A Hairy Situation for Well-Known Hair-Care Brand: DevaCurl
Anyone with curly hair knows that using the right haircare products can be the difference between a good hair day and a bad hair day. Ordinary drug store products often do not cut it because they can contain harsh chemicals…
The Devil Wears Nike: The Implications of Nike’s Lawsuit Against MSCHF for Its “Satan Shoes”
“All that for a drop of blood.” Easter season would not truly be complete without a controversial story involving Satan. But how exactly does a tendentious music video involving a lap dance with the devil ultimately lead to a lawsuit…
The First Amendment, Twitter, and Dr. Bandy Lee
Did Dr. Bandy Lee Engage in Protected Speech When She Rendered an Opinion about Alan Dershowitz’s Mental Health Condition on Twitter? Background There is a raging debate about whether Yale University in terminating Dr. Bandy Lee’s contract violated her constitutional…
BitClout: Decentralized Social Media or NFTs for Celebrities?
If you’ve been paying any attention to the latest cryptocurrency news and even if you haven’t you’ve probably heard something about the new NFT craze that has been sweeping the space. NFTs are “non-fungible tokens” that are stored on a…
Non-Fungible Tokens: Copyright Implications in the Wild West of Blockchain Technology
On March 11, 2021, a 443-megabyte JPEG image sold for a record-breaking $69.3 million. This sum was not only the highest price paid for a piece of digital artwork ever, but was also the third-highest auction price achieved by any…
The Evolving Conversation Around Section 230 Immunity
Section 230 of the Communication Decency Act (“CDA”) grants sweeping immunity to interactive computer service providers (“ISP”) against claims arising from content posted on their sites by third parties. Significantly, this protects websites from tort liability arising from content their…
Works in Progress: Is It Better to Say Sorry Than to Ask for (and Receive) Permission?
A recent legal dispute between singer-songwriter Tracy Chapman and rapper Nicki Minaj has shed light on an interesting issue in the field of copyright and music: whether musical artists “can be held liable for copyright infringement for works in progress”…
Cycling Through Litigation: The Ultimate Cost of Not Entering into Appropriate Sync Licensing Agreements
As fitness companies transform into entertainment companies, new licensing issues arise regarding music in an at-home work-out video versus music heard in an in-person gym class. Specifically, the usage of music in a gym class requires a public performance license…
Dramatic Rise in State Bills Targeting Transgender Student Athletes
2021 has brought a dramatic increase in the number of states proposing bills to regulate the participation of transgender athletes in school sports. More specifically, these bills target transgender women’s participation in women’s athletics, with proponents stating that they are…