LA rockers Red Hot Chili Peppers are suing the network behind TV hit Californication, alleging that the title is stolen from their 1999 single and album. But the group may struggle because it failed to protect its brand, according to a legal expert.
Anthony Kiedis, Chad Smith, John Frusciante, and Michael "Flea" Balzary, doing business as Red Hot Chili Peppers, are suing Showtime Networks and others. They argue that the creation and marketing of the TV series "constitutes a false designation of origin, and has caused and continues to cause a likelihood of confusion, mistake, and deception as to source, sponsorship, affiliation, and/or connection in the minds of the public".
The album Californication sold 14 million copies and was listed among Rolling Stone magazine's Top 500 Albums of All Time. The group says the US series, starring David Duchovny, dilutes the quality of their brand. They are seeking unspecified damages and a new name for the TV show.
The lawsuit notes that a recurring character in the TV show is called "Dani California". That is also the name of a character who is the subject of or mentioned in three songs by the Chili Peppers, including the song Californication. The band also wrote a hit single called Dani California.
The lawsuit does not mention it, but according to Wikipedia, a character in one episode narrates the line, "It's the edge of the world and all of western civilisation," a lyric from the song Californication.
Further, the lawsuit notes that a search on "Californication" in Apple's iTunes Music Store retrieves the band's works and the TV show's compilation albums. The band says that causes confusion.
However, Showtime Networks is expected to argue that the band did not coin the word, a portmanteau of California and fornication. It first appeared in print in Time Magazine in 1972, in an article called The Great Wild Californicated West.
Time reporter Sandra Burton wrote: "Legislators, scientists and citizens are now openly concerned about the threat of 'Californication' - the haphazard, mindless development that has already gobbled up most of Southern California."
Kim Walker, head of intellectual property at Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind OUT-LAW.COM, said the band should have registered Californication as a trademark. Instead, the only trademark application was filed in April in the US, by Showtime Networks. The mark has not yet been registered.
"Successful songs, albums and movies can become brands in themselves. What's really surprising is how few songs and albums are properly protected," said Walker. "The Chili Peppers could almost certainly have registered a trademark for 'Californication', notwithstanding Time's article. They made the word famous, but it doesn't automatically follow that they can stop its use in a TV show.
"If they had registered the title as a trademark covering entertainment services, I very much doubt we'd have seen a lawsuit. The TV show would have been called something else," he said. "As it is, the band faces an uphill struggle."
A quick search on Rolling Stone's Top 10 Greatest Albums of All Time at the trademark registries of the US and UK shows that none of the album titles are protected by the artists or their record companies.
An individual applied to register Highway 61 Revisited, the Bob Dylan album that appears at number four in Rolling Stone's list; but that application was abandoned. Rubber Soul, ranked number five, is registered as a mark, but not to The Beatles. And Sgt Pepper's, the top-ranked album, is registered as a footwear brand by a company in Spain and as a pepper spray brand in the US.
David Bowie appears to be more savvy than most of his counterparts, though: he has registered Ziggy Stardust as a trademark for music and entertainment services. The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars is ranked at number 35 in Rolling Stone's list.
Saturday, November 24, 2007
New Line Cinema sues video company over "The Golden Compass"
Film studio New Line Cinema has filed a multi-million dollar copyright infringement lawsuit against a video company over a documentary about The Golden Compass author Philip Pullman. The movie studio claims the 70-minute DVD film, Beyond The Golden Compass: The Magic of Philip Pullman, is an attempt by company Koch Entertainment to cash in on the publicity surrounding the new $180 million big-screen adaptation of the writer's fantasy novel, which stars Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig. The movie is due to hit cinemas in December - while the DVD was released on November 19, and by Koch's own admission, is to "coincide with the big-budget film adaptation." And New Line Cinema has also called into question the similarity of the DVD's cover sleeve to the film's publicity posters - the documentary cover features an unarmored Polar Bear and a compass-like device; the same as the movie's promotional material, which also depicts Kidman and Craig. But Koch Entertainment has denied the copyright claim. The two parties met for a hearing in a New York court on Monday, but a ruling has yet to be made.
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Sony ordered to pay $5M in logo dispute
Sony Music must pay the founder of a small record company $5 million for failing to put his company's logo on reissues of Meat Loaf's "Bat Out of Hell" album, a federal appeals court ruled. Steve Popovich, 65, who started Cleveland International Records in 1977 and soon afterward signed the chubby singer named Marvin Lee Aday, persuaded Epic Records to release the wildly successful album. Epic was owned at the time by CBS. Sony, which bought out CBS Records, paid $6.7 million to Popovich and his former partners in 1998 to settle a lawsuit over royalties from the album.
