Entertainment Legal Questions

It is pretty much standard practice to require users of government venues to obtain a liquor permit in order to have alcohol at the event. About all you can do is meet with the county commissioners and explain why serving alcohol is an important part of your plans and what you will do to make sure no one abuses it.... Read More

This question is very specific to the facts and to the contract. Did the renter purchase insurance at rental? Was insurance included in the rental price? Was the damage covered under the insurance? All these factors come into play. If you paid by credit card, keep checking your statement, because such a bill is likely to show up there. It seems it would reasonable show up within one or two billing cycles. Read the rental contract. I assume you are the renter and that you are afraid to ask the rental company, for fear you may cause them to bill you. Such things can be tricky.... Read More

The main hurdle I see is that the game company owns the trademarks on the name, characters, and images, as well as copyright on characters, images, and other elements. If you want to run a tournament legally, you need to be working with the game company on it. At that point, your lawyer and their lawyer will figure out the particulars of how it can be done. This is why most game tournaments are done locally, quietly, and among friends only. Whenever you try to make money off the use of someone else's intellectual property, you are going to run into complications. However, do not let this stop you from contacting the game company and trying to make a go of it. They may warmly welcome a partnership with you. If you have a website and the means to run an online tournament and have the ability to gather players, many game companies would consider you quite an asset.... Read More

I think you might be asking the wrong question. The bigger question is whether a pay to play scheme is ethical or acceptable. I think it is not. If you are planning a multi-state pay to play scheme, please be aware that acts with a manager or agent are not likely to be involved. In fact, acts with musical skill or brains are not likely to be involved.... Read More

If this website is run by user generated content (UGC) similar to youtube, there is little that can be done. If the copyright holder sends the website a notice of infringement and the refuse to take material down, they could potentially have an infringement issue, however, until then, there is likely no liability.... Read More

The items you mention are copyrighted and, in Mickey's case, trademarked. Without prior permission, you cannot post your photos of them of your blog. There are exceptions to this law: your blog may fall under the Fair Use Doctrine, you are selling these items, or they merely appear in the background of your shots of something else. Whether you make a profit off the photos or not is not relevant to copyright or trademark law.... Read More

This is at its core a trademark infringement. Your username is the name that you are known by and the name that differentiates your products from those of others. Use dictates ownership of a trademark in the United States, consequently, you could obtain both monetary damages and injunctive relief against the person using your trade name. If the trademark was registered, you could be entitled to three times your damages plus attorney fees. I am more than happy to consult on this matter.... Read More

Music is protected by two copyrights: one on the music composition and the other on the performance of that composition. It is possible for the composition copyright to have expired but the performance copyright to still be in existance. While much of the folk music genre is based on old tunes, a fair percentage of it is still protected.... Read More

I just saw that Martin Scorcese is using IndieGoGo to crowdfund a film about Roger Ebert. I have seen other films funded on Kickstarter. Before you get into crowd-funding, be sure you read and understand the rules and laws behind it. With crowd-funding, the money given is a donation, not an investment. Those that donate do not own part of the film. Rather, they are given some perk based on donation level. For example, they might be given tickets to the move, a copy of the movie on DVD, a poster, a day on the set, a role in the film, their name in the credits, etc. Another method is to get investors, but this usually involves following SEC rules and paperwork. For this, you need a qualified film financing lawyer to write and file the paperwork for you. There are other methods, such as getting a single knowledgeable partner who has lots of money, saving up your own money, racking up credit card debt. ... Read More

The information that your provided is extremely contradictory and problematic. Copyright law would place the ownership of any new copyrightable material ( assuming what you created is copyrightable) with the actual creator. However, under the work for hire doctrine, you can immediately assign all rights of copyright to another party by agreement, which it sounds like document in question. If so, that document would be a valid contract where the company did provide valid consideration by providing you with actors and equipment that they were not previously legally required to provide for you in exchange for that promise to assign them the rights. It would be best to discuss this with a law firm which deals in intellectual property and contract issues, such as my own, which offers free consultations.... Read More

You have both a copyright infringement case and an invasion of privacy case. Your best bet is to contact an attorney as the site appears to be ignoring you. Your attorney will send out a "cease and desist" letter on his or her letterhead that the dating company can't ignore and then follow up with legal action if necessary. You can also contact the ISP that hosts the company's web site and file a complaint.... Read More

More than anything else, you need to learn how to run a business successfully. Take some basic business classes, talk to any local entity that supports start-up businesses, contact SCORE or a similar organization for a mentor, check out books about starting a business from the library, see if a local college or university has any programs to support entreprenours, and find someone who is doing what you want to do and ask them for advice.... Read More

Assuming that eighteen is the age of majority in your state, I really doubt you could complete the process within two months. Just wait until you turn 18. While emancipation may seem exciting, it brings with it a whole host of responsibilities and obligations which can make life very challenging and sometimes very difficult.... Read More