It’s a Wonderful Life is by far my favorite Christmas movie. It might just be the overall sentimentality of the film that does it for me, or it might have something to do with me playing Ernie in my high school’s production of it (I promise I looked a little less grainy all those years … Read more
Copyright ownership is often referred to as a “bundle of rights.” In other words, when you own the copyright on a particular artistic work, you not only own the right to copy and sell the work, but also the right to create derivative works (modifications or new expressions, based on the original), perform the work … Read more
Late last month, a little clock-app and a handful of online creators made moves that are likely to permanently alter the existing copyright landscape. That’s right, Tiktok, an app with over 689 million active monthly users, and creators like Keara Wilson (the dancer who choreographed the insanely viral Savage Challenge dance to the Megan Thee … Read more
Cyberpunk 2077 is the 2020\2021 equivalent of Duke Nukem Forever: Protracted development timeline, multiple delays, and upon eventual release – mixed reviews. Although Cyberpunk certainly faired much better than Nukem did from a gameplay and critical reception standpoint – the legal fallout experienced by CD Projekt (developer of Cyberpunk) has been decidedly much worse. Not … Read more
Royalties, the Net v. Gross Profit Distinction, and Dolly Parton. Part 2 Welcome back to the Dolly Parton party. Last week we picked up where we left our heroes last week – struggling with the tension between artistic collaboration and the need to delineate legal ownership. This second installment deals with the potential subjectivity of … Read more
It is our pleasure to introduce you to Sam Kavalier, our newest attorney, and Miranda Salazar, our new Law Clerk! Sam is a recent graduate of University of Wisconsin Law School, and we are thrilled he decided to begin his law career with OG+S. While interviewing Sam, we were particularly impressed with his pre-law school … Read more
Big weekend! Taylor Swift has re-released her 2008 album “Fearless” to claw back ownership of, and agency over, her music after the much publicized sale of the original master recordings to a private equity firm. The release, of course, is taglined, “Taylor’s Version” – but what is the (copyright) legality behind how Taylor was able … Read more
A few years back I went through a blogging phase. Around the same time I had fallen deeply in love with thesauruses and chose to fill my blog with an abundance of overdramatic and ill-fitting words like “hullabaloo.” One thing was certain, my blog was never the cause of any kind of hullabaloo. I’m fairly certain my parents were … Read more
We want you to start your 2021 armed with knowledge! Strong Foundations is a presentation series to help owners of companies build their knowledge of key legal concepts and then use this knowledge to grow their companies on those strong foundations. This first series will discuss intellectual property including trademarks, copyrights, patents, trade secrets and contracts relating to … Read more
My last blog post covered the ins and outs of obtaining proper licensing for live-streamed audio-visual events. However, that was merely talking about individual songs – not entire theatrical performances, like musicals or plays. My not-so-secret secret is that I adore musicals. Even the deeply tragic ones bring me so much joy. Fortunately, the concept … Read more