Venture Capitalists and Rx Activists Speak Out Against the PROTECT IP Act

Opposition to the PROTECT IP Act – Hollywood-supported legislation intended to reduce content piracy and block counterfeit goods – is growing among the tech community, with a letter blasting the bill released Thursday by more than fifty venture capitalists from forty firms that have funded many top Internet companies.

Also speaking out in recent weeks against the law is a completely different constituency: groups concerned that the broadly-drafted act would endanger U.S. consumers’ access to lower-priced prescription drugs from Canadian and other foreign pharmacies.

In contrast, Hollywood trade associations and unions support the legislation, as do drug companies.

Details: The Hollywood Reporter.

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Check out my new book “Hollywood on Strike!,” available on Amazon (also in a Kindle edition). Subscribe to my blog (jhandel.com) for more about entertainment law and digital media law. Check out my residuals chart there too. Go to the blog itself to subscribe via RSS or email. Or, follow me on Twitter, friend me on Facebook, or subscribe to my Forbes.com or Huffington Post articles. If you work in tech, take a look at my book How to Write LOIs and Term Sheets. 

Read the Feed!

I won't be posting much directly to my blog for the time being. However, look on the right-hand column and you'll see a feed from the Labor page which I curate (and mostly write) on The Hollywood Reporter website.

You can also follow that feed directly at http://feeds.feedburner.com/HollywoodReporter-Labor or via Twitter at http://twitter.com/#!/THR_Labor.

Thanks!

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Check out my new book “Hollywood on Strike!,” available on Amazon (also in a Kindle edition). Subscribe to my blog (jhandel.com) for more about entertainment law and digital media law. Check out my residuals chart there too. Go to the blog itself to subscribe via RSS or email. Or, follow me on Twitter, friend me on Facebook, or subscribe to my Forbes.com or Huffington Post articles. If you work in tech, take a look at my book How to Write LOIs and Term Sheets. 

Broadway Musicians' Union Sounds Off About Recorded Music

The fur – and feather boas – are flying in New York, where the Broadway musicians’ union is waging what the New York Times in a story Sunday calls “an unusually aggressive, political-style campaign” against the producers of the musical “Priscilla Queen of the Desert.” The dispute centers on the use of recorded music as a substitute for some of the 18 or 19 live musicians generally required under the union contract for Broadway musicals. And what's more, the fight echoes 1940’s disputes that helped result in modern-day residuals.

Details: The Hollywood Reporter.

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Check out my new book “Hollywood on Strike!,” available on Amazon (also in a Kindle edition). Subscribe to my blog (jhandel.com) for more about entertainment law and digital media law. Check out my residuals chart there too. Go to the blog itself to subscribe via RSS or email. Or, follow me on Twitter, friend me on Facebook, or subscribe to my Forbes.com or Huffington Post articles. If you work in tech, take a look at my book How to Write LOIs and Term Sheets. 

SAG National Board Unanimously Moves Towards Merger with AFTRA

After at least two failed attempts, decades of discussion, recent year marked by acrimony and then reconciliation, the game is once again afoot, as Holmes would say: SAG and AFTRA are moving decisively closer to merger. The move today was SAG’s, whose national board has now unanimously established a merger taskforce to work with AFTRA to develop “a formal plan to unite SAG and AFTRA members in one union,” in the words of a SAG statement.

The goal is ambitious: to have a plan for approval by the two unions’ national boards in January 2012. Details: The Hollywood Reporter.

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Check out my new book “Hollywood on Strike!,” available on Amazon (also in a Kindle edition). Subscribe to my blog (jhandel.com) for more about entertainment law and digital media law. Check out my residuals chart there too. Go to the blog itself to subscribe via RSS or email. Or, follow me on Twitter, friend me on Facebook, or subscribe to my Forbes.com or Huffington Post articles. If you work in tech, take a look at my book How to Write LOIs and Term Sheets. 

Reminder - "Hollywood on Strike!" Book Party Tomoroow (Sat)

A reminder - I'm having a book party/signing on Saturday (tomorrow), from 1:00-3:00, at the Showbiz Store & Cafe, 500 S. Sepulveda Blvd, LA 90049 (one or two miles north of Wilshire, along the 405). Food and beverages will be available for purchase, and one lucky attendee will win a copy of Final Draft AV, courtesy of Final Draft, Inc

Free RSVP requested at http://hollywoodonstrike.eventbrite.com/.

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Check out my new book “Hollywood on Strike!,” available on Amazon (also in a Kindle edition). Subscribe to my blog (jhandel.com) for more about entertainment law and digital media law. Check out my residuals chart there too. Go to the blog itself to subscribe via RSS or email. Or, follow me on Twitter, friend me on Facebook, or subscribe to my Forbes.com or Huffington Post articles. If you work in tech, take a look at my book How to Write LOIs and Term Sheets. 

