Thursday, June 19, 2014

Raging zBullabaisse

This is a poor attempt at creating a recurring post while rob is travelling.

1. You say lache that, yo holmes lache this

Frank Petrella wrote a screenplay with Jake LaMotta about LaMotta's life, which they copyrighted in 1963. They assigned their rights to the screenplay to United Artists/MGM in 1976, and it became the movie "Raging Bull" in 1980.



Petrella died in 1981 and because of various peculiarities of copyright law, the renewal rights to his copyright in the screenplay passed to his daughter Paula. She renewed the copyright in 1991. In 1998, Paula informed MGM that their exploitation of "Raging Bull" infringed her copyright to the screenplay. She and MGM exchanged correspondence on this matter for two years. Then, in 2009, Paula sued MGM for copyright infringement. MGM asserted a laches defense--Paula waited too long to bring her claim.

I won't bore you with the details, but the case made its way to the Supreme Court. Justice Ginsburg (whose daughter is a copyright professor) wrote the opinion of the Court, holding that laches was not a bar and that Paula could receive damages for MGM's infringement over the past 3 years (the statute of limitations for copyright infringement is 3 years). So when someone else starts making money by ripping off our Ghooghles and Gheorghemas posts, let's wait until they start making millions before we sue them.

2. Jack Urbont ain't nothing ta lache wit

This development is particularly relevant to Jack Urbont. I previously noted Ghostface Killah's potential laches defense against Mr. Urbont but it looks like that won't hold up now. This may become important because last month Judge Buchwald wrote what appears to be an open letter to Pretty Tone stating that "you failed to appear for a deposition scheduled for April 30, 2014 and ... you have not produced a single document since July 19, 2013." She also said she would sanction him if he doesn't appear for his deposition and fulfill his other discovery obligations.

I think it's odd that Mr. Urbont has had problems locating and deposing The Kid given that he appeared on a reality TV show which required him to live in a house with a bunch of crazy people.



I also note that the last time Ghostdini was in one of these copyright infringement scrapes he never entered an appearance, he just laid in the cut and let his record label win the case. See Abilene Music, Inc. v. Sony Music Entertainment, Inc., 320 F. Supp. 2d 84 (S.D.N.Y. 2003). So maybe that's his plan.

3. Is Jay-Z infringing GFK's IP

It appears that Jay-Z is taking a page from the Wallabee Champ's potentially proprietary playbook. He and Timbaland were sued by Osama Ahmed Fahmy, the nephew of the guy who wrote "Khorsa Khorsa," because they sampled it on "Big Pimpin'".



Fahmy sued Jay in 2007, almost 8 years after the song came out. Interestingly, the judge in that case limited the timeframe for infringement based on laches. I suspect that ruling might change. Anyway, the case has been going on for 7 years and Hova still hasn't sat for a deposition. Pretty gangsta.

4. Jay-Z is not as gangsta as politicians from Bogota, NJ

Tito Jackson, the mayor of Bogota, NJ, was punched in the face by a rival's 80-year-old father. Seriously. Here's a video of the old guy's admission. I guess he'd just seen "Raging Bull" and was fired up. Naturally, both men filed police reports.

58 comments:

Marls said...

Marlon and Jermaine had no comment.

Nice post Z.

Danimal said...

Danimal Travel updade, cuz you know you care. Still 5 hours away from my ultimate destination of the wonderful city of Toledo, Ohio. Stranded in Chicago last night along with thousands of other schmucks due to weather, the acquisition of a rental car is proving more difficult than getting a hotel room last night which in of itself was a show. Next avail flt to Detroit Rock City is 7pm...notgonnadoit (channeling George H.W.) 1way tix to Det are crazy insane. Any of you know someone near Oak Park that is out of a job and possibly looking to earn some cash driving me to the town of the Mudhens? Anyone?

rob said...

not travelling, z. just crab dribbling.

rob said...

not travelling, z. just crab dribbling.

zman said...

I'm crab scratching.

Squeaky said...

Uber. 1lymy, $20 off code. Having had to make the drive from Rehoboth Beach, DE to Boston on Friday at the height of rush hour, I hope you find a way Danimal. Godspeed.

If rental cars are all gone other option is to rent a U-haul.

Danimal said...

Looks like the train may take the train to south bend. Will get a lift there. Serendipity. May stop off and have lunch w BK (brian kelly) and crew. Or watch them from afar. Whatever.

Danimal said...

Thx for the uber code...for some reason I can't get txts from them. Just one more fly in this pile of dung.

Dave said...

there's a bogota, new jersey?

zman said...

Yes, but it's pronounced buh-GO-tah, not BO-guh-tah like the Colombian city. Pat Sullivan was from Bogota and the announcers always pronounced it Colombian style

Danimal said...

Eating lunch at the Morris Inn on the ND campus. Things work out.

Shlara said...

There are some cute guys on the England FC

Mark said...

They all bang hookers though, Shlara.

mayhugh said...

No discussion of Lache Seastrunk, Z?

Danimal said...

