The Supreme Court’s unanimous ruling in NCAA v. Alston handed a massive victory to student athletes, and a conclusive rebuke of the NCAA’s anticompetitive practices.
Tuk's Rules Returns!
In this episode, Attorney Tuk discusses the #FreeBritney case, guardianship in Pennsylvania in general, and the NCAA name, image and likeness rules.
Likeness Rights and Digital Resurrection
People in the entertainment business (and everyone else) have been reading the news that the late actor James Dean was cast in an upcoming film project. Dean, who died in 1955, will be digitally resurrected through CGI technology. Dean - well, not exactly James Dean, but the likeness of James Dean - will “act” in an upcoming film that I’m not even going to name because of my personal aversion to this.
Many people, not just film industry people, are expressing their displeasure with this. I am one of them. We have seen this before, with Disney’s use of the likenesses of the late Peter Cushing and Carrie Fisher in the film Rogue One. I wrote about that extensively here.
From a legal standpoint, there are two important questions: 1) How did this happen? and 2) How can people control their likenesses after death?
Read moreIN THE NEWS: Bryan Tuk's Editorial in The Pittsburgh Current on PA HB561
You can click here to read Bryan’s editorial in The Pittsburgh Current. Below is an excerpt:
While performing for an audience can be a thrill, it is also a job that requires professional musicians to work very hard in order to make a living.
The economics of the local music business aren’t pretty either. The money that is offered most local musicians for your average gig at a bar or hotel would shock people if they knew.
With all of these pressures in mind, seemingly out of left field, the Pennsylvania House of Representatives passed a Bill recently that will make the economic life of the professional musician much, much more difficult.
This odious piece of legislation is House Bill 561.
HB561 allows liquor licensees (hotels, bars, restaurants) to hire minors to perform as musicians, but the same bill expressly prohibits any payment to those performers for their services. Yes, you read that correctly. The language of the Bill actually forbids payment to minors even though they are working at the establishment.
IN THE NEWS: Bryan Tuk Interviewed by WMFZ TV on PA House Bill 561
Reporter Jaccii Farris of WFMZ 69 TV took on the story of how PA House Bill 561 is trouble for professional musicians and DJ. The video of the broadcast is below.
Copyright Law Update: The "Monkey Selfie" Case Ends in the 9th Circuit
In order to understand the impact of the 9th Circuit's recent ruling in Naruto v. Slater, we have to quickly survey the history of the case. David Slater is a photographer from the UK. In 2011, Slater was in Indonesian jungle photographing a group of macaques. Slater sets up a camera in a clearing to work without his presence.
Subsequently, a macaque approaches the camera, starts to handle the camera, and in so doing presses the shutter button down, resulting in a series of images which immediately became known as the "monkey selfies".
Slater takes those images, includes them in a book of his collected work, and begins to sell the book independently.
That's when PETA alleged that Slater was infringing on - wait for it - the monkey's copyright in the "monkey selfie" photographs included in Slater's published collection.
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