The Digital Used Record Store: Capitol Records v. Redigi

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When I was a teenager I had a great collection of vinyl albums, including classics by bands such as The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Creedence Clearwater and Yes. One of my distinct pleasures was to peruse the album collections in used record stores in the hopes of finding a catch in good condition and at a good price.

The used record store could lawfully purchase and resell copies of albums originally bought as new under the “first sale” doctrine, whereby the owner of a “particular copy” of a copyrighted work that was lawfully purchased could “sell or otherwise dispose of the possession of that copy” without violating the copyright owner’s exclusive right to reproduce or distribute that work. read more

Spillane Trial Group Represents Producer in Dispute to Settle Copyright Ownership of Academy Award-Winning ‘Babette’s Feast’

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In April, Spillane Trial Group PLC filed suit in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California on behalf of Josi W. Konski against the Danish Film Directors association and Gabriel Axel, director of Babette’s Feast, winner of the 1988 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Konski is seeking declaratory relief to determine that he is the sole copyright holder to the film and that neither the Danish Film Directors nor Axel have rights to interfere with an anticipated re-release of the film in Bluray and DVD formats in the United States and Canada.

The defendants claim Axel retains a copyright interest in the film arising from a provision of Danish copyright law that expresses certain “moral rights” for authors of creative works.  read more

What We Learned in High School

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A fascinating and mysterious moment in a jury trial occurs at the very end, when the judge reads to the jury instructions summarizing the law that applies to the case. A trial lawyer has had years of legal education and law practice devoted to understanding how to apply law to fact, but s/he is not deciding the case. In a jury trial, it is the people in the jury box who must digest the facts presented at trial, understand the law that applies to the case and analyze what result to reach.

Unless a juror is an attorney, that juror’s entire legal education occurs at the end of the trial, when the judge spends some fifteen minutes reading the set of jury instructions, possibly in a monotone voice, with no question and answer session to follow. read more

Jay Spillane Speaks About His Trial Philosophy to Los Angeles Legal Newspaper

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jay_spillane_krav_mcgraw“When you’re representing a business executive who is facing financial ruin through litigation, and he tells you, literally, that you saved his life, that makes you feel like you’ve made a difference,” Spillane Trial Group’s Jay Spillane recently told the Los Angeles Daily Journal, which featured the firm on January 18, 2013.  Jay was referring to his representation of Ken Kilroy, former president of the Marvin Davis Cos., who after the death of billionaire Marvin Davis, was not only sued by one of his children for hundreds of millions of dollars but also denied his severance. Jay not only convinced his litigation opponent, represented by the David Boies firm, that they would lose their case against Kilroy and pay his legal fees, but also secured Kilroy’s severance in negotiations with the Davis family. read more

Spillane Trial Group Obtains Order Setting Aside Attachments

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This month, the Spillane Trial Group was victorious on behalf of clients the Restful Groups and Barry Seidman, convincing San Diego Superior Court Judge Lorna Alksne to grant a motion to set aside an attachment against our clients obtained by Stanley Westreich and his company, Chalant.

Without notice to our clients, Westreich/Chalant applied for and obtained a writ of attachment, which permitted Westreich/Chalant to seize assets prior to trial to secure payment on an anticipated judgment. The attachment was based upon promissory notes signed by the Restful Groups and Seidman. When The Restful Groups and Seidman were served with the attachment orders, we moved to set the attachment aside, showing the following:

  • that the signed notes were only temporary, demanded as a condition to contribution of money that Westreich/Seidman had already agreed to invest, and
  • that the money reflected in the notes would not be due until the investments of the Restful Groups – cemeteries in Mexico – produced profits with which to repay the investment.
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