Recently the passing of Prince a great artist and inspiration to the music industry has brought up a lot of questions about his life. Prince's full name is Prince Rogers Nelson. He changed his name to an unpronounceable Love symbol in the 90's during a fight with Warner Bros. Prince wanted to release more music and wanted to do his own masters. However, Warner Bros. did not allow him to do that. After that happened he started appearing in public with the word "Slave" written across his face. After a long battle with Warner Bros. Prince got his wish of being independent and changed his name back. Just one of many battles Prince experienced in his lifetime. Most recently Prince passed away and had no Will and no signed person to his estate. Now a lot of different family members are coming forth in look for a chunk of his estate. On top of that, no one was assigned to his music. There are dozens of albums that have never been released says Howard Weitzman the current attorney for Prince. Enough music for release over the next 20 years. But because of no estate owner, copyrights and other legal documents are trying to figure out the next step. In my opinion, Prince's Estate should be given to his closest family member/members. I believe that they would be in control enough to give total control over his music to his attorneys and his directors, and let them decide what the next step is for his music.
Another major battle going on now is with Sony and Disney and other Studios. Sony will be contributing $13 million to plaintiffs. This is in hopes to settle claims that it struck a deal with other studios to suppress wages and work opportunities in the animation industry. In 2014, more lawsuits came against Disney, Pixar and Lucasfilm, along with Sony Pictures and other studios. The actions were consolidated and the district court ruled against a motion to dismiss. Recently, Sony had agreed to a $13 million lump sum payment to the settlement fund. According to a motion in support, this sum represents 16.7% of the $78 million in damages. This case gets a lot of more in depth about how Sony was accused of cheating and not abiding by the terms of the no-poach agreement. However, their settlement provides the additional consideration that Sony will cooperate with plaintiffs to prepare for a declaration for all documents to the other defendants. In my opinion, this case has been going on for some time. These companies are multi-billion dollar companies and could easily work together to get this case solved and put to rest. In my opinion, there is some corporate greed and in this case, I think these companies could have had this case solved and closed. All hard working employees for these animation companies deserve the fair wages that they were promised or are needed to acquire in order to get the job done.
The final case I looked into was the recent claims between Joe DeVito and the producers of the upcoming film of Kong: Skull Island that is set to be released next year. Joe DeVito is claiming that he created the universe surrounding King Kong's mysterious home and his pitch for a TV series were turned into a feature film without giving him compensation or credit. DeVito is suing Warner Bros. for breach of implied contract, claiming the companies have used the conceptual framework that he pitched them as a basis of their film without giving proper credit or compensation. The claims that Joe DeVito is making based on the agreement he and Warner Bros. came to regarding the Kong: Skull Island. Then Warner Bros. came out with their film without the consent of Joe DeVito, When reminded Warner Bros, negotiated a kill fee with the writers and returned the rights to Kong Skull Island property to DeVito ArtWorks. In my opinion, this is something that happens all too often. I am afraid to pitch my ideas to major companies because of this happening. Warner Bros. is a strong company and makes more than enough money to cover up allegations like this. I have seen major companies do this on a number times with different creators. I think DeVito had the right move when taking Warner Bros. to court. They need to pay for taking the property of a talented individual and pay for breaching contract and taking IP from DeVito Studios.
References:
Sony Agrees to Cooperate in Anti-Poaching Suit Against Disney. (n.d.). Retrieved May 07, 2016, from http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/sony-agrees-cooperate-anti-poaching-890477
Legendary, Warner Bros. Sued for Allegedly Stealing 'Kong: Skull Island' Story. (n.d.). Retrieved May 07, 2016, from http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/legendary-warner-bros-sued-allegedly-888503
Prince's Legal Legacy: Contract Fights, Copyright Battles and Changing His Name. (n.d.). Retrieved May 07, 2016, from http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/princes-legal-legacy-contract-fights-886521
