C & L ATTORNEYS, SC’s Post

When an artist or music company's IP strategy does not consider fandom culture, it can end badly! I've posted about this a few times and just learned about another case that illustrates it: Argentine pop star Emilia faced a backlash when her IP lawyers went after a store that sold accessories under the name “brillitos Emilia”, in a reference to the jewelry that the singer wears in her face. The store's conduct indeed could fall under unauthorized use of Emilia's name or trademark, as well as her image, and/or unfair competition. However, Emilia's fans did not see it that way. Given Argentina's difficult economic situation right now, going against a small business was seen as worse behavior than profiting from an artist's brand. While Emilia said she was not aware of her team's legal measures, she apologized for the incident (source:  https://lnkd.in/dnXzB-Xx).   To be able to enforce your rights is one of the very reasons such rights exist, but it can be a crossroads when the "offender" is a fan or when doing so will hurt your image before your fans. More on my work on the intersection of Intellectual Property strategies & fandom: ◾ This post about Bad Bunny's team suing a supposed fan over unauthorized footage: https://lnkd.in/dqAKt9_x  ◾ My interview for Dalia Abdelwahab/Hollywood.com's article "The Year of Celebrity SEO-fication (and The Swiftie Shangri-la)", in which I speak about the pros and cons of enforcing IP rights over fans: https://lnkd.in/dBWkRnYr; ◾ Article "When fandom & IP collide: unraveling the impact of fandom discourse on Intellectual Property litigation" (self-published): https://lnkd.in/dUFFg8ns ◾ Article "K-pop fandom & their Intellectual Property expertise" (published on KPOP ETF website): https://lnkd.in/dD7BhQYy https://lnkd.in/dsAtYffX

New Post: Ariana Grande’s ‘Eternal Sunshine’ Spends Second Week at No. 1 on Billboard 200 Chart - https://lnkd.in/ger7Xxgm - Ariana Grande’s Eternal Sunshine spends a second week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart (dated March 30), after debuting atop the tally a week ago. The set earned 100,500 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the tracking week ending March 21 (down 56%), according to Luminate. It’s the third Grande album to have logged a personal-best two weeks at No. 1. Her last two full-length studio sets, Positions (in 2020) and Thank U, Next (2019), both spent their first two weeks at No. 1. Eternal Sunshine debuted at No. 1 on the March 23-dated list with 227,000 units earned. Plus, Kacey Musgraves’ Deeper Well starts at No. 2 with her biggest week ever by both equivalent album units and traditional album sales, while Justin Timberlake’s Everything I Thought It Was launches at No. 4. The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units, compiled by Luminate. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album. The new March 30, 2024-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on Tuesday (March 26). For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram. Of Eternal Sunshine’s 100,000 units earned in the tracking week ending March 21, SEA units comprise 87,000 (down 41%, equaling 115.05 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs), album sales comprise 13,000 (down 56%) and TEA units comprise 500 (down 84%). Kacey Musgraves’ Deeper Well makes a splash, as it debuts at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 with 97,000 equivalent album units earned — her biggest week, by units, since the chart began ranking by that measurement in December 2014. Further, of the album’s first-week units, traditional album sales comprise 66,000 — Musgraves’ biggest sales week ever. Of Deeper Well’s first-week unit sum of 97,000, traditional album sales comprise 66,000 (it’s the top-selling album of the week), SEA units comprise 30,000 (equaling 38.06 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs) and TEA units comprise 1,000. Deeper Well is Musgraves’ highest-charting album since her debut effort, Same Trailer Different Park, debuted and peaked at No. 2 in 2013. Deeper Well is the fifth top 10-charting effort for Musgraves, and all of them have started in the top four of the ranking. She previously visited the region with Star-Crossed (No. 3, 2021), Golden Hour (No. 4, 2018), Pageant Materia

📌 ADOYOU KONW THE RESALE RIGHT? The resale right, also known as droit de suite, is an inalienable right that is held by the author of a work of figurative art and his heirs for a period of 70 years after the author's death. This right allows the artist to receive remuneration each time his work is sold on the secondary market, i.e. after the first sale to a buyer. The remuneration is calculated as a percentage of the sale price, and varies depending on the value of the work. In Italy, the resale right is regulated by Law No 118 of 2006. SIAE (Società Italiana degli Autori ed Editori) is the body in charge of managing the collection of resale rights on behalf of artists. What are your views on resale rights? Do you think it is an important right for artists? #artists #artmarket #artinvestment

