The entertainment attorneys at Weintraub Tobin represent individuals and companies in all aspects of the entertainment and media industries. Areas of emphasis include:
On November 14th, The Hollywood Radio & Television Society (HRTS) will present an informative MCLE webinar, HRTS Unscripted: The Impact of Generative AI on Nonfiction. Weintraub shareholder Scott Hervey will moderate a panel discussion about the ethical, legal, and business impacts of generative AI on the fields of nonfiction, reality,…
On Thursday, July 24th, Weintraub Attorney Matt Sugarman will participate in a panel at the 2024 San Diego Comic-Con, “From Idea to Shelves.” The panel brings together professionals who assist authors in taking a project from blank page to launch, including agent, manager, attorney, publisher, and producer. Matt will discuss strategies and…
On Tuesday, April 9th, Weintraub attorneys will participate in a panel from the Barristers’ Club of San Francisco Bar Association’s (BASF) Pathways to Partnership Series. Part 1 of 2, “Transitioning from Senior Associate to Junior Partner,” will focus the panel discussion on the journey from associate to junior partner and…
On September 8, Weintraub Shareholder Matt Sugarman will present as part of the American Bar Association webinar Comic Book Law 101. This panel will explore the comic book industry, its place in greater pop culture, and the key legal issues attorneys practicing in this area should know. Topics covered will include…
Summary of ProgramUnfortunately, both single-plaintiff and class-action wage and hour lawsuits continue to plague California employers. Often employers are sued because of technical violations that occur simply because the employer is unaware of its legal obligations. Come join the Labor and Employment Group at Weintraub Tobin as they discuss the…
Join us July 23!Weintraub Tobin and LAVA Digital Media Group will host a conversation with Ethan Applen, the executive director of Media Camp, a Turner/Warner Brothers Initiative, on Tuesday, July 23th. The conversation will focus on the opportunities and challenges with owning a startup company and will include a demo…
Join Us April 23! Weintraub Tobin and the LAVA Digital Media Group will host a panel discussion: “How Has Digital Media Changed the Way We Interact with Food” on Tuesday, April 23. Whether it’s finding a place to eat, sharing recommendations on your favorite dishes or ordering food online, investors…
Weintraub Tobin and Moss Adams are co-sponsoring the LAVA Digital Media Group’s panel discussion: “What’s Ahead for Digital Media in 2013” on Tuesday, February 26. Making predictions in digital media can be challenging. At this time last year who even knew what Pinterest was, let alone that it would explode…
“Up in Smoke” has been inducted into the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry. One of 25 films selected from thousands of entries for preservation this year, the 1978 cult-classic comedy was first feature film from Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong. Other films inducted this year include “Spy Kids” (2001),…
Weintraub Tobin is pleased to announce that Shaun Gordon has been named to Variety’s 2024 Dealmakers Impact Report. Shaun is a partner at Weintraub Tobin and member of the Firm’s Entertainment & Media group, where he represents creators and companies across digital media and podcasts, as well as authors, actors,…
Apple Films picked up the feature documentary, Deaf President Now!, from Weintraub client Concordia Studio. The film was co-directed by Deaf actor, filmmaker, and advocate Nyle DiMarco and Oscar-winning documentarian Davis Guggenheim, and produced by Weintraub client Jonathan King alongside Michael Harte and Amanda Rohlke. The film tells the story of the 1988 protests at…
Weintraub Tobin is pleased to announce that its acclaimed entertainment, media, and intellectual property podcast series The Briefing has reached 200 episodes. Set to air on November 27, 2024, the milestone 200th episode reflects four years of discussions on the legal intersection of creativity, innovation, and IP law. In The…
Legal minds meet entertainment headlines in the milestone 200th episode of ‘The Briefing’ – the acclaimed Entertainment, Media, and IP law podcast hosted by Weintraub Tobin’s Scott Hervey. Set to air November 27th, this landmark episode caps off a journey through the fascinating intersection of entertainment, innovation, and the law.…
Weintraub clients Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billings, the writing duo behind the bestselling pen name Christina Lauren, have inked a deal with Netflix for the feature adaptation of their holiday rom-com novel, In a Holidaze. Tiffany Paulsen (Holidate, Reunion) has been tapped to script the project, which is in early…
