Legal news
Goldenvoice Sues Live Nation over Coachella Day One 22 Festival
The average music fan may not know it, but there are two Coachella music festivals scheduled to take place in the desert of Southern California over the next several months. If AEG-owned promoter Goldenvoice has its way, however, the copycat Coachella Day One 22 will be wiped off the map. As Billboard reports, Goldenvoice filed a trademark infringement lawsuit on December 13th against AEG’s primary competitor Live Nation in US District Court in California. Of course, Goldenvoice is known for its Coachella Valley Arts and Music Festival, which has taken place at the Empire Polo Field in Indio, California since 1999. Ordinarily, the company would be suing the festival’s promoter, the Twenty-Nine Palms Band of Mission Indians, but the Native American tribe is shielded from legal action due to...
Taylor Swift Ordered to Face Trial in “Shake It Off” Copyright Lawsuit
Here’s one lawsuit Taylor Swift just can’t shake off. On Thursday (December 9th), a federal judge ruled the pop singer must face a jury trial after being accused of taking lyrics from 3LW’s “Playas Gon’ Play” for her 2014 hit “Shake It Off.” Per Billboard, US District Judge Michael W. Fitzgerald turned down Swift’s request to dismiss the case, ruling that there were “enough objective similarities” between the two songs that a jury could come to the conclusion that “Shake It Off” had infringed on the copyright to 2001’s “Playas Gon’ Play.” “Even though there are some noticeable differences between the works, there are also significant similarities in word usage and sequence/structure,” the judge wrote. “It is clear that there are enough objective similarities amongst the works to imply that...
Travis Scott Begins Effort to Dismiss Astroworld Lawsuits: Report
Travis Scott has begun the process of dismissing the hundreds of lawsuits over his deadly Astroworld festival. Per TMZ, the Houston rapper has filed to have a civil suit against him and his companies — Jack Enterprises and Cactus Jack — be dropped with prejudice. Scott is issuing a “general denial” in response to attendee Jessie Garcia’s lawsuit, meaning he wants to deny responsibility for all allegations in one blanket response. TMZ reports that Travis and his legal team are preparing a similar response to every civil suit filed against him. This may not be necessary, however, as attorneys for both victims and festival organizers filed a joint petition last week to combine the mounting number of cases into a single “multi-district litigation.” As Billboard points out, this is standar...
Alec Baldwin Could Still Be Charged For Rust Film Set Shooting
Last week, during his first interview since the tragedy on the set of indie film Rust, Alec Baldwin claimed that he didn’t pull the trigger on the prop gun that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. He also said that he’s “been told by people who are in the know… that it’s highly unlikely that I would be charged with anything criminally.” But Santa Fe County District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies, who’s leading the investigation, says the actor and several others could still be charged for their roles in the event. “Everyone involved in the handling and use of firearms on the set had a duty to behave in a manner such that the safety of others was protected,” Carmack-Altwies told TMZ. “It appears that certain actions and inactions contributed to this outcome.” Investigation...
Jeffrey Epstein’s Pilot Says He Flew Kevin Spacey on Plane Dubbed “Lolita Express”
Day two of Ghislaine Maxwell’s trial began where day one ended, with Jeffrey Epstein’s longtime pilot Lawrence Paul Visoski Jr. on the stand. On Tuesday, as the New York Times and New York Post report, Visoski named some of the high-profile guests he had ferried on Epstein’s private plane, including politicians, artists, and accused sexual predator Kevin Spacey. For those tracing Epstein’s alleged global sex trafficking operation, his frequent flights have long been a source of interest, so much so that his private plane has been dubbed the “Lolita Express.” Visoski served as the disgraced financier’s chief pilot for over 25 years, and testified that in addition to Kevin Spacey, he flew former presidents Bill Clinton and Donald Trump, plus actor Chris Tucker, late astro...
Ghislane Maxwell’s Lawyer Compares Jeffrey Epstein to James Bond, Doesn’t Seem to Know Who James Bond Is
On the first day of Ghislane Maxwell’s sex trafficking trial, her lawyer compared accused serial predator Jeffrey Epstein to a “21st century James Bond,” which is undoubtedly one of the strangest interpretations of the James Bond franchise in the history of film criticism. Before his death, which was ruled a suicide, Epstein had been arrested and accused of running a global sex trafficking ring involving adolescent girls. Maxwell was Epstein’s longtime partner and former girlfriend, and she’s standing trial on six counts of exploiting young girls. Prosecutors have alleged that she “assisted, facilitated, and contributed to” Epstein’s crimes. Via the New York Times, the defense contended today that Maxwell is a “scapegoat.” Her lawyer Bobbi C. Sternheim said, “Ever since Eve was accuse...
