• Comcast CEO Brian Roberts and NBC Universal CEO Jeff Zucker released their written testimony in advance of hearings tomorrow at Congress. They confirm that the joint venture will retain the NBCU name and defend the merger as benefitting consumers. [Paid Content]
• The 9th Circuit has affirmed the denial of an injunction sought by E! Entertainment against Entertainment One for trademark infringement. The court ruled that the parties’ marks aren’t similar and don’t compete with the same goods or services. [Seattle Trademark Lawyer]
• And speaking of E!, host Ryan Seacrest’s stalker was back in court yesterday, pleading not guilty to harassing the ubiquitous media presence. (NY Post)
• The FTC is going after an entertainment Web site it says is a scam to trick customers into thinking they can get jobs as movie extras paying up to $300 per day. The agency seeks a restraining order and an injunction in Florida district court. [CNS]
• A New York district court judge has dismissed a four-year-old case against a woman who the record industry claimed was a “massive” online distributor of music but who claimed she had never turned on a computer in her life. The case was notable more for the heated rhetoric between the parties than anything else. [Recording Industry v. The People]
• Because Iran doesn’t have any copyright agreements with the U.S., J.D. Salinger couldn’t stop a film adaptation of Franny and Zooey from being made there. [NY magazine]

• Sony cites piracy as a factor in laying off 6.5% of its studio workforce, many in the home video divisions. [THR]
• J.D. Salinger’s legal battle against an unauthorized sequel to “Catcher in the Rye” will continue even after the author’s death. A successor trustee will soon be appointed and make decisions on whether to move forward as a plaintiff in the case. [IP Entertainment & Law]
• The 1st Circuit has ruled that a state court lawsuit over the transfer of a copyrighted song was not preempted by the federal Copyright Act because the transfer wasn’t in writing and the rights to the song could be terminated regardless of state contract law. [Copyright Law Blog]
• A cast member of “The Real Housewives of Orange County” is being sued for libel and slander by a man who claims he dated her during taping of the show while she was engaged to another man. [CNS]
• 224 Entertainment claims in a new lawsuit that Overnight Prods. owes it more than $1 million and film credits for work on surety services and bridge financing for the film “Machete.” [CNS]
• A rundown of the Top 10 contract disputes in Hollywood history. [Business Insider]

• Comcast has submitted a 145-page application to the FCC for a requested transfer for licensees of NBC Universal’s 26 television stations and makes the case that the merger won’t be anti-competitive. Comcast also made a commitment to invest in the NBC broadcast business, vowing to make it more viable and innovative. [THR]
• The trademark fight over the “iPad” mark has been going on for years, even before Apple announced its long-awaited device. Fujitsu has been selling its own iPad since 2002 and registered for the mark in 2003. A company called Magtek also claims registration over IPAD. [NYT]
• U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy is introducing a new bill to reform the USPTO that will require the Department of Commerce to study whether large corporations are misusing trademark laws to harass small businesses by exaggerating the scope of their trademark protection. [Las Vegas Trademark Attorney]
• Prospects for a reporters’ shield law may have been bolstered with the election of new Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown, who previously tried to introduce a reporters’ shield law in his state. [Media Law]
• The details of Universal Music Group’s lawsuit against Grooveshark earlier this month are coming to light and reveal that the company is targeting pre-1972 content, before recordings were protected by federal Copyright Act. [Digital Music News]
• A popular Chinese video Web site announced it has deleted all non-copyrighted European and American video content uploaded by users and is embarking on a copyright cooperation program with nearly 100 producers and copyright parties. [IP Today]
• Remember the last episode of “Seinfeld” where the gang was put on trial for not being good Samaritans? What seemed ridiculous at the time has now become reality in California. [AP]