Weintraub client Dave Clark is co-founding a groundbreaking entertainment studio, Promise, which is backed by The North Road Company and Andreessen Horowitz. The studio will focus on integrating generative artificial intelligence (Gen AI) into its slate of films and series. Led by George Strompolos (founder of Fullscreen) as CEO, Jamie…
Weintraub Tobin is pleased to be named in multiple practice areas and metropolitan areas in the 2025 edition of Best Law Firms®, including 10 Tier 1 rankings. The Firm maintained rankings in all Tier 1 categories from last year, and advanced two categories from Tier 2 to Tier 1 in…
Weintraub client Marcos Efron wrote and is now directing the indie crime drama Pearl, starring West Duchovny (Painkiller) and Scott Eastwood (Fast X). The film, which is currently in production in Austin, Texas, follows a young musician, Pearl (Duchovny), who is stuck in an abusive relationship until she meets Eli (Eastwood), a bank…
Social media influencer and podcast host Claudia Oshry has been named to the inaugural Creator A-List by The Hollywood Reporter, a first-ever power list of the top 50 names in New Media. The roundup includes writers, producers, artists, fashion moguls, comedians and more who have found success through channels like…
Weintraub client W. Maxwell Prince recently sold the film rights for his horror anthology comic book, Ice Cream Man, to Sony genre label Screen Gems. Wednesday, creators and writers of the new Beetlejuice movie, Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, will produce alongside Aaron Schmidt. Prince will serve as executive producer.…
In the realm of copyright law, determining the scope of damages and the applicability of the statute of limitations remains a contentious issue. The Supreme Court case of Nealy v. Warner Chappell Music (argued before the Court in February of this year) promises to shed light on this matter, grappling…
In December 2019, Scott Hervey wrote about the copyright infringement lawsuit filed against Taylor Swift by the writers of the song “Playas Gon’ Play.” The song was released by the girl group 3LW in 2001 and included the lyrics “Playa, they gonna play / And haters, they gonna hate.” In…
New York’s post mortem right-of-publicity statute recently came into effect. Its previous right-of-publicity laws were an extension of its statutory right of privacy which provided that “any person whose name [or likeness] is used within [New York] for advertising [or trade] purposes without . . . written consent” can sue…
In the 9th Circuit (as well as the 2nd, 5th, 6th, and 11th Circuits), the test for determining whether the use of a third-party trademark in an expressive work (i.e., use of a brand within a movie, TV series, video game, etc., including as part of the title of an…
The motion picture Wolf of Wall Street was based on a book of the same title written by Jordan Belmont. In the book, Andrew Greene, who was director, general counsel, and head of the corporate finance department at Stratton Oakmont between 1993 and 1996, was discussed extensively. In the book,…
Virginia Vallejo, a well known Colombian journalist and media personality, authored the memoir “Loving Pablo, Hating Escobar”. The book is a factual account of her romantic relationship with Pablo Escobar and a chronicle of the rise of the Colombian drug cartel. Vallejo claimed that certain scenes in the television series Narcos infringed…
The USPTO recently refused legendary quarterback Tom Brady’s application to register the mark TOM TERRIFIC. If you’re like me, you’re wondering why Tom Brady would want to register such a trademark. Well, according to Brady, he wanted to obtain the rights to the mark to prevent people from referring to…
For those of you that watched the red carpet happenings at last year’s Golden Globe Awards, you may have noticed the “Fiji Water Girl”, a model standing ready to keep Hollywood glitterati hydrated with bottles of Fiji water, photobombing numerous shots of celebrities. Her presence on the red carpet created…
The Trademark Trial and Appeals Board’s recent ruling in In re Productos Verde Valle, S.A. de C.V. upholding a trademark examiner’s refusal to register the mark SONIA for “sauces; chili sauce; hot sauce” holds a lesson for those of us that regularly advise clients on the registrability (and usability) of…
Recently, a client asked why we included a short form option agreement and a short form assignment agreement as an exhibit to a long form literary option agreement. I am sure that many a corporate transactional attorney has similarly wondered why a short form copyright assignment agreement is included within…
Have you ever had the experience of attempting to register a social media account in the name of your business only to find that your preferred name is taken? Often, it’s just the case of another business with the same name having registered that account first. Other times, it’s evidence…
