The entertainment attorneys at Weintraub Tobin represent individuals and companies in all aspects of the entertainment and media industries. Areas of emphasis include:
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…
In Netflix’s “A Man In Full,” Jeff Daniels and Diane Lane star as Charlie Croker, a crumbling real estate mogul, and his ex-wife Martha. Lucy Liu, Tom Pelphrey, Sarah Jones, William Jackson Harper, Aml Ameen, Jon Michael Hill, and Chanté Adams round out the star-studded cast. Based on Tom Wolfe’s…
Producer Eric Jarboe has partnered with executive producer Holly A. Hines to launch a new Los Angeles-based TV and film studio, Happy Accidents. Jarboe and Hines will the run the company together as co-CEOs, working with international partners to create and distribute a broad range of original content that is…
Barstool Sports personality and Sundae Conversations host Caleb Pressley has partnered with Piermont Brands to release a new peanut butter-flavored agave spirit, Chica~Chida. Pressley’s goal was to reach beyond the focus on agave terroir and production processes to add some fun and freshness to the world of spirits tasting. Weintraub shareholder…
Paul Giamatti’s “Chinwag” with Stephen Asma from Treefort Media has been nominated for a 2024 Webby Award for Best Series, Features (Podcasts). The 28th annual Webby Awards are set to honor the best of the internet. The awards cover an array of categories, including overall website design, video content, advertising, media and…
Several Weintraub clients had high-profile premieres at the recent SXSW Film Festival in Austin (March 8-16, 2024). Director Doug Liman unveiled his remake of “Road House” starring Jake Gyllenhaal at this year’s festival. Produced by Amazon MGM Studios, the film also stars Jessica Williams, Billy Magnussen, Lukas Gage, and Conor…
Weintraub Client Zosia Mamet was recently cast alongside Michael Angarano and Tommy Martinez in Peacock’s upcoming comedy series “Laid” as series regulars, joining series lead Stephanie Hsu. Based on an Australian series, “Laid” is written and executive produced by Nahnatchak Khan and Sally Bradford McKenna. Weintraub shareholders Stan Coleman and Shaun Gordon represent Zosia Mamet. Read…
Weintraub client Cheech Marin reunites with iconic comedic partner Tommy Chong for “Cheech & Chong’s Last Movie.” The film, premiered at SXSW, showcases their decades-long, up-and-down relationship in the documentary/road-trip comedy. Weintraub shareholders Stan Coleman and Matt Sugarman represent Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong. Read the review by The Hollywood Reporter.
Village Roadshow Television is developing a scripted series and a two-part docuseries centered around the notorious convicted serial killer William Dathan Holbert, also known as “Wild Bill,” presently serving a 47-year sentence for the murders of at least five American expatriates. Executives from Village Roadshow Entertainment Group and Treefort Media…
Weintraub Tobin is pleased to welcome Caroline M. Korpiel as an associate in the Firm’s Entertainment & Media practice group, where she assists clients in a wide spectrum of entertainment and intellectual property matters.
Weintraub Tobin is pleased to announce that attorney Scott Hervey has been named the Top Author for Trademarks, and the Firm has been named the Top Firm for Trademarks, in the 2024 JD Supra Readers’ Choice Awards. Scott Hervey ranked first out of over 1,700 Trademark authors on JD Supra…
Weintraub client Zosia Mamet is set to star alongside Ann Dowd in the upcoming horror thriller “The Undertaker’s Children” from producer and seller The Exchange. Inspired by true events, the film tells the story of a girl and her younger brother who are sent to live with their distant relative,…
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…