The settlement required Sony to place the Cleveland International logo on future Meat Loaf albums but Sony did not add the logo to "Bat Out of Hell" for more than a year. In a 2-1 decision Wednesday, a panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati upheld a federal jury's decision in 2005 awarding Popovich an extra $5 million in damages.
Sony has claimed that the logo omission was a mistake that later was corrected. In court documents, Sony also accused Popovich of trying to get money out of the company by trumping up the logo agreement.
"Bat Out of Hell" has sold more than 30 million copies worldwide, according to court records.
The settlement required Sony to place the Cleveland International logo on future Meat Loaf albums but Sony did not add the logo to "Bat Out of Hell" for more than a year. In a 2-1 decision Wednesday, a panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati upheld a federal jury's decision in 2005 awarding Popovich an extra $5 million in damages.
Sony has claimed that the logo omission was a mistake that later was corrected. In court documents, Sony also accused Popovich of trying to get money out of the company by trumping up the logo agreement.
"Bat Out of Hell" has sold more than 30 million copies worldwide, according to court records.
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
REMINDER: David Schwartz TODAY in the Lounge
UM Law alumnus David Schawartz will be speaking today, 11/6/07, in the Student Lounge. Below is his bio.
DAVID B. SCHWARTZ is Vice President of Business Affairs for The Walt Disney Company's Buena Vista Television division, where he works on the cutting edge of new technological distribution platforms for movies and TV shows. David came to Disney after stints at indie film houses Gold Circle Films ("My Big Fat Greek Wedding") and Alpine Pictures ("The Convent"), where he handled business and legal affairs work for the production and distribution of numerous feature films.
David's also a creative force in his own right. He co-wrote and co-produced the award-winning feature film "Fighting Gravity"; served as a comedy writer on several syndicated television shows, including the nationally-syndicated sketch-comedy series "The Newz"; and his graphic novel "MELTDOWN", published by Image Comics, was one of the most critically-acclaimed books of 2006.
David earned his Juris Doctorate degree cum laude from the University of Miami School of Law in 1996, where he studied entertainment law on a full-tuition merit scholarship as a Dean's Honor Scholar. As an undergraduate, Mr. Schwartz studied film production and direction at New York University. While a student at NYU, David interned at both Marvel Comics and NBC-TV's "Late Night with David Letterman". David has studied theater at the New World School of the Arts, the Performing and Visual Arts Center, and the South Center for the Arts.
DAVID B. SCHWARTZ is Vice President of Business Affairs for The Walt Disney Company's Buena Vista Television division, where he works on the cutting edge of new technological distribution platforms for movies and TV shows. David came to Disney after stints at indie film houses Gold Circle Films ("My Big Fat Greek Wedding") and Alpine Pictures ("The Convent"), where he handled business and legal affairs work for the production and distribution of numerous feature films.
David's also a creative force in his own right. He co-wrote and co-produced the award-winning feature film "Fighting Gravity"; served as a comedy writer on several syndicated television shows, including the nationally-syndicated sketch-comedy series "The Newz"; and his graphic novel "MELTDOWN", published by Image Comics, was one of the most critically-acclaimed books of 2006.
David earned his Juris Doctorate degree cum laude from the University of Miami School of Law in 1996, where he studied entertainment law on a full-tuition merit scholarship as a Dean's Honor Scholar. As an undergraduate, Mr. Schwartz studied film production and direction at New York University. While a student at NYU, David interned at both Marvel Comics and NBC-TV's "Late Night with David Letterman". David has studied theater at the New World School of the Arts, the Performing and Visual Arts Center, and the South Center for the Arts.
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Offerman receives "special probation" in bat attack
Former baseball major leaguer Jose Offerman will serve two years of a special form of probation for attacking two players with a bat during a minor league game in August. Bridgeport (Connecticut) Superior Court Judge James Ginocchio granted the two-time All-Star accelerated rehabilitation Tuesday after hearing from current and former major league players supporting Offerman. Two felony assault charges will be erased from his record if he abides by the terms of the probation.
