The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) in the United Kingdom is investigating the $4 billion acquisition of Entertainment One by Hasbro. In August, Hasbro acquired Entertainment One, which is also known as eOne and which owns a diverse set of prop…
Category archives: Regulatory
Department of Justice Scraps Decades-Old ‘Paramount’ Consent Decrees — Is Music Next?
The U.S. Department of Justice has indicated it will ask a court to scrap the decades-old ‘Paramount’ consent decrees. The antitrust decrees are designed to protect movie theaters from studio control. The consent decrees have been in place …
TikTok Is Now Under Investigation by the U.S. Government
Reuters is reporting that the U.S. government has initiated a national security probe of the parent of TikTok and their $1 billion acquisition of Musical.ly. Reuters is basing the report on two sources who have knowledge of the investigation. TikTok…
Pandora’s Gigantic Pre-1972 Class Action Copyright Lawsuit Might Go ‘Poof’
The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals gave Pandora hope that it could escape a class action lawsuit filed against it relating to the streaming of music recorded prior to 1972. The Appeals Court did this by asking a lower court to reconsider the reque…
Artist Activist David Lowery Quits the Mechanical Licensing Collective After Just 4 Months
David Lowery, a longtime champion for artists and outspoken critic of major streaming platforms, has abruptly departed the Mechanical Licensing Collective’s Unclaimed Royalties Oversight Committee. The news comes as the paint is still drying on t…
FCC Commissioner Doesn’t Appreciate the RIAA’s Response on Payola
Looks like the RIAA’s brush-off of the Federal Communications Commission’s payola inquiry didn’t quite work as planned. For those just tuning in to this one, the multi-headed monster of radio payola has recently resurfaced — and the F…
Marco Rubio Calls for a Government Investigation Into TikTok Censorship
Senator Marco Rubio has asked a U.S. national security panel to review the acquisition of Musical.ly by Chinese tech conglomerate ByteDance. Musical.ly was acquired by Beijing company ByteDance Technology in 2017. Rubio argues that the Chinese governme…
U.S. Congress Is Getting Involved In Spotify’s Complaint Against Apple
Just ahead of the weekend, U.S. Congress officially requested information from Spotify as part of a broader antitrust investigation being conducting on Apple. The Congressional inquiry aims to determine if Apple employs anti-competitive behavior in sup…
Appeals Court Says the Trump Administration Can’t Force States to Repeal Net Neutrality
Earlier today (October 1st), a U.S. federal court upheld the FCC’s decision to eliminate net neutrality rules back in 2017. But the decision was hardly a victory for the Trump Administration, which still has to fight states like California. The Obama …
U.S. Judiciary Committee Urges the Removal of DMCA-Style Safe Harbor Provisions from Global Trade Treaties
Earlier today (September 23rd), the U.S. House Judiciary Committee wrote a letter to the U.S. Trade Representative, who is currently negotiating a new free trade agreement between the United States, Mexico and Canada. The letter expressed concerns abou…