A federal judge has ordered a temporary halt to Paramount's merger with Warner Bros., handing a win to a coalition of states that argues the deal would violate federal antitrust law by driving up prices and shrinking the number of movies and TV shows reaching audiences.Judge Araceli Martinez-Olguin issued the... Read More »
Annie Leibovitz has taken Observer Media to federal court, accusing the company behind Observer.com of running one of her best-known celebrity portraits without permission or payment for years after being told to stop.The photographer, whose 2019 image of Justin and Hailey Bieber in matching Dolce & Gabbana polka-dot outfits ran... Read More »
Madison Square Garden's parent company has filed a defamation lawsuit against Wired, accusing the publication of twisting hacked data into a false story claiming the Manhattan venue tracked celebrities' sexual orientation and gender identity as part of a surveillance database.The lawsuit, filed Thursday in Manhattan court, targets a July 9... Read More »
Elon Musk's X and a coalition of major music publishers have agreed to walk away from dueling copyright and antitrust lawsuits that had been working through federal court for more than a year, ending one of the more contentious legal fights between the social media industry and the music business.The... Read More »
A new copyright lawsuit is targeting some of hip-hop's biggest names, including Snoop Dogg, Diddy, and the estate of The Notorious B.I.G., over claims that two early-2000s tracks lifted instrumentals from a decades-old funk record without permission or credit.The complaint, filed on Tuesday, comes from two composers who co-wrote "Skatin',"... Read More »
Kanye West, now known as Ye, is once again facing legal trouble over unlicensed sampling, this time tied to a video capturing his notorious 2013 clash with a paparazzo. The celebrity photo agency Bauer-Griffin filed suit Wednesday in Los Angeles federal court, alleging that Ye, French Montana, and several collaborators... Read More »
Emmy-winning actor Timothy Busfield, known for standout roles in "The West Wing," "Thirtysomething," and "Revenge of the Nerds," testified before an Albuquerque grand jury that his career has effectively ended in the wake of child sex abuse charges against him, insisting throughout roughly two hours of testimony that he is... Read More »
R&B singer R. Kelly has submitted a formal clemency request asking President Trump to commute the 30-year prison sentence he is currently serving, according to records that surfaced on the Department of Justice’s website this week. The filing marks the latest legal maneuver from Kelly’s camp as they continue searching... Read More »
Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese delivered a firm message to the country's creative sector on Wednesday, promising that Australian writers, musicians, artists and journalists will retain ownership and control over their work as artificial intelligence continues to reshape the economy. Speaking at the University of Sydney in an address titled "AI... Read More »
A security breach at Rockefeller Center sent a jolt through NBC's "Today" show set Thursday morning when an intruder broke past barriers and confronted co-anchor Craig Melvin with a racist outburst, according to people familiar with the matter. Police took the man into custody shortly afterward, and no one was... Read More »
Lil Durk will face a federal jury in Los Angeles next month as planned, after a judge rejected prosecutors' bid to delay the long-running murder-for-hire case by loading it up with fresh charges tied to alleged gang activity in Chicago. Judge Michael W. Fitzgerald confirmed on Tuesday that the trial... Read More »
Travis Scott is being sued by three yacht crew members who claim the rapper became violent and threatening during a chartered boat trip off the coast of Miami two years ago. The civil suit, filed on Saturday, comes roughly two years after Scott's arrest stemming from the same incident, though... Read More »
The Writers Guild of America has taken direct legal action against Paramount Skydance's massive bid to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery, filing a joint lawsuit on behalf of its East and West branches in federal court in Northern California. The suit, lodged Tuesday, argues that the $110 billion deal runs afoul of... Read More »
StubHub is now facing a class action lawsuit following reports that its chief executive, Eric Baker, holds a stake in a ticket reselling operation that has pulled in millions of dollars through the very platform he runs.The complaint, filed Monday, centers on Baker's ownership interest in Andro Capital, a fund... Read More »
Drug arrests at a Phish concert wouldn't typically qualify as noteworthy news on their own. But a recent statement from prosecutors in Noblesville, Indiana, just outside Indianapolis, has drawn attention less for the arrests themselves than for the tone in which officials announced them.On Monday, the Hamilton County Prosecuting Attorney's... Read More »
