Posts from ‘January, 2010’

Valerie S in Houston, TX (a legal secretary), wrote with this comment:
“If Salinger’s real reasons for not wanting to sell the film rights were something like his daughter indicated (it was very painful to him because it was like revealing a part of his private self), it would seem to be moot now. 2046 is [...]

J.D. Salinger is dead. Sorry to break this to you. I loved “Catcher in the Rye”, but he’s gone and — well, on to business.
So what happens to the copyright in this book, and other JDS works now that he’s gone (and what are the chances that a studio exec makes his mark by getting [...]

What is fair use in a copyright context? This is rarely an easy question to answer, but a recently filed case will again tackle this enigmatic doctrine.
In F. Mark Schaffel Productions, LLC v. Fox News (CV 10-00117SJO), the plaintiff sued over use of certain interviews plaintiff conducted with Debbie Rowe, the ex-wife of the late [...]

I write this on the eve of what would have been Elvis Presley’s 75th birthday.
Frankly, I could care less. I’m about as far from a fan as I am from Memphis, Tennessee.
So why mention it? Because the King’s estate continues to command a king’s ransom by zealously protecting and exploiting its IP rights. These include [...]

Happy 2010.
This Post is by Neil Olson. Neil is Chief Legal Officer (that is a general counsel who does not wear a tie) at FNC, Inc. He points out that this post “is not really, really serious research, like the kind of legal research you can make some wretched, overpaid but terrified first year associate [...]