Hello, Darlin’

Conway Twitty died in 1993.  Thereafter, his children and widow engaged in tumultuous litigation over assets of his estate.

It’s not over.  The children (and their limited partnership) have sued Sony/ATV Music Publishing to rescind assignments of copyright renewal interests which were executed in 1990.

I remember seeing Conway tooling around Hendersonville, Tennessee in the early 1990′s in an AMC Pacer.  He lived at Twitty City not far from Johnny Cash’s home.  Both places are gone–Cash’s house burned to the ground and Twitty City is now Trinity City, a televangelist theatre operated by Paul and Jan Crouch.

Here is a copy of the children’s complaint filed in the Davidson County Chancery Court: 0699_001.pdf

Please, don’t release me…Beatles style

Apple Corps sues to prevent release of club date recordings from 1962–purportedly Ringo Starr’s first gig with the group.

http://news.lp.findlaw.com/ap_stories/e/1403/03-21-2008/20080321225005_26.html

This reminds me of a recent lawsuit in Nashville regarding acetates of Hank Williams, Sr. that were retrieved from a radio station trash bin.  The heirs were successful in establishing ownership of those recordings 50 years after they were made.  Here’s the opinion: Williams v. Legacy.

It’s all in the family, Part II….

You probably know that Dickie Scruggs, a mega-successful Mississippi tort lawyer, pled guilty to conspiracy to bribe a judge.  A boneheaded way to end a storied career. http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080315/NEWS07/80315037/1009/News07

Dickie’s son (Zach) also entered a plea deal last week relating to the same crime.  Here is Zach’s plea agreement. http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/Zachplea.pdf?mod=WSJBlog

Some believe that the main character in John Grisham’s King of Torts was based on Dickie Scruggs’s life.

Sad.

It’s heating up…..

Various groups want radio to pay artists and sound recording owners for the right to broadcast their songs (only songwriters and publishers are currently paid).

Attached is a .pdf document I received from the Recording Academy which lists reasons why radio should pay.

PRA bullet list

Holy smokes!!!

Don’t play foosball with strangers……

http://www.newschannel5.com/global/story.asp?s=8034335

When in Nashville….

..be sure to visit the Nashville Jazz Workshop.  The NJW is an educational and performance facility that regularly has concerts in its performance hall, the Jazz Cave.  One of Nashville’s best-kept secrets!!!!!

Website: http://www.nashvillejazz.org/

Hello world!

Buenas tardes from snow-covered Nashville! 

I am an intellectual property and entertainment attorney practicing in Nashville, Tennessee.  Not surprisingly, this blog will focus on those areas–but a law degree is not required to extract something meaningful from my posts. 

This blog will focus on recent decisions in copyright, trademark, and patent law and will attempt to distill them to simple and understandable principles.  Of course, I will likely fail if the opinion issues from the 9th Circuit .

I also will post off-topic ramblings about various legal and non-legal subjects.  The good news is that none of these posts will be political or religious in nature.  That assumes that Miles Davis, Maurice Ravel, Dexter Gordon, Robben Ford, Eva Cassidy, or Pat Metheny are not messengers of God.  Of course, that assumption is rebuttable.

My posts are not legal advice and are for entertainment purposes only.  Every legal matter is unique.  Contact a qualified lawyer if you have a legal problem or simply need legal advice. 

Now, let’s get it started…..