29 hours after beginning my trip, I will arrive to my destination. I have made it to Beijing in less time.

zman said...

zson just said "I like it raw." He was talking about broccoli but still, I've never been more proud.

Marls said...

Can Zson kick it? Yes he can.

rob said...

greece/japan didn't win any new soccer fans. those teams are dreadful offensively.

Shlara said...

Gheorghies--whilst you are watching futbol, can you take my survey for school? I want to know if you like cake or pie better. (I'm talking desserts here, boys...so keep it clean)

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/7B397QZ

Mark said...

David Blatt has been hired as the Cavs head coach. First coach to go straight from European basketball to head coach in the NBA. He's a fantastic coach who's coached in Europe for decades. Most recently won the Euroleague with Maccabi Tel Aviv. I'd bet he never imagined he'd have this chance. Pretty cool.

Dave said...

hey gheorghies!

some sad englishmen at the pub tonight . . .

Squeaky said...

This is a crazy car jump that ends badly. Skip ahead to about 7 minutes into the video to see the final jump at 100 Meters.

http://youtu.be/HWOANXNGrZc

It was recorded by multiple GoPro cameras.

Greg said...

BODY COUNT MUTHAFUCKA!!!

http://www.vulture.com/2014/06/ice-t-body-count-manslaughter-chat.html

Mark said...

What the hell has gotten into Costa Rica? Also I'm rooting for Costa Rica because I have Costa Rican friends and have been there. And, as always, fuck Italy.

Greg said...

In-law issues?

Marls said...

He can always go to Bizzaro Pizza.

Marls said...

Caps vs. Blackhawks at Nationals Park, New Years Day.

Who's in?

http://tinyurl.com/kghklrp


Squeaky said...

I'd make the journey down for that game. Watching the Alumni game in Fenway the day after the Boston was cool.

Mark said...

No in law issues. Just don't care for Italy's style of play or that so many Italian-Americans who don't follow soccer at all become "huge fans" of Italian soccer every four years.

I have to vacation with the Bizzarro family next month. Not too psyched about that, Marls.

Marls said...

I can't today, but I can meet you next Friday.

Marls said...

Hockey pre-party at Chateau Teej.

Marls said...

F'in Bizzaros....

Greg said...

here come's switzerland, here come's switzerland right down switzerland lane!

That's their national anthem in english. true story

rob said...

dammit, clarence. i'm working downtown today. would've been nice to know you were in my 'hood. core principles, my ass.

rob said...

switzerland's national anthem has misplaced commas? that sounds about righ't.

rob said...

it also has misplaced apostrophes.

Whitney said...

I could come downtown, Rob. I walked into the office this morning to find out someone had dropped the ball on a proposal due at 5 o'clock today in Vienna. So I'm driving it up. Traffic willing.

Whitney said...

Or to Cowboy

zman said...

Traffic willin' and the creek don't rise?

Mark said...

On hold with a doctors office that's hit me with Benny & the Jets and How Deep is Your Love back to back. Strong to quite strong.

Danimal said...

Flights home going slightly better....w precheck in full effect. Drinking america's beer up front.

TR said...

Clam!

http://gawker.com/exclusive-psychic-clam-predicts-u-s-world-cup-victory-1593776419

rob said...

headed to cape cod on sunday for the week. picked up some ron z for my vacationing pleasure, danimal.

Danimal said...

Nice, Rob. Envious. I look forward to daily posts.

Mark said...

A stellar yet sad profile of the late Eddie Griffin. I highly recommend. http://grantland.com/features/eddie-griffin-nba-life-death/

rob said...

the pope, man, he's the best:

http://www.espnfc.us/blog/wright-thompson/94/post/1897935/wright-thompson----whos-your-papa

and if you're not devouring wright thompson's stuff on the world cup, you're missing out.

TR said...

Group E has become my favorite group in the Cup. You could gave three 2-1 teams fighting for two spots. That assumes a complacent France loses to Ecuador and Switzerland beats Honduras.

zman said...

Ortiz is now angry that what he deems a hit was scored as an error. He needs to just shut up and go away, or return to being a happy fat guy.

TR said...

PEDs cause mood swings...

rob said...

france is trucking fools, tr. i think they'll house ecuador.

Mark said...

Group D is my favorite by a mile. Wild, exciting games and the combination of Motherfucking Costa Rica and England's misery.

Mark said...

And that's how I will refer to the team currently leading Group D...Motherfucking Costa Rica.

Mark said...

Also, Italy-Uruguay for the other spot should be great.

rob said...

get on the costa rica bandwagon. concacaf, motherfuckers. outside of honduras, who've played gamely but aren't very good, our little region is 4-0-1.

rob said...

yeah, can you imagine uruguay and costa rica coming through that group? that'd be phenomenal. though i could watch pirlo play every day forever.

rob said...

man, that eddie griffin story is hard to read.

Mark said...

Somehow, I ended up giving my wife who is in no way a sports fan the very basic Eddie Griffin story recently. It's tragic with the basics. Heartbreaking with the details.

Dave said...

hey gheorghies!

i am not on the costa rica bandwagon, and despise everyone who is (except for costa ricans).