Entertainment Law Brief Ross v. Midwest Communications, Inc. Procedural History: Affirmed for Midwest Communications, Inc. Facts: Marla Ross was raped in 1983 and the attacker was never caught. During the police investigation, Ross viewed a suspects lineup, which included Steven Fossum, and Ross said her rapist was not in the lineup. Fossum was convicted of [...]

Entertainment Law Brief Shulman v. Group W. Productions Procedural History: Affirmed in Part, Reversed in Part. Facts: In 1990, Ruth Shulman and her family were in a car driven by their daughter. The car fell of a LA freeway and plunged 100 feet. Shulman was trapped under the car and was removed by the jaws [...]

Entertainment Law Brief Davis v. Constantin Costa-Gavres, Universal Studio, and MCA, Inc. Procedural History: Complaint Dismissed Facts: Ray Davis was the commander of the US Military Group and Chief of the US mission to Chile in the early 1970’s The Chilean military staged a coup to removed elected Allende government from power. Charles Horman was [...]

Entertainment Law Brief Miramax Films Corp. v. Motion Picture Association of America, Inc. Procedural History: Dismissed Facts: MPAA movie board gave the movie Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! An ‘X’ rating. It was a unanimous decision. The raters  found that two sexually explicit scenes gave it the ‘X’ rating. Petitioners were given the opportunity [...]

Entertainment Law Brief Federal Communications Commission v. Pacifica Foundation Procedural History: Court upheld the FCC’s finding that Carlin’s language violated the terms of the Communication Act which barred indecent, though not necessarily obscene broadcasts. Supreme Court finds the government has the right to ban certain broadcasts in certain situations. Facts: George Carlin recorded a 12-minute [...]

Entertainment Law Brief Skyywalker Records, Inc. v. Navarro Procedural History: The court finds the recording of As Nasty as they Wanna Be to be legal obscene. Facts: The lyrics of 2 Live Crew’s album are what is being discussed and whether that material is found to be obscene. The songs on the album made constant [...]