Posted: July 25th, 2022
By: Molly Mitchell
Two of rap’s most popular artists, Jeffrey Lamar Williams (“Young Thug”) and Sergio Kitchens (“Gunna”), were recently indicted by the Fulton County District Attorney for conspiracy to violate Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organizations Act (“RICO”). Both artists were indicted along with 27 others in Fulton County on May 8 for the alleged acts of Young Slime Life (“YSL”), an alleged gang that prosecutors hold to be connected to Young Thug’s YSL Records Label. The indictment includes acts that date back to January 2013, and it also accuses other YSL members of armed robbery, murder, attempted murder, and possession of firearms and drugs. Continue reading »
Posted: April 19th, 2022
By: Alexus Acree
“App stores” are a type of digital distribution platform for software called applications that allows mobile device users to bridge the gap between basic hardware and a multifaceted “smart” device. They enable mobile device users to download software that is not included with the mobile device when purchased. Many consumers consider these apps to be what give smart devices value. Continue reading »
Posted: April 15th, 2022
By: Haley Sink
When it comes to Disney, branding is everything. But what happens if one of the most recognizable faces of one of the world’s most recognizable brands falls out of copyright protection and can be used by the masses?
The original version of Mickey Mouse, from the 1928 “Steamboat Willie” cartoon, will go out of U.S. copyright protection in 2024. That is, unless Disney successfully lobbies Congress to extend that protection, like it did in 1976 with the Copyright Act and in 1998 with the Copyright Term Extension Act. Continue reading »
Posted: March 7th, 2022
By: Noelle Henry
TikTok, a video-sharing platform, has quickly become one of the most popular social media platforms to date. In fact, some statistics have shown that, in 2021, TikTok overtook Google as the year’s most popular domain. However, as the platform becomes more popular, it opens its doors to a multitude of legal challenges with copyright infringement near the top of the list. TikTok’s intellectual property issues arise largely from the music and choreography on the platform, despite their attempts to mitigate copyright infringement. Continue reading »
Posted: November 22nd, 2021
By: Ben Suslavich
In 2015, DeepMind, owned by Alphabet, developed Artificial Intelligence (“AI”) AlphaGo to beat the reigning three-time European Champion, Fan Hui, in the board game “Go.” This victory marked a milestone in the development of AI because of the complexity of the game. Continue reading »
Posted: November 15th, 2021
By: Jacob Parrott
The world of college athletics changed forever on July 1, 2021. That day, new rules went into effect allowing college athletes to monetize their name, image, and likeness (“NIL”). Many would agree this change was long overdue. Continue reading »
Posted: October 11th, 2021
By: Seth Elizondo
As the 2020 Tokyo Olympics concluded for the summer, a new copyright issue came to the forefront of entertainment law. Félix “xQc” Lengyel, one of the most popular content creators on the livestreaming platform Twitch, received a copyright strike under the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”). Continue reading »
Posted: July 20th, 2021
By: Hannah Norem
After a year-long delay, the 2020—now 2021—Tokyo Olympic Games will begin July 23. However, these Games are incredibly unpopular in Japan, the host nation, and raise public health questions around the world. COVID-19 is still ravaging many parts of the world, and some are concerned about the safety of bringing thousands of athletes together and then sending them back to their home countries.
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Posted: July 13th, 2021
By: Michaela Cappucci
The commercial use of personal data—accumulated via digital streams, online searches and applications that capture an individual’s musical tastes and listening habits—drives the way music is commoditized, consumed and promoted. This data is used by (1) record labels to determine which artists to sign and which to drop, (2) music streaming services to deliver content to listeners, and (3) concert promoters to route artists’ concert tours.
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Posted: August 19th, 2020
By: Gabe Marx
The sports world has gone head-to-head with the NCAA for over a decade, arguing that college athletes should be allowed to benefit fully for their on-field success in the form of compensation for their name, image, and likeness (“NIL”). Despite consistent pushback, both legal and societal, the battle for NIL compensation has been slow developing as the NCAA’s amateurism rules have long prevented athletes from receiving such compensation. In the past month, however, the five largest and most impactful NCAA athletic conferences known as “the Power 5” (Big 10, SEC, Big 12, Pac 12, and ACC) joined forces to produce a new piece of legislation entitled the “Student-Athlete Equity Act of 2020,” once again spurring the debate about the NIL rights of student-athletes.
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