At Least One Disney Lawyer Needs to Be Launched Into the Sun
Added 2024-08-16 08:47:16 +0000 UTCOA1060
This week Matt breaks down four very different legal actions:
1. Donald Trump is suing the United States--yes, the same United States that he is running to be the President of--for $100 million based on the FBI’s alleged violation of the Florida common law tort of “intrusion upon seclusion” in executing a valid search warrant on Mar-A-Lago two years ago. Is Trump just spiking the legal football after his big win in front of federal judge Aileen Cannon in Jack Smith’s documents case, or is there actually something worth talking about here?
2. Is the Walt Disney Corporation actually arguing that signing up for a 30-day trial of its Disney+ streaming service protects them from the tragically fatal consequences of negligence at a restaurant in its Disney Springs shopping center? Could that really be a thing that licensed attorneys wrote down, printed, reviewed, signed, and filed with a court? We consider what might be one of the most bizarrely evil defenses ever raised in a wrongful death suit.
3. Soul singer Isaac Hayes’s family has joined the dozens of artists who have spoken out against their music being used at Trump rallies, issuing a cease-and-desist letter to the campaign alleging that it has used Hayes’s song “Hold On! I’m Coming” at least 134 times even after being asked to stop. To what extent do artists have “moral rights” under US intellectual property law, and what alternatives are available to them when they don’t? We riffing on a particularly interesting failure to harmonize copyright and antitrust law.
4. French authorities have announced that they will investigate claims of cyberbullying against Olympic boxing champion Imane Khelif, a ciswoman from Algeria who was harassed online by J.K. Rowling, Elon Musk, Donald Trump, and many more of the world’s finest people with completely baseless claims that she was not a biological woman. We debate the merits of this uniquely European approach to criminalizing speech and marvel at the unmatched powers of TERF ideology to rot the human brain (and soul).
Hayes Enterprises cease and desist letter (8/11/2024)
“License to Rock,” Leah Scholnick, Cardozo Law Review (4/7/2022)
Doctor dies after eating dinner at Raglan Road Irish Pub and Restaurant at Disney Springs, lawsuit alleges | FOX 10 Phoenix (2/26/24)(includes full text of plaintiff’s complaint)
Comments
Per Disney's argument, you could be subject to binding arbitration because your parents, while you were a child, took you to Disney.
To sit in solemn silence in a dim dark dock in a pestilential prison with a life long lock awaiting the sensation of a short sha
2024-08-19 02:20:55 +0000 UTCI wonder if artists have the right to pose a moral objecton to use, if they could say "you can't use my work to train AIs because I believe that general AI is a existential threat to humanity"
Brian Pemberton
2024-08-16 21:10:27 +0000 UTCThomas' reaction to Disney's argument is very much my reaction to every defendant's brief during like, the first 2 years of my career lol (Righteous indignation can wear a person out, I needed to learn to temper it. Still working on it). Defendants start feeling themselves and put dumb BS like that in briefs: like if they display enough confidence and act more indignant it will convince anyone that Disney is the real victim in this situation. I really think (and hope) it hurts their client more than it helps them to litigate cases that way. Coming off as unreasonable is a great way to bury arguments that might actually have some merit (or serve as a flashing neon sign that there aren't any better arguments left to make).
Katie Herrmann
2024-08-16 20:47:24 +0000 UTCMatt, regarding the Imane Khelif case, I wanted to mention that French criminal law operates on a fairly extensive definition of jurisdiction (see: articles 113-1 to 113-14 of the French Penal Code). When it comes to infractions committed online, the jurisprudence has been generally favorable to French jurisdiction on the basis that the illegal content can be accessed from within the territory of the French Republic. -Patrick (Royal Palace Podcast)
Patrick
2024-08-16 20:11:35 +0000 UTCI don't have a smart legal question, but I do have something that Thomas, and maybe Matt, might enjoy, since he loved "oldies" but doesn't know so much -- there's a fantastic podcast (it's several years old, lots of episodes, but most are in the 30-45 min range) called "A History of Rock and Roll in 500 Songs". Yes, it's on Patreon. No, it's not mine :) I'm going through it for a second time while waiting for the next episode, and each one is a deep, deep dive into specific artists, songs, even musical styles and subgenres, starting in the 1930s. I've learned quite a bit. It's just now getting into the 1970s, lists references, is VERY researched, and works well in the headphones while doing something else as well as for car rides (it's family safe).
The Beautiful Thumb
2024-08-16 19:02:48 +0000 UTCOK, so clearly Disney legal dept employed at least one Ebenezer Scrooge McDuck. Given this is a bad look. Here's where my legal head and common sense depart. I'm disabled and have had to change my life accordingly. If I had a lethal food allergy, I would plan like my life depended on it. Eating out seems like a natural thing to fall off the list, no? And that might effect my ability to travel. In other words, would I bet my life against the food preparation skills of a restauranteur and their staff? Isn't there a particular sushi that, if not prepared exactly right, will kill you? Why on earth eat such a thing, and why on every possible multiverse of Earths would you want to do the eqivanant every single time you didn't prepare your food yourself? Any agreement the restaurant made to avoid fatal ingredients notwithstanding, it seems like a terrible risk. Given there was an agreement about food prep, there is still some kind of assumption of risk or comparative negligence, no? I'm not trying to be an asshole, I'm asking about the legal situation. Hopefully that's a given on a legal podcast but just in case: this is a terrible tragedy without a doubt, and the legal theory behind the defense is disgusting
WorkForBetterPrepForTrouble
2024-08-16 18:50:04 +0000 UTCThis might be too late for the next RRF, but I'd love to hear more about Musks PAC that collects people's indo to register them to vote and then doesn't. Any chance of criminal repercussions?
Gmork
2024-08-16 15:16:52 +0000 UTCAnd not just me, but ANYONE who EVER had Disney Plus or one of the other purchase methods in the past?
Erin Hutton
2024-08-16 14:57:49 +0000 UTCSo, if I signed up for the free trial of Disney Plus and eventually remembered to cancel it, am I bound, in perpetuity, to always have to use arbitration for any Disney related dispute, even without an active subscription?
Erin Hutton
2024-08-16 14:54:55 +0000 UTCDovetailing Matt's take, this was the kind of tactic that a clever associate comes up with that a wise partner should reject.
Gmork
2024-08-16 13:14:34 +0000 UTCp.s. good to have this show back btw, liking the new improved lawyer!
Tom Pegg
2024-08-16 13:05:12 +0000 UTCfwiw i believe the panic about Imane Khelif (and Lin Yu-ting from, Taiwan) stems from the IBA (who are very shady) claiming they had failed some sort of sex test (that they mysteriously can't share...). I don't know if this is true but I had hear that both of these ladies failed tests after beating Russian athletes and the IBA was being run out of Russia but I can't find solid corroboration on that. The likes of Jake and others then seized on this to kick up a fuss and the mistaken claims about the women being trans gained traction despite there being no evidence at all. P.S. I think i first heard 'terf island' on Daily Beans and as a Brit I still think that we're getting a bad rap on that, it's not like we're Florida or any of the red states banning trans people we just have a noisy minority of people like Jake and a rubbish media... which sucks but I don't feel you guys are really in a position to be superior is my point.
Tom Pegg
2024-08-16 12:59:28 +0000 UTCTelling Disney lawyers to kill themselves? All fine. The swear word preceding it? My goodness, gotta bleep that. The juxtaposition just makes it better.
Viktor Arthuis
2024-08-16 11:09:41 +0000 UTCMan I love this podcast thanks for doing this Thomas and Matt!
Jesse D Miers
2024-08-16 10:42:40 +0000 UTC