• CBS has responded to criticism over a planned Super Bowl advertisement featuring Tim Tebow that critics believe conveys an anti-abortion message. The network says it has moderated its approach to advocacy ad submissions after it became apparent that CBS’ stance didn’t reflect public sentiment or industry norms. A hard economic climate for advertising may have had more to do with the decision than any legal threats.
• A Chinese court has ruled that the country’s largest search engine, Baidu, didn’t violate copyright law by linking to sites that hosted unauthorized music downloads. The IFPI said in a statement that it was extremely disappointed with the ruling.
• Shepard Fairey, the artist who is currently waging a copyright battle with the Associated Press over an image used as the basis for his Barack Obama “HOPE” poster, is under criminal investigation. Details of the probe are confidential, but probably relate to admissions of falsehoods and evidence tampering in the AP case.
• “24″ star Kiefer Sutherland has been caught up in a cattle-selling scam that is being investigated by the San Joaquin County District Attorney’s office. Sutherland allegedly made a $869,000 investment in an operation that promised to buy cattle in Mexico and resell them in the U.S. for a profit. The money was transferred but there isn’t any evidence of any cattle buying.
• Sony Music Entertainment is suing TV Guide Network in New York claiming the station violated copyright by airing nine music videos of Michael Jackson soon after the musician died.
• The record industry has asked a court for some time to review its choices after a judge slashed a jury’s award in the Jammie Thomas-Rasset case.

• Antitrust news: The Justice Department says it will approve the merger of Live Nation and Ticketmaster under the condition that it divest itself from the Paciolan ticketing operation and strike a ticketing licensing agreement with competitor AEG. The review took almost a year.
• Even though file-sharer Jammie Thomas-Rasset scored a big victory when a judge reduced a jury’s $1.92 million award to just $54,000, her lawyers say she will still challenge the penalty as unconstitutionally excessive.
• A songwriter has won a copyright infringement lawsuit against a former collaborator for selling the rights to a sampled song that provided the basis for the Black Eyed Peas hit “My Humps.” The judge didn’t buy any of the defendant’s arguments, including that he co-authored the song, owned it under the work-for-hire doctrine, or that the rights were assigned to him.
• The man known as “Carlos the Jackal,” who has been popularized in films and books, is bringing an intellectual property violation lawsuit against a French production company shooting a documentary film on him.

A law in France may reportedly oblige 20th Century Fox to release Avatar on DVD and Blu-ray earlier than planned. According to The Media Wonk, an overlooked provision of France’s “three strikes” legislation, meant to punish repeat copyright infringers, mandates a strict release window for studios to release films on DVD and Blu-ray four months after their theatrical debut.

• The 2D version of “Avatar” has been pulled from the Chinese market just as the movie has set a new box office record in the country. The movie was made at the urging of governmental officials who worry that “Avatar” is taking too much market share away from Chinese films and focuses attention on the locally sensitive issue of seizing property from local citizens.
• A judge has rejected a motion to dismiss the charges against David Letterman’s accused blackmailer.
• The NY Times examines the complicated copyright issues tied to the “Sherlock Holmes” franchise. The character was created 123 years ago and would seem to be a part of public domain, but the author’s heirs recaptured rights in 1981, sold them to the Royal National Institute of Blind People, bought them back, and have been waging war in court to protect them.
• New York is proposing $420 million per year in state money for the continuation of tax credits for film and TV production through 2014.
• Hip hop superstar Jay-Z has lost a UK trademark case against the winner of a cooking reality show who calls his restaurant “Rockafella.” The judge ruled that celebrity chef Terry Miller isn’t infringing upon Jay-Z’s Roc-A-Fella Records empire and has the exclusive right to use the name in the UK.
• Speaking of celebrities and trademarks, Shaquille O’Neal is suing an Arizona company over the use of “SHAQTUS.” According to the complaint, O’Neal says that the defendant tried to interfere with an ESPN commercial that featured the NBA superstar commenting on a big cactus.
• Photographer Annie Leibovitz has settled a copyright lawsuit with an Italian photographer who accused her of stealing his pictures for a coffee campaign.
• Many PBS stations around the country will be airing a documentary tonight called “Copyright Criminals,” examining the issues surrounding musical sampling. Check local listings.

