No #Royalties for #Pink's Producer

Newsflash from your Hollywood Attorney:

The singer and Sony Music prevail in a legal dispute over an administration error.

Most everyone is familiar with the classic excuse, "It got lost in the mail."

For Harold Frasier's Specialists Entertainment, the excuse triggered a lawsuit against pop superstar Pink and Sony Music over royalties owed more than a decade ago. This week, Specialists struck out in its attempt to recover the money.

Specialists did work on two of the singer's songs, "Hiccup" and "Can't Take Me Home" from Pink's 2000 debut album Can't Take Me Home. There was another company, Thunderstone Productions, that also contributed to the songs. The royalties for the production work was supposed to be split equally between the two producers.

But Sony Music, responsible for administering the royalty payments, made a clerical error when attempting to update Specialists' mailing address.

In 2012, Specialists contacted Sony about the owed royalties.

Sony responded by explaining the situation, saying that at one point the royalty share was put on hold because it didn't have a valid address, and then in 2004, Sony had erroneously released 100 percent of royalties to Thunderstone due to an administration error. The music giant attempted to do something about owed royalties after 2004 and correct the situation going forward, but Specialists demanded about $36,000 in royalties from the 2000-2004 time period.

Last September, a New York judge dismissed most of the plaintiff's claims due to the statute of limitations but allowed the plaintiff to amend the lawsuit with a breach of contract claim as a third-party beneficiary of Pink's direction to Sony subsidiaries to pay producer royalties to Specialist and Thunderstone. The judge also pointed to Sony's communications with Specialists in 2012 as having acknowledged the debt and responsibility for repayment.

Unfortunately for Specialists, a New York appeals court on Tuesday reversed the ruling because of what was expressly said in the agreement between Pink (born Alecia Moore) and Sony.

"Plaintiff cannot assert a claim as a third-party beneficiary of a letter agreement between defendants Moore and Sony," wrote the appellate judge. "The agreement, requesting and authorizing Sony to deduct a portion of royalties payable to Moore and to pay them directly to plaintiff, by its express terms, negates any intent to permit enforcement by third-parties."

The ruling is a victory for the Recording Industry Association of America, which submitted an amicus brief in the appeal. For others, it's a reminder to check the mail.

Source....   HR

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Disney Distribution Deals for 10 Specific Characters says to Viacom, "We want Our Characters Back"

When Walt Disney (NYSE: DIS) bought Marvel for $4 billion in cash and stock, the House of Mouse didn't secure all the benefits of owning the superhero portfolio.

Sony (NYSE: SNE) still owned the rights to produce and distribute the Spider-Man and Ghost Rider franchises. Twenty-First Century Fox's (NASDAQ: FOX) forerunner, News Corp., held the rights to the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, and Daredevil. And Marvel did come with the production rights to the rest of its own portfolio, but with distribution deals for 10 specific characters via Viacom's (NASDAQ: VIAB) Paramount Pictures.

That's a side effect of Marvel's complicated financing deal from 2005, which set the stage for the studio to take control of its own destiny. But as I said, Marvel also signed away some important rights in the process, and allowed Sony, Fox, and Paramount to grab a slice of Marvel's financial success.

Disney is busy getting its superheroes back. The company just bought back the distribution rights for back-catalog titles Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Thor, and Captain America: The First Avenger from Paramount. Financial terms are unknown, but the payout is probably smaller than the last superhero buyback.

In 2010, Disney acquired the rights to release The Avengers and Iron Man 3. Fellow Fool Tim Beyers worked his calculator to the melting point to figure out that Paramount would get something like $90 million out of the Avengers arrangement, and something on that level for Iron Man 3 as well. Given that the new repurchase deals with older titles, the total cost in unlikely to crack the $100 million mark.

So it's a drop in the bucket next to Viacom's filmed entertainment revenues, which topped $4.8 billion last year. The rounding error is even smaller next to Disney's $5.8 billion in studio sales. The big takeaway here is that Disney is very interested in taking full control of its superhero assets. I would not be surprised to see the Mouse reaching out to Sony and Fox to regain the last of its prodigal superhuman sons and daughters.

Read More.... http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2013/07/03/disney-wants-its-heroes-back-from-viacom.aspx

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Lost Fingers Lawsuit, for Adam Sandler's Happy Madison Productions

Richard Houpert seeks $1 million in damages after being injured building sets for the comedy "That's My Boy."

