Firm Updates

Around 30,000 musicians received preliminary approval from a California federal judge Monday of a nearly $8 million settlement with the American Federation of Musicians and SAG-AFTRA in a class action challenging a fee the unions charged a royalties fund in exchange for data used to make payments to session musicians.

The New York State Bar Association's Entertainment, Arts and Sports Law Journal have published an article by Johnson & Johnson's attorneys discussing recent developments in defamation, copyright, and contract law that impact the entertainment industry.

©Netflix/Courtesy Everett Colle Variety Aug 30, 2021 12:09pm PT By Gene Maddaus A day after Ed Asner died at the age of 91, his lawsuit against the SAG-AFTRA Health Plan was allowed to live on. U.S. District Judge Christina Snyder indicated at a hearing that she would deny a motion to dismiss...

Law360 August 4, 2021, 4:58 PM EDT By Braden Campbell A Hollywood actress hit SAG-AFTRA with a proposed class action in California federal court alleging the union deceived members before agreeing to a series of collective bargaining agreements leading to slashed health care benefits for reti...

The Johnsons survey recent case developments in the laws of privacy and publicity.

Johansson's decision to sue Disney over its rollout of Black Widow is a shocking development in the parties' relationship and betrays just how rapidly the industry is trying to adapt to new winowing strategies in the COVID-19 era.

The Johnsons discuss a variety of new entertainment law developments for the NYSBA.

David Marks, an early member of The Beach Boys, has filed a class action lawsuit against UMG Recordings in which he accuses the company of shorting its artists millions of dollars from international streaming revenue.

2020 was an eventful year for the world of copyright law in the United States. The Johnsons survey a variety of notable cases for the NYSBA.

During the pandemic, appellate courts in California have been active in deciding arbitration issues. Here are a few of the important decisions from the past year.

The article notes Johnson & Johnson's recent $12.7 million settlement with Sony Music over its calculation of foreign streaming royalties.

The verdict clocks in at $9.596 million without including attorney fees.

The firm is representing a key writer for "Key & Peele" in a putative class action alleging that Viacom is getting away with massive theft of streaming residuals that should otherwise be payable to writers under the WGA's minimum basic agreement, and that the WGA has failed to adequately hold Viacom responsible.

Johnson argued that all of the streaming and download revenue should be allocated to “gross receipts.” In his experience, that is how most studios — 75% to 80% — handle streaming and download revenue on older contracts.

The Buck Rogers estate, overseen by the Nowlan Family Trust, on Tuesday fired off a cease-and-desist letter to Legendary about its recent announcement that it was developing a TV reboot of the popular sci-fi property set to be executive produced by George Clooney and his Smokehouse partner Grant Heslov.

The firm is representing original director Sean Cunningham and IP holder Horror Inc. in litigation against New Line, Paramount, and Warner Bros. over allegations that the three studios have have “systematically misaccounted” to the plaintiffs for their contingent compensation.

Courts across the country have come up with different solutions in order to adapt to the reality that the pandemic is not going anywhere in the foreseeable future. The Johnsons discuss what those approaches are and how practitioners can best adapt to the new normal.

Matters discussed include updates on the Instagram embedding litigation, Sherlock Holmes character copyright, developments to the Ninth Circuit's infringement doctrines, and COVID-19 industry protocols.

The SAG-AFTRA health plan is at the center of a putative class action brought by a group of actors who say premiums have skyrocketed and medical coverage is being stripped from elderly guild members under the guise of a COVID-19-related restructuring, according to a complaint filed Tuesday in California federal court.

Topics covered include biometric data privacy, copyright trolling/attorney fees, and arbitrator partiality.

More than 30,000 session musicians and vocalists have won class certification in a lawsuit alleging the Screen Actors Guild‐American Federation of Television and Radio Artists and the American Federation of Musicians drained millions of dollars from an artists' fund set up by Congress.