Required Courses
COPYRIGHT LAW (3 credits)
ENTERTAINMENT LAW (3 credits)
This course explores legal issues connected with the development, production,
and exploitation of entertainment product, focusing predominantly on filmed
entertainment and news media, to some extent on musical compositions and
recordings, and incidentally on other forms of entertainment. Topics include:
- life story and
personality rights (defamation, invasion of privacy, etc.)
- celebrity
publicity rights
- profit
participation
- collective
bargaining agreements and artistic credits
- non-copyright
protection of ideas
- contract
formation and duration
- ethics and
regulation of talent representatives such as agents, lawyers, and managers
- selected
copyright and trademark issues.
Copyright is not a prerequisite, and this class should not be considered as
a replacement for the copyright course.
Elective Courses
ACCOUNTING FOR LAWYERS (2 credits)
This course represents an introduction to accounting for students with little
background in the field. Initial emphasis is on established accounting
principles and the analysis of financial statements. The course's perspective
is that of a business attorney using financial statements to advise clients in
various legal settings (e.g., the drafting of buy-sell agreements and the
valuation of businesses). Students are expected to consider state and federal
privileges between accountants and their clients, as well as the professional
responsibility of an attorney to a corporate client.
ADVANCED TOPICS IN COPYRIGHT LAW
(2-3 credits)
This course offers an in-depth analysis of the rights and remedies afforded to
copyright owners under U.S. law.
ADVANCED TOPICS IN INTELLECTUAL
PROPERTY (2-3 credits)
This advanced course in intellectual property may cover topics such as patent
and trade secret law, biotechnology law, copyright law, or trademarks and
unfair competition.
ART AND CULTURAL PROPERTY LAW (2-3
credits)
In this interdisciplinary course we explore how the law shapes and constrains
artistic expression. We will focus on the censorship of art, as well as moral
rights, the right of publicity, and issues that arise in the art market: stolen
art, forgeries, authentication, and agreements for the transfer and commission
of works of art. The class frequently considers contemporary art controversies
as a means of examining these broader issues. We will also discuss the
protection of Indigenous cultural resources and religions, including tangible
and intellectual cultural property, its identity, ownership, appropriation and
repatriation. We will examine the various domestic legal regimes as they
concern areas of Indigenous cultural property, focusing on the preservation of
the cultural property of groups as a means to maintain group identity, and
assert sovereignty and self-determination. (Prerequisite: IP).
FILM AND TELEVISION LAW (2-3
credits)
This course offers a detailed look at how the law affects the development,
financing, and distribution of motion pictures and television programs. Because
contracts play an especially important role in this field, the course will
emphasize how people in the film and television business negotiate, draft, and
interpret agreements. The course also examines the background rules, such as
intellectual property and labor laws, that shape those agreements. Rather than
court opinions arising out of litigation, the course will focus on case studies
illustrating the law's role in the film and television industry.
FIRST AMENDMENT LAW (3 credits)
This course is a study of the fundamental freedoms of speech, press,
association, and religion. In addition to considering the historical
background, the course focuses on specific challenges in First Amendment
jurisprudence, including:
- regulation of
speech in a public forum
- access to the
media
- regulation of
the press
- symbolic
expression
- libel
- obscenity
- commercial
speech
- picketing
- right of
association
- loyalty oaths
- legislative
investigations and government demands for information
- separation of
church and state
- free exercise of
religion
- state aid to
religious schools
- regulation of
religion-based conduct.
GAMBLING LAW (2-3 credits)
This course covers the law and policy of regulating gambling, one of the
fastest growing segments of the entertainment industry. The course will examine
the history and current development of, as well as possible future changes to,
gambling regulation in California, the United States, and other parts of the
world. Topics discussed will include:
- casino gambling
- lotteries
- pari-mutuel wagering
- sports-betting
- Indian gaming
- Internet
gambling.
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY (3 credits)
This course surveys the primary types of intellectual property under federal
and state law. It emphasizes trademarks, copyrights, and patents while also
addressing unfair competition, rights of publicity, trade secrets, and
protection of designs. The course analyzes the rights and remedies associated
with each type of intellectual property that it covers, as well as the
relationships between different types of intellectual property.
INTERNATIONAL INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
(2-3 credits)
This is the introductory course in international law, covering the nature and
sources of international law and its major developments. This course introduces
students to the basic law of the international organizational system, including
the United Nations and UN specialized agencies. The course introduces concepts
of international law and how they achieve legitimacy in the international
system through United Nations organs and conferences, the International Court
of Justice, the International Law Commission, treaty bodies, and state
practice. The law of foreign sovereign immunity and the act of state doctrine
are considered along with the role of international law in the U.S. legal
system and the allocation of foreign affairs powers between the President and
Congress. Selected topics that may be explored include international claims
(including expropriation law), human rights, norms governing the use of force,
and the law of the sea and environmental issues.