Over $18M in Fake Gibson Guitars Seized! There’s a trend I’ve noticed in the used guitar market. People buy knockoffs of high-end guitars from sites like AliExpress or Wish. They receive the guitar, and it’s a disaster (as expected) with terrible cuts and poor craftsmanship. So, they change the pickups, tuners, and redo the frets, turning a $300 guitar into a $700 or $800 project. However, even with these "upgrades," the copy never matches the quality of the original. As a result, the used market gets flooded with these knockoffs (when the seller is honest enough to mention it) that are priced higher than their actual value due to the so-called improvements, but the quality is still far inferior to legitimate productions. Don’t be like those people: buy from a reliable source, like a music store. And if the guitar or bass of your dreams is too expensive, save up for it. Don’t waste your money on counterfeits—they’re not worth it! https://lnkd.in/eSfifDyE

It’s unfortunate what is happening in certain sectors of the music industry, both artistically and ethically; these proposals leave much to be desired. It would be ideal for consumers to reflect on what they support and choose to stop consuming this type of content. By avoiding everything related to these proposals, we can encourage a music industry that promotes more positive and authentic values. #MusicIndustry #EthicalMusic #SupportGoodMusic #PositiveValues #AuthenticArt #MusicWithPurpose #ChangeTheCulture #BetterMusic #ConsumerConsciousness #ArtWithIntegrity https://lnkd.in/eFiUrF9t

If you've been to weddings in the Philly area in the past 40 years, chances are that you've heard the Jellyroll singing covers of your favorite songs while your friends and family say "I do!". But it seems that Grammy winner Jelly Roll is starting to cause them some confusion with customers and clients. They received good counsel and trademarked their name many years ago. I'll be interested to see whether the court will agree that this rapper-turned-country artist is infringing on the 40-year-old wedding band's trademark. It appears the band has pled some instances of actual confusion between the two music outlets, so I'll be anxious to hear the facts as they unravel! Fun-fact: as a franchise attorney, a large part of my practice is assisting my clients in protecting their intellectual property, which can include trademark disputes like this one! If you have trademark or other IP questions, please reach out and we can discuss ways we might be able to help you. #intellectualproperty #rockstars #IPlaw #franchiselaw #trademark #trademarkinfringement

🔍 Important US Court of Appeals ruling on meme copyright! The case of "Success Kid" sets a precedent for fair use and implied license. Check out the details! #CopyrightLaw #FairUse #Meme #LegalPrecedent

Jellyroll is apparently a Philadelphia-based wedding band. In 2010, Jellyroll federally registered the mark JELLYROLL for providing live music performances. In 2016, that JELLYROLL mark became incontestable. Now, Jelly Roll is one of the biggest artists in country music. He has an upcoming concert in Pennsylvania. Jellyroll is seeking an injunction to prohibit Jelly Roll from performing under his stage name. Stuff like this happens all the time. I've been in basically this exact same case (with different marks). Courts mostly understand that these attempts are really just shakedowns. Wait until a performance is about to happen, seek an injunction, and hope for a big settlement. However, to obtain an injunction a party has to show irreparable harm. Every court considers timing in deciding irreparable harm. In the Fifth Circuit (Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas) any delay of 6 months of co-use before seeking an injunction presumptively means there is no irreparable harm. Why? If your business was being irreparably harmed (harmed in such a way that money damages could not solve the problem) would you wait six months before seeking relief? A settlement may be forthcoming. But, don't expect a court to actually issue an injunction. I first heard of Jelly Roll when Noisey did a feature of up and coming Nashville anti-establishment artists in 2017. He's been on the scene for a long time. That helps the court understand this is a shakedown tactic and not a good faith attempt to stop irreparable harm. It's also a reminder, that if you want to maintain a trademark, you need to police that mark consistently and timely. https://lnkd.in/eT3Gw8FB

Following the anticipation for Madonna's concert in Copacabana this week, Brazilian media highlighted Chartmetric data to address the surprisingly young age group of her audience in Brazil. That young people are turning to "old" music is nothing new or exclusive to the Brazilian audience. In 2022, data stated that 70% of the U.S. music market was made of old songs (source: https://lnkd.in/dXKrR33b). And anyone on TikTok can see how classics or songs that are just not newly released can enjoy a great boost at any given time due to viral trends. While this is great for previous generations artists and their catalogue's right holders, there's a big challenge right now to develop loyal fanbases for new artists, and develop music catalogues that can be profitable on the long run. So we got two axis at stake here: the product (songwriting/production/artist development), and its marketing. I feel like the buzz on superfans that is happening right now lies more on the side of the latter (and props to them for that!), but not so much on the former. https://lnkd.in/d3xTxQ7r

Videos a partir de una imagen; en este caso, música! Impresionante. (EMO: Emote Portrait Alive - Generating Expressive Portrait Videos with Audio2Video Difussion Model under Weak Conditions) Link a la web: https://lnkd.in/ebrJifSy