A Boston carpenter has sued Sony Pictures, subsidiary Columbia, and Sandler's Happy Madison Productions after suffering an injury building sets for That's My Boy in May 2011. Richard Houpert had several fingers partially cut off and sustained fractures on his right hand, and he seeks $1 million in damages.

In his complaint, filed last week at the District Court in Boston, Houpert claims he was working with a table saw when his hand was "drawn into the saw." The saw was not properly fitted with safety components such as saw stops and safety guards, he claims, and the injuries to his right dominant hand have caused him loss of income.

 “The cost to provide saws with saw stops, guards, or other safety equipment was minimal compared to the enormity of the risk of injury to the users of the saws,” the complaint argues.

Houpert has also targeted Sony and Columbia. The plaintiff claims the film production companies did not ensure safety on set despite having set aside a monetary fund for that purpose.

The studios are not the only ones Houpert blames—he has also taken aim at Black & Decker, the manufacturer of the saw. The Black & Decker 3-horsepower Delta unisaw was "dangerous and defective," "not of merchantable quality and unfit for its intended and forseeable uses," the complaint holds, and Houpert claims negligence and breach of implied and express warranties.

Read More.... http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/adam-sandlers-happy-madison-productions-580521

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Richard Arons Wants Paid the 7.5 percent Royalties from Michael Jackson's "Thriller"

While the Jackson family’s trial against AEG continues, a former lawyer and manager for the Jacksons on Monday filed a new lawsuit demanding at least $10 million from Sony Music Entertainment for royalties from music created prior to 1983.

Richard Arons, who says he is 75 years old and dependent on these payments, is suing in L.A. Superior Court for breach of contract, improper accounting and more. He is asking the court to grant him lost royalties, costs and damages and the continuation of future payments.

Arons says he became the Jackson family attorney in 1969 just as The Jackson Five were beginning their rise.

In 1972, Arons and Joe Jackson (father of the Jackson Five) became the personal managers for the Jacksons, with a deal to split 15 percent of the gross proceeds from what Michael Jackson and his brothers earned from all activities.

In 1978, Joe Jackson and Arons had a dispute. Under a 1981 settlement, Arons compensation was still 7.5 percent from the sale of recorded music, but he gave up some rights to money from other activities.

Around 1991, Arons got into another dispute -- with Michael Jackson this time -- over a time Michael stopped his payments. Under the settlement they reached, Arons stopped being the manager but his right to payments from the recordings made in 1983 and before was reaffirmed.

In March 2012, according to the suit, Andrew Ross of Sony Music agreed to review Arons claims, but even after that, the royalty statements were incorrect. Aarons complained and Ross said he would get back to him. The suit says he never did.

Now, Arons says he not only hasn’t been paid all he is owed, but Sony also refuses to give him a proper accounting of how much the recordings have earned and of his royalties. He wants his money and a full accounting.

Read More... http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/jackson-familys-manager-sues-sony-574229

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Lawsuit on Lost "Beatles" Concert Footage

Sony/ATV allegedly pulled the plug on a license after The Beatles' old company wanted to use tape of a 1964 concert on its own.

 Allegations on how overstepping intellectual property rights can lead to trouble. Last week, a $500 million lawsuit against Lionsgate was filed for interfering with a Twilight parody film. Now, a new lawsuit claims that Sony/ATV Music Publishing and Apple Corps tortiously interfered with the release of the documentary The Beatles: The Lost Concert.

According to Ace Arts, the company got ahold of a 35-minute tape of a Feb. 11, 1964 Beatles concert at the Coliseum in Washington, D.C.

The tape of the concert passed through several hands before eventually being acquired by Ace. The company says it entered into a deal with Screenvision Exhibition to show the documentary in 500 theaters nationwide before Sony/ATV and Apple Corps interfered.

The claim says that it was "sold without copyright protection." (Back in the 1960s and '70s, companies appear to have been more lax about copyright notices. This sort of thing has come up in recent disputes from Velvet Underground albums to iconic porn films.)

Even though Ace advertises the film as "lost," it also says the concert has been exploited multiple times before -- without objection.

To distribute the film, the filmmakers needed synchronization licenses to the songs featured in the film. These licenses are required whenever music is matched to visuals.