Marilyn Manson’s Home Raided by LA County Sheriff’s Department
Marilyn Manson’s West Hollywood home was raided by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department on Monday. TMZ reports that detectives executed a search warrant in connection to an ongoing sexual assault investigation. Manson has been accused of sexual abuse and other violent behavior by at least 15 women, including actresses Evan Rachel Wood and Esme Bianco. A representative for the LA County Sheriff’s Department confirmed to Rolling Stone that Manson was the target of the raid. “It was a search warrant for his belongings,” the representative said. Advertisement Related Video Among the possessions reportedly seized were hard drives and other media storage units. Manson’s lawyer, Howard King, previously said the singer “vehemently denies any and all claims of sexual assault or abuse of anyo...
Producer Adapting Rape Memoir Realizes Story Doesn’t Make Sense, Helps Clear Man’s Name
Timothy Mucciante was executive producing a film adaptation of Lucky, Alice Sebold’s 1999 memoir about being beaten and raped in 1981, when he noticed several issues with the subsequent trial that led to the conviction of Anthony J. Broadwater. Mucciante became so convinced that an injustice had occurred that he dropped out of the movie this past June, hired a private investigator, and turned over the findings to Broadwater’s lawyer. On Monday, as the New York Times reports, Broadwater was finally exonerated of the crime. Broadwater, now 61, was only 20 years old at the time of his arrest. He had returned home to Syracuse, New York from a stint in the Marines to spend time with his ill father. Throughout the trial, his father’s health worsened, and he died shortly after...
Judas in National Tour of Jesus Christ Superstar Indicted in Capitol Insurrection
Caught silver-handed? An actor in the national tour of Jesus Christ Superstar has been charged for taking part in the January 6th insurrection at the US Capitol, The Hollywood Reporter notes. James D. Beeks, who plays Judas Iscariot in the traveling Broadway production under the stage name James T. Justis, has been charged with one count of obstruction of Congress and one count of unlawfully entering a restricted building or grounds. An investigation by the Washington DC US Attorney’s Office revealed the actor to be associated with the far-right extremist militia group the Oath Keepers, and paid dues to the anti-government organization just two weeks prior to the insurrection. Beeks also works as a Michael Jackson impersonator, and was identified by authorities by the “Bad” jacke...
Kevin Spacey Must Pay $31 Million to House of Cards Producer
Kevin Spacey has been ordered to pay $31 million to MRC, the producer of Netflix’s House of Cards, to cover the loss in revenue caused by the actor’s termination from the show. Spacey was fired from House of Cards prior to its sixth and final season after eight employees of the show came forward with allegations of sexual misconduct. According to The Hollywood Reporter, an arbitrator has concluded that Spacey breached contractual obligations to provide services “in a professional manner” and “consistent with [MRC’s] reasonable directions, practices and policies.” Advertisement Related Video Because of Spacey’s termination, MCR had to completely rewrite the sixth season of House of Cards and cut the episode total from 13 to eight. Now, the actor is on the hook for a bill totaling $31 millio...
Brody Dalle Found Guilty of Contempt in Josh Homme Custody Case
A judge found Brody Dalle guilty of criminal contempt for not providing Queens of the Stoneage frontman Josh Homme with their five-year-old son during his court-ordered visitation. As Rolling Stone reports, she was declared innocent of three other contempt charges in a mixed ruling that saw Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Lawrence Riff scold both parents for thinking that criminal law is “the answer to a family’s problems.” While Dalle was guilty of “willfully” violating a court other to deliver their five-year-old son Orrin to Homme on September 3rd, she was acquitted of the same charge for their ten-year-old son, Wolf. The judge sided with Dalle, agreeing that Wolf had refused the visit on his own. The judge also listened to arguments that Dalle committed criminal contempt b...
New York Bill Seeks to Limit Rap Lyrics as Criminal Evidence
Two New York state senators have put forward a bill to protect rap and hip-hop artists’ use of creative expression in their lyrics. Referred to as the “Rap Music on Trial” bill, the proposed legislation would seek to limit the admissibility of song lyrics as criminal evidence “without clear and convincing proof that there is a literal, factual nexus between the creative expression and the facts of the case.” In a Rolling Stone interview, Senators Brad Hoylman (D-Manhattan) and Jamaal Bailey (D-The Bronx) illustrated their point by citing classic lyrics by the likes of Johnny Cash (“But I shot a man in Reno/ Just to watch him die”) and David Byrne (“Don’t touch me, I’m a real live wire/ Psycho killer”) which are clearly understood to be artistic. Advertisement Related Video Meanwh...
