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Sports and Entertainment Attorneys

What Do Sports and Entertainment Attorneys Do?

Sports and entertainment attorneys deal with the broad legal arena of the sports and entertainment industries. Much of sports and entertainment area of law revolves around intellectual property including copyrights, patents and trademarks, as well as licensing, endorsements and the various agency legal issues.

Sports, and entertainment leisure laws are largely regulated by private laws and have recently gained immense popularity. Sports and entertainment lawyers help their clients with issues within entertainment law including, but not limited to: the limitations of publicity, copyright infringement, future technology clauses in contracts and defamation issues. The controversial, but important, distinction between amateur and professional athletes sparks many heated litigations in sports law. Generally, an amateur athlete is one that is not monetarily compensated for his or her talents. Many college athletes are given scholarships, but they are still considered amateurs because there is no direct monetary compensation—the money all goes to the school for their college educations.

Sports and entertainment lawyers in sports and entertainment law typically assist artists, athletes, and entertainers negotiate arrangements with agents, media, endorsements, and licensing contracts, and work to protect the artist's, athlete's or entertainer's name, images, and personality rights.

Should I hire a Sports and Entertainment Attorney?

Entertainment attorneys understand the unique needs and interests of amateur and professional athletes, actors and other entertainers, media distributors, production companies, artists, musicians and filmmakers. Not only can the entertainment attorney and sports lawyer represent athletes, artists, and others in the entertainment business to protect them from exploitation, they provide other valuable services including, but not limited to:

• Provide legal advice and representation relating to contract negotiations, arbitration proceedings and other crucial legal matters of their profession.
• Provide legal advice and representation relating to copyrights, trademarks and other intellectual property, including the intellectual property rights of performers and artists.
• Provide representation to protect artists, musicians and others in the entertainment industry from piracy.
• Negotiating and drafting music licenses, recording agreements and touring agreements.
• Provide legal counsel and assistance to museums in reproduction and licensing issues.
• Represent and counsel Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and content providers on matters relating to interactive entertainment, and site development and production agreements, as well as privacy, publicity and defamation issues.

Frequently Asked Questions

• What Is Intellectual Property Law?
  Our legal system provides certain rights and protections for owners of property. The kind of property that results from the use of the mind in developing new ideas and products is called … more
• What Is The Difference Between A Trademark And A Servicemark?
  A trademark is a word, name, symbol or device that is used in trade with goods to indicate the source of the goods and to distinguish them from the goods of others. A servicemark is the same as a … more
• What Is Trade Dress?
  The laws of unfair trade can protect the overall distinctive look of a business or product. This overall distinctive look is referred to as trade dress. The overall look must be established through … more
• Can I Copyright The Name Of My Band?
  No. Copyright law does not protect names. Some names may be protected under trademark law. Contact the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (http://www.uspto.gov/), (800) 786­9199, for further …
• I Want To Manage A Band. Do I Need A Contract?
  It is always recommended that any agreement between parties be reduced to writing. While band management does not legally require a contract, it would be foolish to enter such a relationship … more

Free Legal Forms

• Former Pto/Sb/15 - Sample Form For An Assignment Of Application
• Former Pto/Sb/41 - Sample Form For An Assignment Of Patent
• Pto/Sb/101 - Declaration And Power Of Attorney For Patent Application (Chinese Language Declaration) [3 Pages]
• Pto/Sb/102 - (Dutch Language Declaration) [5 Pages]