NYSBA SUMMER 2007 | VOL. 18 | NO. 2 Entertainment, Arts and Sports Law Journal A publication of the Entertainment, Arts and Sports Law Section of the New York State Bar Association Letter from the Chairman 2007 is shaping up to be CLE programs. Likewise, this year’s EASL co-sponsored another terrifi c year for the EASL Fordham Sports Symposium, held on April 20, was for Section. The Spring Meeting the fi rst time recorded and will also soon be available for was held on May 21. It featured CLE self-study. The materials distributed at these pro- acclaimed lawyer and law profes- grams alone will be worth the price. sor Stan Soocher, who presented his comprehensive and well- As the Summer 2007 issue of the Journal goes to researched Entertainment Law press, I am pleased to announce that on October 18 the Update. The three-credit CLE EASL Section will once again be presenting, in conjunc- program was hugely successful tion with the 2007 CMJ Music Marathon & Film Festival, the Second Annual Music Business Law Seminar. As with and sold out long before the event Alan D. Barson took place. Grateful thanks go to last year’s sellout event, a full day’s worth of CLE credits our Programs Committee co-chairs, Joyce Dollinger and will be offered, plus, and this is a BIG plus, a three-day Tracey Greco, for running this program so smoothly. For pass to all CMJ events, programs, seminars, screenings, those of you who missed it, the NYSBA CLE Department concerts and clubs. This year, our A-list panelists will was there with its tape recorder (actually, a hard drive) explore the state of the music industry at the dawning of and you will be able to purchase it (and the CLE credits) the post-digital rights management era, and will consider for self-study. Breakfast not included. Visit our website the diffi cult questions legal and business professionals (www.nysba.org/easl) for this and other recorded EASL are facing as their clients embrace new business mod- Inside Editor’s Note .............................................................................................3 Digital Sampling in Hip Hop: (Elissa D. Hecker) Problems with Bridgeport and Current Copyright Law ...............15 NYSBA Guidelines for Obtaining MCLE Credit for Writing .............4 (Jonathan H. Marks) Pro Bono Update: Helping Our Local Semiotic Disobedience ............................................................................23 Non-Profit Organizations ...................................................................5 (Sonia K. Katyal) (Elisabeth Wolfe and Elissa D. Hecker) You’ve Got Mail: Brooklyn EASL Event ...............................................................................6 The Workers’ Compensation Board Judgment .............................62 (David H. Faux) (Kim Stuart Swidler) Law Student Initiative ............................................................................. 7 Playing to Win: Negotiating Tips for Mobile Game Development Agreements .......................................64 EASL Section and BMI Offer Law School Scholarship .......................8 (Steven Masur) Independent Music Publishers in Conversation ..................................9 Video on Demand: Defining Licensing Rights ...................................68 (Keith C. Hauprich and Dan Coleman) (Natasha Azava) The Aversion to the Paparazzi...............................................................12 Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts .............................................................74 (Alan J. Hartnick) WWW.NYSBA.ORG/EASL els. A cocktail reception following this event is being leadership? As a newly appointed ambassador for the planned. Save the date now, or, even better, register to Membership and Diversity Committee, all you have to ensure admission. do is tell one or two potential Section members why YOU are a member, and provide the link to our home page When I became Chairman of the EASL Section, I at www.nysba.org/easl. Then let Rosemarie know with knew the two-year term would fl y by. At the mid-point whom you spoke, and a personalized follow-up email or in my second year on the job, a slight sense of panic set letter will be sent. It really is that simple. I know that I can in about not having achieved all of the goals I set for the count on you to help the EASL Section become stronger Section under my leadership in this Letter in the Spring and more representative of the fi elds of law it represents 2006 Journal. I am particularly unhappy about not having by supporting this diversity initiative. Thank you. achieved the goal of our membership becoming signifi - cantly more ethnically diverse. Certainly, we are diverse Please remember to mark your calendar and join by age, gender and, with members all over the world, your colleagues as we kick off the EASL Section’s 20th geography, but we still fall short where ethnic diver- Anniversary celebrations at the 2008 Annual Meeting and sity is concerned. As I have said before in this column, Reception on Monday, January 28, 2008 at the Marriott the