Piccionelli & Sarno
2016 Outlook: Attorneys Share Foresights
I think 2016 will be a pivotal year for the online adult entertainment business, as it will be for the broader entertainment industry as a whole. I believe it will be the year that we look back and refer to as the year virtual reality became reality as a new form of entertainment.
Raising Capital: New SEC Rules May Be a Crowdfunding Game Changer
On Wednesday, March 25, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced its unanimous approval of the final rules for Title IV of the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act, also known as the “JOBS Act.”
Legal Reality: Immoral, Scandalous Trademarks
Competition in the adult entertainment industry is intense. The widespread availability of free adult materials online, rampant Internet piracy and very low barriers of entry for new competition all combine to make profitability more difficult than ever before.
Registering Your Intellectual Property
Savvy intellectual property owners understand that effective protection and enforcement of their intellectual property requires that they register their copyrights and trademarks.
Legal Reality: Get Off Your Butt and Email the FCC Now
I am beginning this month’s article with what I hope will be an unambiguous call to action for everyone in the greater online adult entertainment community to join the battle to restore net neutrality.
Legal Reality: DMCA Takedown Notices, Requirements
Recently I have received a lot of requests from our readers regarding the requirements for a proper DMCA takedown notice. For those not familiar with a DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) takedown notice, it is a communication that is sent to an online service provider (OSP) by a party that owns or controls the copyright in a work that the party believes is being infringed on a website or via an online service controlled by the service provider.
Legal Reality: Should You Have a Prenuptial Agreement?
Summertime has passed, and like every summer, the weather was beautiful and a whole lot of people got married. That’s a good thing, for as a friend of mine once told me, “Marriage is a sacred institution. It’s something a man only does ... two or three times in his life!”
It's All About Rights
Every adult entertainment company that produces or exploits content, or operates under a brand name is in the business of exploiting intellectual property rights. In fact, it would be accurate to say that the principal product of the adult entertainment industry is intellectual property. Because of this fact, I have always strongly encouraged my adult business clients to think of themselves not only as providers of erotic entertainment, but also as business persons who create and exploit a special form of property recognized by the law, that is called “intellectual property” or sometimes, “intangible property”. A fundamental part of the process of any such creation or exploitation of intellectual property, however, is the acquisition of the intellectual property rights in the first place. And that is most often accomplished through the proper use of well-drafted intellectual property rights acquisition agreements.
Another Patent Troll Attacks Industry
For most adult entertainment entrepreneurs intellectual property issues are usually constrained to acquiring or protecting copyrights in their content or trademark rights in their brands.
Understanding Talent Name and Likeness Rights
Many content producers, webmasters and others in the adult entertainment business have at least a basic understanding of the intellectual property rights associated with copyrights and trademarks.
Great Domains Can Be Bad Trademarks
Competition in the adult entertainment industry has become fiercer than ever. Nowhere is this more evident than on the web.
Basic Content Rights Forms
Every adult entertainment company that produces or exploits content, or operates under a brand name is in the business of exploiting intellectual property rights.
The Importance of Solid Contracts
Written agreements are the principal legal tool used around the world to create predicable business and personal relationships.
Tube Sites Likely Liable Under Revised 2257 Provisions, Attorney Says
The newly released 2257 revisions may make tube sites legally liable if the content they promote is being distributed for commercial gain.
Early Copyright Filings Are Key to Enforcement
Dealing with the reality of copyright infringement has become a much greater day-to-day concern than the threat of governmental prosecution for most industry participants.
9th Circuit Extends Government Deadline in CAN-SPAM Case
SAN FRANCISCO — The Justice Department must file an answer to an appeal filed by convicted porn spammers Jeffrey A. Kilbride and James R. Schaffer by Nov. 13, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled.
XSF '08: Legal Obscenities Seminar
On Thursday, in the one of the most well-attended XBIZ Summer Forum '08 seminars, more than 120 attendees turned out to hear a wide-ranging discussion on obscenity and the comments of recently indicted director/producer John Stagliano and attorneys Lou Sirkin, Jeffrey Douglas, Lawrence Walters, Allen Gelbard and Greg Piccionelli.
XSF '08: FSC Piracy Roundtables
The Free Speech Coalition kicked off the first morning of the XBIZ Summer Forum with its roundtable workshop on content piracy.
Antipiracy Panel Sheds Light
As we come to the end of the Bush administration, it appears that in the coming years intellectual property theft will likely pose a greater challenge to the survival of most adult entertainment companies than federal obscenity prosecutions.
FSC's Anti-Piracy 101 Roundtables at Phoenix Forum
The Free Speech Coalition's first antipiracy educational roundtables were designed to give businesses — especially small businesses that don’t have an attorney specifically devoted to copyright issues — an opportunity to understand piracy issues.