Firm Updates

Universal Music has agreed to pay up to $11.5 million and bump up royalties going forward to resolve a contention lawsuit that alleged it had cheated recording artists by improperly classifying digital downloads off of services like Apple's iTunes as “sales” rather than “licenses.”

In a potentially watershed case from attorney Neville Johnson, the complaint lays out how profit participation auditors are called upon to find monies due to profit participants and how studios are “make auditing as onerous as possible.”

The proposed class action is being brought by production managers on some of Sony's most high-profile films (including Jerry Maguire, Spider-Man and The Green Hornet) over Sony's alleged failure to do more to stop or at least mitigate the damage caused by hackers who have exposed its corporate secrets.

Johnson is pursuing legal action against the unlawful distribution of a graphic medical photo believed to have been taken by a nurse while treating the plaintiff for a suicide attempt.

The firm alleges Campbell's biographical documentary violates an agreement made in June 2011 for director-producer James Keach (whose credits include producing the Johnny Cash biopic Walk the Line) to develop a project about the country music icon.

The firm alleges that Eisner and his Tornante Company, along with co-defendants Trifecta Entertainment and its CEO Hank Cohen, unlawfully pushed a longtime legal show director off the "Judge Faith" series he claimed to have helped create.

Mr. Johnson writes that while we honor James Garner as a great actor, talent should also tip their hats to him for having the courage to take a risk to see that those fortunate enough to be in productions that achieve real profits get paid them.

The creators of web series about a foul-mouthed teddy bear with a penchant for drinking, smoking and prostitutes has filed a copyright infringement suit against Seth MacFarlane, Universal Pictures and the producers of Ted, the 2012 film about a foul-mouthed teddy bear with a penchant for drinking, smoking and prostitutes.

Johnson & Johnson is representing a California production company that claims Seth MacFarlane and his company stole the idea for the R-rated talking teddy bear in the hit movie Ted.

The heir to Jules Buck's royalties for the the 1965 comedy What's New Pussycat? is leading the charge against MGM's policy of taking just 20 percent of the receipts from the home video release of a movie as the basis for determining the payments to profit participants.

While business biographies are often dreary and tedious, and few people really care about the legal squabbles of yesteryear, this book is engaging because it concerns Bautzer who was a rambunctious, dashing, dapper, and charming rake as well as a brilliant attorney, and a bad boy who was attractive to women.

The magazine touches on his representation of Knight Rider producer Glen Larson against Universal and mega class actions against both record companies over digital downloads income and many of the film studios over accounting issues.

Johnson looks at the National Conference of Personal Managers' first-round loss in its fight against the constitutionality of the TAA and where it leaves the current regulation of talent agents and personal managers.

U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers rejected Capitol's arguments that Martha Davis' claims were barred by statute of limitations and advanced her claims that Capitol knowingly underpaid her and other class members by reporting digital download licenses as sales of physical record sales.

Variety discusses Johnson & Johnson's class actions against the five major Hollywood studios for underpayment on home video and digital media, its three class actions against record industry companies over digital download royalties, and its defense of B.B. King.

Since the lawsuit was lodged in a L.A. Superior Court, its ever-increasing complexity has flummoxed the judge, triggered a long list of subpoenas, and caused the defense to anticipate a potential month-long trial.

Johnson & Johnson is now representing Hal Needham against Warner Bros. in an expanding class-action case targeting the way studios calculate home-video royalties for profit participants.

The litigation covers claims against four Hollywood studios and seeks to certify the matters as class actions.

The litigation targets 20th Century Fox, Paramount Pictures, Universal Pictures and Sony Pictures on behalf of talent whose decades-old contracts allow them to share in the revenue from hit films.

Dang reacts to the recent Reuters story by Robin Respaut and Atossa Araxia Abrahamian looking at a system in which musicians and songwriters sign over future royalties for songs they have written in exchange for an advance.

American soul veteran Bobby Womack is suing Parviz Omidvar for fraud, represented by James T. Ryan of Johnson & Johnson LLP. Reuters looks at how the case came to be.

The firm represents singer-songwriter Allyson Nichole Burnett, who alleges Jepsen and Young's smash hit "Good Time" rips off her 2010 song, “Ah, It's a Love Song.”