Law Update In the last few years, there seem to be more podcasts popping up every day.Different people cover every subject imaginable, in multiple ways.Gordon P. Firemark is one of those people, covering the very specific subject of Entertainment Law.His podcast, the Entertainment Law Update Podcast, covers relevant legal issues and current court cases affecting the entertainment industry.His most recent episode, “Holmes, Zorro and the Tin Man walk into a bar…” covers issues of intellectual property disputes in several industries, including live theater and historical literature. The stage production of Jersey Boys was facing controversy
recently over their use of a clip from the Ed Sullivan Show. Sofa Entertainment brought an infringement suit against Dodger Productions, the company producing Jersey Boys, for using a 7-second clip of Ed Sullivan introducing a musical group, to then introduce the Jersey Boys within the musical. Dodger Productions did not license the use of the clip from Sofa Entertainment, the owners of the Ed Sullivan Show. However, on March 11th, the 9thCircuit Court decided that only 7 seconds was considered fair use, as was the use of Ed Sullivan to give the show a historical reference point.Also in the episode, the public domain of literary characters like Sherlock Holmes and Zorro was discussed. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle introduced the character of Sherlock Holmes in 1887. He appeared in four novels, 56 short stories, and is now considered to be in the public domain. But there is some confusion over some of the books not being published until 1927, just short of the 70 years required for public domain. A Declaratory Judgment Action has been filed by a writer, asking the judge to find the copyright on certain works to be expired. The Doyle estate is claiming, though, that the character of Sherlock Holmes was not fully developed until the last of the stories was published.
In episode 25 of the podcast, “What’s with all the Zombies?” Gordon talks about a court case involving the Marilyn Monroe estate. Marilyn Monroe LLC handles the legal details and licensing involved in Monroe’s image. Her estate recently filed a suit over the decision in 2008 that Monroe was a resident of New York when she died. They claim that recently discovered paperwork indicates that she was in fact, residing in California instead. The difference being the right of publicity laws in California allowing less freedom for photographers to profit from Monroe’s image. If this suit overturns the previous decision, then photographers that own iconic images of Monroe might have to start paying licensing fees to her estate.Towards the end of the episode, Gordon also discusses the fashion industry dealing with questions of copyright for clothing design or costumes. For the moment, no useful items can be copyright protected, which includes clothing. However, visual art can be copyrighted, and clothing designs (and costume designs for the stage) are visually drawn as artwork before being created. Also, a child’s Halloween costume is created from copyright protected characters, like the Power Rangers. The question is, and the courts are looking at, how much protection the actual costume holds alone.
