Entertainment & Media Law LL.M. Online, Southwestern Law School

Friday

Jun182010

Copyright Law (3 units)

Copyright law forms the foundation of the entertainment and other industries.

This course is an in-depth study of United States copyright law and its protection of the intangible property rights of authors. Among the topics covered are subject matter, ownership, duration, economic rights of copyright owners, moral rights of artists, licensing, infringement, fair use and protection of digital materials. Basic concepts and statutory rules will be examined and applied to various issues that arise in the entertainment, art, communication, and information industries, particularly those issues affected by digital technology. The course will analyze the transfers of rights, the international role of United States copyrights and conflict of laws.

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Friday

Jun182010

Entertainment Law (3 units)

This course examines the impact of legal concepts and business practices on motion pictures, television, music, radio, literary publishing, theater, and digital media.

Such concepts as First Amendment protections, artist representation, credit, compensation, defamation, privacy and right of publicity, idea disclosure, trademark law, and artistic control will be studied with an eye toward enabling attorneys to effectively address these and other legal issues arising in the entertainment industry. The course focuses on the practical application of these concepts and practices. Students will be assigned various negotiation and drafting problems throughout the course.

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Sunday

Sep052010

Financing & Distributing Independent Films Law (2 units)

The financing and distribution of indendent films has become an increasingly popular sub-specialty of entertainment law practice as more and more films are produced and exploited outside of the studio system.

Starting with a discussion of what constitutes an “independent film,” the course will briefly survey the rights and production contractual issues particularly relevant to the financing of independent films, followed by an analysis of the more traditional methods of independent financing such as equity investments, foreign presales, and bank loans. This will be followed by an exploration of alternative methods of raising production funding, including various foreign and domestic tax schemes and online “crowd-source” financing. The second half of the course will cover the various business and legal issues which arise in the distribution of independent films, including sales agency and distribution agreements. In addition, this component of the course will examine the increased importance of film festivals as a means of obtaining financing and distribution deals, as well as the ascension of digital distribution and “DIY” (do-it-yourself) marketing.

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Thursday

Jan132011

Information Privacy Law (2 units)

This course focuses on the impact of new information technologies and services on personal privacy.

It examines a range of information privacy issues, particularly those involved in the use of the Internet and on-line services. Topics include the right of access to information, the free flow of use of information, the creation and protection of an individual’s “digital persona,” and the role of governments and the private sector in safeguarding personal information.

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Tuesday

Aug302011

International and Comparative Media Law (3 units)

Global considerations increasingly affect and govern the news and entertainment media, especially in connection with Internet communication.

This course will survey legal issues that lawyers are likely to confront in any broad-based media law practice, including: cross-border approaches to content regulation, especially the European Convention on Human Rights, the American Convention Human Rights, and other international instruments; regulatory systems applicable to the international media business, such as the Television Without Frontiers and Database Protection Directives of the European Community; the emerging conflict surrounding assertions of jurisdiction over international media interests; protection of journalistic sources and other confidential information; considerations that may apply in attempting to enforce foreign judgments against the media; and the effect of different approaches to copyright protection.

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Tuesday

Jul062010

Internet and E-Commerce Law (2 units)

The Internet and e-commerce industries are among the fastest growing segments of the global economy.

This course prepares attorneys to deal with the complex and rapidly developing body of laws applicable to these industries, including the protection of software, websites and databases, electronic contracting, consumer protection and privacy. This course also analyzes the key federal statutes applicable to the Internet, including the Child Online Privacy Protection Act, the Communications Decency Act, the E-Sign Act, and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

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Sunday

Sep052010

Mass Media Law (3 units)

This course exposes you to the most relevant and important aspects of mass media law in the United States - stretching from the First Amendment to the most recent judicial opinions, statutory enactments, and regulatory controversies affecting speech.

This course surveys the law of mass communications with reference to print, radio, television, internet, and other forms of distribution. The subject matter addressed in this course includes the First Amendment, defamation, invasion of privacy and the right of publicity, Federal Communications Commision regulation, advertisiting and commercial speech, obscenity, fair use, newsgathering, and other relevant subjects.

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Thursday

Sep022010

Motion Picture Production Law (2 units)

Motion Picture Production Law will arm the practioner with the tools necessary to negotiate in this unique and complex environment

The development and production of a theatrical motion picture is effected through the application of a rich, colorful and highly-evolved palette of laws, collective bargaining agreements and business practices, the various elements and aspects of which can at once be described as theoretical and concrete, precise and ambiguous, linear and multidimensional. This course is designed to provide a detailed examination of the gauntlet of challenges confronting the development and production of a theatrical motion picture, and to equip the legal practitioner with a complement of tools with which to negotiate the often highly complex terrain.

