Entertainment Law
Entertainment law generally encompasses industries involving motion pictures, television, music, publishing, and theatre. These industries have special economic and business considerations that involve nearly every area of law including copyright, trademark, trade secret, rights of privacy and publicity, securities, tax, tort, corporate law, labor law, constitutional law, international law, and so forth. The law of copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets, and patents each play a role in protecting creative rights.
Copyright Law.
Copyright law is fundamental to the protection of literary, artistic, dramatic, musical, graphic arts, and other creations. Copyright does not protect ideas by themselves, but rather the expression of original ideas in some tangible medium such as a canvas, piece of marble, high definition digital video tape, 35mm film, etc. A copyright is the exclusive right given by federal statute to the creator of a literary or an artistic work to use, reproduce, and display the work. The creator of the work has a limited monopoly on the work and can, with some exceptions, prohibit others from copying or displaying the work. Copyright law protects such works as writing, music, artwork, and computer programs.
A copyright gives one the exclusive right to use or reproduce a literary, artistic, dramatic, audiovisual or musical work, or a computer program for the creator’s life plus 50 years. If a work is a “work made for hire,” this means that a person was hired specifically to create the copyrighted work. The employer of the creator of the work can register the copyright and is entitled to protection for 100 years from creation or 75 years from publication, whichever is less. Once a copyright expires, it is in the public domain and no longer has protection. Works created by the federal government are also in the public domain.
Trademark Law.
Trademarks are symbols or words that are used to designate the source of origin of a particular good or service. A mark is any word, name, symbol, or design that identifies a product or service. A trademark identifies a product (for example, Coca-Cola). A service mark identifies a service (for example, Holiday Inn).
A mark may be registered pursuant to Federal law if it distinguishes a person’s product or service from products or services of competitors. Registration of a mark on the federal Principal Register entitles a person the exclusive use of the mark. Registration can also be accomplished with the State. However, State registration does not provide as much protection as Federal registration.
Generic terms that merely describe a class of products cannot be registered. For example, the term motor oil or the word airline would not be registerable. Descriptive or geographical terms cannot be registered unless they have acquired a secondary meaning. A mark acquires a secondary meaning when, through long usage, the public identifies the mark with a particular product. For example, Best Western Motels involves a mark which has a secondary meaning.