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Practice

Practice

Entertainment Industry

The business of entertainment is the profitable production, marketing and dissemination of creative works. This industry has five branches: movies, television, live theater, music and print publishing. Entertainment law is body of principles governing activities within the entertainment industry. Despite the lack of a universally accepted definition of what entertainment lawyers do, lawyers practicing in the entertainment industry operate with certain principles that distinguish their work from that in other areas of law. As a general proposition, the scope of entertainment law contains four basic elements: (1) the case law and statutory schemes of various other legal disciplines that relate to the entertainment industry; (2) certain state statutes that regulate entertainment-related business activity; (3) collective bargaining agreements in the entertainment industry; and (4) the application of entertainment-related business practices and economic principles to the above three elements.

The entertainment industry has traditionally controlled the creation and distribution of books, music, film, theater, radio, television, and electronic broadcasts through the legal device of intellectual property and contracts. The industries have created and controlled the international market for entertainment products by determining which artists and productions received exposure to the entertainment audience. The audience in turn picked their favorite artists and productions, and the industries generated profits for themselves and the successful entertainers, while discarding the artists, products and productions that were not profitable. This system existed over most of the last century; however, a technological revolution is underway that is reshaping entertainment businesses as we know them. The entertainment industries are now reacting to the use and misuse of computer-delivered digital entertainment and its uncontrolled distribution over the Internet.

The Firm can provide a full spectrum of contracts for protection and exploitation of intellectual property in the entertainment industry.  We can assist our clients on business and marketing issues and strategies (including risk management), the protection and exploitation of creative works (including trademarks and copyrights) litigation management, and other intellectual property.