posted November 6, 2009

Texas based music lawyer Tamera H. Bennett will join music industry veterans, James Griffen, Kim Guggenheim, Jim Hillegass, Andrew Schuon, and Owen J. Sloane, Jr. , in Beverly Hills on November 19 to discuss “The Music Industry’s Response to Piracy:  Intervention or Innovation.”

FORBES Magazine released their annual report on Top-Earning Celebrity Estates last week.

Broadway songwriting duo Richard Rodgers & Oscar Hammerstein II placed second on Forbes‘  list with $235 million in earnings.   The bulk of their $235 million in combined earnings came from the sale of The Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization and the rights to music they wrote together. See my post here about the music publishing catalog purchase.

Debuting on the list in third place is musician Michael Jackson. In the four months since his untimely death, the King of Pop’s estate has brought in $90 million.  A bulk of this income is related to earnings for the much anticipated “This Is It” show.

Elvis Presley placed fourth with $55 million in earnings.   The Presley Estate topped the list in 2008 with earnings of $52 million.

John Lennon placed seventh with $15 million.

Jimi Hendrix was 12th with $8 million.

by Tamera H. Bennett
Posted October 26, 2009

“You Can Social Network: Five Easy Steps to Social Networking” Topic of Speakers Lawyer Tamera Bennett and Technical Writer Louellen Coker at WBODC’s November 2009 Luncheon, Tuesday, November 3rd

Women Business Owners of Denton County will hold its monthly luncheon on Tuesday, November 3rd, at Oakmont Country Club, Corinth, Texas. ” You Can Social Network: Five Easy Steps to Social Networking” will be the topic of speakers Tamera Bennett and Louellen Coker.

WBODC members Tamera Bennett and Louellen Coker will demonstrate how easy it is to dive into social networking. While they create a blogging platform for one member, they will discuss which networking platforms you should use, the difference between each platform, why and how you should use each platform, best practices in social networking, and the impact social networking can have on your business. While their presentation will focus on getting started in social networking, Tamera and Louellen will provide insights for social networkers at all levels of expertise.

Louellen Coker, President of Content Solutions, holds a Master of Arts degree in Technical Communication from the University of North Texas and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Baylor University. She has conducted several conference presentations, published several articles, and occasionally teaches technical communication at the college level. An active council member and former president of the Lone Star Community of the Society for Technical Communication, she has served as the President of the Women Business Owners of Denton County in both 2008 and 2009, and also serves as the Public Relations chairperson on the Family Resource Center of North Texas Board of Directors.

You can find Louellen on Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, Slideshare.

Tamera Bennett is a Trademark, Copyright and Entertainment Lawyer whose practice is located in Lewisville, Texas. Her clients range from rock star to leadership coach and financial guru to custom motorcycle designer. A licensed attorney in Texas and Tennessee, Tamera assists clients across Texas and in Nashville, Tennessee. She received her law degree from Texas Wesleyan University School of Law and her undergraduate degree in Recording Industry Studies from Middle Tennessee State University. Tamera was named a “2006 Best Lawyer in Dallas Under 40” by D Magazine.

You can find Tamera on Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, MySpace, Podcast, JDSupra.

Registration and networking begins at 11:30, with a luncheon and speaker to follow, 12 noon-1:00 p.m.  Register online at www.wbodc.org by Thursday, October 29, 2009. With timely reservations, the luncheon and program cost is $15 for WBODC members and $20 for guests. After October 29th, the cost is $20 for WBODC members and $25 for guests.

The Women Business Owners of Denton County is a non-profit organization established to strengthen women owned businesses economically, socially, and politically via energizing and expanding its members’ centers of influence. Our vision is to create productive, interactive groups of business people.

by Tamera H. Bennett
Posted October 23, 2009

The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the district court’s denial of  the defendants’ request that attorney fees be imposed as a condition of granting plaintiffs’ motions to voluntarily dismiss WITHOUT prejudice twenty cases of copyright infringement stemming from master use and music publishing sampling.  (Bridgeport Music, Inc.  v. Universal-MCA Music Publishing, Inc. , Cause Nos: 08-5254/55/56/57/58/59/60/61/62/63/64/65/66/67/68/69/70/71/72/73 (6th Cir. October 212, 2009).

The “Bridgeport Case” has been on-going since May 2001.  The claims involved in this appeal were originally asserted in a single action by two record labels and two music publishers  against approximately 800 defendants relating to the use of samples in new rap recordings.  The appellate decision linked above gives a great summary of the history behind the case.

At some point in the litigation process, evidence was uncovered that a good number of Bridgeport’s claims would probably not prevail.  Even though the Defendants wanted out of the case, the Defendants would not agree to a voluntary dismissal because the court had ruled in other Bridgeport cases that a voluntary dismissal WITH prejudice would not establish prevailing-defendant status for the purpose of seeking attorney fees.  See 17 U.S.C. § 505.   Compare Cadkin v. Loose, 569 F.3d 1142 (9^th Cir. 2009).  The Ninth Circuit held a voluntary dismissal WITHOUT prejudice does not confer prevailing party status.)

["With-Prejudice" means the plaintiff has dismissed all claims brought in the lawsuit and cannot bring those claims against the defendant in the future. "Without-Prejudice" means the plaintiff, unless barred for other reasons, could file another lawsuit bringing the same claims.]

The Magistrate Judge summed it up:  All parties were responsible for the case taking years to litigate, and even if it looked pretty good that the Defendants would prevail, that was mere speculation.  The cases were dismissed WITHOUT prejudice and no attorneys’ fees were awarded to the Defendants.

Take a look at what William Patry had to say about this case in March 2008.

The “Bridgeport Cases” have raised a lot of comments over the years.  Read more here from Tech Dirt in 2007, here from the LA Times in 2001, here from MSNBC in 2004 citing Billboard.

The Dallas Bar Association Sports and Entertainment Law Section will host its annual “Entertainment Law Bootcamp” on Friday, October 23, 2009 at Poor David’s Pub.

This year’s focus is film, from script acquisition to distribution.

Pre-Register by October 16, 2009 by sending a check payable to:  Dallas Bar Association Sports and Entertainment Law Section to:

by Tamera H. Bennett

Thanks again to lawyer Gordon Firmark for including me as the co-host on the Entertainment Law Update Podcast.  Episode 5 is available here.

We discussed hot legal topics including the following:

Launchcast

Jessica Seinfeld

Annie Leibovitz

The Ellen Degeneres Show

A New York federal judge denied Universal Music’s motion to dismiss and will allow the Allman Brothers lawsuit over under-payment of digital download royalties proceed to trial.

Read more from The Hollywood Reporter blog.

Here are a few things I’ve been Tweeting about today.  Please follow me on Twitter.   www.twitter.com/tamerabennett

WSJ LAW BLOG Legal Liberals Ponder How Best to Lose: Since Justice Sandra Day O’Connor’s departure, .. http://bit.ly/lrTUY

CREATEPROTECT Producers of The Ellen DeGeneres Show Sued For Copyright Infringement http://bit.ly/4a6VRd

Time Warner Sued for Copyright Infringement. Unlicensed song masters in The Ellen Degeneres Show. http://bit.ly/pAZKn

A&E Sued for Copyright Infringement of “Rocky Top” http://bit.ly/7ClvS

WSJ LAW BLOG Russian Libel Case Ballooning Into Referendum on Stalin: An article in the Christian Sc.. http://bit.ly/o1sJM

How music became an industry: on ‘Selling Sounds’ – Los Angeles Times: How music became an industry: on ‘Sel.. http://bit.ly/4DaNHD