LABOR LAW (3 credits)
This course examines the statutes, judicial decisions, and decisions of the
National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) affecting employer/union relations.
Topics include:
- the union
election process and other means to determine whether employees want to be
represented by a union
- collective
bargaining negotiations between unions and employers
- union strikes
- picketing, and
boycotts, and employer lockouts and other responses to union activity
- the impact of
these laws on business mergers and acquisitions.
LAW AND PRACTICE OF THE HOLLYWOOD
GUILDS (3 credits)
This course deals with state and federal law related to the most important
unions in the entertainment industry, the so-called "Hollywood
Guilds" which include:
- the Writers
Guild of America (WGA)
- the Directors of
Guild of America (DGA)
- the Screen
Actors Guild (SAG),
- the American
Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA).
Students will consider a wide variety of legal issues and practices related
to managing the creation, production and distribution of intellectual property
and the division of the income it generates. The course will also examine
collective bargaining agreements of the Hollywood Guilds with regards to the
employment of actors/performers and directing teams and screenwriters, as well
as the financing of projects and the regulation of agents.
NEGOTIATING AND DRAFTING MEDIA
INDUSTRY TRANSACTIONS (3 credits)
This course provides a detailed review analysis of the attorney's role in media
transactions, as well as practical experience in drafting documents and
communications, from the inception of an original idea through distribution via
new media technology. The course includes:
- a review of
copyright and personal rights and an analysis of the contracts necessary
for the protection and acquisition of those rights
- analysis of
employment contracts for actors
- directors and
crew
- discussion of
media finance and distribution
- and a look at
the role of unions, guilds, agents and managers.
Through a series of increasingly complex exercises, each of which receives
detailed comments, students maintain client files for three separate
transactions, which include research, correspondence, and drafting of
contracts. Students draft contracts based upon information provided in class
and a client interview. Students also practice the negotiation of drafting
contracts via redline and in person.
MUSIC PUBLISHING AND LICENSING (2-3
credits)
This course explores the contractual issues that surround the publishing and
licensing of music, spoken word, and music synchronized with moving pictures.
Students will study general copyright issues, publishing and administration,
licensing, performing rights organizations (ASCAP, BMI, etc.), and digital
(internet) rights. Students will apply skills learned in intellectual property,
agency, and other introductory courses. Topics within the course can include:
- sources of music
- writers vs. publishers
- commercials
& jingles, copyright filing
- mechanical,
synchronization and master licensing
- residual
royalties
- establishing
& administering a publishing company
- music libraries
- sub-publishing
- public domain
works
- foreign
royalties
- venue licenses
- producer points.
To fully understand these topics students may be exposed to an overview of
record label positions, (music director, music supervisor, director,
contractors, A&R, copyists, marketing, promotion, publicity, etc.), AFM
agreements, sessions sheets, sample re-use fees, compilation albums and
soundtracks. (Required Prerequisite: IP; Recommended Prerequisite: Agency &
Partnership)
NEW MEDIA AND THE ENTERTAINMENT
INDUSTRY (2-3 credits)
In this course students will examine some of the newest media formats such as
cell phones, ipods, digital cinema, video games and the Internet and their
impact on traditional systems of media production and distribution. Topics may
include the effect of new technology on the value of libraries and catalogues
of older media, the impact on film and television, and protection of copyright
and intellectual property. Course speakers may include industry representatives
and practicing entertainment law attorneys.
PATENTS AND TRADE SECRETS (2
credits)
This advanced course in intellectual property covers topics related to patents
and trade secrets.
SPORTS LAW (2-3 credits)
This course will cover selected legal issues in amateur and professional sports
including player draft and option systems; labor and employment relations in
professional sports; eligibility and discipline issues; agents and player
representation; inter-league disputes; buying and moving teams; sex
discrimination in sports; and Olympic competition.
TAXATION OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
(1-2 credits)
This course examines the special tax rules affecting the development of,
investment in, and transactions involving copyrights, trademarks, trade names,
patents, trade secrets and other forms of intellectual property. The course
will discuss the issues that face the creative person (such as an inventor,
writer, composer or artist) and those who finance, invest in or use the
intellectual property. (Prerequisite: Income Taxation for LL.M. Students.)
TRADEMARKS AND UNFAIR COMPETITION (2
credits)
This advanced course in intellectual property covers topics related to
trademarks and unfair competition.
WORKING WITH FILMMAKERS CLINIC (3
credits)
This course will provide students with the opportunity to work with ultra low
budget independent filmmakers. Students will apply the drafting and negotiating
skills learned in negotiating and drafting media industry transactions to
prepare documents and contracts as may be needed for the development and
production of a feature film. Students interview the filmmakers and file the
script for copyright, set up the limited liability company, and draft all
production contracts, including an employment agreement for the director,
actors and crew and contracts for locations and music. Clinic students receive
an on-screen credit for each film. Clinic students work closely with
supervising faculty and with each other to complete all of the production legal
work on 2-5 films each semester.
