Blog Posts
Stairway to Heaven, but Not to the Supreme Court: Skidmore v. Led Zeppelin
Oct. 25, 2020—By Brandon Evans Whether you realize it or not, nearly everyone has the opening riff to Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven.” The iconic arpeggiated riff has become one of the recognizable pieces of American music. But, was it stolen? That’s what the Ninth Circuit had to determine in Skidmore v. Led Zeppelin. In Skidmore, Michael...
Bad Blood: A Look at Taylor Swift and Artists’ Rights
Oct. 18, 2020—By Sara Norton Barely a quarter-mile from Vanderbilt University sat Big Machine Label Group LLC, an independent Nashville-based music company, home to artists like Sheryl Crow and Rascal Flatts. In June of 2019, however, the label was acquired by Ithaca Holdings LLC, Scooter Braun’s closely held corporation. Braun already possessed Schoolboy Records label, a music...
Bansky’s Battle: The Dispute over the Artist’s Intellectual Property Rights
Oct. 18, 2020—By Olivia Arboneaux The pseudonymous street artist Banksy has a decision to make. Either Banksy will have to fundamentally change the way they practice art or risk saying goodbye to their intellectual property rights. The European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) has invalidated Bansky’s trademark for Rage, the Flower Thrower, which questions the validity of...
Fake It ‘Til You Make It: Promoting Authenticity in Social Media via the Legal System
Oct. 11, 2020—By Katherine Denney As discussed in Netflix’s “The Social Dilemma,” social media now has, intentionally or unintentionally, transformed the structures of our society. In no more than a single year, a teenage girl’s life was completely changed by her presence and posting on the social media platform TikTok. The platform has allowed Charli D’Amelio to...
Should We Break Up Big Tech and How Could We Do it?
Oct. 11, 2020—By Bruce Johnson It is no secret that “Big Tech” companies, including Amazon, Alphabet, Apple, and Facebook, compose a staggeringly large part of the market and have influence over an equal, if not more generous, share of our day-to-day lives. Facebook has over 2.4 billion active users, Amazon accounts for nearly 40 percent of all...
NBA and Microsoft in Together Mode: How Fans Can Be a Part of the Action and Comply with COVID-19 Guidelines
Oct. 4, 2020—By Katie Schelli Businesses and large organizations have caused an exponential increase in collaborative online software in the age of COVID-19. Recently, professional sports organizations have been following suit. A key example of this is the National Basketball Association (NBA). The NBA is operating in a small bubble in Orlando, yet has managed to keep...
Electoral Dysfunction: The Anticipated Legal Implications for Social Media Beyond the 2020 Election
Oct. 4, 2020—By Danielle Schaefer Social media giants are eager to avoid a repeat of the 2016 election and the scrutiny that followed, and have since developed new techniques to identify and address misinformation posted on their platforms that may affect the outcome of the election. For example, Twitter updated its existing Civic Integrity Policy to increase...
Virtual Learning Faces Tests of Its Own
Sep. 27, 2020—By Zachary Quinlan When the Coronavirus pandemic hit the United States at the beginning of this year, a large portion of everyday life for Americans went completely virtual. Zoom became synonymous with the conference room, classroom, and post-work happy hours. Fall has come, and many K-12 students across the country are heading back to school...
Lebron James’s Recent Efforts to End Voter Suppression
Sep. 20, 2020—By David Silversmith Ahead of a likely matchup with his former team, the Miami Heat, in the 2020 NBA finals, Lebron James is looking to challenge the state of Florida off the court as well. This past June, James (along with several other high-profile black athletes and entertainers) started the campaign, More Than A Vote,...