Tech & Sourcing @ Morgan Lewis

The US Supreme Court is set to hear a case regarding fair use as it pertains to a photo of the universally known music artist, Prince. The nation’s highest court will hopefully clarify when and how artists can make use of the work of others.

Rights holders are almost always looking for ways to monetize the intellectual property (IP) that they own or license. For owners of rights in popular logos; characters from TV shows, movies, or video games; or similar IP, one way to generate a revenue stream is to enter into merchandise license agreements.

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have exploded in popularity over the past year. Use cases for NFTs have been growing as more industries are realizing the benefits they present. A report by blockchain specialist Chainalysis found that almost $41 billion was spent on NFTs in 2021—a number that is likely to continue growing.

The UK government is considering responses to its proposed reforms to auto-subscription rules for consumer contracts, as part of a broader consultation on reforming UK competition and consumer policy.

The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has held in Case C-410/19 The Software Incubator Ltd v Computer Associates (UK) Ltd that the supply of software by electronic means, where accompanied by the grant of a perpetual user license in return for a fee, could constitute a “sale of goods” for the purpose of defining a commercial agent under the EU Commercial Agents Directive (the Directive).

Last week, we started to take a look at key issues sponsors should be mindful of when entering into a sponsorship agreement, particularly for sponsorship of a team, event, venue, individual influencer or player, or similar arrangements.

With many sports, music, and other events returning to in-person attendance after a prolonged hiatus for pandemic-related reasons, and others continuing to be conducted in front of huge virtual audiences, we think it’s a good time to run through some of the most common issues we encounter in sponsorship agreements.

Exceptions to confidentiality obligations are largely standardized, but in some contracts a copy-and-paste approach could, at best, lead to uncertainty and, at worst, undermine key aims of the transaction.

On July 1, 2021, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) officially changed its rules prohibiting college athletes from receiving benefits from their name, image, and likeness. This is arguably the most significant day in the history of the NCAA as this landmark decision represents a monumental shift in the NCAA’s policies surrounding amateurism of athletes.

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on January 13 that it had completed its review of a proposed joint patent licensing pool known as the University Technology Licensing Program (UTLP) of 15 participating universities. The DOJ concluded that the UTLP was unlikely to harm competition and would benefit licensees and the public to the extent that the UTLP would make it easier to commercialize inventions that may be currently unlicensed or underutilized.