Entertainment Law Jon M
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Nova Southeastern University NSUWorks Faculty Scholarship Shepard Broad College of Law Winter 1-1-2012 Entertainment Law Jon M. Garon Follow this and additional works at: https://nsuworks.nova.edu/law_facarticles Recommended Citation Jon M. Garon, Entertainment Law, 76 TULANE L. REV. 559 (2002). This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Shepard Broad College of Law at NSUWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty Scholarship by an authorized administrator of NSUWorks. For more information, please contact [email protected]. TULANE LAW REVIEW VOLUME 76 FEBRUARY 2002 No. 3 CONTENTS IN MEMORIAM REMEMBERING PAT SWEENEY ................. William A. Lovett 555 ARTICLES ENTERTAINMENT LAW ................................... Jon M. Garon 559 PERSONALITY AND PATRIMONY: COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVES ON THE RIGHT TO ONE' S IMAGE ..................... Eric H. Reiter 673 SHOULD GOVERNMENT BE ALLOWED TO RECOVER THE COSTS OF PUBLIC SERVICES FROM TORTFEASORS?: TORT SUBSIDIES, THE LIMITS OF LOSS SPREADING, AND THE FREE PUBLIC SERVICES DOCTRINE .......... Timothy D. Lytton 727 COMMENT THE OVERLAP PRECLUSION TRAP BETWEEN THE JONES ACT AND THE LONGSHORE AND HARBOR WORKERS' COMPENSATION ACT ....... Victoria L.C. Holstein 783 RECENT DEVELOPMENTS DIAMOND SERVICES CORP. V. BENOIT: THE LOUISIANA SUPREME COURT LIMITs LiAiL3rrY FOR THE THIRD-PARTY MAKER OF A COLLATERAL MORTGAGE NOTE ............. Jason R. Johanson 819 TEXACO EXPLORATION & PRODUCTION Co. v. AMCLYDE ENGINEERED PRODUCTS Co.: THE FEDERAL ARBiTRATION Acr TRUMPS FEDERAL RULE OF CIVIL PROCEDURE 14(C) ............................. Ronald L. Oran 833 ARTICLES Entertainment Law Jon M. Garon" ThisAricle focuses on the influence the enten'ainmentindustryanditsbusiness pmctices have had on copydgh4 privacy,and the FstAmendment TheArticle demonstratesthat much of the modem development in the areas ofprivacy and copjrght flow from the practical demands of the entertainmentindust, and that the slow accession of free speech ights to traditional entertainment media has served to inhibit the tolerance for certin forms of expressive conduct At each stage in the recogaitionand expansion ofprivacy law,the primary case lawstemmed from performersand athletesattempting to controlandto market theirimage. These cases, in turn, supportedprivateindiiduals from claims of inrusioninto seclusion,false ligh andgovemrmentalintrusionsintoprivacy.The copynightpromotionofprogress ofscience and the useful artshas tracked each state ofgrowth inpopular entertainmen4 revising the statute and socialnorms to promote the enterainmentindustries as they growandmature. Finally in the area of the FirstAmendmen4 the narrowbut nearly inviolateprotection ofpoli'icalspeech has been eroded as other forms of speech and communication, primarily those ofpopular entertainmeni7 have been added to the range ofprotected acivities. As the breadth of fee speech has eypande4 so has the regulation of that speech. Modem regulaton of television, rado, and advertising are not limited to select categories of speech, however, but allow govemment regulaonandrestraint ofeven themost highlyprizedcorepol'tical speech. At the same time, free speech concernshave encouragedthe voluntay censorshpofmedi&, creainga far more pervasive but unregulated tier of censorshi. Although generally considered a sideshow in the legal arena, entertainment law has deeply shaped the political,legal, and economic realitythatsupportsthe development ofthe law. I. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................ 560 II. PRIVACYAND PUBLICITY ............................................................. 564 A. Warren andBrandeis, The Right to Privacy ...................... 564 B. Early CourtAdoption ofPivacyLaws............................. 566 C Supreme CourtRecognifibn.............................................. 578 Il. COPYRIGHT .................................................................................. 585 A. Early]i'story: The English Role in Copyight ................ 585 B. EarlyAmerican Copyzght Protecton............................... 589 C The Strains ofMusicalProtection..................................... 597 D. Birth ofa Notibn: The Modem EntertainmentEa......... 605 * Professor of Law, Franklin Pierce Law Center. B.A. University of Minnesota (Psychology and Theatre); J.D. Columbia Lav School. This Article may be republished without any additional permission for all noncommercial, educational uses upon the condition that the copyright notice and author attribution are included. The materials may be condensed as necessary for such use, but no other alterations are permitted under this authorization. As a courtesy (but not as a condition of republication and distribution) I would appreciate if you inform me of the proposed use and forward me a copy of the final materials as distributed. Additional publications (and those of my colleagues at Franklin Pierce Law Center) may be found at <http://wv.ipmall.fplc.edu/pubsi>. 