AFTRA Retirement Board Sues JP Morgan Chase

The retirement plan is said to have lost $2-3 million because of an alleged breach of fiduciary duty by the bank. That's not a lot of money is percentage terms - the Plan apparently has about $2 billion in assets - but the suit alleges a disturbing situation in which one portion of the bank -- and even its highest executives -- were expressing concerns over the transaction at issue, even as another part of the bank kept the client's money in an investment vehicle called Sigma until it was too late. And when the entity collapsed, alleges the suit, the bank actually profited, even though its clients lost money.

Details: The Hollywood Reporter.


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Check out my new book “Hollywood on Strike!,” available on Amazon (also in a Kindle edition). Subscribe to my blog (jhandel.com) for more about entertainment law and digital media law. Check out my residuals chart there too. Go to the blog itself to subscribe via RSS or email. Or, follow me on Twitter, friend me on Facebook, or subscribe to my Forbes.com or Huffington Post articles. If you work in tech, take a look at my book How to Write LOIs and Term Sheets. 

Handel to be Featured Guest at Southwestern Law School

This Tuesday, April 12, I'll be the guest at Southwestern Law School's "A Conversation with" series and will be speaking on "The Past, Present and Future of Hollywood Unions." The program starts at 7:30 and lasts about an hour, followed by a reception. 

The event is free, open to the public, and offers one hour of CLE credit for attorneys. Reservations requested but not required: click here (and scroll down) for reservations, directions, parking info, etc.


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Later in the month, on April 30, I'll be hosting a book party/signing from 1:00-3:00 at the Showbiz Store, 500 S. Sepulveda Blvd , LA 90049 (near Bel Air). This event is also free and open to the public. Reservations requested but not required: a link will be available here (and scroll down) for reservations, address, etc. 

Courtesy of Final Draft, a free copy of Final Draft AV will be raffled off at 2:00 p.m. Copies of my book, "Hollywood on Strike!," will be available for purchase. Also available for purchase will be sandwiches, salads, sweets, coffee and other drinks from the Store's delicious cafe.

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Check out my new book “Hollywood on Strike!,” available on Amazon (also in a Kindle edition). Subscribe to my blog (jhandel.com) for more about entertainment law and digital media law. Check out my residuals chart there too. Go to the blog itself to subscribe via RSS or email. Or, follow me on Twitter, friend me on Facebook, or subscribe to my Forbes.com or Huffington Post articles. If you work in tech, take a look at my book How to Write LOIs and Term Sheets. 

WGA Ballots on the Way

The WGA deal reached last month is on its way to the membership for a ratification vote – ballots are in the mail. Details: The Hollywood Reporter.

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Check out my new book “Hollywood on Strike!,” available on Amazon (also in a Kindle edition). Subscribe to my blog (jhandel.com) for more about entertainment law and digital media law. Check out my residuals chart there too. Go to the blog itself to subscribe via RSS or email. Or, follow me on Twitter, friend me on Facebook, or subscribe to my Forbes.com or Huffington Post articles. If you work in tech, take a look at my book How to Write LOIs and Term Sheets.

WGA Sends Studio Deal to Members

The ratification vote will take place in April, before the existing contract's May 1 expiration. Details: The Hollywood Reporter.


On a separate note, I will be speaking at Southwestern Law School in Los Angeles on April 12 at 7:30 p.m. as part of the school's "A Conversation With" series. The subject is "The Past, Present and Future of Hollywood Unions." I'll also be discussing my new book “Hollywood on Strike!,” available on Amazon (also in a Kindle edition). Click for details and free reservation info. CLE credit is available for lawyers.

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Check out my new book “Hollywood on Strike!,” available on Amazon (also in a Kindle edition). Subscribe to my blog (jhandel.com) for more about entertainment law and digital media law. Check out my residuals chart there too. Go to the blog itself to subscribe via RSS or email. Or, follow me on Twitter, friend me on Facebook, or subscribe to my Forbes.com or Huffington Post articles. If you work in tech, take a look at my book How to Write LOIs and Term Sheets.

WGA, AMPTP Reach New Three-Year Deal

The tentative pact, which is in line with deals reached by SAG, AFTRA and the DGA, provides for 2% annual wage increases but also keeps network primetime residuals at current rates. Details: The Hollywood Reporter.

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Check out my new book “Hollywood on Strike!,” available on Amazon (also in a Kindle edition). Subscribe to my blog (jhandel.com) for more about entertainment law and digital media law. Check out my residuals chart there too. Go to the blog itself to subscribe via RSS or email. Or, follow me on Twitter, friend me on Facebook, or subscribe to my Forbes.com or Huffington Post articles. If you work in tech, take a look at my book How to Write LOIs and Term Sheets.