“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.
Thursday, November 21, 2013
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.
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