559 TULANE LA WREVIEW [Vol. 76:559 E. The CopyrhtRoad Traveled........................................... 611 IV CENSORSHP LAWS AND THE FIRST AMENDMENT ....................... 619 A. The Negative Constitufbn................................................. 620 B. The ManyRights Countedas First................................... 622 1. "The Right of the People Peaceably to Assemble and to Petition the Government for R edress" .................................................................... 625 2. "Congress Shall Make No Law... Abridging the Freedom of Speech, or of the Press".............. 626 C The Tradtion ofCensorship .............................................. 633 D). The MutualDistaste for the Moton Picture..................... 635 E. The BroadeningofSpeech and the Narrowingof Protection............................................................................ 641 E Entertaiment FirstAmendment-TheRatings Game .................................................................................. 647 1. The EarlyYears .......................................................... 648 2. The Hays Office and the Production Code .............. 649 V THE MEDIA AND THE MODERN FIRST AMENDMENT .................. 656 A. The CurrentTechnologies: Cable, Wireless, and B eyond ............................................................................... 657 B. Regulating the PianoRoll .................................................. 664 C. Piivacy.' New Clothes....................................................... 667 VI. CONCLUSION: THE NEW ENTERTAINMENT WORLD ................... 670 "The hand thatrules the press, the mdo, the screen and the far-spread magazine,rules the country.... " -Learned Hand, Memorial service for Justice Brandeis, December 21, 1942' 'All thatI desire to point out is the generalprinciple that Life imitates Art farmore thanArt imitates Life .... " -Oscar Wilde, The Decay ofLying, 18912 I. NTRODUCTION Each semester, hundreds of law students and thousands of would- be artists in dozens of media ask a simple question: "What is entertainment law?" My simple answer has been that it is nothing, it 1. LEARNED HAND, Mi. Justice Brndeis, in THE SPIRIT OF LIBERTY: PAPERS AND ADDRESSES OF LEARNED HAND 127, 132 (Irving Dillard ed., 1959). 2. OSCAR WILDE, The Decay of Lying, in THE WORKS OF OSCAR WILDE 597, 613 (Walter J. Black, Inc. 1927). 2002] ENTER TAIAN-ENT LA W does not exist. Instead, I teach copyright, trademark, privacy, First Amendment, professional responsibility, contracts, business associations, telecommunications, labor, and antitrust law through the lens of the entertainment industries. After ten years of reflection, I have finally changed my mind. Perhaps my answer has been too simple. The first place to look for entertainment law is in regulations designed specifically to regulate the entertainment industries. While these may make up only a small portion of the entertainment practice, they certainly reflect laws created because of the entertainment industries. The New York Theatrical Syndication Financing Act that regulates the financing of Broadway productions,3 the Jackie Coogan laws that protect child performers from the unscrupulous or wasteful actions of their parents,' talent agency licensing statutes,' film permit ordinances,6 and obscenity laws' are all entertainment laws. They share, however, the distinction of protecting society from the evils of the entertainment industry. These statutes reflect what society has said it will and will not tolerate about the entertainment industry. Does this body of financing, production, and distribution limitations embody the true entertainment law? Certainly they color legal tapestry, but something richer embodies the central pattern. Entertainment law has provided more than mere color for significant constitutional, statutory, 3. N.Y. ARTs & CULT. AFF. LAW § 23.01 (McKinney 1998 & Supp. 2001). 4. Thom Hardin, Note, The Regzlation of Minors' Entertainment Contracts: Effective California Law or Hollywood Grandeurg 19 J. Juv. L. 376, 379-81 (1998); Erica Siegel, Note, When Parentalinterference Goes Too Far: The NeedforAdequate Protectionof Child Entertainers and Athletes, 18 CARDozo ARTs & ENT. L.J. 427, 428 (2000). See generallyShayne J. Heller, Legislative Update, The Price of Celebriy,: When a Child. Star- Studded CareerAmountsto Nothing, 10 DEPAU-LCA J. ART & ENT. L. 161, 165-72 (1999) (discussing the outdated and modem versions of the Coogan laws). 5. CAL. LAB. CODE §§ 1700-1700.47 (Deering 1999). See generally