Thursday, November 21, 2013

Week 8 EOC: Bratz Brawl


“One of the more epic IP battles has come to an end. Mattel (Barbie) and MGA Entertainment (Bratz), have spent most of a decade in various courtrooms hashing out the ultra-serious question about which of these companies is entitled to the Bratz millions. Long story short, a former Mattel employee left the company and crafted one of the first serious threats to Barbie's dominance, the Bratz dolls. Mattel, of course, was none too happy because the designer was still employed by Mattel when he came up with the idea. Mattel felt it owned the idea and sued the designer in an effort to make that a reality. The trial jury awarded MGA $88.5 million in damages on its claims that Mattel employees used fake business cards to get access to MGA’s booths at toy fairs and obtain MGA’s trade secrets. The judge later reduced the verdict to $85 million and then doubled it by adding $85 million in punitive damages. Carter had also awarded MGA $2.5 million in lawyer fees and costs for its trade secret-theft claims, which was vacated by the appeal court’s ruling together with the $170 million in compensatory and punitive damages. The appellate panel agreed with Mattel that MGA’s counterclaims weren’t “compulsory” in that they weren’t based on the same underlying facts as Mattel’s trade-secret theft claims against MGA. As such, the judge had erred by allowing MGA’s claims to be part of the case, the panel said.” In my personal opinion I believe that MGA shouldn’t be held liable for his own creations. I feel that it’s very unfair to create something and have the business you work for try to take credit for it. Especially if the company didn’t do anything to help the creation, but that’s just my personal belief.



Week 8 EOC: Questions


1.       Are there any legal problems with using a specific product in my film?

2.       Can I us a song or other copyrighted work in my film?

3.       Do I need permission to use locations in my city?

4.       Do I need permission to us my actor’s image in my own films?

5.       Do I need to get my film rated before I can show it to an audience?

6.       How do I copyright my company’s name?

7.       How do I get the rights to adapt a book into a screenplay?

8.       If I use fake guns in a public place am I legally obligated to inform the local police?

9.       What type of insurance should a filmmaker consider?

10.   What good legal resources are out there?

 

Thursday, November 14, 2013

Week 7 EOC: Lawyers


Name
Number
Address
George T. Bochanis
(702) 659-8222
631 S 9th St, Las Vegas NV 89101
Pezzillo Lloyd
(702)233-4225
6725 Via Austi Parkway, Suite 290
Las Vegas, Nevada 89119
Bowler Dixon & Twitchell LLP
(702)425-5671
3137 East Warm Springs Road, Suite 100
Las Vegas, Nevada 89120
Deluca
(702) 608-1152
7580 W. Sahara Ave. Las Vegas NV 89117
Sterling Kerr
(702)608-0835
2450 Saint Rose Parkway, Suite 250
Henderson, NV 89074
The Bach Law Firm, LLC
(702)925-8787
6053 S. Fort Apache Road, Suite 130
Las Vegas, NV 89148
Wells & Rawling
(702)802-0466
7th Floor of the Bank of America Building
6900 Westcliff Dr.
Suite 710 Las Vegas 89145
John C. Lambertsen 
(702)796-3476
6900 Westcliff Drive, Suite 104
Las Vegas, Nevada 89145
Weide & Miller, Ltd
 
(702)-382-4804
Bank of Nevada Building
5th Floor, Suite 530
7251 West Lake Mead Blvd.
Las Vegas, NV 89128
Mr. Donald Curtis Kudler Esq
(702)878-8778
3202 W Charleston Blvd
Las Vegas
, NV 89102

Thursday, November 7, 2013

Week 6 EOC: Supreme Court Prayer


In Wednesday's oral arguments, the justices considered a dispute over the primarily Christian prayers recited before meetings of the Town Board in Greece, N.Y, near Rochester. Two residents, Susan Galloway, who is Jewish, and Linda Stephens, an atheist, said that being required to sit through Christian prayers in order to attend the meetings violated their 1st Amendment rights to religious freedom. Their lawyer asked the court to require the town to use prayers that did not specifically endorse Christian beliefs or include direct references to Jesus Christ. But the justices, perhaps mindful of the storm created by their ban on prayers in public schools in the 1960s, appeared wary of having government regulate what a minister can say, even at a public meeting."I think it's hard because the court lays down these rules and everybody thinks that the court is being hostile to religion and people get unhappy and angry and agitated in various kinds of ways," Justice Elena Kagan said. But she said that "part of what we are trying to do here is to maintain a multi-religious society in a peaceful and harmonious way. And every time the court gets involved in something like this, it seems to make the problem worse rather than better." I completely agree with “Elena Kagan” they should have just kept the prayer to themselves because rather than making things well and harmonious they just caused a total issue. In my personal opinion I feel that everyone has the right to express themselves, but there is always a time and place for it as well. Unfortunately they chose a wrong scenario to do the prayer, unfortunately some people may be offend for their own personal reasons. I am partially for and against what happened I do believe that everyone has the right to express themselves and that the two women are over exaggerating, but I also believe that there is a time and place for everything and that they might have made some people uncomfortable.” Suppose, the justice said, “the members of the court who had stood responded, ‘Amen,’ made the sign of the cross, and the chief justice then called your case. Would that be permissible?” "I don't feel like ... I'm welcome at my town government anymore," Galloway said in an interview with NPR. "My grandmother had to leave Russia because of the Cossacks. My father had to leave Germany because of Hitler." She feels strongly that Americans must "make sure that our government and religion are separate, because we are a diverse country." This is necessary, she says, to recognize diversity and "protect the minorities' rights." I feel that they just cause a huge controversy over some so small and insignificant in my opinion.