Negotiations commenced with Sony/ATV, which owns certain publishing rights to Beatles songs after Michael Jackson famously bought them in the 1980s to Paul McCartney's chagrin.

But Apple Corp, which was set up by the original Beatles members and is not to be confused with the iPhone company, was allegedly planning its own use of the footage.

"At the eleventh hour, in mid-April 2012, Sony/ATV, at the insistence of, and in conspiracy with, Apple Corps, wrongfully interfered with the distribution contract by making false statements to exhibitors, theater owners and potential distributors concerning Ace's legal right to exhibit the documentary, making unjustified threats of legal action and filing a baseless lawsuit in England," the lawsuit states.

Ace says that Sony/ATV made the "highly unusual" step of granting exclusive synchronization licenses to Apple Corps. As a result, the distribution deal for The Beatles: The Lost Concert fell through.

Read More... http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/lost-beatles-concert-footage-prompts-564821

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'Ghost Host Rider 2" STUNTMAN Sues Movie Over Near-Fatal STUNT GONE WRONG

A stuntman for "Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance" claims he almost died when his crazy on-fire motorcycle stunt went horribly wrong and now wants the movie to PAY UP for all the damages.

According to documents obtained by TMZ, Mike Gaboff -- a stunt pro known as "Crazy Mike" -- filed a lawsuit in L.A. County Superior Court on Friday against Sony Pictures, Break Point Media and Next Point Inc., three companies in charge of the film.

In the docs, Mike says he was hired in April 2012 to perform a stunt for the DVD release -- in which he was to ride a motorcycle off a steep ramp while lit on fire, jump across a large lake, and then land in the water.

But the stunt went seriously wrong ... Mike overshot the landing and hit the rock-hard ground instead -- which was captured on tape -- and reportedly suffered a broken lower back, pelvis, neck, both arms, ribs, collar bone, collapsed lungs and second-degree burns. You can see him lying limp on the ground, moments after the crash...    http://youtu.be/BcFJ2TewCeo

In the lawsuit, Mike says the movie's "negligence" is to blame for his near-death experience -- claiming the film knew the move posed a HUGE risk and yet it "consciously chose not to take specific safety measures."

Not only that, Mike says production-honchos were WARNED not to go through with the "ultrahazardous activities," but chose to risk it "despite requests not to do so."

Mike's suing for medical expenses and loss of earnings -- he doesn't specify a dollar amount -- but he reportedly spent two months in a hospital recovering, with bills over $1 million. Translation -- he's gonna want some serious dough.

At the time of the accident, Break Media issued a statement saying, “[Gaboff was hired] as an independent third party and was fully responsible for the design and execution of the stunt. Any claims to the contrary are false."

Read more... http://www.tmz.com/2013/03/09/ghostrider-2-stuntman-mike-gaboff-motorcycle-crash-lawsuit/#ixzz2N5dVZWGD

U.K. Fines Sony $395,000 for PlayStation Network Hacker Attack

LONDON -- Britain's Information Commissioner's Office has fined Sony Corp.'s Sony Computer Entertainment Europe $395,000 (£250,000) for a 2011 hacker attack on the Sony PlayStation Network.

The organization cited a “serious breach of the Data Protection Act," as the incident compromised personal data of millions of users.

The organization said that the personal information included "names, addresses, email addresses, dates of birth and account passwords." It added that "customers’ payment card details were also at risk."

The ICO said its investigation found "that the attack could have been prevented if the software had been up-to-date, while technical developments also meant passwords were not secure."

“If you are responsible for so many payment card details and log-in details, then keeping that personal data secure has to be your priority," said David Smith, deputy commissioner and director of data protection at the ICO. "In this case that just didn’t happen, and when the database was targeted -- albeit in a determined criminal attack -- the security measures in place were simply not good enough. There’s no disguising that this is a business that should have known better."

"Sony Computer Entertainment Europe strongly disagrees with the ICO’s ruling and is planning an appeal," the Sony unit said in a statement. "SCEE notes, however, that the ICO recognizes Sony was the victim of “a focused and determined criminal attack,” that “there is no evidence that encrypted payment card details were accessed,” and that “personal data is unlikely to have been used for fraudulent purposes” following the attack on the PlayStation Network."

Read More... http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/uk-fines-sony-playstation-network-415025