Offerman was playing for the Atlantic League's Long Island Ducks on Aug. 14 in Bridgeport when he was hit by a pitch and charged the mound with his bat. Bridgeport Bluefish catcher John Nathans sustained a concussion and Bluefish pitcher (and former Phillie) Matt Beech had a broken finger on his non-throwing hand after the incident.
Offerman apologized in court Tuesday.
Offerman was playing for the Atlantic League's Long Island Ducks on Aug. 14 in Bridgeport when he was hit by a pitch and charged the mound with his bat. Bridgeport Bluefish catcher John Nathans sustained a concussion and Bluefish pitcher (and former Phillie) Matt Beech had a broken finger on his non-throwing hand after the incident.
Offerman apologized in court Tuesday.
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Ex Louisiana-Lafayette coach wins discrimination suit
The first black head football coach at any major Louisiana university has won a $2 million judgment in a lawsuit claiming that the University of Louisiana at Lafayette fired him because of his race, not because his teams lost 80 percent of their games. Jurors found that Jerry Baldwin's race wasn't the only reason he lost the job, but was among the reasons. University officials broke his contract and inflicted emotional distress through negligence, according to the jury of six whites and six blacks.
Jurors took nearly 10 hours to work their way through a complicated verdict form.
ULL attorney Steve Oats said the evidence doesn't support the verdict for Baldwin, who was coach from 1999-2001, but he and university officials haven't decided their next step. "It is clear Jerry Baldwin was not terminated because of his race," Oats said. "Jerry Baldwin was terminated over his tenure. The team had a record of 6-27 and attendance was terrible. The program was not going in the right direction."
In closing arguments for the eight-day trial, Bernard said white coaches before and after Baldwin got new equipment and had a greater ability to market the football program via a coach's television show and through the university's marketing department. Baldwin worked with used equipment, the marketing director was fired his second year on the job, and he never had a coach's show to promote the football program, Bernard said.
Jurors voted 10-2 to award Baldwin $500,000 for general damages, including emotional distress; $600,000 for past lost wages; $900,000 for future lost wages, and $2,676 for special damages.
The same administration officials now accused of racial discrimination are the same people who gave Baldwin the job as the first black head coach at a major Louisiana university, Oats argued. He also said there are no signs that Baldwin's ability to get another job in coaching has been hampered by the firing, and Baldwin's attorneys did not present any evidence that he suffered extreme emotional distress.
Jurors took nearly 10 hours to work their way through a complicated verdict form.
ULL attorney Steve Oats said the evidence doesn't support the verdict for Baldwin, who was coach from 1999-2001, but he and university officials haven't decided their next step. "It is clear Jerry Baldwin was not terminated because of his race," Oats said. "Jerry Baldwin was terminated over his tenure. The team had a record of 6-27 and attendance was terrible. The program was not going in the right direction."
In closing arguments for the eight-day trial, Bernard said white coaches before and after Baldwin got new equipment and had a greater ability to market the football program via a coach's television show and through the university's marketing department. Baldwin worked with used equipment, the marketing director was fired his second year on the job, and he never had a coach's show to promote the football program, Bernard said.
Jurors voted 10-2 to award Baldwin $500,000 for general damages, including emotional distress; $600,000 for past lost wages; $900,000 for future lost wages, and $2,676 for special damages.
The same administration officials now accused of racial discrimination are the same people who gave Baldwin the job as the first black head coach at a major Louisiana university, Oats argued. He also said there are no signs that Baldwin's ability to get another job in coaching has been hampered by the firing, and Baldwin's attorneys did not present any evidence that he suffered extreme emotional distress.
Patriots get ticket sellers names
The New England Patriots have won a bid to get the names of all the fans who bought or sold -- or tried to buy or sell -- tickets to home games through online ticket reseller StubHub Inc., a move one technology group sees as an invasion of privacy. In a lawsuit against San Francisco-based StubHub, a subsidiary of eBay Inc., claiming that the Web site encourages fans to break state law and violate team policies, the Patriots said they could seek to revoke season tickets of people who use StubHub.
A lawyer for the Patriots wouldn't say what the team plans to do with the 13,000 names, which StubHub gave it last week after losing its appeal of a Massachusetts state court ruling. Team rules bar reselling game tickets for a profit. State law, though rarely enforced, restricts ticket markups to $2 above face value plus some service charges.
Patriots tickets have been offered on StubHub at prices many times higher, including two 50-yard-line seats for New England's Dec. 16 game against the AFC rival New York Jets listed Thursday for $1,300.05 each. Their face value is $125.
