Entertainment Law News for 4.8.10

• AFTRA president Roberta Reardon and four other elected officials have penned an open letter to members calling for a “new and stronger national union” for all performers. The letter is the latest move toward a proposed merger with SAG, which is getting mixed reaction amid a call for more details about how the new union would work. [Backstage / Digital Media Law]

• Are production companies breaking labor law by not paying production assistants? One commentator argues they deserve better treatment. [THR]

• A coalition led by the MPAA is expected to file comments with the Commodities Future Trading Commission in an attempt to stop speculators from betting against the future performance of films in an exchange market. [NYT]

• Altinex, a maker of industrial electronic equipment, is seeking a judgment that would let it sell its products under the mark “Showtime,” despite CBS and Showtime Network’s trademark objections. [Read the complaint]

• The New York actress who voiced the “milkaholic” baby “Lindsay” in the E-Trade commercial at the heart of the infamous lawsuit by Lindsay Lohan is quite a comedian. Jenn Harris recently performed as a drunken Lindsay Lohan at a local New York hotspot and is complaining the Lohan is interfering with her plan to use residuals from the ad to pay off her student loans. “I wanna sue her for stalemating my residuals,” Harris wrote on her Facebook fan page. [NYP]

MLBPA Threatening to File Grievance

The Major League Baseball Players Association is thinking about filing a collusion grievance charging owners with conspiring against free agents last winter, according to the Associated Press.  Union head Michael Weiner confirmed to the AP that there is an ongoing investigation.

“We have concerns about the operation of the post-2009 free agent market,” Weiner said.  “We have been investigating that market. Our investigation is far along but not yet complete.”

Agents for players have claimed that they have received multiple similar offers for free agent clients and have urged the union to speak up on the matter.

The union also alleged misconduct by teams following the 2008 season.  The two sides reached a standstill agreement, giving the players’ association more time to decide whether to proceed with a grievance on that matter.