• All the vigorous debate over potential new FCC policies to mandate net neutrality may be for naught if the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals strips the regulatory agency of much of its power to regulate the Internet. Ars Technica reviews the transcript from a hearing over whether the FCC had the authority to enforce a policy statement relating to the regulation of how ISPs thwart customers using peer-to-peer networks. At the hearing, several of the judges expressed strong doubts that Congress ever gave the FCC a broad mandate over the Internet.
• There’s still no announcement of a settlement between NBC and Conan O’Brien, but media outlets are already reporting that NBC is likely to fork over $25 to $40 million to Conan, but the pay-out may actually be quite less if the deal includes provisions where any future deal Conan signs with another network “offset” the termination payment. NBC will keep the characters and recurring bits Conan created at the network.
• The founder of P2P file sharing tracker website Oink was found not guilty by a jury in the UK’s first criminal filesharing trial. Alan Ellis successfully argued his site didn’t host any unlawful material and users were responsible for their acts.
• Gawker recently offered $100,000 to anyone who would let the website play with the rumored Apple tablet for an hour and was served with an angry letter from Apple’s lawyer. Apple might have a pretty good case against Gawker for inducing breach of trade secrets and breach of confidentiality agreements.
• Italy is considering mandatory licenses for people who upload video to the Internet. This may be taking things a tad far, but we do expect to see a lot of controversy soon over website operators who post clips from late night television, Hollywood awards ceremonies, and more.
• A court has trashed a lawsuit by a neighborhood group including celebrities like James Gandolfini, Jennifer Connelly, Lou Reed and Kirsten Dunst. The dismissed lawsuit attempted to stop New York City’s plan to build a sanitation garage in trendy SoHo.
• Can an artist who sells the commercial rights to his name to a studio continue to use his own name? Check out this New York District Court decision concerning fashion designer Joseph Abboud versus JA Apparel Corp.

• NBC’s talk about shuffling its late night lineup will require network lawyers to carefully navigate contracts with its late night hosts. For instance, Washington Post media writer Howard Kurtz tweets that if Conan moves to midnight, he’ll still be hosting a show called “The Tonight Show” in order for NBC to save zillions of dollars for breaching his contract.
• Reportedly, Viacom and Google will soon be meeting with a federal court judge to discuss their individual motions for summary judgment. We’re still betting this case will drag case on for years to come.
• The French government is considering taxing search engines like Google to fund new portals that would make available legal ways for consumers to access copyrighted materials.
• The estate of Philip K. Dick is following up on its threats relating to Google’s release of its new Nexus phone. Wired reveals that Dick’s family sent Google a cease-and-desist letter, giving the company 10 days to stop using the name and requesting it turn over relevant documents.
• The Broadcast Law Blog, published by the Davis Wright Tremaine firm, takes a look into its crystal ball and predicts some regulatory trends for broadcasters in 2010.
• Marvel is fighting back against the heirs of Jack Kirby in the battle over copyright terminations on superheroes Kirby claimed an interest in. Marvel’s GC says they were works for hire.

• The legal battle over the infamous Janet Jackson “wardrobe malfunction” at the 2004 Super Bowl hasn’t ended. The 3rd Circuit court of appeals has scheduled oral arguments for Feb. 23 to re-hear arguments over whether the FCC was proper in fining CBS-owned stations $550,000 for indecency. The Supreme Court previously remanded the case back to the appeals level, which will try to determine if CBS had the means to block the reveal and chose no to do so.
• Lawyers for the late author Philip K. Dick aren’t pleased by Google’s announcement yesterday of its new Nexus One phone. The Dick estate says the name is a rip-off of the Nexus-6 androids from Dick’s “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” which became the basis for one of our favorite sci-fi films, 1982’s “Bladerunner.”
• She’s baaack. We last reported that Angelyne, the infamous billboard model who ran for California governor in 2003, was suing the city of Los Angeles for not delivering her fan mail. Angelyne’s latest targets are makers of the 2009 film “Notorious,” including Fox Searchlight and P Diddy’s film company, for allegedly featuring her image on a copyrighted billboard for 12 seconds of the film.
• The National Music Publishers Association has settled a copyright infringement suit against operators of an online database of song lyrics. Under the terms, defendant Motive Force is permanently enjoined from further using unlicensed song lyrics and will turn over funds associated with the enterprise. The NMPA still has cases outstanding against other lyric providers.
• The WGA East submitted a filing to the FCC yesterday that reemphasized its support of network neutrality rules, saying that open access shouldn’t interfere with combating piracy.
• CBS, ABC and Fox have settled a lawsuit that alleged Hang 10 Technologies made unauthorized retransmission of New York broadcast TV shows to mobile devices. Hang 10 agreed to stop reproducing the programming without authorization and expressed hope the company could forge better relationships with the major broadcasters.
• A California software company has filed a $2.2 billion copyright infringement lawsuit against the People’s Republic of China, two Chinese software makers and seven major computer manufacturers. The company claims the Chinese government used the software to block citizens from accessing objectionable political and religious websites.