EASL Section’s membership and leadership should Marquis Hotel in New York City. refl ect, at least, the diversity in our respective industries. Finally, as always on June 1st each year, there was Right now, it does not, and this is just plain wrong. a changing of the guard at the NYSBA. We warmly and Growing a diverse membership is a shared respon- enthusiastically congratulate Kathryn Grant Madigan sibility, and current EASL members can, and should, upon her ascendancy to President of the NYSBA, and also do something to help this effort. Therefore, as of today, welcome the new President-Elect, Bernice Leber, who will every EASL Section member is being added to the roster assume Kathryn’s duties and chair the House of Del- of our Membership and Diversity Committee, tirelessly egates. We also gratefully thank outgoing President Mark chaired by Rosemarie Tully, who, while bringing us clos- Alcott for his selfl ess dedication and support during his er to these goals, cannot do it without your help. Each of term at the helm. Please take a moment to read about the you, as a member, is in the perfect position to act as an initiatives Kathryn has announced for her tenure, which ambassador for this Committee. For example, you prob- you can fi nd on the President’s Page on the NYSBA web ably know why you joined the EASL Section, and why site. you renew your membership each year. Maybe it is be- Have a great Summer, and do not forget to pack this cause you receive this Journal three times a year, packed Journal with the rest of your Summer reading! with timely and informative articles on cutting edge topics in entertainment, art and sports law. Or maybe it is for the invitations to exceptional meetings and CLE Alan Barson programs. In 2006, there was a CLE program roughly www.barsongs.com once every three weeks (see the roundup in this col- (212) 254-0500 umn in the Fall/Winter 2006 Journal), all of which were inexpensive, enjoyable and oversubscribed. Or maybe Alan D. Barson, Esq. practices entertainment, it is the networking opportunities, with access to some copyright and trademark law. He is based in New York of the most prominent lawyers in the entertainment, art City, and represents creative and executive talent in the and sports law fi elds. How about the opportunities to get motion picture, television, home video, book, recording, involved in pro bono projects? Perhaps it is the opportu- music publishing, licensing, touring, theatre and new nity to be a member of one or more or our 16 active (and media industries. In addition to serving as Chairman occasionally hyperactive) committees? Or maybe because of the Entertainment, Arts and Sports Law Section of of the myriad of NYSBA sponsored programs like life, the New York State Bar Association, Alan co-chairs the disability and professional liability insurance programs, Section’s Music and Recording Committee and is a Sec- or opportunities for advancement in bar association tion Delegate to the Association’s House of Delegates. 2 NYSBA Entertainment, Arts and Sports Law Journal | Summer 2007 | Vol. 18 | No. 2 Editor’s Note Happy Summer! I hope that for video on demand. There is also an interesting com- you are able to enjoy reading parison as to the differences in the treatment of celebrities this comprehensive Journal on and paparazzi between the U.S. and Europe. the beach or while relaxing this season. There is a vast array of subjects within these pages. I hope that you learn from these authors as I have, and There are several items of enjoy these warm and sunny days. interest within these pages. Keith Hauprich and Dan Coleman THE NEXT EASL JOURNAL DEADLINE IS have authored their fi rst column FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2007 entitled “Independent Music Publishers in Conversation.” I Elissa D. Hecker of the Law Offi ce of Elissa D. look forward to publishing these authors regularly, and Hecker, located at 90 Quail Close, Irvington, NY 10533, their conversations will appear in each upcoming Journal, practices in the fi elds of copyright, trademark and busi- addressing interesting issues of copyright and licensing, ness law. Her clients encompass a large spectrum of among other items of interest. the entertainment and corporate worlds. In addition to I am grateful to Professor Sonia Katyal of Fordham her private practice, Elissa is Immediate Past Chair of University School of Law for her permission to publish the EASL Section. She is also Co-Chair and creator of her interesting discourse “Semiotic Disobedience,” which EASL’s Pro Bono Committee, a frequent author, lecturer was previously profi led in the New York Times Magazine. and panelist, a member of the Copyright Society of the U.S.A (CSUSA) and a member of the Board of Editors There also several articles of interest to practitioners, for the Journal of the CSUSA. Elissa is the recipient of including our LSI winner’s piece on digital sampling in the New York State Bar Association’s 2005 Outstanding Hip Hop, tips regarding how (or advise a client how) to Young Lawyer Award.