Salon.com > lawsuits

How to get sued by the US Chamber of Commerce

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 18:57:00 +0000

Last week the U.S. Chamber of Commerce — the world’s most formidable big business lobby — quietly abandoned a trademark infringement lawsuit against a number of individuals connected to activist pranksters the Yes Men, including John and Jane Doe 1-20, in whose mysterious company I was presumably represented. It’s been a while since I’ve given any thought to the circumstances surrounding the four-year-old suit, and while the news came as a relief, it also made me a little nostalgic for a particularly madcap chapter in my colorful career. By the standards of my fancy-sounding job, that year as “Director of Marketing and Outreach” for the release of the Yes Men’s latest documentary film, “The Yes Men Fix the World,” being sued by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce felt par for the course.

Former intern sues Atlantic Records

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 18:24:00 +0000

Atlantic Records is going to need a good spin doctor.

A former unpaid intern is suing the legendary music label after claiming he was required to work full-time for eight months, sometimes up to 10 hours a day, without pay.

Justin Henry, a resident of Brooklyn who interned for Atlantic in 2007, primarily spent his days filing, faxing, answering phones and fetching lunch for paid employees, according to a proposed class-action complaint obtained by IBTimes.

Maurice Pianko, Henry’s lead attorney and founder of Intern Justice, said he expects the complaint to be filed early Monday in New York Supreme Court. Lloyd Ambinder, managing partner of Virginia & Ambinder, LLP, and Jeff Brown, senior partner of Leeds Brown Law P.C., are also attorneys for the plaintiff.

Producers sue to make “Happy Birthday” free

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 17:47:00 +0000

Good Morning to You Productions Corp. has filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of anyone in the entertainment industry who has had to pay Warner/Chappell Music for the right to use the song "Happy Birthday."

The lawsuit was prompted by a recent documentary that explores the history of "the world's most popular song;" the producers paid a $1,500 fee to use the song in their film to avoid up to $150,000 in liabilities for copyright infringement.

The song, composed by Patty Smith and her sister Mildred Hill in the 19th century, didn't appear in a book until 1924 -- which puts it under the 95-year protection of copyright law for works published after 1923. However, the production company alleges that the song was put in print well before 1923.

From the Hollywood Reporter:

Controversial gay marriage study provokes lawsuit

Sat, 20 Apr 2013 16:00:00 +0000

In a quest for more answers surrounding the swift publication of sociologist Mark Regnerus’ paper on the controversial “New Family Structures Study” in the sociology journal Social Science Research, independent journalist John Becker filed a lawsuit Monday, seeking access to public records from the University of Central Florida in Orlando, where the sociology journal is housed and where the journal’s editor, James Wright, serves on the faculty. The suit alleges that the state school has violated the state’s public records law by failing to produce documents related to the study’s publication.

Becker filed a request for records last month through Florida’s Public Records Act, asking the school to turn over communications between Wright and other scholars and reviewers regarding the publication of the study.

Are California state prisons racist?

Fri, 12 Apr 2013 16:45:00 +0000

In several men’s prisons across California, colored signs hang above cell doors: blue for black inmates, white for white, red, green or pink for Hispanic, yellow for everyone else.

Though it’s not an official policy, at least five California state prisons have a color-coding system.

On any given day, the color of a sign could mean the difference between an inmate exercising in the prison yard or being confined to their cell. When prisoners attack guards or other inmates, California allows its corrections officers to restrict all prisoners of that same race or ethnicity to prevent further violence.

Craig Brittain plans another “revenge porn” site

Fri, 05 Apr 2013 20:33:00 +0000

Craig Brittain, awful person and proprietor of Is Anybody Down, announced on Thursday that he would be shuttering his "revenge porn" site, which posts naked photos of people without their consent. Later that same day, Brittain quietly proceeded to register two new domain names to keep his vile little business running.

As Jessica Roy at BetaBeat reports: "On the same day that he announced he would be ending IAD, Mr. Brittain registered the domains ObamaNudes.com and ObamaNudes.net and transferred all of IAD’s content over to them."

Yes, "ObamaNudes." He is really that terrible.

But legal trouble may be brewing for Brittain, who, like other revenge-porn site owners, has used a section of the Communications Decency Act that says website owners aren’t responsible for user-submitted content, intended to shield site owners against lawsuits. But, as BetaBeat recently discovered, he may be liable for the photos submitted to his website, after all:

The end of the rainbow for Dr. Oz?

Wed, 20 Mar 2013 20:04:00 +0000

When you're a famous doctor with a daily TV show, you've got to be careful about the claims you make. You've got to tread the line between giving entertaining sound bites for daytime viewers and knowing how to avoid giving any advice that could get you in hot water. So it was perhaps inevitable that cardiac surgeon, People Magazine Sexiest Man and television personality Dr. Mehmet Oz would find himself on the receiving end of a lawsuit from an unhappy viewer. What's surprising about it is the cause.

Earlier this week, 76-year-old Frank Dietl filed suit in Manhattan's Supreme Court, saying he'd received third-degree burns on his feet after sleeping with heated rice-filled socks as Oz recommended in a show last year. Dietl says he has neuropathy, which diminishes sensation in his feet and made him unable to realize he was being burned. The show's spokesman, meanwhile, issued a statement that it stands by "the content in our program as safe and educational for our viewers." Ah, good old educational Oz.

Cy Twombly’s estate embroiled in lawsuit

Sat, 16 Mar 2013 21:00:00 +0000

Artists’ estates have their jobs cut out for them. The organizations have to manage artists’ legacies, watching out for forgeries, validating works, and preserving their reputations while organizing the physical detritus artists inevitably leave behind — collections, unfinished works, studios, and homes. As the New York Times reports, painter Cy Twombly’s estate has run into some financial troubles as its board members have been accused of misappropriating funds.

Two people who run the Cy Twombly Foundation are the targets of a lawsuit filed on Wednesday claiming that they took “more than $300,000 in unauthorized fees” for services rendered to the foundation. Those accused include art-world lawyer Ralph E. Lerner and Thomas H. Saliba; the two were accused by the Twombly Foundation president Nicola Del Roscio and vide president Julie Sylvester. Lerner and Saliba are administrators of Twombly’s trust, which includes paintings, drawings, and millions of dollars in cash.