The Center for Democracy and Technology, a Washington D.C.-based advocacy group, said the court order to turn over the names infringes on the privacy rights of Patriots fans. "The Patriots, just at the beginning of the season, were filming opposing teams and accused of surveillance and given a slap from the National Football League about that. Now they're turning the cameras on their fans, so clearly there is a lack of understanding about what privacy is," said Ari Schwartz, deputy director of the center.
StubHub parent eBay is a member of the center's working group on free speech online. StubHub, one of the largest online ticket sellers, argued that the Patriots' request violated its confidentiality agreement with its customers and said the team wants to create a monopoly on the resale market for its own tickets.
"It is plain that the Patriots seek this highly confidential customer information to further their unlawful, anticompetitive campaign against StubHub and its customers," StubHub said in court papers.
The Patriots, who say they are trying to ensure fans get tickets at reasonable prices, are entitled to know who may be violating their rules. "One of our claims against StubHub is that knowing we have rules against resale on the Internet, they are out there soliciting people to violate our rules," said Daniel Goldberg, a lawyer for the team. "In order to pursue that claim, we need to understand who has been persuaded by that inducement to list their tickets [on StubHub]."
Goldberg said the Patriots' rules on resale are clear and printed on the back of every ticket. "We have hundreds of people on waiting lists willing to comply with our rules, so if individuals prefer not to comply with the rules, that's their choice," he said. He would not say how the Patriots plan to use the customer information it won in court.
In his order this summer, Superior Court Judge Allan van Gestel said the Patriots have "legitimate interests" in knowing the identity of people who resell tickets through StubHub. The judge said the Patriots could use the information for purposes beyond the lawsuit, including canceling violators' season tickets or reporting violators to authorities. Goldberg said StubHub turned over the names last week.
The Patriots have revoked tickets of fans who resell on any site except the Patriots' own TeamExchange Web site, which limits sales to face value. That Web site is run by Ticketmaster.
A lawyer for the Patriots wouldn't say what the team plans to do with the 13,000 names, which StubHub gave it last week after losing its appeal of a Massachusetts state court ruling. Team rules bar reselling game tickets for a profit. State law, though rarely enforced, restricts ticket markups to $2 above face value plus some service charges.
Patriots tickets have been offered on StubHub at prices many times higher, including two 50-yard-line seats for New England's Dec. 16 game against the AFC rival New York Jets listed Thursday for $1,300.05 each. Their face value is $125.
The Center for Democracy and Technology, a Washington D.C.-based advocacy group, said the court order to turn over the names infringes on the privacy rights of Patriots fans. "The Patriots, just at the beginning of the season, were filming opposing teams and accused of surveillance and given a slap from the National Football League about that. Now they're turning the cameras on their fans, so clearly there is a lack of understanding about what privacy is," said Ari Schwartz, deputy director of the center.
StubHub parent eBay is a member of the center's working group on free speech online. StubHub, one of the largest online ticket sellers, argued that the Patriots' request violated its confidentiality agreement with its customers and said the team wants to create a monopoly on the resale market for its own tickets.
"It is plain that the Patriots seek this highly confidential customer information to further their unlawful, anticompetitive campaign against StubHub and its customers," StubHub said in court papers.
The Patriots, who say they are trying to ensure fans get tickets at reasonable prices, are entitled to know who may be violating their rules. "One of our claims against StubHub is that knowing we have rules against resale on the Internet, they are out there soliciting people to violate our rules," said Daniel Goldberg, a lawyer for the team. "In order to pursue that claim, we need to understand who has been persuaded by that inducement to list their tickets [on StubHub]."
Goldberg said the Patriots' rules on resale are clear and printed on the back of every ticket. "We have hundreds of people on waiting lists willing to comply with our rules, so if individuals prefer not to comply with the rules, that's their choice," he said. He would not say how the Patriots plan to use the customer information it won in court.
In his order this summer, Superior Court Judge Allan van Gestel said the Patriots have "legitimate interests" in knowing the identity of people who resell tickets through StubHub. The judge said the Patriots could use the information for purposes beyond the lawsuit, including canceling violators' season tickets or reporting violators to authorities. Goldberg said StubHub turned over the names last week.
The Patriots have revoked tickets of fans who resell on any site except the Patriots' own TeamExchange Web site, which limits sales to face value. That Web site is run by Ticketmaster.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)