• Warner Bros. has been sued for $6 million in unpaid profits in connection with a joint venture set up in 1984 to make and distribute 10 TV shows, including “Dukes of Hazzard” and “Night Court.” The plaintiff in the case is investment firm Syca Inc., which claims the 25-year agreement with Warners expired in March and that the studio has refused to sell Syca’s interest in the shows to the highest bidder. Syca claims Warners has breached its agreement by keeping it in the dark for the last two years, devaluing its investment, distributing TV shows outside agreed areas, and pocketing profits.
• The recent hiring by the FCC of Scholar in Residence Stuart Benjamin has sparked controversy over a provocative essay that suggested heavy regulation on broadcasters to run them out of business. Benjamin is also being attacked for being too light-handed on regulation concerning broadcast indecency.
• Penguin Group has won summary judgment against the John Steinbeck estate over copyright termination to the book, “The Pearl.” Previously, Penguin was able to fight terminations over early Steinbeck works by getting an appeals court to recognize an agreement that superseded the estate’s termination rights.
• The estate of late science fiction author and Hollywood favorite Philip K. Dick isn’t happy about reports that Google is developing a phone device reportedly named after cyborg characters in the novel “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” The book was the basis for the classic film, “Blade Runner.” On Friday, Google filed a trademark application to the name “Nexus One” and Dick’s estate is discussing legal recourse.
• A former South Dakota lawmaker convicted of raping his two foster daughters has sent news organizations a copyright notice over his name to allegedly prevent them from reporting news about the conviction. In the notice, sent to AP and other news organizations, Ted Alvin Klaudt wants $500,000 from anybody who uses his name without consent.

• Top industry execs huddled with VP Joe Biden and other government officials at the White House yesterday for a piracy summit. Not much is known about what was discussed at the private meeting, but Biden and attorney general Eric Holder emerged expressing the need to do more to combat copyright theft. Consumer advocates are unhappy they weren’t invited to participate in the discussions.
• The prosecutors in the David Letterman extortion case released tapes of accused blackmailer and former CBS producer Robert “Joe” Halderman expressing worry about a “crazy” and “dangerous” Letterman. Halderman, who allegedly offered to sell e-mails that romantically linked Letterman to a staffer as a “movie treatment,” expressed concern that the host might have him fired, burn down his house, or have him killed.
• In Italy, YouTube has lost a copyright lawsuit brought by Italian media giant Mediaset over video of “Big Brother” appearing on the video-sharing website. A court ordered YouTube to remove the video but doesn’t appear to have yet granted the 500 million Euros in damages being sought. Google says it will appeal.
• A man pled guilty yesterday to stalking ESPN reporter Erin Andrews and releasing nude video of her on the Internet. At the guilty plea hearing, Andrews asked the judge to impose the maximum possible sentence, saying she’s been subject to crude comments from fans and still has nightmares.
• The FCC is proposing closing loopholes to program access rules that prohibit cable operators that own programming from refusing to sell their networks to competing distributors. Normally, the change would encounter tremendous resistance on the part of cable companies like Comcast, but the company make try to make nice as the agency reviews its acquisition of NBC Universal.
• A Los Angeles city councilman has proposed the creation of a film commission that would promote the city to the entertainment industry. Entertainment lawyer Gordon Firemark says he’s stunned that the city, historically home to the TV and film industries, doesn’t already have one.
• A popular Chinese author is suing Google for copyright infringement for scanning her book and displaying a small amount of text. Recently, in a revision of the class action settlement over Google Books, many foreign, non-English books were taken out.
• The Colorado Supreme Court recently upheld a state ban prohibiting theatrical smoking. One Supreme Court justice wrote an entertaining dissent that claimed that prop cigarettes just won’t allow actors to be as dramatic.
• Garth Brooks is suing his hometown hospital for $500,000 for breach of contract. The singer claims he donated money for a hospital building to be named after his late mother, but it never happened.
• WhoRepresents.com names the “Top 25 Representatives in Hollywood for 2009” after measuring who in the industry made the best deals on behalf of their clients. Ari Emanuel at WME tops the list. At #7 overall, Ziffren’s Sam Fischer is the top lawyer. In all, the list includes 13 agents, 8 attorneys, and 4 managers.