Entertainment Law News for 11.16.09

• IMAX is suing its former partner Cinemark in New York County Court, claiming the theater chain stole trade secrets and breached a contract by attempting to reproduce a “bootleg version of the IMAX Experience.” The plaintiff claims it introduced its “wrap around” theaters and disclosed “confidential and sensitive information regarding the IMAX immersion theatres” to Cinemark when the two companies were partners in the 1990s. Recently, Cinemark came out with its own brand of big theaters called the XD.
• Google and book publishers have entered a revised settlement agreement into federal court in an attempt to win approval. The new agreement provides concessions for other companies to license Google’s digital collection of copyrighted out-of-print books, a trustee responsible for orphan works, geographical restriction upon Google, and more. The agreement hasn’t warmed some critics, who are knocking the lack of privacy protections. On Twitter, there’s a great conversation going about the merits of the revised deal at #GBS. A federal judge is soon expected to set a date to hear arguments about whether to approve the settlement.
• Five North Carolina police officers have lost an appeal of a judge’s order dismissing some slander and libel claims against Jayceon Taylor, the hip hop artist known as The Game. The police sued after a concert DVD and statements to the press described footage of the rapper purportedly being “wrongfully arrested and brutalized by the Police in North Carolina” before a concert.
• If Comcast purchases a big stake in NBC Universal, as expected, what will the new company be called? One clue may be domain name registration. Broadcasting & Cable notes that Comcast has recently registered ComcastNBCU.com, NBCUComcast.com, ComcastNBCUniversal.com, and other websites. We’re happy Comcast’s lawyers are thinking ahead to avoid silly cyber-squatting fights.
• If you look up the word, “schadenfreude” in the entertainment lawyer’s handbook, you’ll see this story — a private Swedish company has registered the famous logo of The Pirate Bay as a trademark. The company intends to use the image to sell USB drives while the ol’ piracy hub attempts to get the Sweden’s Patent and Registration Office to annul the registration.