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Thursday

Jan132011

Music Publishing Industry Law (2 units)

The music publishing industry supplies a basic component of several other entertainment industries (films, television, commercials, live performances).

This course focuses on four main areas: first, acquiring rights in musical compositions via agreements such as co-publishing, administration, sub-publishing, and purchase; second, Copyright law provisions that limit a publisher’s acquisition of rights in musical compositions; third, exploiting rights in musical compositions via licenses such as mechanical, synchronization, and public performance and the revenue streams generated from such licenses; and finally, protecting musical compositions via offensive and defensive claims/litigation and settling disputes.

The goal of this course is to provide attorneys - whether in-house working for a music publisher or private practice representing the interest of songwriters - with the tools to navigate and understand the music publishing industry’s various agreements, rights, revenue streams, business practices, and Copyright law essentials.

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Tuesday

Aug092011

Navigating Recording Artists Through The Entertainment Industry (2 units)

In order to find success, or at least to be able to quit her "day job", the 21st century recording artist needs to be part creator, part promoter, and part business person.

Sailing through the shark-infested waters of the entertainment industry is a daunting task for singers, songwriters and recording artists, most of whom cannot arrive safely at their destination without the assistance of a lawyer who "knows the ropes." Your cruise director, Bernard M. Resnick, Esq., is an entertainment lawyer with 25 years' experience as a music attorney and private practitioner. You will be instructed on the details of many of the typical contracts that every entertainment attorney needs to understand in order to represent recording artists. These contracts include: recording studio; music publishing; record production; live concert; management; agency; multiple rights; digital distribution; synchronization; branding; and more.

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Tuesday

Apr102012

Television Production Law (2 units)

Television production law is a fast paced area of the law with multi-faceted dimensions.

The television production lawyer is a jack-of-all-trades: part lawyer, part business person, part problem solver, part expectation manager; a drafter, a responder, a defender, a mediator – you name it – the production attorney may be called upon to do it. This course is designed to take a one-hour drama from development through production to the final product ready for distribution, giving an overview of the production attorney’s role during all of these phases, including the basic understanding of the network v. the studio, studio parts and components, as well as a basic understanding of the issues most commonly addressed by a production attorney with respect to certain aspects of rights, drafting, responding to comments, understanding contract provisions, clearance, claims, how unions and guilds affect the process, and the marketing and advertising of the series.

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Friday

Jun182010

Theater Law (2 units)

The theater is one of America's earliest entertainment industries and its legal and business structures differ significantly from those of the film, television, and music fields.

This comprehensive survey examines the unique customs and practices of this industry and the framework of laws governing it. After completing this course, practitioners will be equipped to identify and address the needs of the producers, authors, artists, craftspeople, and designers whose work is presented on the living stage.

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Thursday

Jan132011

Video Game Law (2 units)

The video game business is the fastest-growing segment of the entertainment industry, and -- from a legal point of view -- one of the most complicated.

This course will cover the full range of legal questions that must be answered by lawyers whose clients are in this business, including issues involving intellectual property, employment, content regulation and marketing. Among other things, the course will study: employment and work-for-hire agreements between game developers and talent (creative and technical), including talent guild collective bargaining agreements; content licensing agreements between developers and movie production companies; distribution agreements between developers and game publishing companies; technology licensing agreements for game engines and game console compatibility; First Amendment censorship and FTC marketing issues, including potential tort and criminal liability triggered by violent or sexy game content; piracy; and issues raised by the creation and sale of "virtual property" by game players. Although, today, most video games are published and sold to entertain those who play them, a growing number of games are being developed to train and educate players, so this course may be of interest to students who are interested business and technology law, as well as those interested in entertainment law.

Single Courses Available

Courses

Copyright Law (3 units)

← Course Overview

Entertainment Law (3 units)

← Course Overview

Financing & Distributing Independent Films Law (2 units)

← Course Overview

Information Privacy Law (2 units)

← Course Overview

International and Comparative Media Law (3 units)

← Course Overview

Internet and E-Commerce Law (2 units)

← Course Overview

Mass Media Law (3 units)

← Course Overview

Motion Picture Production Law (2 units)

← Course Overview

Music Publishing Industry Law (2 units)

← Course Overview

Navigating Recording Artists Through The Entertainment Industry (2 units)

← Course Overview

Television Production Law (2 units)

← Course Overview

Theater Law (2 units)

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Video Game Law (2 units)

← Course Overview

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