and Nike for infringing upon trademarks he holds in connection with his seminal surf documentary, “The Endless Summer.” In a complaint filed on March 17, 2020, in the United District Court of the Central District of California, Bruce Brown Films…

On March 31, 2020 a federal district judge in the Southern District of New York delivered a ruling in favor of Activision Blizzard, holding that automaker AM General cannot sue for trademark infringement for incorporating Humvees into the gameplay of the popular video game, “Call of Duty.” Back in November of 2017, plaintiff AM General…